“[Being biracial] gives you the ability to be a bridge or translate or see different worlds from the inside that our society has not really allowed people to see. Because this country is built on the distinction between the races, White and Black, and because also our Western thinking is so binary and dichotomous that we don’t really have a language like they do in the East to talk about the middle path.  …it’s really the key to healing the country or being able to see these two things that have not been allowed to see each other. I think it’s so rich.” -(From her interview in The Word: Black Writers Talk about the Transformative Power of Reading and Writing by Marita Golden)

Click here to link to Adiele’s website. Adiele is the author of Meeting Faith: The Forest Journals of a Black Buddhist Nun and the co-editor of  Coming of Age Around the World: A Multicultural Anthology.

Check out this young Hapa poet spreading mixed love. Brave New Voices never disappoints.

The New York Times recently did a profile on Sarah Jones, a playwright and performer whose one-woman shows have captivated audiences. Her 2006 show, “Bridge and Tunnel”, won a Tony Award. About her identity, she explains:

“My grandmothers are Irish-American and German-American; my grandfather is from the Caribbean,” Ms. Jones said. “My father is African-American. My family looked funny. I just started naturally imitating whoever I was talking to. I didn’t want to be a phony, but I felt very authentic in the moment. I don’t think of it as having a fractured self, but as having many interconnecting selves, concentric identities.”

Here’s a video of her work featured at a TED conference:

 

 

Since the micro-blogging platform Tumblr has become so popular lately, I’ve decided to link some of my favorites that feature mixed issues/stories/pictures.

1. Mixed Dreams: some may recognize the title from the blog Mixed Dreamer – written by Nicole Nfonoyim. The tumblr site is an extention of her blog, and always full of interesting links.

2. One Hundred Percent: This tumblr is decribed as “illustrated documentary about what it means to be mixed.” It features art and answers to their mixed questionnaire that readers can submit to. The responses so far are honest and engaging.

3. The Daily Multiracial profiles multiracial celebrities, artists, musicians and athletes

4. Half & Half

5. It’s always fun to see young mixed faces. Check out Mixed Race Babies; an all-photo blog of mixed kids and families.

Check out this great article in the NY Times featuring the Mixed Roots Festival!

It was an amazing experience, and I am so grateful that they invited me there. Chatting with Susan Straight, Nina Revoyr, Esme-Michelle Watkins, and Kip Fulbeck was incredible. I sat in on a lecture with Steven Riley and G. Reginald Daniel – two of the leading academics of mixed race studies. Danzy Senna’s reading brought out my inner literary fangirl.

I hope to post more about it as I get back into blogging regulary. In the meantime, here’s what I did there:

Check out other videos from the event on the Mixed Chicks Chat Youtube Page

AND! I finally got my own domain – so you can read this blog at mixedreader.com!

Be sure to hit up your local bookstore and pick up Danzy Senna’s new story collection, You Are Free. I am very excited to dive into this one, it has already received some good reviews! Check it out here, or also see Senna’s website.

Also! Be sure to stop by the Mixed Roots Film & Literary Festival’s fundraising site on Indiegogo and donate what you can! This is such an important event for mixed stories, and I am SO excited to be doing a reading there on June 11th; especially considering I will be in the amazing company of some of my writing heroes, such as Nina Revoyr & Susan Straight!

This is a few years old – but I still love the message here! Love ain’t got no color!

New York Times article: “Counting By Race Can Throw Off Some Numbers”

San Francisco Chronicle: “Mixing It Up: Multiracialism redefines Asian American Identity”

Happy Reading!

Check out this article about the mixed race movement in the New York Times. It highlights the efforts of mixed race youth in defining their identity and calling for a celebration of ethnic diversity. I think the ending quote from the student president of this college’s Multiracial and Biracial Student Association is very telling of the attitude of young mixed people today:

“I don’t want a color-blind society at all,” Ms. Wood said. “I just want both my races to be acknowledged.”

Also, check out the video.