Light-skinned-ed Girl

Mixed Experience History Month 2012: Sally Miller, "Lost German Slave," a cause celebre

Sally Miller was enslaved woman who brought a freedom suit claiming that she was a German immigrant who had been unlawfully indentured. 

After serving a German immigrant one day in New Orleans, Salome (nee Sally) was identified as the lost daughter of the woman's German immigrant hometown friend, Daniel Muller.

Thereafter a protracted legal battle began to gain her freedom as well as her children's. 

In 1845, the Louisianna State Supreme Court ruled for her freedom stating that: "That on the law of slavery in the case of a person visibly appearing to be a white man, or an Indian, the presumption is he is free, and it is necessary for his adversity to show that he is a slave."  The following year the Louisiana State Constitutional Convention abolished the Louisiana Supreme Court.  John Bailey who has written the definitive account of the story concluded in The Lost German Slave Girl (2003) that Sally Miller was probably not Salome Muller, but an enslaved woman who "... seized the one chance of liberty that was ever likely to come her way, and she hung on to that chance with a tenacity I could only marvel at."

_________

Mixed Experience History Month is the annual blog post series created by writer Heidi Durrow celebrating the history of the Mixed experience. Established in 2007, Mixed Experience History Month is an effort to highlight the long history of folks involved in the Mixed experience.  Please look for more profiles of people, places and events of the Mixed experience every weekday of May at Lightskinned-ed Girl, the blog!  Thanks for reading.  And check out some of the previous year's profiles: 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011.

 

Is This an Interracial Relationship?

A brief interruption of Mixed Experience History Month.  (I hope you're continuing to enjoy the posts!)

I wanted to share my most recent Huffington Post piece on the new Census numbers that show interracial marriages are at an all-time high.  Here's the beginning:

I'm used to checking "other" to describe myself. As the daughter of an African-American Air Force serviceman and a white Danish immigrant, I have yet to find a form with an Afro-Viking box.

Still, imagine my surprise -- not at the recent headline that interracial marriages are at an all-time high -- but that my marriage is included among them.

Read the rest of the piece here.

Mixed Experience History Month 2012: Willie "the Lion" Smith, jazz pianist

Willie "the Lion" Smith was born William Henry Joseph Bonaparte Bertholoff Smith in 1893 to a woman of color of "Spanish, Negro, and Mohawk Indian blood" and a white Jewish father.

After Smith's father died, John Smith became his step-father.  Smith worked with his stepfather in a slaughterhouse when he was young.

When he was six-years-old, Smith started playing the organ.  As a young man, he won a piano in a department store contest and dedicated himself to playing it.  By 1910, he was playing in clubs throughout New York and New Jersey.

He was briefly married to Blanche Merrill who was white.  He also served in World War I.

After the war, he returned to playing in clubs as a soloist and also accompanying blues singers like Mamie Smith.  Though he never attained great fame, Smith was a great influence on Duke Ellington who wrote the songs "Portrait of the Lion"and "Second Portrait of the Lion" in honor of him.

Smith died in 1973.

_________

Mixed Experience History Month is the annual blog post series created by writer Heidi Durrow celebrating the history of the Mixed experience. Established in 2007, Mixed Experience History Month is an effort to highlight the long history of folks involved in the Mixed experience.  Please look for more profiles of people, places and events of the Mixed experience every weekday of May at Lightskinned-ed Girl, the blog!  Thanks for reading.  And check out some of the previous year's profiles: 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011.

Mixed Experience History Month 2012: Bessie Coleman, aviator

Bessie Coleman was born in 1892 to sharecropper parents of color.  Her father was African-American and  Cherokee.

In 1901, her father abandoned the family to return to Cherokee territory.  Life was difficult for the family but Coleman focused on her studies.  At 18, she used all of her savings to enroll in college.  After one term, she was forced to withdraw because she didn't have enough money to continue.

She moved to Chicago to find work.  As a manucurist in a barber shop, she heard the stories of many returning soldiers of World War I.  That was when Coleman's dream to become a pilot was born. 

Unable to train in the United States because of laws discriminating against her race, Coleman trained to become an aviator in France with the financial help of funding from a local banker.  The story of her journey was followed closely by The Defender newspaper.

She became the first female of African-American descent to become a pilot.  She was also the first person of African-American descent that earned an international pilot license.

In order to make a living as an aviator, Coleman became a barnstorming stunt flier. She became known as "Queen Bess" and was a huge crowd-pleaser.

Coleman died in April 1926 when she was thrown from a plane in a nose dive caused by a plane malfunction.  She was mourned by 5000 funeral-goers and many more around the world.

_________

Mixed Experience History Month is the annual blog post series created by writer Heidi Durrowcelebrating the history of the Mixed experience. Established in 2007, Mixed Experience History Month is an effort to highlight the long history of folks involved in the Mixed experience.  Please look for more profiles of people, places and events of the Mixed experience every weekday of May at Lightskinned-ed Girl, the blog!  Thanks for reading.  And check out some of the previous year's profiles: 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011.

 

Mixed Experience History Month 2012: Paschal Beverly Randolph, Spiritualist & Sex Magician

Paschal Beverly Randolph was born in 1825 to a wealthy white Virginia man (who abandoned him) and a woman of color named Flora.

His mother died when he was six or seven and Randolph ended up homeless.  A half-sister took him in but didn't care for him, and let him beg on the street for the cost of his upkeep.

At 15, he started working on ships to support himself and traveled widely throughout Europe and as far as Persia.  It is believed that he was introduced to occultists in England and Paris, France.

He returned to America when he was in his twenties and started to make his living as a speaker and writer.  He wrote more than 50 books on medicine, magic and spiritualism.

As a spiritualist, he spoke out against slavery and after the war he worked for literacy for the formerly enslaved.  He is credited for being the first to promote a system of occult beliefs and practices (the magic mirror, hashish use and sexual magic) that had been unfamiliar to Americans.

Randolph eventually founded the Fraternitas Rosae Crucis, the oldest Rosicrucian organization in the United States.

Randolph died at 49 under mysterious circumstances.  Did Randolph die from a self-inflicted wound to the head as a contemporary news story reported or had he been killed by a fellow Fraternitas member accidentally? 

_________

Mixed Experience History Month is the annual blog post series created by writer Heidi Durrowcelebrating the history of the Mixed experience. Established in 2007, Mixed Experience History Month is an effort to highlight the long history of folks involved in the Mixed experience.  Please look for more profiles of people, places and events of the Mixed experience every weekday of May at Lightskinned-ed Girl, the blog!  Thanks for reading.  And check out some of the previous year's profiles: 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011.

 

Mixed Experience History Month 2012: Etta James, singer extraordinaire

Born Jamesetta Hawkins in 1938, Etta James was the daughter of an African-American single teenage mother.  Her biological father was rumored to be Caucasian.  James believed her father to be a pool player of Swiss descent named Rudolf Wanderone.  James was raised in foster families.

James began singing at an early age.  When she was five-years-old, she began singing at church and wowed audiences.

When she was 12, her foster mother died and James moved with her mother to San Francisco.  There she formed a girl group called The Creolettes.  The group soon had the attention of musician Johnny Otis.  He helped the group sign a record deal.  The song "Dance with Me, Henry" hit the top of the charts and earned the group the gig to open for Little Richard on his national tour.

James signed with Chess records in 1960 as a solo artist and became the Chicago label's biggest female star with hits like “All I Could Do Was Cry,” “Trust in Me”and "At Last."

James continued to record many more hits over the years, but also battled her own personal demon of addiction.  She found re-newed success in the 1990s with the popularity of her jazz standard albums.

During her career, the singer won six Grammys and countless other awards and was honoured with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

She died in January 2012 after a long illness.

On a personal note, James had a huge impact on me when I first saw her perform in 1994.  She became one of my all-time favorite singers and I saw her in concert another dozen times.  She became a figure in my novel, The Girl Who Fell From the Sky, as well.  I only wish I had sent her a copy of the book--so she could know about that tribute.

“A lot of people think the blues is depressing, but that’s not the blues I’m singing. When I’m singing blues, I’m singing life. People that can’t stand to listen to the blues, they’ve got to be phonies.” -Etta James

 

_________

Mixed Experience History Month is the annual blog post series created by writer Heidi Durrowcelebrating the history of the Mixed experience. Established in 2007, Mixed Experience History Month is an effort to highlight the long history of folks involved in the Mixed experience.  Please look for more profiles of people, places and events of the Mixed experience every weekday of May at Lightskinned-ed Girl, the blog!  Thanks for reading.  And check out some of the previous year's profiles: 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011.

Mixed Experience History Month 2012: Cyrus Bustill, baker/educator/activist

Cyrus Bustill, the son of a white slavemaster and an enslaved woman of color, was born in 1732.  He was sold to a Quaker named Thomas Prior who taught Bustill the bread-making trade.

In 1769, Prior freed Bustill who went on to become a successful baker on his own.  During the Revolutionary War, he was commended for supplying American troops with baked goods at the Burlington docks, and reportedly given a silver piece by General Washington.  In 1787, Bustill became one of the founders of Philadelphia’s Free African Society.  He was also actively involved in the Underground Railroad in Philadelphia.

Bustill retired in 1797 and then built and opened a school for African American children in 1803.  He died in 1804.  His descendants include actor/activist Paul Robeson (great-great grandson) and grandson David Bustill Bowser was an abolitionist and an artist best known for his portraits of Abraham Lincoln and John Brown.

_________

Mixed Experience History Month is the annual blog post series created by writer Heidi Durrowcelebrating the history of the Mixed experience. Established in 2007, Mixed Experience History Month is an effort to highlight the long history of folks involved in the Mixed experience.  Please look for more profiles of people, places and events of the Mixed experience every weekday of May at Lightskinned-ed Girl, the blog!  Thanks for reading.  And check out some of the previous year's profiles: 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011.

 

Mixed Experience History Month 2012: Orindatus Wall, soldier & activist

Orindatus Simon Bolivar Wall was the son of a white planter and an enslaved black woman.  Born in the 1820s, he became the first regular commissioned African American captain in the U.S. Army during the Civil War.

Wall--who would eventually go by O.S.B.--was freed by his father In 1838, and sent to southern Ohio.  There he was raised and educated by Quaker abolitionists.

Wall cycled through many identities in his lifetime.  He was an accomplished bootmaker, an outspoken abolitionist in 1850s, and military recruiter.  According to author of The Invisible Line: Three American Families and the Secret Journey from Black to White Daniel Sharfstein: "In 1865, he became the first African-American to be regularly commissioned a captain in the Union Army."

Wall was active in integrating a church, and recruiting for Howard University after the war.  He continued his work in service of the people of D.C. in various positions such as a police magistrate, justice of the peace, legislative representative.  He died in 1891 and was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

Although Wall and his wife had five children, he was largely lost to history until Daniel Sharfstein's scholarship was published.  His subsequent generations eventually chose to break ties with the black community.

_________

Mixed Experience History Month is the annual blog post series created by writer Heidi Durrowcelebrating the history of the Mixed experience. Established in 2007, Mixed Experience History Month is an effort to highlight the long history of folks involved in the Mixed experience.  Please look for more profiles of people, places and events of the Mixed experience every weekday of May at Lightskinned-ed Girl, the blog!  Thanks for reading.  And check out some of the previous year's profiles: 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011.

 

Mixed Experience History Month 2012: Julien Hudson, painter

Born in 1811, Julien Hudson was the son of a British ship chandler and a free woman of color from New Orleans.

Hudson studied painting with Antoine Meucci for a couple of years before continuing his training in Paris with Alexandre Abel de Pujol.  In 1831, he returned to New Orleans and opened his own studio.  Not much more is known of his life.  He died in 1844.

 

_________

Mixed Experience History Month is the annual blog post series created by writer Heidi Durrowcelebrating the history of the Mixed experience. Established in 2007, Mixed Experience History Month is an effort to highlight the long history of folks involved in the Mixed experience.  Please look for more profiles of people, places and events of the Mixed experience every weekday of May at Lightskinned-ed Girl, the blog!  Thanks for reading.  And check out some of the previous year's profiles: 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011.

Mixed Experience History Month 2012: Abbie Mitchell, soprano

Abriea "Abbie" Mitchell was born in 1884 to an African-American woman and German-Jewish man.  Raised by her maternal aunt, Mitchell was educated in a convent school.

In 1897, she started taking voice lessons.  Just a year later, Paul Laurence Dunbar and Will Marion Cook cast her in a show called Clorindy which was considered at the time the most important musical featuring an all-black cast.  Mitchell married Cook a year later and continued to appear in the shows Cook composed.  They had two children together.

In 1903, Mitchell appeared in In Dahomey in London which garnered her international acclaim.  Mitchell sang “Brownskin Baby Mine” which became one of the most popular songs of the era. She was invited to and did perform for the King and Queen of England at Buckingham Palace.

Mitchell continued performing into the 1930s and also taught at the Tuskegee Institute.  She died in 1960.

_________

Mixed Experience History Month is the annual blog post series created by writer Heidi Durrowcelebrating the history of the Mixed experience. Established in 2007, Mixed Experience History Month is an effort to highlight the long history of folks involved in the Mixed experience.  Please look for more profiles of people, places and events of the Mixed experience every weekday of May at Lightskinned-ed Girl, the blog!  Thanks for reading.  And check out some of the previous year's profiles: 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011.

 

Mixed Experience History Month 2012: Helen Pitts, suffragist & abolitionist

Helen Pitts was born in 1838, the descendant of immigrants who sailed to America on the Mayflower.  She graduated from Mount Holyoke College in 1859 and after the war became a teacher at Hampton Institute.

In 1882, Pitts moved to Washington D.C. and wrote for a periodical that advocated for women's rights.  That same year, Pitts became a clerk in the office of the Recorder of Deeds for the District of Columbia headed by Frederick Douglass who was writing his autobiography.

Pitts and Douglass married in January 1884.  (Douglass's first wife had died two years prior.)  Pitts reportedly said of her marriage to Douglass: "Love came to me, and I was not afraid to marry the man I loved because of his color."

But the couple faced opposition from family and friends to their union which was illegal in many states.

In 1895, Douglass died and Pitts took up the torch to create the Frederick Douglass Memorial and Historical Association.  She died in 1903 and was buried next to her husband.  With the help of the National Association of Colored Women, led by Mary Talbert, the Frederick Douglass Memorial Home opened in 1916 to visitors.

__________

Mixed Experience History Month is the annual blog post series created by writer Heidi Durrow celebrating the history of the Mixed experience.  Established in 2007, Mixed Experience History Month is an effort to highlight the long history of folks involved in the Mixed experience.  Please look for more profiles of people, places and events of the Mixed experience every weekday of May at Lightskinned-ed Girl, the blog!  Thanks for reading.  And check out some of the previous year's profiles: 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011.

Mixed Experience History Month 2012: Jeanne Duval, performer & muse

Jeanne Duval was born in Haiti in 1820.  She was of mixed-race heritage including black African and mixed French ancestry.

In 1842, Duval traveled to France where she met the French poet Charles Baudelaire.  She would become his lover and serve as his muse for the next twenty years.

Many of Baudelaire's poems are about Duval or dedicated to her including the Black Venus cycle of poems in Les Fleurs du Mal.

Edouard Manet painted a portrait of Duval in 1862 called Baudelaire's Mistress, Reclining.  She died sometime thereafter possibly of syphillis: historical records are unclear.

Writer Angela Carter presents Duval with agency in her short story, Black Venus.

__________

Mixed Experience History Month is the annual blog post series created by writer Heidi Durrow celebrating the history of the Mixed experience.  Established in 2007, Mixed Experience History Month is an effort to highlight the long history of folks involved in the Mixed experience.  Please look for more profiles of people, places and events of the Mixed experience every weekday of May at Lightskinned-ed Girl, the blog!  Thanks for reading.  And check out some of the previous year's profiles: 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011.

Mixed Experience History Month 2012: Ina Ray Hutton, Band Leader

Ina Ray Hutton--born Odessa Cowen in 1916 in Chicago--was a mixed-race African-American but would go on to pass as white during her musical career as a successful performer and bandleader.

Hutton made her Broadway debut at 14.  At 17, she joined the Ziegfield Follies.

In 1934, Hutton became the bandleader to a group of female musicians: Ina Ray Hutton and Her Melodears.

As the bandleader, Hutton became known as the “Blonde Bombshell of Rhythm."  She was the first female bandleader to be recorded and filmed. In the 1940s, she led an all-male band as a brunette.

In 1951, she created the Ina Hutton Show, a tv show that featured an all-female band and ran for four years.

Hutton died in 1984 in California.  It was only after her death that her racial and ethnic identity were revealed by a reporter, Phyllis Fletcher
.

 

__________

Mixed Experience History Month is the annual blog post series created by writer Heidi Durrow celebrating the history of the Mixed experience.  Established in 2007, Mixed Experience History Month is an effort to highlight the long history of folks involved in the Mixed experience.  Please look for more profiles of people, places and events of the Mixed experience every weekday of May at Lightskinned-ed Girl, the blog!  Thanks for reading.  And check out some of the previous year's profiles: 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011.

Mixed Experience History Month 2012: George Herriman, cartoonist

Born in 1880 in New Orleans, Herriman was the son of Creole African-Americans who were identified as mulatto on the 1880 Census.

He grew up in Los Angeles and started working as an illustrator for a newspaper by age 17.  Herriman drew several comic strips (Gooseberry Sprig, The Dingbat Family, Baron Bean) before creating his super popular series Krazy Kat.

Krazy Kat featured a complicated love-hate triangle between Ignatz, a mouse; Krazy, a "kat"; and Offissa, a dog/cop.

President Woodrow Wilson and writers T.S. Eliot and Gertrude Stein and newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst were among Herriman's fans.  In the classic text  The 7 Lively Arts, Herriman was mentioned as the "greatest comic artist of all time."  In 1922, the strip was adapted to a Broadway stage show.  Although the 1920s was the height of the strip's popularity, the strip ran continuously in Hearst papers from 1913 to 1944.

Herriman's ethnic identity was shrouded in mystery during his lifetime--he never publicly stated his racial or cultural background.  On his death certificate, he is listed as "Caucasian."  But his work has been interpreted as a statement on the complexities of shifting identities.

Herriman died in 1944 in his sleep.

__________

Mixed Experience History Month is the annual blog post series created by writer Heidi Durrow celebrating the history of the Mixed experience.  Established in 2007, Mixed Experience History Month is an effort to highlight the long history of folks involved in the Mixed experience.  Please look for more profiles of people, places and events of the Mixed experience every weekday of May at Lightskinned-ed Girl, the blog!  Thanks for reading.  And check out some of the previous year's profiles: 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011.

Mixed Experience History Month 2012: Yone Noguchi, Poet

It's May so it's time for the 6th Annual Mixed Experience History Month.  As in past years, I will post a profile each weekday for the whole month.  I kick off this year's series with a profile of poet, Yone Noguchi.

Noguchi was the first Japanese-born writer to publish poetry in English.  After graduating from college in Japan, Noguchi moved to San Francisco in 1893.  His first jobs were as a newspaper reporter and domestic servant.

Noguchi soon found himself part of the community of well-connected bohemian intellectuals in the Bay Area.  It was through those connections he was able to publish his first verses in a magazine called The Lark.

In 1900, Noguchi relocated to the East Coast and wrote and published two novels between 1900 and 1904.

In 1903, Noguchi traveled to England where he found popular and critical success with new self-published works.  He also developed new literary friendships with William Yeats and Thomas Hardy.

Upon his return to the United States, Noguchi secretly wed Leonie Gilmour, a white female educator.  The union didn't last and in 1904, Noguchi returned to Japan to teach at a university.  It was after their break-up Gilmour discovered she was pregnant with a son who would become the sculptor Isamu Noguchi.  Noguchi and Gilmour briefly reunited when she moved with Isamu to Japan in 1907.  But Noguchi already had a Japanese wife.  Gilmour separated from Noguchi, but continued to live in Japan with their son.

Noguchi is best known for his collection of haiku, The Pilgrimage, which would influence the work of Ezra Pound and the Imagist movement in poetry.

__________

Mixed Experience History Month is the annual blog post series created by writer Heidi Durrow celebrating the history of the Mixed experience.  Established in 2007, Mixed Experience History Month is an effort to highlight the long history of folks involved in the Mixed experience.  Please look for more profiles of people, places and events of the Mixed experience every weekday of May at Lightskinned-ed Girl, the blog!  Thanks for reading.  And check out some of the previous year's profiles: 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011.

I'm on Pinterest!

I'm not sure why although I am finding it kind of addictive.  Are you on Pinterest too?  You can find me here!

A TED Talk on Storytelling

Okay, yeah, this is the same guy who did the John Carter movie, but he also did Finding Nemo, and I like what he has to say on storytelling.  "Don't give [the audience] 4, give them 2 + 2."

 

Another Afro-Viking: Danish Hip Hop Queen Karen Mukupa

Okay, I am very late to "discovering" Danish Hip Hop Queen Karen Mukupa.  But I am loving her music. 

On Missing Bread

So, I finally got serious in the last two weeks with the exercise and weight loss regimen again.  (It is so much easier to focus on healthy living when my days are regular and I'm off the road.)

I have been missing bread doing my low-carb diet.  But I have found a wonderful alternative and a great recipe for a low-carb grilled cheese sandwich.  True, it doesn't look like much, but this little sandwich makes me happy and it has only 5 net carbs.

The "bread" recipe is inspired by the muffin in a minute recipes (muffins that are made in the microwave).

1/4 cup milled flax seed

1 tablespoon grated parmesan cheese

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

1/4 of a 1/4 tsp baking soda

1 tsp butter

1 egg

Stir the dry ingredients.  Then add butter and egg.  Mix well.  Pour in microwave safe dish (square if you can).  Cook in microwave for 1 minute.  Slice bread lengthwise and continue with the regular grilled cheese making steps.  (Except I don't use any more butter.)  I also use fat-free cheese and add chia seeds to the mix as well.  I'm going to try a version with just egg white to cut down on the fat as well.  Try it.  It's actually pretty tasty.

 

Another TED Talk I Enjoyed

This one is fun.  Check it out.  Could there be a TED Talk in 6 words?  I think maybe yes after watching this!

 

Bryan Stevenson: "We Need to Talk about an Injustice"

I posted this on my Facebook and Twitter accounts a couple of weeks ago, but it's so important and so moving and absolutely transforming--that I had to post it here too.

This is Bryan Stevenson's TED Talk on injustice, his grandmother, and the importance of sharing the truth of one's identity to help others.

 

 

Adrienne Rich, Visionary, Rest In Peace

I was lucky to take a course taught by Adrienne Rich while she was at Stanford.  It was a literature course focused on "outsider women" -- I can't remember what it was called.  But it was then I was introduced to the very amazing work of Lillian Smith, Audre Lorde, and Frida Kahlo among others.  I will never forget hearing--for the first time--the song Strange Fruit.  This was back in the day and the class crowded around a boombox at the front of the room.  We were transfixed.  Here we were--mostly women--of all stripes and polka dots feeling the pain of the story Billie Holiday was singing.  I can't explain the power of that moment.

About three years ago, I found a collection of Rich's I wasn't familiar with: A Wild Patience Has Taken Me This Far.

from "For Memory"

Freedom.  It isn't once, to walk out

under the Milky Way, feeling the rivers

of light, the fields of dark--

freedom is daily, prose-bound, routine

remembering.  Putting together, inch by inch

the starry worlds.  From all the lost collections."

It was one of those days when I found exactly what I needed.--Strangely, only a few weeks later I saw Rich at a restaurant in New York City.  She was gracious enough to let me interrupt her family meal to say hello.

I learned so much from Adrienne Rich's poetry. I learned so much from her vision.  She will be missed.

Hunger Games Fans' Racist Remarks

I'm chiming in on this a little late, but it's been absolutely heart-breaking and horrifying--and I wasn't sure how to respond in words.

If you haven't heard: many Hunger Games book fans chimed in on Twitter about their disappointment that some of the book's characters were African-American in the film.  Okay, let's just say it the way it is: they tweeted hateful and racists things like:

"why does rue have to be black not gonna lie kinda ruined the movie"

AND from another Tweeter:

"kk call me racist but when I found out rue was black her death wasn't as sad"

(Maybe there should have been a third "k" in that greeting?)

Heart-breaking, horrible and horrifying on so many levels: 1) that these folks are so limited (read racist); 2) that these young people can't muster any empathy for someone different; 3) that their imaginations are so limited.

BTW: As this blog post explains, Rue was described as brown skinned in the book.  Somehow, these Tweeters also failed in reading comprehension.  (In the film, Rue is played by the very talented Amandla Sternberg who happens to be a fellow Afro-Viking (African-American and Danish)--be sure to check her out in Columbiana too.)

What does this say about our society?

Mel the Milkbite is Mixed

I hadn't seen these commercials starring Mel, the Milkbite, until Laura M. and Jason S. brought them to my attention. 

What did I think, they asked?

Well, first let me explain: Mel, the Milkbite is a character created by Kraft to help sell a new granola bar that is half milk and half granola.  It has so much milk, they say, that it needs to be stored in the refrigerator.

So, the first of the ads I watched was called "Parents." Mel is talking to his parents: his mom is a glass of milk, his dad is a bowl of granola, and Mel asks woefully: "Did you think about the kids?"  I have to say, this did make feel me yucky.  It is, of course, the "well-intentioned" question of so many who oppose interracial and intercultural marriages--

The jingle is off-putting too: "I'm part milk and part granola, but mostly I'm confused."
But then there are several more Mel the Milkbite ads including one in which Mel allies himself with a spork (because he understands coming from two worlds); and one in which he goes to art therapy, etc. which are just kind of funny-- I laughed out loud at the Dating video.

The ads speak to a need to put humor into the discussions about the Mixed experience, but where does it cross the line and become mocking? I'm not sure. Thoughts?

The Way Shame Works, The Way it Stops Us

Last year, a friend introduced me to the original TED Talk by Brene Brown--The Power of Vulnerability-- when I was going through a difficult time. I immediately bought Brown's book and found some comfort and wisdom from it--and have revisited it a few times since then too. 

Here is a follow-up TED Talk that was recently posted on the way shame works in our lives, "the unspoken epidemic in broken behaviors."

 

Write a Letter a Day Challenge

The last few weeks I have finally found a measure of peace in organizing my office: new file cabinets, new storage, new label maker, and at last I have a clutter-free desk!  

Part of the clean up involved going through old journals and letters.  I used to be an avid letter writer, and I had a great correspondence with a few people over the years.  I started writing letters as soon as I knew how to write.  I loved stamps, and saved my money to buy more stationery.  I was a weird kid.

I continued to write letters through college, and law school and well into the late 1990s when email was more common.  There is a wonderful intimacy in reading about a friend's adventures in Panama, or a friend's excitement over a new love.  I miss my pen pals!

So I was excited to see this challenge: Write a Letter a Day in February.  (Perfectly timed for Valentine's Day!)  I'm going to take the challenge.  How about you?  

Oh, and if you'd like to send me a letter, you can find my address on my website contact page!

Oh, Etta! You Will Be Missed!

Etta James died.  I adored Etta James.  It is a sad day indeed.  

I fell in love with her music kind of late.  I knew of her, but it was her albums of jazz standards that made me fall in love with her voice.  I could play her version of Someone to Watch Over Me all day long.  It is my all-time favorite song.

I first saw her in concert at the Hollywood Bowl a couple of years later.  She was Ray Charles' opening act and I was in the front row of box seats (my summer intern treat!).  I didn't know what an extraordinary performer she was.  Wow!  I saw her at least half-dozen times in concert after that--the last time was a couple of years ago again at the Hollywood Bowl.  She was still and again amazing.

In my novel, Etta James actually plays a pivotal role. When Rachel, the main character, goes to see Etta James in concert she is profoundly changed.  She says:

"Etta James is stuffed together like Grandma--a big, squishy capsule--and she's light-skinned like me.  She's got the gravel to her voice when she sings the loud parts (and the parts that are kind of nasty too).  She also has that soft spot in her voice when she sings songs that are about being lonely and sad.

The last song, which is an encore, is a long, slow song.  I clap and clap.  And stand and clap.  I want to say this the way Grandma would if she agreed: I like me some Etta James!  It feels like it's the only way to say it to make the meaning good."

I should have written: I LOVE me some Etta James.  Oh, Etta!  You will be missed!

A New Year, A Nice Vacation

I am happy to report that this report comes from the Riviera Maya in Mexico.  It was raining when we arrived in the late afternoon yesterday.  I'm talking biblical kind of rain.  And it was so chilly that I wore my New York City winter coat to dinner.

It was impossible to enjoy the scenery because it was already dark, but what a wonderful view I woke up to.  Nice, right?

I've had the most relaxing of days: coffee, my morning pages, and NPR; delicious buffet breakfast overlooking the pool; a massage; a spa pedicure; and now a glass of wine before heading off for dinner.  My goals for the next two days: 1) enjoy another massage; 2) walk on the beach; 3) read on the beach; 4) rest up!  Ah . . . more soon from the other side of relaxation.

One Book Turns Into One Awesome Winter Hat

Last Spring, I was traveling home from Portland, and noticed a woman knitting a gorgeous looking winter cap on the flight.  It looked just like my beloved cap that I lost last winter in a cab.  I was bummed out for several days about losing that cap--not just because it was blue and green (the perfect colors), but a family friend knit it for me shortly before she died of cancer.

It became clear to me that I had to have the hat the woman on the plane was knitting. 

"Hi," I blurted as we got off the plane.  "Can I buy that hat from you?"

She laughed and said she didn't sell her knitting.  I explained how much the hat reminded me of one I had lost that meant a lot to me.  Was there any way she could make an exception?

Well, in that case, she said, the hat was mine.  She'd send it when she was done.  What was my address?

How happy was I?  Ecstatic, but felt like I had to give her something.  So I signed a copy of my book and gave it to her along with my mailing address.

I hadn't thought about that encounter since--until I got a package in the mail last week.  My hat!  With a lovely note from Sara (I didn't even know her name), and a beatiful bracelet she made too.

She still isn't selling her wonderful work.  Don't you think she should? 

Thank you Sara!  You made my week!  And your hat will keep me warm all winter!

 

End of the Year Bustle

Whew! I just finished the last of my deadlines for 2011 -- a short story commissioned by WNYC's Selected Shorts program.  I hope they like it.  And now, it is time to breathe again.  

I feel almost giddy knowing that all I have to think about in the coming months is the new book!  Whoo hoo!  Okay, there are a couple of speeches I need to write (notably the Everybody Reads 2012 event with an audience of 2000 in Portland in March), and a workshop I need to put together.  But still, what I am feeling right now is relief.  I have some time to do some big picture thinking, reading, organizing my closets, exercising and of course, having some holiday fun.

Do you have time off during the next couple of weeks?  What are you going to do?

The Cult of Done Manifesto

I'm working on a short story that was commissioned by a popular NPR program.  I'm freaking out as the deadline looms next week.  And then I saw this wonderful manifesto that's helping me focus!

1. There are three states of being. Not knowing, action and completion.
2. Accept that everything is a draft. It helps to get it done.
3. There is no editing stage.
4. Pretending you know what you're doing is almost the same as knowing what you are doing, so just accept that you know what you're doing even if you don't and do it.
5. Banish procrastination. If you wait more than a week to get an idea done, abandon it.
6. The point of being done is not to finish but to get other things done.
7. Once you're done you can throw it away.
8. Laugh at perfection. It's boring and keeps you from being done.
9. People without dirty hands are wrong. Doing something makes you right.
10. Failure counts as done. So do mistakes.
11. Destruction is a variant of done.
12. If you have an idea and publish it on the internet, that counts as a ghost of done.
13. Done is the engine of more.

My CNN Red Chair Interview

Remember back in August when I did the CNN Dialogues panel hosted by Wolf Blitzer? Well, that same trip I got to sit for a CNN Red Chair interview (watch the video it really is a red chair) -- CNN Red Chair feature is a newsmaker series that has featured the likes of the current crop of Republican presidential nominees, Chaka Khan and George Clinton, and now me. You can check it out here:

The Regimen Has Begun: Dieting Before the New Year

I will confess: I let it all go while I was on the road for the last few weeks--heck, I let it all go for the last couple of years as I toured.

I can say that I didn't meet a plate of french fries, or a plate of pasta I didn't like since 2009.  And then the workouts: well, let's just say that even though I brought that awesome foldable yoga mat with me everywhere as well as my workout wear . . . those things didn't often get used.  It's a hair thing too.  I like to travel with my hair straight so I don't get that bird's nest of matted curls when I'm on the plane (not to mention traveling with wet hair); and if I sweat, well then my hair isn't straight and then . . . -- well, as you can tell I had a bunch of "reasons" that I ended up packing on the pounds.

This week, I think I have broken the cycle!

1.  I am officially "off the road."  Whew!  As much fun as it was, it was impossible to stick to a good diet and exercise regimen on my hectic travel schedule.

2.  I have gone low-carb (this is day 4) and I think I can stick with it for a few months with some new additions to my diet.  (E.g. Harmonized Protein Powder in iced coffee; Pasta Slim noodles; and more water than I am comfortable drinking when I am on the road if you know what I mean!)

3. I'm getting almost as intense a workout as I would working out with a trainer.  I bought a timer app for my phone that allows me to do Tabata intervals.  (More about that in another post.)  The timer does a visual countdown, but also has a voice prompt that says "Ready?"in a really energizing way and then the bell rings for the next round.  I'm getting my butt kicked by a timer voice!  It's great!

So wish me luck on this journey.  I'm looking at Feb. 1 as my goal weight deadline.  Yup, I said it out loud: that means accountability.  See you in the gym!

"I love me some Etta James!"

It is a sad day indeed.  I just learned that Etta James has released her final album.  It doesn't really come as a surprise.  She's not been in good health for years and the last year has taken a toll on her I understand from various press releases.  I regret that I never sent her a copy of my novel in which she "appears" as an important figure for the development of the character Rachel.  Heck, discovering her music was huge for ME!  Maybe I will send a copy now anyway--and bookmark the page where the character Rachel exclaims: "I love me some Etta James!"  Me too.  Always will.  Sending you well wishes and peace and love, Ms. James. Thank you for your musical legacy.  NOTE TO READERS: Oh, and go buy the album.  It's called "The Dreamer."

New Census Reports Show an Increasingly Multiracial Population

This ran on NBC Nightly News yesterday about the new Census figures.  Check it out!

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

New Words on Cover Even If It's Not New News

I was so tickled when I saw the cover of the latest printing of the paperback. I'm not sure that other folks will notice, but I sure do. Instead of the words "National Bestseller", the cover of The Girl Who Fell From the Sky now says "New York Times Bestseller"--Whoo hoo!

A Great Reading at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History

A huge thanks to everyone who came to my reading at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History last week. I will tell you, I was pretty nervous about this appearance. Who would come? And would my talk be of interest? Well, I must say that the audience was one of the warmest and most welcoming ever. It was a diverse audience: regular museum-goers, book clubs (The Wine Press Book Club pictured here), patrons of the literary arts, writers and parents and individuals interested in the Mixed experience. I was buzzing with excitement by the night's end.  So thank you Heather Moffat and Easter Moorman for the invitation!  I had a great time.
You can download and listen to the audio of the presentation here: I Am A Story: Heidi Durrow Reading & Talk at Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, Sept. 8, 2011(mp3 file). Or listen below.

 

 

Pen On Fire Writers Salon Wrap Up with Danzy Senna

What a cool night! Writer Barbara DeMarco-Barrett hosts a monthly literary salon in Corona del Mar, CA and I was glad to be a part of it. I shared the stage with Danzy Senna (You Are Free) as we talked about the writing process, permission and fear. Thanks for a wonderful evening, everyone!

CNN Dialogues Wrap Up!

I can't stop buzzing about the wonderful experience I had last week as a participant on CNN Dialogue's inaugural discussion in Atlanta. I was more than little nervous that I would flub the whole thing up. The panel, which was moderated by CNN's Wolf Blitzer, included fellow panelists Kris Marsh, Yul Kwon, Dana Young and Edward James Olmos. I was there as the author of The Girl Who Fell From the Sky-- talking about the Census and the New America. I wish I could give you a whole play-by-play but it all went by in a kind of blur. There were some interesting highlights --like when Wolf joked that I didn't "sound black" and then I didn't sound Danish -- well, until I busted on with some Danish on stage--I never get to do that. I also really enjoyed hearing from the young people in the audience. Two in particular stood out -- a young woman who clearly got her hackles raised when I said kids didn't necessarily know enough history (she obviously did--and she will definitely be a force) and another young woman who lamented that despite having the best education and access possible, she still found colorism to be so confounding. I wish I had an answer for her--all I could say was "Girl, I wish I knew. I straightened my hair this morning!" We came up with zero answers, but it was a spirited dialogue and I was so excited to be a part of the discussion. There's talk that it will be webcast on the CNN website. I'll keep you posted!

NPR's Summer Blended Book Series

It was a great pleasure to help wrap up the first-ever Summer Blend Book Club created by Michel Martin of NPR's Tell Me More.  If you haven't read these books, you must.  You will love them.  You will often laugh.  Check out the interview here.

My New Gig: Blogging for the Huffington Post

The new project of the Huffington Post, Black Voices, launched today.  I'll be included as one of the regular bloggers.  This is my first piece on Why Fiction Matters in a Digital Age.

CNN Dialogue with Wolf Blitzer

I'm excited to be a part of this new series CNN Dialogues on Race moderated with Wolf Blitzer on August 31 at 7PM in Atlanta. Other panelists include actor Edward James Olmos, Survivor winner Yul Kwon, and Professors Kris Marsh, and Dana White. For ticket information visit the university website.

Summer is here at last!

Okay, yes, I'm a little bit behind.  I know summer officially started in June but I haven't felt it.  I've spent the last few weeks tying up loose ends from the book tour and the Festival, clearing off my desk, dealing with some difficult stuff, and trying to figure out my next steps as I work on the new book.  Today is the first day I feel like the pressure cooker lid is off and the long list of to-do's is actually do-able.

The weekend was peaceful and fun: a trip to the market, dinner with friends, a movie and there were a couple of naps involved too.  Suddenly, my life looked like my life again pre-publication.  It was nice.

And plus, there's the new ribbon I have in my typewriter which I am about to work on now--trying to spark some new thoughts using a new (classic) tool.  Okay, now back to the words!

Portland Picks The Girl Who Fell From the Sky for Everybody Reads 2012

It's official! I am beyond thrilled and honored that Portland has picked The Girl Who Fell From the Sky for its city-wide read, Everybody Reads for 2012! Details to come about events and appearances! Whoo hoo!

WIN a free copy of The Girl Who Fell From the Sky

Algonquin is giving away 20 copies of The Girl Who Fell From the Sky in honor of the upcoming Algonquin Book Club event on 8/18 at 7pm. The awesome, best-selling writer, Terry McMillan will interview at Book Passage in Corte Madera. Can't make it? Well, it's going to be webcast LIVE! Just add a comment to the Algonquin blog here to enter to win the giveaway. For all the information about the event and webcast click here.

On How Story Happens, It's Happening Now

Stories seem so well constructed that it's natural for teachers to assume they were thought up in advance, but Gregor Samsa could have mated with another cockroach, and Humpty Dumpty could have been unscrambled by feeding him to a chicken.

--Keith Johnston, "Journey Without Maps"

                                                                  

Finding the Soul of the Research: A Writer's Call

"Maybe stories are research with a soul."  - Brene Brown

I have stacks of papers, and note cards, and photos and books.  It is the research for the new book I'm working on.  I have been looking at all of this information trying to tease out the important details to shape a story, but right now the writing feels--well--soul-less.  How do I put a soul to these facts and details?  Any ideas?

On the Gift of Imperfection

"There is a crack in everything.  That's how the light gets in." -- Leonard Cohen (lyrics of "Anthem")

Writing in the Fever or Writing in the Calm?

While I was writing my first book, I often wrote out of the angst of the moment.  When I was most unsettled by life, I found a real well-spring of creative energy.  It felt like a fever sometimes.  I would write long-hand whole passages that ulitmately appeared in the published book almost unchanged.

When I was writing the final drafts of the book, I often tried to cultivate that highly emotional state by playing sad songs over and over as I sat at my desk.  The writing, I thought, worked best when I felt emotionally raw, or even better yet when I wept. 

Now, I believe that my writing is best-served when I have a tranquil mind and a tranquil life.  As Flaubert says: “Be regular and orderly in your life, so that you may be violent and original in your work.”

I am hoping for some tranquility in these days, and relief from sleepless nights so all of that disorder can feed the writing.  Wish me words.

 

On Happiness

"Often people attempt to live their lives backwards: they try to have more things, or more money, in order to do more of what they want so that they will be happier.  The way it actually works is the reverse.  You must first be who you really are, then do what you really need to do, in order to have what you want."  - Margaret Young