Light-skinned-ed Girl

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.

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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.

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.

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.

NPR Tell Me More Interview Festival Recap & Summer Blended Book Club

  I hope you'll check out this interview I did yesterday for NPR's Tell Me More.  I give a little Festival recap (more on that soon) and help launch the show's Summer Blended Books Series focused on books of the Mixed experience.  And please click "Recommend" at the top of the page if you could!

My NPR Book Recommendations

One of the great things about getting The Girl Who Fell From the Sky published was that it got my name in front of the good NPR Books folks, and I've had an opportunity to do a few different pieces that have aired on All Things Considered. 

My latest one ran earlier this week:  Three Books to Save Nordic Lit from the Dark Side.  Please check it out.  And "click" recommend at the top!  Maybe they'll invite me back if the piece is popular enough--(and guys, it's a paying gig!)

My KQED Reading: NEVER HEARD BEFORE STUFF

I am so absolutely proud of this reading that I did for KQED's Writers Block. This is a reading I had never done before that day in studio. It's actually the text from the published version of a story called "He Runs" which is part of The Girl Who Fell From the Sky. But I have NEVER read it this way for presentations. I hope you will take the time to give it a listen below (19 minutes).   ITunes users can access the podcast here. There's also a fun Q&A to read on KQED's website.  Finally, here is a direct link to the audio.

Thank you Broadway Books for a wonderful launch!

Thank you to everyone who braved the icy roads on Tuesday to celebrate the paperback release. It was a lovely evening and so exciting to debut the work in progress for you. And you really liked it? Really? Well I will keep plugging away then! Thanks Sally and Roberta for kicking off the tour in such a special way.

Holiday Blues in the form of Tree & a Weepy Cheery Greeting

It's been a hectic year--a wonderful year--but a hectic one.  I am finally able to see the top of my desk after a week of filing and organizing my office.

It's been so hectic that we didn't have the time (or energy) to get a Christmas tree.  We played our Christmas song collection about three times instead of every day for a month as usual.  And, we postponed sharing gifts with my family until I visit next month.

It's felt decidedly un-holiday-like around here except for our little blue tree--decorated by Niece & procured by sister-in-law who insisted that we must have some holiday cheer in the house.

And then there was a wonderful greeting from, Jessilynn, one of my favorite booksellers, who I would also like to count as a friend.  She invited me to her Michigan bookstore, McLean & Eakin, and it was one of the most amazing and magical trips I made all year for the book.  Jessilynn's greeting simply made me weep--in that very best of holiday ways.  So thank you Jessilynn!  The visit was one of the highlights of my year! xoxoxo

Mulatto (the word) on the Rise

I love to try out (read procrastinate and waste time) playing with fun new web apps.  Google has added to its Google labs a new web app called, Ngram, that allows you to compare how many times words appear in books over the last two hundred years. 

For fun, I decided to compare the words "biracial" (blue) and "mulatto" (red)-- and guess what?  Mulatto is on the rise!  In fact, the word "mulatto" appears more often in our contemporary time (the information only goes up to 2008) than the word "biracial."  I thought for sure "mulatto" was on the wane--but no.  Weird, huh?

What's going on?

Books: Ideas for Gift-Giving

Give a book this holiday season. You can't give more enchantment for less.  The Fiction Writers Co-Op—five dozen authors of distinguished, award-winning, and best-selling fiction—recommend:

Dracula in Love by Karen Essex. "...the writing is so vivid, lusciously sexy and chillingly outrageous by turns..." - The Star Ledger http://tinyurl.com/2eyohd4  (I met Karen at the Beverly Hills Lit. Escape--she's lovely and smart!)

The Last Will of Moira Leahy by Therese Walsh. "This tender tale of sisterhood, self-discovery, and forgiveness will captivate fans of contemporary women’s fiction.”- Library Journal  http://theresewalsh.com/books.html

The Murderer's Daughters by Randy Susan Meyers. "A powerful portrait of sisters growing up in the shadow of violence . . . A thought-provoking, heart-tugging debut." Boston Magazine http://tinyurl.com/264efbn

The Day the Falls Stood Still  by Cathy Marie Buchanan. "A wonderful love story…Buchanan weaves Niagara Falls’ history and her storytelling together masterfully.” − Elle http://tinyurl.com/2wmccyv

By Fire, By Water by Mitchell James Kaplan. "Remarkably learned and heartbreaking romantic novel... Despite its medieval setting, the story has contemporary echoes... Hard to put down, beautifully executed, highly recommended." Minneapolis Star Tribune http://bit.ly/fzZoET 

Simply From Scratch by Alicia Bessette. "Fans of Cecelia Ahern’s PS, I Love You will find a lot to like here ... strong, richly detailed ... with a truly lovable heroine ... the spins and turns the story takes along the way are well worth the ride." —Library Journal

 The Love Goddess' Cooking School by Melissa Senate. "Senate handles the hefty topics of loss and remembrances with lightness and respect and in so doing, redefines comfort food." --Publishers Weekly  http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1439107238

Seven Year Switch by Claire Cook. "Bestseller Cook [Must Love Dogs, Life's a Beach] charms again with this lively warm-hearted look at changing courses mid-life."-People Magazine http://ClaireCook.com/

The Lace Makers of Glenmara by Heather Barbieri. "This hopeful, comforting novel is a testament to the power of taking chances and starting fresh, and a reminder that life can bring joy after sorrow."--Miami Herald

 All the Numbers by Judy Merrill Larsen.  "Larsen depicts a mother's year of grief and recovery with a sure and honest voice."--Booklist  http://www.judymerrilllarsen.com/buy.htm 

Spin by Catherine McKenzie. "The tag line is: ‘How far would you go to get what you always wanted?’ and Kate Sandford, protagonist of Catherine McKenzie's first novel, Spin, goes so far she makes you cringe. … Where A Million Little Pieces … was tortured and powerful, Spin is more about entertainment and fun. … Full of pop-culture allusions, some really funny ones. … Spin is a compelling, fast-paced read.” – The Globe and Mail  

The Truth About Delilah Blue by Tish Cohen. "Both of Cohen’s previous novels (Town House and Inside Out Girl) are in development as films, and The Truth About Delilah Blue is sure to follow. She is clearly familiar with the cinema’s propulsive rhythms, and has an almost Hitchcockian sense of how to uncoil audience guts and play double dutch with them." --The Globe and Mail 

The Bird Sisters by Rebecca Rasmussen, forthcoming from Crown Publishers, April 12th. "A magical debut, original and poignant, lovely and moving. I absolutely loved The Bird Sisters and will carry Milly and Twiss with me as if in a locket for a long, long time." --Jenna Blum, Bestselling Author of  Those Who Save Us. Visit http://www.thebirdsisters.com/ 

Belong to Me by Marisa de los Santos.  "[W]hat happens when life throws us kinks and crumbles the plans we've so carefully laid out . . . There is poetry in her words and all around the world she has created."--Richmond Times-Dispatch  

Alice I Have Been by Melanie Benjamin.  Diana Gabaldon says of this fictional biography of Alice Liddell, the inspiration for Alice in Wonderland, "This is magic!  Childhood, sensuality, love, sorrow and wonder, all bright and complex as the shifting patterns in a kaleidoscope." http://melaniebenjamin.com/books.php#buy 

Mistress of the Sun by Sandra Gulland. "Here's a warning: Mistress of the Sun is dangerously seductive. It's one of those books that will grab you and hold you captive till the last page is turned." —Calgary Herald  http://amzn.to/mistressofthesun  

Stay by Allie Larkin. "Larkin makes writing look easy. Stay has everything...humor, heart -and, endearingly, buckets of dog slobber." —The Miami Herald http://allielarkinwrites.com/  

Kings of the Earth by Jon Clinch. Robert Goolrick calls it "eloquent and moving, written with precision and clarity to stave off loss — the loss of history, of art, of humanity." O Magazine's lead pick for summer reading, and a Washington Post Best Novel of 2010.    http://www.jonclinch.com/ 

My Husband's Sweethearts by Bridget Asher. "... rendered with humor and heart." -- People "... a laugh-and-cry novel whose plot includes equal portions of heartache and hope." -- The Chicago Tribune    http://juliannabaggott.com/  

 The Confessions of Catherine de Medici  by C.W. GortnerPower. Passion. Poison: History's most notorious queen tells us her side of the story. "Fans of Alison Weir and Philippa Gregory will devour this!" - BookList. http://www.cwgortner.com/ 

Souvenir by Therese Fowler.  An IndieBound selection and book club favorite, this novel about family, fate, regret and redemption is "truly impossible to put down."--Booklist.  USA TODAY says it's "Compelling...the characters are likable, troubled, and human, and are well worth following on their journey." http://www.theresefowler.com/

After You by Julie Buxbaum.  Jodi Picoult says of this novel about love and friendship: "Buxbaum writes with honesty and grace about the things we know about our friends and the things we wish we didn't. After You highlights—beautifully and compellingly—the truth that sometimes we have to lose the people closest to us to find ourselves." http://www.juliebuxbaum.com/

Children of the Waters by Carleen Brice Jacquelyn Mitchard author,The Deep End of the Ocean, says of this novel about what really makes a family: "I was exhausted and singing the blues the hour I began Carleen Brice's new novel, Children of the Waters. Five hours later, I'd finished this fresh, free-rein novel about mothers' secrets and children's sorrows and was shouting 'Hurray!'" www.carleenbrice.com  (I adore this woman!)

Claude and Camille by Stephanie Cowell, the story of Claude Monet in his young struggling years which led to the birth of impressionism and his great love for his model and wife , the tragic Camille.  The Boston Globe said, "an enthralling story, beautifully told" and Bookpage added, "A vivid portrait of Monet's remarkable career." www.stephaniecowell.com

Remedies by Kate Ledger.  Remedies explores the complicated nature of pain, in the nerves of the body and the longing of the heart.... "an immediately gripping, expertly woven tale of pain and healing. Ledger is a brilliant writer; the book is dazzling, but more importantly, it is moving."--Elin Hilderbrand http://tiny.cc/ofni9

Shelter Me by Juliette Fay “What a gorgeous paradox of a book:  a deep, thoughtful exploration of a young mother’s first year of widowhood that is as much a page-turner as any thriller" says bestselling author Marisa de los Santos. Publishers Weekly deemed it "a wise and inspirational debut." http://juliettefay.com

Amaryllis in Blueberry by Christina Meldrum.  In the stirring tradition of The Secret Life of Bees and the Poisonwood Bible, Amaryllis in Blueberry is "spellbinding...A perfect melding of family saga, murder mystery and a meditation on faith, loyalty and love."--Susan Wiggs, New York Times Bestselling author www.christinameldrum.com

Saving CeeCee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman  - a New York Times bestseller. “Exemplifying Southern storytelling at its best…”  (Starred review) from Library Journal.