Light-skinned-ed Girl

Instructions for Singing Pixy-Daddy and his Christmas Porridge

To try out one of my favorites here's the tune "Paa loftet sidder nissen med sin julegroed" and the lyrics appear below in Danish and an English translation.  This is a very good dance-around-the-Christmas-tree song!  (I may have to try singing this English translation.  It's just so fun to say the word pixy-daddy!)

1. På loftet sidder nissen med sin julegrød,
sin julegrød, så god og sød,
han nikker, og han spiser, og han er så glad
for julegrød er hans bedste mad.
Men rundt omkring står alle de små rotter,
og de skotter, og de skotter:
"Vi vil så gerne ha' lidt julegodter,"
og de danser, danser rundt i ring.

2. Men nissefar han truer med sin store ske:
"Vil I nu se at kom' af sted,
for jeg vil ha' min julegrød i ro og fred,
og ingen, ingen vil jeg dele med."
Men rotterne de hopper, og de danser,
og de svinser, og de svanser,
de kikker efter grøden, og de standser,
og de står om nissen tæt i ring.

3. Men nissefar han er en lille hidsigprop,
og med sin krop han gør et hop:
"Jeg henter katten, hvis I ikke holder op,
når katten kommer, skal det nok bli' stop."
Så bliver alle rotterne så bange,
åh, så bange, åh, så bange,
de vender sig og danser et par gange,
og en, to, tre, så er de væk!

In the loft sits the pixy with his Christmas porridge

English Translation: Homa Kosarnia and Mette Vejlebo 

1. In the loft sits the pixy with his Christmas porridge,
his Christmas porridge, so good and sweet,
he nods, and he eats and he is so happy,
because Christmas porridge is his favorite food.
But around him are all the little rats,
and they look out of the corner of their eyes,
and they look out of the corner of their eyes.
We really want some Christmas sweets,
and they dance, dance around in a ring.

2. But pixy-daddy he threatens with his big spoon,
Won’t you just run away now,
because I want my Christmas porridge in peace and quietsy,
and no one, no one will I share it with.
But the rats they hop, and they dance,
and they swing their hips,
they look at the porridge, and they stop,
and they stand around the pixy closely packed in a ring.

3. But pixy-daddy he is a little angry cork,
and with his body he makes a jump:
I will fetch the cat, if you don’t stop,
when the cat comes, it will be stopped.
And then all of the rats get so scared,
oh so scared, oh so scared,
they turn around and dance a couple of times,
and one, two, three, then they are gone.

Biracial, Bicultural, Bilingual Christmas

I love Christmas songs.  I start playing them around the beginning of November usually.  I held off this year until after Thanksgiving, but it was difficult.  Thankfully, my husband likes Christmas music too--so we play, in rotation, a collection of about 30 Christmas CDs for most of December--every single day.  It's a great collection including songs by (of course) Johnny Mathis, Tony Bennett, Bing Crosby, Nat King Cole, Eartha Kitt and the new singers like Luther Vandross, Vanessa Williams, Take 6, Roberta Flack, Peabo Bryson, Brian McKnight, Michael Bolton, Patte LaBelle, etc. etc.  As you can see, there is a decided R&B and jazzy feel to the mix which is great except for the fact that some of my favorite Christmas songs just don't fit the playlist.  I'm talking about the great songs like "Hoejt fra traaets groenne top"; "Nu er det jul igen"; "Paa loftet sidder nissen"; and "Et barn er foedt i Bethlehem."  These are Danish standards.  Not familiar, huh?  That's the other problem. The joy in Christmas music in part is a joy in the sameness--maybe the song is sung by a different singer, but you still know all the words and you are familiar with the song.  Christmas songs have a history in your own life.  When we celebrated Christmas as kids, it was the Danish songs we played and sang dancing around the Christmas tree.  There are many great memories for me in the songs.  But the Danish songs have a history for me that doesn't translate.   The songs can sound like Muppet tunes or boring church psalms if you don't know the language and weren't raised on them.  Usually, the Danish songs don't make the Christmas CD rotation.  This year they have.  Not too many--but a few--and they sound decidedly out of place in the mix.  But that's the way of the biracial, bicultural and bilingual Christmas.  And next year if they make it again--it may seem like they blend well. 

Silences: a documentary

i had the pleasure of meeting a really thoughtful young documentary filmmaker yesterday.  octavio warnock-graham is a biracial filmmaker whose made a really wonderful documentary called silences.  the 20-minute film chronicles octavio's quest to break the silence about his biracial identity.  raised by his white mother and her white husband (the only person he ever knew as his father), octavio never got the full story about his racial identity.  but growing up in an almost all-white town, octavio knew he was different and relates stories about how other children tormented him seeing his difference--even if it was a difference he couldn't articulate.

i'm not able to explain how moving this film was.  i wept for a good few minutes after watching it (i was very lucky to receive a copy from octavio--the film isn't scheduled for another screening right now though it should be.  it's won several awards and it seems like octavio is getting some well-deserved attention in the press like this Amsterdam News profile.)  race isn't something we talk about in the public, in the world.  it's particularly not something we talk about at home.  we want to keep It out there--but there's a consequence to that too.  i think you will love this documentary.  there's a short trailer of silences on the website.  please check it out.

I'm No Mutt

the last week or so the biracial message boards have been abuzz about about kanye west's comments in a new essence magazine article.  i first read about the controversy reading afrobella.  as i understand it, he's quoted as saying: “If it wasn’t for race mixing there’d be no video girls . . . Me and most of our friends like mutts a lot. Yeah, in the hood they call ’em mutts.”

an absolutely ignorant and distasteful comment, i thought, when i read it.  but what's the big deal?   but the more i think about it, i realize it is a big deal.  the language we use to describe each other and ourselves is incredibly important.  it shapes the way we view each other and ourselves.

these days i am biracial or a mocha baby or sometimes mixed.  i'm definitely no mutt.

a mutt is a dog not a woman.  a woman deserves respect.

my biracial twin

i always wanted to look like someone else.  i didn't look like my mother and i didn't look like my father.  i probably look like an exact mixture of the two.  i never felt any comfort in "looking like" my brothers because . . . well, they're boys!  and i'm a girl.

lately i've been having a string of bad biracial hair days.  not the kind of days when people say: wow, you have the best of both worlds.  i have been experiencing a a bad two-world combination in the hair arena.  so i got my hair cut.  "cut off all the damaged stuff!"  i said with confidence to my hairdresser until i saw her snip a good two and a half inches off.  i freaked out when i saw that i had Bangs!  i haven't had bangs since -- i wore fluorescent socks.

but my shorter hair is growing on me.  (no pun intended.)  and now i'm starting to love the new do.  my curls are working --they are curly!  imagine that.  and they are as beautiful and curly as my niece's curls.  she's three (half black and half filipino) and gorgeous (and smart).  on thanksgiving we became supertwins.  take a look: