Light-skinned-ed Girl

Honoring Martin Luther King, Jr. on the National Holiday

Each year I enjoy listening to The Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC, a New York public radio station.  Readers call in to share "one-minute readings about any ethnic group other than your own to pay tribute to Dr. King with a selection of a poem, a novel--anything at all."  This year I share words by Nobel laureate Pablo Neruda spoken in his Nobel acceptance speech:

"There is no insurmountable solitude. All paths lead to the same goal: to convey to others what we are. And we must pass through solitude and difficulty, isolation and silence in order to reach forth to the enchanted place where we can dance our clumsy dance and sing our sorrowful song - but in this dance or in this song there are fulfilled the most ancient rites of our conscience in the awareness of being human and of believing in a common destiny.
. . .

It is today exactly one hundred years since an unhappy and brilliant poet, the most awesome of all despairing souls, wrote down this prophecy: "A l'aurore, armés d'une ardente patience, nous entrerons aux splendides Villes." "In the dawn, armed with a burning patience, we shall enter the splendid Cities."

I believe in this prophecy of Rimbaud, the Visionary. I come from a dark region, from a land separated from all others by the steep contours of its geography. I was the most forlorn of poets and my poetry was provincial, oppressed and rainy. But always I had put my trust in man. I never lost hope. It is perhaps because of this that I have reached as far as I now have with my poetry and also with my banner.

Lastly, I wish to say to the people of good will, to the workers, to the poets, that the whole future has been expressed in this line by Rimbaud: only with a burning patience can we conquer the splendid City which will give light, justice and dignity to all mankind.

In this way the song will not have been sung in vain."

You can read the complete speech here.

Light-skinned-ed Girl Goes to the Funny Pages

I made my first comic strip today with the help of toonlet, a new web-based software that allows you to create your own characters with an easy point-and-click interface.  I can't draw and had never thought of making my own comic strip.  It was so much fun.  NOTE: That's not to say it's funny.  Still, here's the first (though possibly also the last) installment of "Little Oreo"  (click on the comic strip if you cannot see the last panel):

A Writer Celebrates the In-Between . . .

I often write here about creative disappointment and doubt, my long-time companions in my efforts to publish my fiction; and (dare I admit it?) my wish to write the Great American Creole Novel. So, today, even though I know better than to brag (that would be poor home-training AND against Janteloven), I do want to celebrate an in-between accomplishment.

This week I learned that my novel manuscript has been selected as a finalist for the Bellwether Prize.  Hooray for me!

Photo by Gaetan Lee.

The prize winner receives a very sizable check and publication by a major publishing house.  The prize's founder writes:

"Fiction has a unique capacity to bring difficult issues to a broad readership on a personal level, creating empathy in a reader’s heart for the theoretical stranger. Its capacity for invoking moral and social responsibility is enormous. Throughout history, every movement toward a more peaceful and humane world has begun with those who imagined the possibilities. The Bellwether Prize seeks to support the imagination of humane possibilities."

That my work is being considered for the prize is an incredible honor. And now, I'm crossing my fingers.  The winner is announced in May.

Happy Birthday Eartha Kitt

The entertainer extraordinaire turns 80-years-old today.  I only recently learned that she was biracial from a New York Times profile.  I wish I had known that growing up.  In another recent interview, Kitt jokes about being "an urchin child nobody wanted."  In an NPR interview, she talks about being shunned because of her light skin in a mostly black community.  Knowing that her story reflects my own makes it more than just a complaint or lament. 

In the Times article it says: "Ms. Kitt traces her [performance] anxiety back to her upbringing as a biracial child in South Carolina, rejected by both blacks and whites."  Kitt is quoted as saying: “I am always afraid of being rejected. You never get away from it. I am very glad the public has made me who I am because I can feel I’m worthwhile when I hear the applause and I’m still wanted.”

You are very much still wanted Eartha Kitt.  Happy Birthday!

Thank you to Undercover Black Man for getting out the word!

Biracial Comic Book Superhero

Am I the last to learn of this?  Last summer, Nicolas Cage and his son Weston debuted the first of a superhero comic book series called "Voodoo Child."  Set in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, Voodoo Child tells the story of Gabriel Moore, a child almost murdered in the antebellum South by secessionist soldiers. Just before he dies of a Klansman's bullet, the boy is granted immortality by a voodoo priest.  "The ghostly Gabriel is cursed to stalk the streets of New Orleans, eternally searching for the descendants of the racists who ruined his life, and magically morphing into the wraith-like Voodoo Child when crime-fighting duty calls."

From the Times-Picayune: "The Cages believe that Voodoo Child's mixed-race background may help illuminate some of the racial difficulties that plague New Orleans, the nation and world.  'This character is dealing with Katrina, the tragedy of that, and he's fighting hatred,' Nicolas said. 'That's always a good thing to fight . . . I do believe historically he's the first inter-racial superhero, which I think is kind of amazing. He has a voice that could speak out, dealing with issues that are very relevant at this time.'"

Where can I find a copy?

All I have to say about silence . . .

“When we speak we are afraid our words will not be heard or welcomed. But when we are silent, we are still afraid. So it is better to speak.”-- Audre Lorde

illustration by Laura Medei

Radical Miscegenation

Abolitionist, writer and activist, Lydia Maria Child (1802-1880), advocated for complete integration of all black people into the mainstream society.  Radical miscegenation--"the creation of a people with both 'white' and slave ancestry"--was the only way to achieve it, she believed.

I thought of this when I discovered Women's Space's latest post.  Heart shares a quote by Marilyn Frye on being disloyal to whiteness.  I used to follow Heart's writing at My Mother is White, but she stopped posting there, disgusted by the racist, hateful and venomous emails and comments she received.  (Visit her blog for the example she provides--I don't want to repeat it here.)  Well, Heart's ready to "throw down" now, as she says.  She promises to post more about the progressive position of the white woman who has biracial children.  "This begins my project of theorizing the unique standpoint of white feminists raising biracial children whom they have birthed from their own bodies," she writes.  Thanks Heart!  I will be staying tuned!

A poem for you by Pulitzer-Prize Winning Poet, Mary Oliver . . .

because I needed it.

Morning Poem by Mary Oliver

Every morning
the world
is created.
Under the orange

sticks of the sun
the heaped
ashes of the night
turn into leaves again

and fasten themselves to the high branches ---
and the ponds appear
like black cloth
on which are painted islands

of summer lilies.
If it is your nature
to be happy
you will swim away along the soft trails

for hours, your imagination
alighting everywhere.
And if your spirit
carries within it

the thorn
that is heavier than lead ---
if it's all you can do
to keep on trudging ---

there is still
somewhere deep within you
a beast shouting that the earth
is exactly what it wanted ---

each pond with its blazing lilies
is a prayer heard and answered
lavishly,
every morning,

whether or not
you have ever dared to be happy,
whether or not
you have ever dared to pray.

from Dream Work (1986) by Mary Oliver

© Mary Oliver

Refocus Renew

I saw the biracial buddy film, The Bucket List, yesterday.  And yes, it is sappy and formulaic, but I really enjoyed it.  I cried.  I love to cry at the movies.  It is heavy on "life lessons," but what's wrong with that?  It's great to be reminded that we should strive to live our best lives every day, each day, one day at a time because we don't know how much time we have left.

I've got a bit of the post-Holiday, winter blues--I liked the uplift!  When I got home, I rushed to read one of my favorite blogs, 37 days, by Patti Digh.  A few years ago, her stepfather was diagnosed with cancer and died 37 days later.  "The timeframe of 37 days made an impression on me," she writes.  "We act as if we have all the time in the world - that's not a new understanding. But the definite-ness of 37 days struck me. So short a time, as if all the regrets of a life would barely have time to register before time was up."  You can read her full profile and story here.

I always find some treasure in her writing: encouragement or inspiration.  The blog is a gentle reminder of the importance of living out loud in the present.  Right now she is doing an inventory of her life Z-A.  She did an inventory A-Z in 2007.  One of my favorite posts is on deciding what to do with your time.  A big question for me again now.

Also, she's introduced me to the Creative Every Day 2008 challenge.  Thanks Patti!  If you need a little sunshine in the winter cold, you'll want to check out Patti's blog.

An Amendment to My Unintended Scrabble Slur

I edited my post from yesterday about an unintended Scrabble slur.  Originally in the post, I spelled out the words of two ethnic slurs.  I apologize for that.  A commenter brought it to my attention that ANY public display of the words is offensive.  I decided to take out the words and put in placemarkers instead --just as I did with the N-word.  You can click on the words to learn how they are spelled and how offensive they are from dictionary definitions.  And then be on notice not to use them!  Thanks so much for that comment!