Light-skinned-ed Girl

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."