Light-skinned-ed Girl

The Mixed Experience: Yes, I'm Podcasting Again!

I am super excited to announce that I'm podcasting again.  It's called The Mixed Experience and it's a great extension of this blog: a mixed chicks musings on a mixed-up world.  I'll discuss politics, culture, academia and the arts, and whatever else is on my mind and yours.  Please check out the kick-off episode with awesome debut novelist Natalie Baszile author of Queen Sugar.  My interview with her in Buzzfeed just appeared today too.

Mixed Remixed Festival Needs YOU!

The Mixed Remixed Festival needs YOU!  Please consider donating to this all-volunteer project offered for FREE to all attendees!

 

Mixed Remixed Festival 2014: Please Support This Project

I'm so excited about the Mixed Remixed Festival which will take place June 14, 2014 at the Japanese American National Museum in downtown LA.  This free annual event is a project dear to my heart!  I hope that if you believe like I believe that it's important to create a space where we can honestly share stories about our connectedness across racial, cultural and religious difference, you will consider making a donation to the Festival.

We're running an Indiegogo campaign and have 43 days now to raise $9000! 

The Festival is FREE to all who attend but it's not free to produce.  Any amount you donate would go a long way!  I'd be truly grateful for your support! Please donate now.

We have some great perks!  Check them out!

 

Reset!

Happy New Year!  And thank goodness 2013 is done.  It was a year of challenges for me.  As I got more stressed, I got more quiet.  Retreat seemed like the best stance. 

But I've shed those challenges and difficulties and feel great about the new year.  I've totally reset and am ready to make some new moves in this awesome new year.  How about you?  I hope you're on the good foot too!  Let's make this an awesome year!

Loving Beyond Difference:TED Talk by Andrew Solomon

I loved this talk about parents who love their kids beyond difference.  I think it speaks to blended families as well.

We Are the 15 Percent!

I love this response to the racist rants against the Cheerio's ad that featured a multiracial family.  "We're not just reacting to negativity, we're boosting representation, elevating the conversation and hopefully giving context that reaches beyond Madison Avenue. These families exist; we eat breakfast and walk our dogs and love just as hard as families in other cereal commercials," said co-creator of the website:  We are the 15 percent!

Remembering My Real Grandma

Some of you may know that my real grandmother was in part an inspiration for the character Grandma Doris in my novel.  You know all those funny things Grandma Doris says in the book?--well, my grandmother likely said something similar.  My real grandmother died last week at the age of 96 after a couple of years of declining health.  Grandma grew up in segregated Texas and married my grandfather "the paperboy" as a teenager.  In the late 1940s she moved to the Pacific Northwest and the couple soon divorced. Grandma went on to raise three children on her own working as a domestic helper and managed to buy her own house.  We laid her to rest last week with heavy hearts, but with the knowledge that she is now at peace and maybe she will finally find her "rooster" in Heaven.  

 

      I will miss my grandmother.  Many of you got a chance to see her when she was introduced on Portland's Morning Show, or at many of my book events in Portland over the last three years, including the Everybody Reads event.  If you didn't meet her, learn a little about her from this little video I made about her life.  In the video, she reveals the recipe to living such a long life.

Founding Roots of Marriage Equality from Hippo Reads

Please check out this great piece on the founding roots of marriage equality that I curated for Loving Day.  Hippo Reads is a great resource to learn a lot about a topic very quickly.  Read the article here.

My First New York Times Essay Piece: Is Interacial Marriage Still Scandalous?

This is my first New York Times essay piece.  It's called "It's OK to be Intrigued."  Please check it out and leave a comment!  (This is a photo from my parents' wedding in Denmark.)

May 31, 2013

The adventuring begins today!