Happy Holidays: The Meltingpot Is on Vacation

Dear Meltingpot Readers,

I'd like to thank you for your continued support through 2008. I love blogging knowing people are actually reading what I have to say. It's great to see your comments and they inspire me to be an even better blogger, which I plan to do in 2009. More interviews, more book reviews and more observations of this fabulous Meltingpot we're living in today.

So, it sounds like I'm preparing for a goodbye, which I am. We're going to Spain for the holidays and I don't know if I'll have access to the internet on a regular basis. In the meantime, please check out my friend Rose-Anne's new blog called Currents Between Shores. She's a Haitian-American, married to a German, living in Berlin raising three boys. She's a great journalist and a keen observer of race and culture. Her blog is truly fascinating. Check it out if you have a chance.

And then, if you want to get really freaked out, angry and perhaps inspired to action, go check out my new favorite blog by author Carleen Brice. To promote her idea of National Buy A Book by a Black Author and Give it to Somebody Not Black Month, Brice penned a great editorial for the Washington Post and in response she received over 100 emails, most of them negative. I cried when I read how many White people claim they don't read books by Black authors because Black people only write about slavery and sex and that we whine and complain too much. Or that we just don't know how to write very well which is why we struggle at the bookstores. (Can you see the steam coming out of my ears?) If you have a chance, please visit Carleen's site, read the article and comments and then talk amongst yourselves. But I'm warning you, it isn't pretty. Have a big swig of Pepto-Bismal before reading.

And finally, I can't say goodbye without mentioning my new baby, ?RU. In the upcoming year, we're hoping to grow our line of clothing dedicated to folks who don't feel they fit into a single identity box. Check us out at whatrugear.com and feel free (please) to leave us a message and tell us what you think of what we're offering so far, and what you'd like to see in the future.

Thanks and here's to a healthy and happy holiday season!

Peace!

p.s. I'll be back to the blogosphere on January 5, 2009