Voices from the African Diaspora

Hello.

I warned you that I'd be recapping some of my Kinky adventures from the road and here's one.

This past Saturday, I had the honor and privilege of participating on a panel called, Shades of the Diaspora: Voices of Black Women Writers at the Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore, Maryland. I was joined by Lalita Tademy, author of Cane River and Red River. Her books started as a search into her own Louisiana family history and ended with these two amazing historical novels about the lives of a creole family before and after slavery.

The other author on the panel was world famous Jamaican poet, Lorna Goodison. Her latest book, Harvey River, is a memoir of her mother, her fantastic multicultural family and the history of Jamaica. The book received glowing praise in last Sunday's New York Times Book Review. And just hearing Goodison recount some of her family's tales, I can't wait to dive into Harvey River!

Needless to say, I felt like such a child compared to these accomplished women writers, yet they both made me feel so inspired to keep telling my stories and my truth. The audience seemed to agree. The Black experience in America is so varied I think we forget how vast this country is and how impossible it would be to have all arrived from the same path.

Here's to the storytellers who are expanding our possibilities, both past and present!

Peace.

(Photo: From L to R Lorna Goodison, Lori L. Tharps, Lalita Tademy and moderator Esther Armah host of Off the Page)

Obama! Obama! Obama!

I have no words.

Just read it (or watch it) and weep, tears of profound joy and hope.

The Meltingpot loves Obama.

Peace!

Meltingpot Potato Chips and Kinky Gazpacho Updates

Hi Meltingpot Readers,

I must confess. I plan to hijack the Meltingpot for the next few months to bring you updates from the Kinky Gazpacho roll-out experience. As I travel around promoting my book, the stories that come up and the people I meet who want to share their own Kinky stories are begging to be shared here on the Meltingpot. So I will. Be warned.

But that doesn't mean I will neglect the original mission of the Meltingpot, which is to examine the instances where cultures collide in this here funky world we've created. For example, yesterday when I was shopping at Target, America' favorite Everything store, a bag of potato chips caught my eye at the check-out aisle.

The chips were (Target's store brand) Archer Farms, "Curry-flavored" baked potato chips. I chuckled to myself because one, I've never heard of a curry-flavored potato chip and the fact that I was discovering them for the first time at a suburban Target store seemed unusual. But wait, there was more. Right under the Curry Flavored Chips were...wait for it..."Jamaican Jerk" style baked potato chips. So here we have harmoniously coexisting on one display case, flavors from around the world. A true Meltingpot experience right there at Target. How deliciously unexpected, I thought.

I would think the Target big wigs would be too traditional to offer up such exotic snack fare, but then again, Target does seem to be taking a multi-cultural approach to product development. They do bring in the Global Village to hawk once a year and Mr. Multi-cultural, Tiger Woods is their favorite foundation partner. So maybe it was my limited vision of Target that caused me to be so surprised by their spicy snacks, but either way, it made my day.

By the way, anybody ever tried a Curry potato chip? Having done some research, I now know that Lay's also makes a curry potato chip. I've never actually seen those in real life either. But they do sound tasty so I may have to go on a mission.

Until then...

Peace!

p.s. (The photo is obviously not the Curry or Jamaican chips, but the bag looks the same in case you're so hungry for Curry chips you're going to run out to the store right now and buy some. If so, tell us how they taste!)

Kinky Gazpacho: Life, Love & Spain Hits Shelves Today!

We interrupt the regular programming here at My American Meltingpot, to bring you this latest news from the publishing world.

Lori Tharps' memoir, Kinky Gazpacho: Life, Love & Spain arrives in bookstores (and Target) today. The book is a racial coming of age story, a travel essay and a love story. It is one woman's journey to find her "Authentically Black" self, hopscotching from her native Milwaukee, to Morocco and Spain and a few more places in between. Along the way she falls in love with a Spaniard, gets married and uncovers a hidden history of African slavery in the cities of southern Spain.

It is a unique story that will hopefully make you laugh aloud, but at the same time reconsider what Race really means.

To purchase your very own copy of Kinky Gazpacho, try Amazon.com or Powell's Books. To read more about Kinky Gazpacho or author Lori L. Tharps, check out her website.

Peace!