Blog Awards for the Meltingpot

The Meltingpot is blushing. I've been given two blog awards from a very special lady who blogs at Imperfect Serenity. Truth be told, we're friends but I'm still touched that she bestowed the Meltingpot with an "I Love Your Blog" Award and a Brillante Weblog Award. I take it as a very high complement and part of winning means I have to pass the love around and give these awards to some of my favorite blogs.

So here we go: One my favorite blogs to read about parenting issues mixed with a side of sass and politics is Living Out Loud. Go on Mango Mama!

I also like to read blogs of peoples' lives that are so different than my own, yet the way they write makes me feel like I'm part of their world. That's how I feel when I read (and sometimes cry) The Prisoner's Wife.

And finally, you all know I secretly lurk on a bunch of adoption blogs. One of my favorites is Esperando a Zufan. This blog is about a family who adopted a baby from Ethiopia. Mom is American, dad is Puerto Rican and their daughter speaks Chinese! Very Meltingpot and very inspirational.

So ladies you've all be officially awarded with these two Blog Awards, now it's your turn to spread the love.

Peace!

The Meltingpot Interview --Enter the wOo!

Last week I was strolling through a street festival in Philadelphia and came across these quirky, adorable, little dolls. Something about their colorful skin tones, beautiful clothing, and homemade style made me stop for a second glance. If I had a daughter, I probably would have bought one for her, but since my sons only use dolls for bopping each other on the head, I thought it best to channel my energy into getting to know the doll maker instead. And I wasn't disappointed. So dear readers, introducing, Melissa Conroy, the creator of woOberry dolls.

The Meltingpot: I love your dolls because even though their proportions are a "little off," they still seem to be very real, from their multi-culti skin tones, to their cute names, to their clever "back stories." Can you tell us why you chose to make such a wonderfully diverse line of dolls?

Melissa Conroy: woOberry started with a Mama doll inspired by one of my daughter’s drawings. In the beginning I was making dolls with orange, red and yellow faces. Then I decided that I wanted them to function more as dolls than just characters. So, I decided to give them more natural skin tones that kids would identify with. Writing their stories has been a lot of fun. A few of them are based on real people, while most of them are invented. I’m happy you see the dolls as real because I want each doll to have a personality, like he or she could be the guy who lives down the street or a family member.

MP: I read that you are a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). Did you envision yourself a doll maker in college?

MC: I taught myself how to sew when I was in 2nd grade to repair my stuffed animals, so I think its been waiting to come out for a while. At RISD, I fell in love with drawing and majored in painting. I saw myself as a painter but probably wouldn’t have been too surprised to get a glimpse of my future self embroidering doll faces.


MP: Is running woOberry your full-time gig or do you have a side job? Has it always been this way?

MC: We lived in Brooklyn before moving to Philadelphia four years ago where I worked as a Teaching Artist. Right now, I split my time between woOberry and raising my two kids.

MP: Do your kids like to play with the dolls?

MC: I have an agreement with my daughter that she can keep any of the prototypes she likes, so she has many woOberry dolls. My son will sleep with pEnelope now and then and likes to use the boy dolls as stand ins for footballs during the day.


MP: I know some people, who don't love dolls as much as I do, might not think dolls are such a big deal but I know they are really important for children's identity and self-esteem among other things. Plus, a doll can be a really good friend. So with all of that, what are you hopes/plans for woOberry dolls in the future? WoOberry dolls in every household, perhaps? woOberry dream houses sold separately? Do tell?

MC: A woOberry dream house… that would be great. I would love to design the wallpaper. I’d love for woOberry dolls to be sold around the world and to be loved by the kids who own them. I’ve recently signed a contract with Blue Apple Books to write and illustrate a children’s book using a few of the dolls as characters. I would love to see a whole series of books that could be companions to the dolls. I’d like to make a 100% sustainable doll. Right now, they are pretty close, being handmade with natural materials, but if we’re talking about worldwide distribution, there may be a few mass-market hurdles to jump. Finally, I have a lot of ideas for making a more interactive and animated website.

MP: Well we hope you succeed in all of your endeavors. Those American Girl dolls need some fresh competition…Before we let you go, can you please tell us what in the world is a woOberry?

MC: When I was a kid, my nickname was Woo. It was a nickname that eclipsed my real name until I was 12 when I got fed up with being teased about it. My family had a “Woo” going away ceremony. We wrote “Woo” down on a piece of paper and set it on a homemade boat of birch bark in Lake Superior but my Dad never stopped calling me Woo. He claimed it had come ashore. Now that I am an adult I like the idea of having such a unique nickname. When J., my husband, heard my Dad call me Woo, he was intrigued and started calling me Wooshine and Wooberry. I thought Wooberry sounded good for a doll company.

So there you have it, straight from Woo’s mouth! Thank you.

So readers, even if you're not a "doll type" check out the wooberry website and get a kick out of all of the back stories on the dolls. My favorite dolls are Josephine and Jonathan: "She likes building tall buildings and eating cake batter. He likes science experiments and searching for earthworms." Delicious isn't it!

Have a wonderful weekend.

Peace!

Meeting Faith in New York City

Did anybody read Faith Adiele's memoir, Meeting Faith about her journey to Thailand to become a Buddhist nun after taking off a year from her undergraduate studies at Harvard University? To me, the book might be considered the colored girl's version of Eat, Pray, Love since Adiele is Nigerian and Finnish/American (but raised in the United States). But comparing Adiele to Elizabeth Gilbert is so not the point of this post.

If you're like me and enjoyed the book but wanted to know more about Adiele's background growing up as the only mixed kid in her neighborhood and her subsequent search for her Nigerian father, then you're in luck.

Adiele will be speaking at this year's Up South International Book Festival in Harlem, where they will be screening the film "My Journey" which explores Faith Adiele's complicated and compelling family history. The film also follows the lives of two other writers of color, Armando Peña and Andrew Lam, but I believe they will only be airing Adiele's segment at the festival. And if that's not enough Faith for you, she has a new book coming out Twins:Growing Up Nigerian/Nordic American that she will also be discussing at Up South.

The Festival runs September 27- October 4 and celebrates the literary arts from around the world. I'll be doing a little reading as well this Saturday night at 6:00pm. Come check it out if you're in NYC.

Peace!
p.s. Check out our new links!

The Angelina Effect Outside of Adoption?

I just heard from an International Adoption agency worker that there are now more than 75 agencies in Ethiopia trying to get in on the "orphan business." Not so long ago, there were only two agencies. Wait times for children between 0-2 years old are now ranging between 18-24 months, meaning for those people hoping to adopt a child from Ethiopia, they can expect to wait for almost two years before they would be able to complete (or for some people start) their family. That would be like gestating twice!

This particular worker sighed when she said, "This is the Angelina Jolie effect." She was frustrated because she still has many orphans over age 5 in Ethiopia and Uganda that she's trying to find homes for and yet she understands folks' desires for an infant.

So here's my question. Now I love me some Angelina Jolie, but I can't wrap my mind around the idea that a movie star has this much power to influence. I know that there are Black people adopting from Ethiopia, but the vast majority of American adoptive parents are White. So I'm wondering, how is it possible that a country whose citizens cannot vote for a man who has an African parent, can be full of eager adoptive parents who want to raise African children? The question I am raising is, has Angelina Jolie (and Madonna I suppose too) shifted racial attitudes so much that people who formerly would only consider adopting a White child or maybe an Asian one in a pinch, are now okay with a Black child? And if so, why? Because Black is hip now? Something to no longer fear? I'm skeptical that this is the case but wondering how far does this acceptance and "love" for Black children extend in other parts of life. Do you see where I'm going with this? What does this Jolie-influenced shift in attitude towards Black babies mean for the racial (r)evolution of this nation?

It seems that if so many people are on the verge of transforming their families from "monoracial" to multiracial, we ought to feel that Angelina Jolie effect in places outside the world of adoption. Anybody felt it yet? Please let us know.


Peace!

Meltingpot Stories in the Mainstream Media

Hey People,

Since I don't post on the weekends, I know you still might need your fix of Meltingpot stories while I rest. Turns out this month you need look no further than your local news stand and pick up a copy of:

The October issue of Vogue magazine. Yes, that Vogue. There is a very nice first-person essay about an interracial marriage between an upper-class White New Englander and her working-class Maori husband from New Zealand. The author basically tries to make the point that despite the vast cultural divide between her husband and herself, the biggest obstacle in their marriage they had to overcome was class not race.

OR

The Fall 2008 issue of Brain Childmagazine. This season's issue has two essays about raising biracial children, one written by a Black mom, the other by a White mom. Both very thought provoking and well written. For any moms out there who are looking for a magazine about parenting that goes beyond rating the best sippy cups on the market, you should definitely check out Brain Child.

OR

The October Issue of Glamour magazine features the 2nd article in their series on women and race. This month's panel considered the question, "Do you have friends of other races?" The panel was moderated by one of my favorite writers, Veronica Chambers and included some very interesting women, including Ms. Racialicious herself, Carmen Van Kerckhove. FYI, the final part in the series in an upcoming issue of Glamour will be about interracial relationships. So stay tuned.

So there you have it. Read them and maybe comment here if you have something to say about any of the aforementioned stories. Or, if you've come across any other recent Meltingpot stories in the news, let us know. Or if you're like me and get frustrated at how infrequently you find stories in the mainstream media that actually reflect your colorful world, you can comment on that too.

Peace!

Do Head Lice Respect the One-Drop Rule?

The kids are both finally back in school and so we begin a new year of homework, field trips, birthday parties and my favorite, the onslaught of communicable diseases that my children seem to love to bring home to mommy!

The one common elementary school infestation that I dread the most is head lice. Eww! Just writing the words makes me itch. But here's the thing, my paranoia and fear about finding white creepy crawlies in my kids' hair is tempered with my fervent hope that their hair is "Black" enough to repel the heinous little buggers.

I mean everybody knows that Black people can't get lice, right? No really, I wrote a book about Black hair and I did the research. Let me explain. It's not that Black people CAN'T get lice, it's just that the North American head louse has adapted to Caucasian hair and can't really navigate the shape of African-American hair follicles. Can you say I'm happy to be nappy? If you go to Africa, or even Brazil however, those badboys are all over Black hair.

Here's a recent statistic I found:

"According to Andrea Beth Trowers, MD, of the University of Miami, African American children are much less likely to have head lice (medically called pediculosis capitis) than white or Hispanic children."

Now, here's where I had my meltingpot meltdown. These kind of stats don't take into consideration mixed kids like mine. I hate to break my kids down into racial categories for any reason, but when it comes to combating parasites on their head, I'll do it. So, I'm trying to figure out just how Black they have to be, or rather how Black their hair has to be to be truly unwelcoming for the North American head louse to take up residence. And of course my SpaNegro boys have two distinct hair textures, one being more kinky than the other.

I'm not one to wait around and see if the one-drop rule is respected by head lice, so I will take action. As soon as the cold weather hits and the hats and scarves come out (aka prime lice season), my boys will have their hair greased up good (because lice can't get their claws into a slippery head). I'll switch to coconut-based shampoos (because supposedly lice hate the smell of coconut. Even if that's not true, I love coconut so that's no big sacrifice). And mostly, I'll pray that I've passed enough of my kinky genes on to them that they will be spared the itchiness of the louse.

Anybody out there with Mixed Hair have an opinion on head lice? I'd love to hear it. Do you feel safe from the lice epidemics because of your racial makeup? Do tell. Isn't it interesting how being mixed can obliterate so many of the things we monoracial folks just take for granted? As a Black mother to mixed kids, I am constantly surprised by the things I have to relearn. I believe it's a good thing though to have your assumptions and ideas confronted by a different truth. Wouldn't you agree?

Peace.

Happy Hispanic Heritage Month...Read A Book!

So today officially marks the beginning of National Hispanic Heritage month. Why does the celebration start on the 15th of the month instead of the 1st? Because September 15th is the day that Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua all declared their independence. And Mexico's day of independence comes one day later, on September 16.

So what can you do to celebrate? How about reading Cuban author, Cecilia Samartin's latest book, Tarnished Beauty. The story is about a, poor, young Mexican woman who is born with a horrific birthmark that covers most of her backside. In her small town she is ostracized and tormented because of it. After a certain series of events, she decides to cross the border to El Norte, where she believes she will find a doctor who can remove the Mark. Once she makes it to California she finds a job in a mental hospital, where she meets a mysterious old man from Spain and the two of them develop a very interesting relationship.

I just finished the book and LOVED it. It was so good, I'm reading some parts over again. For me it had all of the elements of a good read; A foreign setting, unique multicultural characters that aren't cast as stereotypes, some humor, romance, and a nice dose of the divine. Samartin, an author I've never heard of previously, is a gifted writer who reminds me a bit of Isabelle Allende but with a more light-hearted approach to story-telling. Her previous book, which I will be looking for immediately, is called Broken Paradise and just won the International Latino Book Award. Bravo!

Peace!

p.s. The only thing I don't endorse about the book, Tarnished Beauty is the cover. It is very misleading and says nothing about what the story is about. Wondering what the paperback will look like...

Food for Thought-Fried Dough & Sugar

Lately my body has been betraying me. It doesn't seem to want to digest white flour and sugar without revolting. Some say it's hypoglycemia. I say it's torture because my favorite food in the whole wide world is a big, yeasty, glazed donut. (sigh)

Since I can't eat donuts, I thought I'd write about them here. In all of my travels, I always look for something that approximates a donut. You know, fried dough covered in something sweet.

When I lived in Morocco, street vendors sold this delightful donut-like treat called, sfinj . As I recall, sfinj was this not quite sweet dough, fried in super hot grease in front of your eyes. Like a donut, sfinj were round with a hole in the middle and were sold by the half dozen strung on a palm frond. I would always manage to eat one on the walk home, then save the rest to take home and dip in sugar or smother in strawberry jam. Yum! I found a sfinj recipe here. Can't say I've tested it, but you can try it out and let me know how it turns out.

In Spain, they sell donuts, but they come prepackaged and taste like a Hostess nightmare. Instead for something authentically fried and sweet, I need to only go to a cafe and order churros, with or without chocolate for dipping. Churros aren't round but the idea is the same, fried dough dipped in sugar. Usually in Spain, the churros aren't dipped for you, you have to roll them in your own sugar at the table if you are so inclined. Once, at a street festival in Salamanca, I saw churros filled with custard and dusted with sugar. I didn't try it but the idea sounds tasty.

Okay, I'm salivating here and know the only thing waiting for me to eat is a rye Wasa crisp bed and no-sugar added peanut butter, so please, tell me, what is your favorite fried-dough with sugar?

Peace (and Donut Grease)!

Kinky Gazpacho: The Movie?!

I can neither confirm nor deny that Kinky Gazpacho the movie is in the works. But let's just play with the idea. Who would you cast as the Black American girl searching for her true self and the handsome Spanish man who steals her heart?

I have some ideas but I'd like to hear yours, especially those of you film buffs who might know the perfect up and coming Meltingpot stars.

Peace and Hollywood Dreams!

I'm Just Saying...

If John McCain really wanted to make a statement by selecting a female running mate who had a butt load of children, was considered a political "maverick" and was not a big fan of Barack Obama, why didn't he ask Angelina Jolie to be his Vice President? At least she has more international experience than Sarah Palin and Brad Pitt would probably get a lot of Green legislation passed.

I'm just saying...

Peace.

Is is just me?

1) I swore I wouldn't watch too much politics on TV running up to the election, but a friend of mine was supposed to be addressing the Republican Convention tonight. He got bumped, by the way. But I couldn't help but notice that there sure were a lot of pale faces at the Republican National Convention and a seemingly scant amount of faces of color. Is it just me or did all of the colored Republicans suddenly become Obama supporters? I mean even the token contingent of Black Republicans seemed to be absent.

2) And speaking of annoying things about Cindy McCain...Did anybody else happen to catch the Cindy McCain video played at the RNC and wince when they said she "found" her youngest daughter while visiting an orphanage in Bangladesh? Like the baby was some random object she picked up on her travels. Is it just me or is that girl being trotted around to prove that the McCains understand colored people?

3) And is it just me or am I the only one who forgot that September begins National Hispanic Heritage Month (or as I just read on a calendar, National Latino Pride Month)? Why does Hispanic Heritage month feel like a second-class citizen on the cultural calendar? Is it just because I live in a city without a large Hispanic population that I'm missing the Latino love? Is it different in the southwest or Los Angeles for example? Is anybody celebrating? I hope so.

4) And finally, as my children prepare for movie night tomorrow (Friday Night), where the featured film is The Wiz, I ask, is it just me, or do other people have trouble explaining to their young children why Michael Jackson used to be a Black man and now, in the words of my seven-year old son, looks like a "Chinese woman?" No matter how many ways I try to explain it, he just doesn't understand the concept of plastic surgery. Ahh. Kids!

Peace & Happy Weekend!

Back to School in a New Language

I love the beginning of the school year. Having been married to a teacher for the past ten years and now with kids of my own, September always feels like the beginning of a new year to me. The academic calendar rules my world.

This year both of my children will be attending language immersion schools. I am a big believer in immersion language learning and wished I'd been "immersed" as a child. Growing up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, I remember there was a German immersion school (surprise, surprise) and a French immersion school. Of course in New York City the immersion options run the gamut. I was disappointed that Philadelphia didn't have more to offer. I recently found this website which offers a comprehensive list of immersion schools across the country. I'm curious about other cities. Is there a good immersion school in your neighborhood? Is it public or private? Do tell. In any language!!

Peace.