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

The Meltingpot Movie Review-Slumdog Millionaire

Sorry Meltingpot readers for the paltry blogging. I'm scrambling to finish that YA manuscript I was supposed to finish last month. Oops. Add to that a four-year old with a stomach virus and you can see how I've fallen behind.

Still, I wanted to make sure as you were planning your holiday must-see movie list, you included Slumdog Millionaire. Even if it means you have to drive an extra few miles to get to the one artsy fartsy theater that's showing it, you must make the effort.

The film is about a boy born into the slums of Mumbai who survives his wretched childhood and through bizarre circumstances becomes a contestant on the Indian version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire? Because he's winning on the show, answering all of the questions right, the authorities assume he must be cheating and so the movie begins.

Despite the fact that the movie's plot revolves around the horrors of slum living, there is still a lot of heart and humor in this film. The actors are authentic and fresh --especially the child actors -- and the story line is unique. Not to go all Siskel and Ebert, but I really did laugh and cry throughout the movie. I think director Danny Boyle really deserves the four Golden Globe nominations the film recently received.

So, don't forget when you're looking for something to go see over the holidays and you're trying to decided if you want to watch Vince Vaughn play himself again, or Jennifer Aniston play second fiddle to a dog, consider Slumdog Millionaire. The movie provides the perfect combination of entertainment, enlightenment and one really cool dance number towards the end.

Peace!

p.s. For those of you who did see the film already, did anybody else notice that all of the characters, except the naughty older brother, got lighter in complexion as they got older. Is that because people turn lighter in India as they age? Or because Danny Boyle could not find any darker hued adult actors to match the skin tones of the child actors? Or because all actors with Indian ancestry have light skin? Or....It's not that big of a deal, but of course Ms. Meltingpot noticed. Thoughts?

Does it Matter if You're Black or White in Christian Fiction?

I was at a party this weekend and met an author of several Christian fiction titles. She is published by my same publisher (Simon & Schuster) and has a very lucrative contract. We had a nice chat about the publishing industry and our work. But here's a question I came up with after our conversation was over and I'm hoping some of you might be able to answer it.

When we talk of Inspirational Fiction, we know that's code for Christian fiction. My question is, are inspirational fiction writers segregated on the book shelves or are they all lumped together under one Inspirational umbrella? Do White Christians read Black Christian authors and vice versa? More importantly, is there a difference in the type of Christianity or inspirational theme in the work of White vs Black inspirational authors? And let's not stop there. I'm going to assume there are some Latino and Asian Christian titles floating around out there too. Where do they fit in?

As a person who has never read any inspirational fiction, these questions all started percolating in my mind. Anybody have any answers? Is inspirational fiction, like the romance genre, divided down color lines? While I don't believe in segregated literature in any format, I do find it particularly ironic to have Christian fiction divided by race. I mean really. What would Jesus think?

Peace!

P.S. Got some new links over there on the side. And we had to say goodbye to Stereohyped. They were shut down abruptly. RIP.

Food for Thought: Girl Scout Galletas

So I was trolling around the internet, procrastinating, I mean working as usual, when I stumbled upon this website dedicated to Girl Scout Cookies. Seeing as how I am currently on a sugar-free, flour-free diet right now, I spent a ridiculous amount of time reading every descriptive detail about every single cookie.

On the very bottom of the page I saw something that made me smile. The new cookie debuting in 2009 is called the Dulce de Leche cookie and was inspired "by the classic confections of Latin America." Now my guess is that this cookie is going to taste as "Latin American" as Taco Bell, but still I'm kind of touched to see that the Girl Scouts care about diversity and inclusion when it comes to their All-American cookies.

So here's my question. Do you think these little Dulce de Leche galletas are meant to appeal to our Latino brothers and sisters or like Taco Bell, is this just a cookie meant for mainstream America to feel like they're thinking outside the bun at dessert time? Just wondering.

Happy Friday.

Peace!

p.s. Keep checking over the weekend for new links on the Meltingpot. And by all means, if you know of a website or blog that Tastes like the Meltingpot, please let me know.

The New Miss France is kind of Obama-licious!

This past weekend, the French crowned their new Miss France and in so doing made a little history of their own. Chloe Mortaud, 19, has become the first Black Miss France and she is so cute. But even better, her mother is African-American (dad's French and White) from Mississippi so we can kind of claim her too.

I admit I know very little about Ms. Mortaud --unfortunately the Chloe Mortaud website is written in French -- but her story has my imagination running. Mom escaped from Mississippi 25 years ago and fled to Paris, fell in love and made a life for herself. Now Chloe, a student of international business and fluent in Mandarin Chinese plans to use her new found fame to confront the racism that plagues her country. She told the AP, “I want to go to people and explain to them that fear of the other is unfounded.” Hopefully she'll make some time to come to the United States as well to share her vision of racial healing.

Who needs Disney princesses when we have Ms. Mortaud and Malia and Sasha Obama for our little girls to emulate?

Peace and sparkly tiaras!

(Hat Tip to the Heidi for Miss France info.)

Asian Memoirs

In college I was known as the honorary Asian because most of my friends claimed some Asian heritage. My best friend from childhood is Japanese and when I moved to New York City, my two best friends at work, the ones who always convinced me to go eat fried chicken at Popeye's in Times Square over our lunch break, were Chinese and Filipino.

So it should come as no surprise that I feel like I know a thing or two about Asian culture and heritage. Yet, if you ask me to name a good contemporary Asian memoir, my mind goes blank. Why is that? Are there many Asian memoirs out there and I've just missed them all? And I know Asian is a huge umbrella to lump so many different types of people, but in the book world, that's the umbrella we work with.

I am planning on reading a lot over the Christmas holidays while I am in Spain and one book I'm really looking forward to devouring is an Asian memoir I stumbled across at the First Person Arts Festival here in Philly, last month. The book is called, Trail of Crumbs: Hunger, Love and the Search for Home, by Kim Sunee. The story, like my own, is about Sunee's search for identity, but the similarities stop there. Sunee was born in South Korea, abandoned at age three, adopted by an American couple, and raised in New Orleans. The book covers her childhood and then the ten years she spent living the good life as the girlfriend of a wealthy French businessman who loved to cook. Food, race, identity and France? Sounds delicious to me.

So when I finish that book, what should I read next? What other Asian memoirs can you recommend? And if you too can't think of one, why is that?

Peace!

P.S. This just in. The Washington Post declared Kinky Gazpacho: Life, Love & Spain one of the Best Books of 2008! I feel so Sally Field, They like me, They really like me! I am thrilled and honored and amazed.

It's National Buy A Book by a Black Author and Give it to Somebody Not Black Month!

Just in time for the holidays, it's National Buy a Book by a Black Author and Give it to Somebody Not Black Month. The brain child of author Carleen Brice, this genius new national "holiday" is gaining in popularity, even being mentioned in this week's New York Magazine. Now I know everybody wants to get involved and do the right thing, but may be a little unsure of just what book by a Black author to buy for their non-Black friends and family, so I've compiled a short list to get you started.

And if you yourself aren't Black, feel free to buy one of these for yourself as a gift, I'm sure that's okay too. So without further ado:

1. For the person who wants to read a sumptuous but intellectual, modern-day romance that crosses continents and challenges assumptions, buy Waiting in Vain by Jamaican novelist Colin Channer. Warning, this book is so good you'll immediately want to read all of Channer's subsequent books, of which there are many. And rumor has it, he is currently working on the sequel to Waiting in Vain. I can't wait!

2. For the person who loved Marquez's 100 Years of Solitude and really digs magical realism, buy Soul City by journalist turned novelist,Toure. A review from Booklist says this about the story: "Soul City is a place of uncertain geography founded by escaped slaves who could fly, a miraculous place where flowers grow out of the concrete, music is revered, and ailments are healed by doting grandmothers rather than doctors. According to Soul City legend, the escaped slaves blessed the citizens to live lives confined only by the boundaries of their dreams." This book is laugh-out-loud funny, sly and incredibly clever.

3. For the tween or early teen reader in your life, buy them a book that has nothing to do with vampires, rich White girls living on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, or wizards. Try any book by award-winning novelist, Jacqueline Woodson. Two of my favorites are If You Come Softly (about a 15-year old interracial couple experiencing "first love") and Hush (about two young girls and what happens when their family has to enter the Witness Protection Program). Woodson writes sensitively about real issues that effect young people of all races and cultures.

4. For the memoir lover, of course you might want to buy Kinky Gazpacho: Life, Love & Spain by Lori L. Tharps (sorry, shameless, I know), or try James McBride's incredible story of life with his single mother who spent her life "passing" as Black, but was/is really Jewish. That book is called, The Color of Water.

5. For the history buff, especially a young man looking for his manhood, buy The Autobiography of Malcolm X written by Alex Haley in 1965 and heralded as one of the 10 most important books of the 20th century by Time magazine. It is life changing and so inspirational. In fact, I think I'm going to read it again.

Happy shopping, gifting and reading!

Peace!

Update on the Obama Effect in Publishing

Okay, so I started the conversation here on the Meltingpot and then I was so intrigued, I decided to follow up.

Check out my article posted today on The Root.com about the Obama effect in publishing.

And then if you are so inclined to read more about Black people in the publishing industry, check out Write Black.com. It's a blog written by a snarky reporter named Anika who has a penchant for romance novels, but don't let that fool you. She covers every angle of the publishing world and is always topical.

Happy Monday.

Peace!