A List of Colorful Memoirs

So, I was googling Kinky Gazpacho the other day, which I admit to doing every now and again, when I came upon this fabulous list of memoirs compiled by Kate Ward for Entertainment Weekly.com. The title of the article is "So You Want to Write a Memoir" and is a kind of tongue in cheek warning that since every conceivable life story has already been written about, you might want to reconsider putting pen to paper with yours.

To prove her point, Ward then lists over 100 memoirs, by category. I liked the "Racial Identity Category (where Kinky Gazpacho does appear) and thought I'd share it with you my Meltingpot Readers.

Racial identity
Described...
Life as a biracial child: The Color of Water, by James McBride (1996)
Racism abroad: Kinky Gazpacho, by Lori L. Tharps (2008)
Her rigid Chinese family values in suburban New York: Daughter of Heaven, by Leslie Li (2005)
Fighting for Latino civil rights: Memoir of a Visionary, by Antonia Pantoja (2002)
Overcoming racism as the daughter of a Panamanian mother: Mama's Girl, by Veronica Chambers (1996)
Life as a black man in a 99.9% white, racist town: Not a Genuine Black Man, by Brian Copeland (2006)
Racism directed toward her adoptive African-American brother in rural Indiana:Jesus Land, by Julia Scheeres (2005)
Being an African-American who passed as a white woman: The Black Notebooks, by Toi Derricotte (1997)
Being a white man who worked for African-American journalism outlets: Nitty Gritty, by Ben Burns (1996)
Racism in a German orphanage: Invisible Woman, by Ika Hügel-Marshall (2001)
Being biracial in WWII-era China: Things That Must Not Be Forgotten, by Michael David Kwan (2001)
Being gay in Mexican culture: Butterfly Boy, by Rigoberto González (2006)
Rejecting his peers' prejudices as a child to play jazz with veteran black musicians in New Orleans: Song for My Fathers, by Tom Sancton (2006)
Being the only African-American commercial deep-sea diver working in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Africa: Black Man Under the Deep Blue Sea, by Tony Wells (2007)


It's not an exhaustive list obviously, but there are some books here I've never heard of and definitely would want to read. What memoirs would you add on to this list? To read the entire article click here.

Peace!

One to Watch!

Hello Meltingpot Readers,

You know we slipped into August and I didn't even notice I'd made it to the end of my Blog-o-rama. Minus my sick days I managed to blog Monday - Friday for a month. I have to admit, it wasn't easy and I don't think I'll maintain the pace, but I did enjoy the challenge. I'll def. try to post more regularly now, but I am going to take a wee break here in August as I try to figure out how I want to revamp my site a bit. No major face lift or Botox injections, just some link updates and technological advances (I still don't know what RSS feed means or how to make it happen. But as cyberGod is my witness, I will figure it out).

In the meantime, as summer is coming to a close I am trying to enjoy every last minute of it, now that I can finally draw a breath without collapsing into a coughing fit. I went to the bookstore the other day and bought Carleen Brice's debut novel Orange Mint and Honey. For me buying a novel just for the heck of it is what summer is all about. Orange Mint and Honey is a delicious little novel about a mother and daughter who are trying to repair their very damaged relationship. It's about forgiveness and love and all of that other good stuff that makes us human. The book is really well written and the story is so fresh, but what I really appreciated the most about the book is that the characters, most of them African-American, were unique individuals not stereotypes. The fact that they were Black seemed incidental to the story. Instead of making the book about Black people and their problems, Brice crafted a compelling story about the human condition.

In addition, the Meltingpot in me loved the story because it was set in Colorado, a state I never considered relevant for colored people. Yet Brice makes Denver sound like it has its own meltingpot situation going on full force. Now I want to go check it out. The things you learn.

Brice's next book, due out in July 2009, is about two sisters, one biracial, the other White who were separated by adoption and meet up again in adulthood. You know we can't wait to get our hands on that one. So keep your eyes on Carleen Brice. She's one to watch!

Peace!

Hollywood's Meltingpot Hearts Barack

In a beautiful show of multi-culti solidarity and support for Barack Obama, a bunch of Hollywood A-listers is throwing an invitation-only fund raiser in Beverly Hills.

Variety reports:

"The event, called the Black & White Gala for Barack Obama, is being designed to "celebrate America's landscape of diversity and its many cultures," with an honorary board that includes Shohreh Aghdashloo, Jessica Alba, Don Cheadle, Khaled Hosseini, Ashley Judd and Lucy Liu. Invitation-only tickets are $1,000 for the general reception and $2,300 for VIP ducats."

Don't you want to know how to get on that invite list? (Hat Tip to Stereohyped)

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And just a Kinky Gazpacho Update...

Remember a few days back I wrote about the new cover for the paperback version of my book Kinky Gazpacho? The plan was to "mainstream" the cover by replacing the Black woman on the cover with a beautiful photograph of the Spanish countryside. Well, hold on to your hats people, because the Black girl is back! The publisher vetoed sales and marketing's plan and decided to keep the original cover with the Black woman on the front. The photo of Spain will go on the back. Yeah! The revolution is at the front door!

Peace and Enjoy the Weekend.

What If Michelle Obama rocked an Afro?

Seriously, this is just a question. After purchasing the current People magazine with the beautiful Obama family on the cover, I had to stop and wonder.

If the Obama girls (wife and daughters) sported natural hairstyles -- afros, dreds, braids, -- would that be an issue on the road to the White House?

I think Black hair is still political, so I think it would. I think Barack's campaign advisor would definitely have called a hair meeting and demanded the ladies straighten their locks because the American people are not ready for that level of Blackness.

What do you think Meltingpot readers? Can you think of a moment in time when a hairstyle made a difference? I thought of a bunch of them and wrote a book about it called Hair Story: Untangling the Roots of Black Hair in America. Check it out if you want some perspective.

Peace and Hair Grease!

My Secret Addiction to...Adoption Blogs

Please note this entry has been edited to correct a misconception about my opinion on transracial adoptions. I don't really have a blanket opinion on the subject. I think each and and family should be allowed to be a family. And if they have problems, let them be judged individually. See below for further explanation and as always, thank you for reading the Meltingpot. And I apologize if I offended anyone with my original, unedited post.

I'm just going to use this space to confess. There have been many times when I've sat up into the wee hours of the night reading international/transracial adoption blogs. You know (or maybe you don't), the blogs written by mostly White folks about their new and improved lives with their adopted Black (usually African or Haitian) children.

And I'm not saying this in jest. Seriously, I am just compelled to read these wonderful stories of people who seem to be just regular folks, who travel to the other side of the world to adopt children so different from themselves. I always start from their first posts, going back in time to see who these people were before they became parents to Black children, and then I keep reading to see if the experience changes them at all. For me these blogs are better than any reality TV show. There's romance, mystery, life, death, race, and everything in between, played out on an international stage.

Some of the families I feel like I know intimately already and cheer for their survival. But then there are some other families where I cry tears for the children who will clearly have a hard life ahead of them with the nut cases who have adopted them. It's sad but true. I honestly don't get why crazy people put their craziness out there in cyberspace for the whole wide world to witness.

Anywho, one of my favorite blogs of a multiracial family (they adopted twin boys from Haiti and just now gave birth to a daughter) is Party of Five. They are a wonderful couple unafraid to tackle honest issues, smart and really motivated to make their beautiful family their top priority. If you start reading, you too may get addicted. Be careful!

Peace.

Multiracial Twins Making News for their Color

Has anybody not heard about the German twins making worldwide headlines because one is black and the other white? For those who haven't been following along, here's a recap. On July 11, a Black woman from Ghana, married to a white German man, gave birth in Germany to twin boys. According to the sensationalist headlines, one twin is Black and the other White.

Now here at the Meltingpot you know this piqued our interest. But when I checked out the photos of the adorable little kinder (that's German for kids), I felt duped. Yes, the one baby is definitely a chocolate drop of yummy, who more than likely will get his fare share of stares walking with his daddy in his German homeland. But the other twin, the one everyone is calling "white," is sooo not a paleface. He looks like a mixed child with butterscotch colored skin. Check out the photo above and decide for yourselves.

So why all the hype? According to published reports the hospital staff could not believe their eyes when they saw the dramatically different colored babies born from the same woman. But I think what they really wanted to say, but were afraid of being offensive was, "How the hell did this woman give birth to a super black baby with a white husband?" Because honestly that is the only truly "astounding" thing about these twin boys. You gotta wonder who's lurking in hubby's past. Right?

If you really want to see some different colored twins, check out the photos here.

Peace.

Baklava in Ethiopia? --More Food for Thought

My brother went out for Ethiopian food this past weekend. Being a sick and shut-in for the summer, I made him tell me every single thing he put in his mouth to appease my desire for some virtual masala in my life.

Everything sounded absolutely delicious and I swore I'd be heading to Dahlak Restaurant in West Philly as soon as possible. But here's the thing. My little brother mentioned that for dessert he ordered Baklava. I laughed. "Why Baklava at an Ethiopian restaurant?" thinking it was a random item to place on the menu. But my bro argued that Baklava in Ethiopia is not that much of a stretch given the proximity to the Middle East. Still I doubted. It just didn't sound right. Not that I'm an expert on Ethiopian food stuffs, but what I do know, doesn't seem very linked to Middle Eastern cuisine.

A quick internet search shows that indeed Baklava appears on many Ethiopian restaurant menus. But I can't find an explanation about how this sweet, flaky pastry made its way to Ethiopia. In what form and with what variations? Do Ethiopians eat a lot of Baklava in Ethiopia or is this an American perversion, like the Chinese fortune cookie?

Does anybody know? It's a meltingpot mystery I'd love to solve.

Peace.

The Meltingpot Interview- Heidi W. Durrow

I first met Heidi W. Durrow in 2007 at the Loving Decision Conference in Chicago. I'd been reading her fantastic blog about the Mixed Race experience for awhile, so it was cool to meet this African-American/Danish woman in the flesh. Little did I know that Ms. Durrow was such a powerhouse. Besides being a former corporate lawyer and consultant to the NFL and NBA, Heidi Durrow is an amazing writer. She just won Barbara Kingsolver's Bellwether Prize for Fiction for her first novel and is at work on two more books. And in her spare time she hosts a weekly podcast called Mixed Chicks Chat.

Well we at the Meltingpot decided we wanted to chat with Ms. Durrow since she's got so much going on and she's got such an interesting perspective on race and identity. Check out the interview and remember you read about her here first!

The Meltingpot: So Heidi, you have a law degree from Yale and a Master's Degree in Journalism from Columbia University. Not to mention you're an award-winning novelist. Are you just an overachiever or did you get all of your degrees because you couldn't decide what you wanted to be when you grew up?

Heidi Durrow: I gave up my overachiever badge a long time ago. Once I left my legal career, I set out on an unchartable course in the arts. You know, a lot of my drive to get degrees was simple curiousity. I love school. I love being a good student. I love new notebooks. But dude, I would still love to get a Ph.D one day!


MP: Is writing your first love?

HD: It’s the thing I love to do. But it makes me suffer greatly. But really, when I am writing—I am feeling most alive.
When I was a kid, my mother—then a stay-at-home mom--embarked on a writing career. She was enrolled in a correspondence course—I will never forget the day that she sold her first story. She sold an essay to American Dane magazine about the word “hygge” which has no good translation into English –it means something like comfort and home and goodness and hospitality all mixed into one word. There’s a photo of her holding the check (it was maybe $20!) and she’s got this amazing smile. So, I’ve always associated that kind of extreme pride in self and joy with writing. I wanted that happiness for myself too. I wanted to be like my mom and be a writer.

MP: Can you tell us what your award-winning novel will be titled and give us a brief description?

HD: Right now, the novel is called Light-skinned-ed Girl. Yes, I know it’s a mouthful! That’s why it might change. It’s the coming-of-age story of a young biracial and bi-cultural girl, Rachel, who loses her family in a terrible accident. She moves to a racially divided community in the Pacific Northwest where her African-American grandmother becomes her new guardian. She’s eleven and struggling with the regular difficulties of puberty but she’s also trying to find a place in the mostly black community, a community she knows nothing about. She has light-brown skin and blue eyes and is confused by the mixed attention it brings her at her new school and neighborhood. It’s a story about a girl who is becoming a young woman without her mother. It’s a story about a girl’s journey into womanhood, a journey complicated by society’s ideas of race, beauty and intelligence. Ultimately, I hope it’s a good read.


MP: Wow. That sounds so good. We can’t wait for our advanced reading copy to review!! Switching gears here, are there a lot of Black Danish folks like yourself populating the planet? Can you drop some knowledge about the Black -Danish experience in general? People probably don't often think of Black Americans and Danes having much in common.

HD: You may think this is funny, but a couple of years ago there was a whole conference at the University of Copenhagen about the Black Danish connection. I would tell people I was going to the conference and they’d joke: so who will be there, you and your two brothers? Well, actually, it was a conference of more than a hundred writers, filmmakers and scholars from all of Scandinavia and several Americans including myself.

I know people think that Danish means white—blond hair, blue eyes, the whole Nordic ideal, but like the US, Denmark has a multicultural past. So the conference dealt with connections between Denmark and the Danish West Indies (now the U.S. Virgin islands); American black jazz musicians who settled in Copenhagen in the 40s, 50s and 60s to escape the racialized United States, and Harlem Renaissance author Nella Larsen (who like me, was Black and Danish). There’s a wonderful documentary called Slavernes Slaegt/Slaves in the Family about “native” (read white) Danes who have traced their family histories back to the slaves of the West Indies. Many of the freed slaves –who had been acculturated as Danish—sailed to Denmark upon Emancipation and made lives there –and eventually “passed” into Danish society. Today, if you want to hear some really fantastic jazz, find a Scandinavia musician because he or she has probably been schooled by some of America’s best Black jazz artists who became expats in Copenhagen

MP: What's Next for Heidi Durrow?

HD: I like that you write that with a capital N! Next for Heidi Durrow: hmmmm . . . well, the novel comes out Fall 2009 from Algonquin Books. Whoo-hoo! Dear Lord, how I love Barbara Kingsolver for this prize. I’m so glad that the book will finally get out there. I’m also working on a collection of stories about the connections between African-Americans/Africans/West Indians and Copenhagen, focusing particularly on the Black Vaudevillians and other artists who went there at the beginning of the 1900s including Nella Larsen.

And then there’s another book I’m working on inspired by the life of Miss Lala, a Victorian era mulatta strongwoman who was painted by Degas in a famous portrait called Miss Lala at the Cirque Fernando. I’ve received a couple of grants for the research (I got to go to Paris for four weeks thanks to the Elizabeth George Foundation) and now I am in the thick of the writing. It’s a fascinating story—Miss Lala was very famous in her time, but her biography has been lost to history. Here, she was in the late 1800s, a strong, muscular, Mixed woman, who was celebrated for her beauty and strength. At the same time, freak shows were at their most popular. Miss Lala performed as a star at the same revue where a young particularly hairy Laotion girl was exhibited as “Krao” the Missing Link. What was that like? That’s the story I’m trying to tell. How as it that a colored European-born female performer who defied traditional Western ideals of beauty became a success, but then still, was forgotten.

I’ll continue the work on Mixed Chicks Chat each week; I continue to blog about the Mixed experience and the creative life; and next year expect another bang-up Mixed Roots Film & Literary Festival –We’ll announce the dates soon. Doesn’t look like I have time to do that Ph.D. yet, huh?

MP: Geez. I’m tired just thinking about everything on your plate, but I’m so excited to read/devour everything you put out there. You do it so well. Good luck, Heidi Durrow!

Food for Thought

Anybody besides me ever think that Jambalaya and Paella were the same dish, but with different sausage and a thicker accent?

Yes, it's another example of what happens when Blacks and Spaniards collide. In other words, one more Kinky Gazpacho creation!

Peace.

Wanderlust

Boo-hoo. Yesterday I had to cancel our annual trip to Spain because of this dammed pneumonia that will not let go of my lungs!!!

My summer does not feel right without escaping this country for a minute or too. But when God/The Universe has other plans, you gotta roll with it I guess.

Since I'm not going anywhere, except my doctor's office, I was thrilled to stumble across this wonderful blog, Chikky Soup Meets Stinky Tofu. It is a travel blog of an African-American librarian from Indianapolis who jetted off to China for work and play. She's actually back in the United States now, but her blog is worth reading, as is her regular blog, Crazy Quilts, which is chock full of literary information.

Happy travels to the rest of you all. Anybody going somewhere extra special this summer?

Taking the Black out of Kinky

Here's an update from my publisher. There's a new cover in the works for the paperback edition of Kinky Gazpacho: Life, Love & Spain. You can see the current cover above. Would you be surprised to know that the new cover has no Black woman on it? Just a lovely photograph of the Spanish countryside.

What do you think that's about?

I don't have the same publisher as Kim Mclarin, but the same thing happened to her recent novel, Jump at the Sun. The hardcover featured a Black woman reaching for the sun, the paperback is just a photograph of sunflowers. Apparently when sales and marketing discovered that "mainstream" American women (that's code for White people) were loving Ms. Mclarin's book, they deemed it necessary to change the cover.

Do you think that's what happening to my book? My editor denies it. In the grand scheme of things I guess it's a good thing to believe that a wider audience is loving Kinky Gazpacho, but it still feels like a slap in the face to say the Black woman on the cover has to go. Am I still an undesirable?

Thanks for listening.

Peace.

Even German Girls Get Kinky

So I got a really interesting response from a reader of my new memoir, Kinky Gazpacho: Life, Love & Spain. A German woman in her mid-50s just finished my book. She lives in Milwaukee and is the mother to two grown children and a teenager.

She knows my mother and called her to tell her how much she loved the book and that she really identified with my feelings of not quite belonging in my suburban, White world. I was intrigued. How did this German heiress feel alienated in Wisconsin, AKA, little Germany? Where Bratwurst and beer are the local favorites and Oktoberfest is a real holiday?

Well apparently it wasn't in Wisconsin where she felt the sting of rejection, it was in France. She commented that whenever she goes to France, which is often, she can never get over the feeling that the French are still clinging to their hatred of Germans. This woman is very fair-skinned, blond and I guess looks stereotypically German. If you ask me she could pass for Norwegian as well. But she says that people in France are rude to her, won't help her with directions and one time, someone actually spit at her in the street.

She also told my mother though that she understands their hatred of Germans, obviously from the wars. And she recalled how during WWII, French prisoners of war were actually treated like slaves and made to work in German homes. This woman recalled that her Grandmother had "French slaves" in her home but she, despite the laws of the land, tried to treat them humanely. Even though she did not allow them to eat at her table, she did allow them to eat the same food. Even though that was verboten! I was shocked by this story. French prisoners of wars as slaves!

I obviously knew that there wasn't much historical love between French and Germans but I never knew that it was so intimately felt and that the hatred is still so raw. But why not? It wasn't so long ago.

I am overwhelmed and overjoyed to know that so many different types of people are reading my book and that it is sparking these thoughts and discussions. I couldn't have hoped for more. It is my intent, with my words, to bring these issues out into the open so the healing can begin.

Let me stop here before I go all Kumbaya on you people.

But I have to know. Do other Germans-Americans feel discriminated against in France? Are there other historical sins that cling to us that do not allow us to travel freely? I'd like to hear your story.

Peace.

Do White People Like Sugar?

Yesterday I was out visiting with my neighbor. He happens to be a groovy, 30-something White guy whom I love to pieces. He had just arrived home and his little five-year old daughter came out to greet him. Her greeting sounded something like, "Hi Daddy, can you help me get my bike out of the garage?" His reply, "Hey, wait YOU DIDN'T GIVE DADDY ANY SUGAR."

I almost fell over. I didn't know White people asked for sugar! I definitely didn't know 30-something guys asked for sugar. I thought that was a "Black" thing. My neighbor is born and bred in Pennsylvania, so he can't even claim it as a southern throw back. He laughed when I told him that I was shocked that White folks asked their kids for sugar. And I immediately knew it was going on the Meltingpot. Here's just another way we're all just alike. Spreading sweetness all around.

So you know I gotta ask. Did you grow up with your aunties/grandad/daddy asking for sugar? How far off base was I thinking this was a Black thing?

Here's to a sweet weekend.

Peace!

Segregated Sundays

When I was a little girl I attended a typical Black Baptist church in Milwaukee. I remember bringing my Japanese best friend to Sunday school one morning and wishing I could die when everybody stared and whispered about her, not to mention the Sunday school teacher announcing to everyone that my friend was going to hell since she didn't officially recognize Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior.

Now many years later I wonder, is church still like that? I'm a bad judge because I've lived in New York City for so long where everything, even churches, seemed racially mixed. And now I live in integrated utopia, aka Mt. Airy, Pennsylvania where the gigantic Jewish synagogue behind my house has it's fair share of African-American and Asian worshipers.

So when I read a recent statistic that states that only 7 percent of America's churches are considered racially mixed, I'm left scratching my head. Where are these churches where "others" aren't allowed? I've read one theory that it's not just White folks who don't want ethnics in their House of God, it's also ethnics who don't want to diversify their holy houses either.

So, Meltingpot readers, do you worship in a racially diverse church? Do you know of a particularly welcoming congregation? I want to hear about it. Please share.

Peace!

Meltingpot Clothes for the Mixed Crowd

Okay. It's a short one today. Just wanted to give a shout out to Rudy Guevarra, a hip, happening Mexipino I met at the Mixed Roots Film and Literary Festival in Los Angeles. Being a Mexipino, Rudy says, all comes down to having soy sauce and salsa on the dinner table every night.

Rudy is the creator and founder of a cool online clothing company called Multiracial Apparel. He also has a Ph.D. in Ethnic Studies. The company sells clothing that celebrates the mixed race experience and other funky creations that they deem worthy. It's more than just clothing it's a movement. Very cool. Check them out when you get a chance.

Peace.

The Meltingpot on the High Seas

I recently had a chance to check out the new Pirates Exhibit at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. The point was to take my seven-year-old son for his birthday, but I think the Spaniard and I got way more out of the excursion than the kid.

This particular exhibit is about a slave ship that was attacked by pirates. Two months later the ship sank off the coast of Cape Cod. Two hundred years later, an American explorer dug the ship up off the ocean floor and it is now on display.

Besides the fact that the exhibit was really well done, with a recreated pirate ship, real treasure to touch and an opening movie with great special effects, I learned so much! Did you know Black men fleeing slavery were welcomed aboard pirate ships as long as they swore an oath of loyalty? And it wasn't just one or two token Black pirates. Their numbers were in the double digits on just about every pirate ship in the 18th century. In fact, it was rare to find a pirate ship that wasn't sporting the diversity flag. Native Americans were also well represented on board.

Apparently the pirate ships were the first examples of a real democracy, where everybody was equal despite the color of their skin. This point was heavily emphasized throughout the exhibit. Against the backdrop of American slavery and virulent racism, the pirate ship suddenly sounds like a floating miracle. But really, it just goes to show once again that America has always been a functioning Meltingpot. The historians just don't want to write about it that way.

The Pirates exhibit will be at the Franklin Institute through November. For those of you who don't live in Philly but want to learn more about this mostly untold aspect of piracy, check out the website here.

Peace and a Bottle o' Rum!

Breeding Like Guppies

When I was an impressionable young college student, I took a class with a professor who was notoriously conservative, bordering on fascist. I kind of wanted the thrill of having my own belief systems challenged and I needed to take his class to satisfy my requirements for my major.

I don't actually remember what the class was even about, but I will never forget the day Professor I. was lecturing about his theory on poverty. I'm paraphrasing but he basically said poor people were poor because they were stupid and that the higher the economic class the smarter the population gets. He did not base his theories on race, but he did say that unfortunately poor Black people were the ones reproducing the most, thereby dumbing down the entire Black race. He then expanded that theory to most minority groups.

So my friend, who is Indian (from India) raised her very brown hand and asked the obvious question, 'So if we're smart and relatively well-off and of color, should we be breeding like rabbits to offset the dumbing down of the race?' And Professor I. looked at my friend and I and said, "No, you should be 'breeding like guppies' that's how serious the situation is. It is up to you intelligent colored people to have more children to save your race." He was totally serious. He had placed my entire self-worth on my ability to reproduce. Kind of like back in the slave days I thought!

Needless to say my friend and I protested loudly and called him all sorts of names to his face, but his words continue to haunt me. I don't believe his stupid people are poor theory, but for some reason his "breeding like guppies" theory left such a bad taste in my mouth that as the Spaniard and I contemplate going for SpaNegro #3 I feel all of this existential guilt like I might be following his directive. Of course I'm not, but on both sides of this argument, as a Black woman I feel somehow having that third child makes me a stereotype of some sort. Gosh the burden.

Peace & Good Health

Doesn't Everybody want to be Black Like Me?

So of course the big news in the fashion world this month was the "Black" issue of Italian Vogue. Forty pages of fashion with only Black models. Folks on both sides of the pond apparently have been scrambling to get a copy of the history-making glossy that features the likes of Iman, Alek Wek, Beverly Johnson and even, (I heard) ANTM Tocarra.

The reason behind the "Black" Issue is infuriating. It seems that here in America the fashion industry, even in 2008, still believes that beautiful Black women can't sell beautiful clothes, or magazines for that matter. Apparently, the editor of Italian Vogue, Franca Sozzani, was making a point that using Black models wouldn't detract from the art of the fashion. Thank you Ms. Sozzani!

A quote from Philadelphia Inquirer Columnist Elizabeth Wellington:

" American fashion is about aspiration ... Unfortunately, no matter how the fashion industry spins it, the clothing designers constructing the most popular runway presentations and the editors creating the most sought-after magazine spreads don't see black women as icons of aspirational beauty. And even more sadly, they don't believe that wealthy women will buy clothing if black women are modeling it."

And that's where I say, WTF? And White women, please don't be offended when I say this, but OF COURSE WHITE WOMEN WANT TO LOOK LIKE BLACK WOMEN. They want to look like us, sound like us, dance like us, cook like us, walk like us, talk like us. Do I need to go on? Black culture has been emulated, copied and co-opted since we set foot on this land. Whether you want to call it sharing or stealing almost every piece of the American cultural pie comes from a Black aesthetic.

I think the fashion industry is just making excuses to remain racist and closed off to "others." Like if they let the colored girls into the club they just might bring in the pork rinds and Hawaiian Punch and spoil the party.

Take a look at Oprah Winfrey. Just for an example. Not only is she Black but she's pretty chunky too. But if girlfriend says Pucci dresses are hot for the summer, at least 100,000 White women would be heading to Lilly Pulitzer for an outfit.
If Beyonce dons a puffy white dress on the red carpet, 80 gazillion teenagers will be wearing white to prom. So I say if the fashion industry embraced Black beauty, the people would follow.

What do you think?

Happy Healthy Weekend!

Peace.

Sputtering Back to Life...And a Missed Opportunity?

Hi Meltingpot Readers,

Thank you so much for your kind words and well wishes. I caught pneumonia and spent the last four days in the hospital. But I'm getting better. I'm confined to my bed, but I can still type.

I'm determined to resume the blog-o-rama...so please tune back in, cuz we may be wheezing as we write, but we're back in action.

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And here's my one Meltingpot thought for the day. While I was in the hospital I watched a ridiculous amount of television. The one show that seemed to be on continuous replay was the TLC show, Jon & Kate Plus 8. It's a reality show that captures the daily (and often times boring) life of a couple that has a set of seven-year-old twins AND a set of sextuplets. I find myself fascinated by the show for the obvious reasons of watching any parent manage so many damn kids under one roof, but mostly because they are an interracial family. She's White and he's half Korean but they never talk about identity/race.

Does anybody watch this show religiously and know if race/identity has ever come up? I know this show is ridiculously popular and one of TLC's biggest cash cows. I've seen them on Oprah, and the Today Show, so they obviously have a platform to discuss such issues but as far as I can tell it's not something they talk about. After watching my like 87th episode last night, it hit me. Maybe the Asian dad has his own unresolved issues about his heritage. Maybe mom doesn't see color. Since the show is all about family you kind of have to wonder how the children's ethnicity/identity will be discussed. And if they don't discuss it, to someone like me it's like the big duh that's missing. But maybe for network television they like the family to be whitewashed.

Thoughts? I'm going to do some cyber investigation. I'll report back.

Peace (and good health)

Until further notice.

My American Meltingpot is in the hospital. She will be back soon.

Much Love!

Fourth of July Funk

Maybe it's because I'm burning up with a fever and my whole body aches. Or maybe it's because my husband is not from this country. Or maybe it's a Black thing, but for whatever the reason, I can't get excited about the Fourth of July. My poor kids have no idea that today is even a holiday!

When I was little I loved decorating my bike for the neighborhood Fourth of July parade and going to the park for games and of course fireworks at night. But now that I'm a grown up, all I can think about is the fact that My People didn't go free on Independence Day. In fact, many of them fought the British with the idea that they would be free, only to have to wait almost 100 more years for their own independence.

Maybe this is the fever making me surly. But I'm wondering, how do other people of ethnic backgrounds in this country celebrate the Fourth of July?

Black, Happy & Gay

Just because Black people who happen to be gay seem to have to be troubled and miserable, I wanted to raise the rainbow flag and mention two new books that hit the shelves in June.

Passing for Black by Linda Villarosa is a novel about a Black woman who leaves her handsome, Black stud-muffin boyfriend for a White woman. Scandal. And Craig Seymour's new memoir, All I Could Bare: My Life in the Strip Clubs of Gay D.C., is a laugh-out loud tell all of, well, the author's life in the strip clubs of gay D.C.

I just wanted to announce the arrival of these books because in both breezy tomes, there's a happy ending and the lives of gay people of color are explored in non-pathological ways. They're just kind of living and loving. Like everybody else. As it should be.

So there it is.

Peace.

Jamaican Authors

Every since I got back from the Calabash Literary Festival, I've been obsessed with Jamaica. I've pledged allegiance to this tiny Jamaican restaurant near my house, chatted up any and every person I meet with a connection to Jamaica and read as many books by Jamaican authors as possible.

I finished She's Gone by Kwame Dawes as soon as I returned from Calabash. As one of the Calabash founders, I felt I owed it to him to read his book first. Next, I devoured Andrea Levy's , Fruit of the Lemon. Levy was born in London to Jamaican parents and writes about the Jamaican experience abroad. I loved this book because the main character, also a Jamaican born in London to Jamaican parents, struggles with an identity crisis, namely, trying to figure out what it means to be Black in a mostly White world.

Currently I am reading The Pirate's Daughter by Margaret Cezair-Thompson. It's a fabulous tale based on a real-life incident that took place in Jamaica in 1946 involving American movie star, Errol Flynn. Loving it.

I think the reason I'm so attracted to Jamaican authors, besides their fantastic storytelling abilities, is that the meltingpot theme is so present in their work, whether the story takes place at home or abroad. So I'm just going to keep on reading my Jamaican authors and if anyone has a suggestion on who I should read next, send me a note.

BTW, Malcolm Gladwell and Zadie Smith. Did you know they were Jamaican?

Peace.

The Meltingpot Blog-o-rama Starts Now!

Hi Meltingpot Readers,


I made a promise that this summer I would challenge myself to a blogging marathon. After many a grandiose ideas, I settled on the one month-daily-update Meltingpot blog-o-rama. That means for the month of July, starting today, I will be blogging every day.

Here's the fine print: I'll be really only blogging Monday - Friday. Friday's entry will be something that warrants more time for viewing. And it just gives me a moment to rest. What that also means is that my daily entries will be shorter but no less intriguing ( I hope). I can't be too descriptive because in case you hadn't figured it out by now, I'm just flying by the seat of my pants here. But I'm excited.

I hope you are too.

Peace.

Please Share

Hi Meltingpot Readers,

Sorry about the lull in blogging. Just getting back into the swing of things after an absolutely amazing visit to Los Angeles. The Mixed Roots Film and Literary Festival rocked and I met a lot of sensational individuals -- artists of every stripe. Tune in throughout the summer and you'll get to meet some of them here on the Meltingpot.

In the meantime, I'd like to host my first contest of sorts. Only there's no prize except the pleasure of knowing you helped make the Meltingpot a better place to visit. I'm planning a big update of my links list over there on the side. If you know of any blogs that document the intersection of the African-American/Black American experience with another culture (e.g. Kinky Gazpacho the Black and Spanish thing) please forward the link.

Thanks for sharing and please note that as of July 1st the Meltingpot will be back in full swing.

Peace!

Mixing it Up in California

In exactly one week from today, the 1st Annual Mixed Roots Film and Literary Festival launches with a bang. Rebecca Walker will be giving the Opening Address on Thursday June 12 and then the Festival kicks into high gear with writing workshops, film screenings, kids activities and a comedy hour or two. You can check out the entire schedule on the website.

Yours truly will be there to lead a workshop called, "Crafting the Multicultural Memoir" and I'll be doing a reading from Kinky Gazpacho. I'll also be launching a new product that is still very hush-hush, but if you come to the Festival and say, "I Read My American Meltingpot," you'll get a sneak peak and a prize! I want to meet my readers, so if you live in Cali, come on by please and show yourselves.

In case the idea of a really cool festival doesn't excite you, but you still want to meet me in California and win that prize, you can also come to the Eso Won bookstore on Wednesday June 11 at 7pm and show some love. I'll be at this amazing independent bookstore doing a reading and signing and hoping for an Angela Bassett or Denzel Washington sighting because I hear they shop there.

I'm so excited. And I just can't hide it...

Peace!

Dreams Really Do Come True!

Introducing the future of hope and change.

Peace for real!

Kinky in the Midwest and A Question @ Blair Underwood

Because I know that there are about 400 of you who regularly read The Meltingpot, I thought I'd announce that me and my "Kinky" self will be heading to my hometown of Milwaukee, Wisconsin this Friday June 6 for a reading at Scwartz Book Store in Shorewood, my old stomping grounds.

It's going to be weird reading in a place that I kind of diss throughout the pages of Kinky Gazpacho but I hope folks know that I still have love for Milwaukee. It just wasn't an affirming place for a little Black girl with Big dreams to thrive. After Milwaukee, I'm off to the Windy City to participate in the Chicago Tribune Printer's Row Book Fair on Sunday, June 8. I'm speaking on a memoir panel with three very Meltingpot authors, Rachel Sontag, Jian Ping and Daniel Tommasulo. If you're in the area, please come by and say hello.

**********************
Now about Blair Underwood. Just a question. I happened to catch an old episode of Sex in the City last night and Blair Underwood was on playing Miranda's boyfriend. Not so long ago, I caught him making out with Julia Louis Dreyfus on that show, The New Adventures of the Old Christine. So my question is, "Is Blair Underwood the new go-to guy to play the Black man who dates White women on prime time television?" There's no malice in the question, I'm just wondering how an actor gets that reputation? And does Underwood embrace the role? Is he just happy he is working in very White Hollywood and not solely dependent on Tyler Perry vehicles? I'm just wondering? And should his appearance on these very "mainstream" shows as the object of desire of White women be thought of as progress? I don't recall hearing a lot of hoopla about Underwood being cast as "the boyfriend" so maybe it's a non-issue.

Thoughts? And does anyone know if he shows up in the Sex in the City movie? I'm not a fan, but I'd like to know.

"I didn't know I was Black Until I Came to America."

The heading on this post is a quote from a young woman I met in Jamaica this past weekend at the Calabash Literary Festival in Treasure Beach, Jamaica.

The festival exceeded my wildest expectations. I met amazing authors like Lawrence Hill, Margaret Cezair-Thompson and Jackie Kay. I had a fabulous, though nerve-wracking, experience reading from my book, Kinky Gazpacho: Life, Love & Spain in front of an audience of over 1000 people. And the weather cooperated with high temperatures, cool breezes and no rain (until the last day).

But what I enjoyed the most about my little visit to this little island was being surrounded by the most beautiful Black people in the world. What an experience for this chick raised up in the whitest, white Wisconsin, to be in a warm world of welcoming brown faces and kinky hair. I felt giddy to be in the real majority for once. I considered rushing back to America to scoop up my children and bringing them back to Jamaica to raise them in a place where their cute, little, brown, faces would transform to simply cute, little, faces, because the brown would be redundant.

After my reading this woman came up to me with her friend and told me she understood my struggle of trying to define Black in America, because it happened to her when she arrived here for college and was immediately informed by the race police that she must quickly join the Black race or else face the risk of not belonging. "Growing up in Jamaica," she told me, "I didn't even know I was Black." Suffice it to say, America's racial politics sent her right back home after she finished school.

So for now, I have no immediate plans to move to Jamaica, but it is a tempting thought. Although I must admit I would miss snow. After all, I am from Wisconsin.

Peace Out!

Kinky Gazpacho in Jamaica

We interrupt the regular programming here at the Meltingpot to make mention of an exciting Meltingpot literary event taking place this weekend in the Caribbean.

The Calabash Literary Festival 2008 is: " A three-day festival of readings and music with other forms of storytelling folded in the mix. Calabash is earthy, inspirational, daring and diverse. It’s the only annual international literary festival in the English-speaking Caribbean. All festival events are free and open to the public. Passion is the only price of entry."

Unless you roll like that (or you live in Jamaica) it's probably too late to show up this year, but check out the website and imagine the magic that will be taking place as some of the world's most talented writers and musicians gather together in a tropical paradise to share their love of the written word. I get goosebumps just thinking about it and the best thing is, I'll be there this year! Yes, Lori L. Tharps (that's me, I just like to write in the third person on this blog so it doesn't get too personal. LOL!) will be representing at Calabash. Rubbing elbows with my literary heroes, Colin Channer, Lorna Goodison, and Margaret Cezair-Thompson, just to name a few. Soaking up a culture that exemplifies cultural cross-pollination. And, I won't lie, hitting the beach with the Spaniard. Can't wait!

Check it out and support a very Meltingpot Festival if you can.

1 Love

Peace!

(Image is from Calabash Festival '05)

A Vote for the White Side

Just a tip to all of those angry White people(and probably folks of other flavors and colors) who just can't fathom voting for a Black president. Don't sweat it. Remember, Barack Obama is half-White so just vote for his White side. That way you don't have to feel guilty for not supporting 'Your Kind.'

Good luck!

Tidbits

• May is National Mixed-Race Experience Month. I don't know if that's on any official government calendar, but Heidi Durrow over at The Light Skinded Girl has declared it to be so and is dropping some knowledge about people of mixed-race heritage. She highlights a different historical "mixed-race" fact every day of the month. I'm learning so much and encourage you to take a peek. Did you all know, for instance, that singer/songwriter, Carly Simon's mom was Black and Jewish? Me neither, but when you think about it, it's like 'yeah, I could see that.'

• There is no Me Without You. Mildred Loving, the Black woman who paved the way for interracial couples to legally marry in all fifty states, died last week at age 68. Mildred and Richard Loving were actually thrown in jail when they returned to their home state of Virginia as a legally married couple, having tied the knot in Washington, DC. Their efforts to knock down the anti-miscegenation (don't you hate that word? It sounds like a venereal disease.) came not from a grandiose political agenda, but from a practical one. They wanted to live together as man and wife in their home state of Virginia and raise their children in peace. Simple acts of love and faith often make the most difference in this world. To read more about the Loving decision and the June 12th celebration of the day the Supreme Court Decision was delivered, check out Loving Day.org. And this June 12, remember Mildred and Richard.

• Just a Random Thought. I heard a woman on the radio say she was so confused as to who to support as the Democratic candidate for president. "I'm a Black woman," she moaned, "so I don't know if I should support the woman candidate or the Black candidate." I wanted to reach my hand through the stereo speakers and slap her and say, "Bitch, vote for the candidate who you think will do the best job in the White House." What difference does it make if the person has a penis or a vagina, Black skin or White? I would never pick any leader based on their genitalia or skin color. Why is this an issue now? Okay. I'm done.

Peace.

And Happy Mother's Day (a little bit early)

Do White People...?

Here's a question that's been vexing me and I'd like to hear from the masses.

Let's say there's a White teenager who only hangs around Black people, speaks fluent Ebonics/urban slang and perhaps only reads XXL, Vibe and Essence magazines. Do other more "mainstream" White teens accuse him of acting Black? Does the White teen feel ostracized and alienated from the White community because he/she feels more comfortable with Black people? Or on the contrary, does he earn cool points for being edgy?

What I'm trying to figure out is if White kids are ever accused of adopting someone else's ethnic identity in a pejorative way by other White people? Black kids who are "articulate," grow up in the suburbs and perhaps prefer James Blunt over Jay-Z are accused of selling-out, talking White, acting White and being an Oreo. Is there a similar response from some in the White community? What does it sound like? And likewise, we know there are a lot of Asian kids with kind of Negro tendencies. Do they get a verbal lashing from others in their communities for acting Black? And do they get beat down for acting White too?

At the end of the day, I'm thinking there's no limit to how many people play musical identities, whether by choice or circumstance. But what I want to know is how many people outside of the Black community feel offended when their "own kind" steps to the other side? Do White people have the choice to pick and chose their identities and Black (and Asian and Latinos) people are supposed to fit in the same box?

Thoughts? Enlighten me please.

Peace.

Is Gypsy a racist word?

I was just accused of being racist. That hurts. A lot. Here's the deal. In a radio interview on The Brian Lehrer Show I was talking about racism in Spain and made a comment about gypsies being at the receiving end of some of the worst racist treatment in Spain.

I used the term gypsy more than once during the interview. Well, according to one of the listeners on the show who wrote in a comment, gypsy is a racist word and as a Black woman talking about racism I ought to know better than to use the term gypsy instead of the correct term, Roma people. I am paraphrasing but that was the gist of the complaint.

I have two things to say. First, I admit it hands down that I did not know, had no idea really that gypsy was considered a racist term. So I say thank you to the listener for educating me. Incidentally, my treatment towards the "Roma" people I have met has never been racist, which should be the real litmus test of deciding whether I am a racist. My sister-in-law in Spain is practically engaged to a member of the Roma people so I have had the benefit of learning a lot about their culture first-hand. As always I love learning about the people in Spain who slip under the radar of the Spanish image sold here Stateside.

Interestingly, in a random internet search I could not find much that declared gypsy to in fact be a racist word. Indeed, organizations which work to fight racism around the world like Human Rights Watch, use the term gypsy in their literature. As do other organizations like Workers'Liberty who wrote this article examining the racist treatment "gypsies" receive in England. All this to say, while "Gypsy" is clearly considered a racist word by some, it  hasn't become common knowledge to the masses. Now that I know better I will try to erase it from my vocabulary and spread the word.

And questions for you: Did you know gypsy was a racist term? Does anyone know the origin of the term? And are all "gypsies" really Roma people?

Thanks for the input people.

Happy Friday.

Colored People

The other day my friend mentioned that she'd read an article by an "angry" Asian man who wanted to know why Tiger Woods is heralded as the "first African-American golfer who"...when Tiger is technically more Asian than he is Black. My first response to this "Tiger is more Asian than Black" theory (and I apologize Earl Woods, may your spirit rest in Peace) was to say that Earl Woods might have exaggerated his Asian heritage because Black people of a certain age like to claim some "Indian" blood to boost their self-worth. And while I found plenty of articles that try to quantify Tiger's racial lineage, it seems only clear that his mother is half-Thai and half-Chinese with some Dutch ancestors lurking in the mix. And his father was the product of two "Officially" Black parents, but his mother had a light complexion and rumor had it that she had a Chinese ancestor in her past.

So after my rigorous research, I can only conclude that Tiger is pretty much Black AND Asian. Which means that Angry Asian man is completely justified in asking why he is celebrated as the first African-American golfer to break all these records. Why is he always erroneously labeled by the media? Why all the Fried Chicken and lynching comments? Why does Black America claim him as their own (although somewhat grudgingly considering he refers to himself as a Cablasian.)?

I'll tell you why. BECAUSE HE LOOKS BLACK! It is really that simple. People see his dark skin. People saw his Black father constantly by his side and put two and two together and came up with, Black. But that doesn't mean it is right or fair. It also doesn't help society see beyond Black and White. Every little Asian (Thai, Chinese or other), biracial, or mixed child should also feel like they too can claim Tiger out in public and not simply behind closed doors.

So I have a solution. Rather than fighting for the right to label Tiger as Black or Asian and getting into a Tiger Turf war, I propose we reinstate the word Colored to the American lexicon. Yes it has a negative history but it perfectly describes Tiger Woods and every other person of color. We are colored. I am colored. Tiger, perhaps would be Multi-Colored. I think it works and nobody has to feel excluded. Pretty much anyone with a little bit of extra melanin can join this group.

Imagine a world where Colored people stopped trying to separate themselves and instead embraced their commonalities. I'm not saying we should all forget our unique cultures, not even. It's just that when we spend all this time trying to decide where a person belongs and who has rights to claim him it leads to tension and strife and generally there is no correct answer. So all I'm saying is go with Colored. It's easy.

Peace.

Obama-land in Deutschland!

Hello Meltingpot readers. Today we have a guest blogger reporting for us all the way from Germany.

My friend, Rose-Anne is a journalist living with her German husband and three little boys in Berlin. A Haitian-American raised in New York and Columbia, Maryland, she's always tuned in to Meltingpot issues. When she told me that Germans love Barack Obama, I asked her to tell me more. And this is what she wrote.

If the German vote counted, Barack Obama would very likely be the next US president. A recent poll here showed that 74% of Germans would vote for him over Hilary Clinton as a presidential candidate. And it’s no wonder, because the German media has done everything but officially endorse Obama.

Obama has been likened to John F. Kennedy, which, even over forty years after Kennedy’s “Ich bin ein Berliner” speech, is a rare honor. Kennedy still has Beatles-like status here. There have also been comparisons to Martin Luther King’s charisma, eloquence and vision. King is not only an American icon— I’ve met 12 year-olds here who know who MLK is.

German Financial Times columnist, Peter Ehrlich, has credited Obama for
“bringing passion back into US politics." A Social Democrat (one of Germany’s ruling coalition parties), Karsten Voigt, said “Germany is definitely Obama-Land. He’s young, dynamic and perceived as more of a candidate for a movement than a political party, a movement for change.”

Obama’s popularity here confirms what I’ve slowly started to understand as an American who once always had race on the mind—that it’s not all about race here. Don’t get me wrong, Germany certainly has its share of problems with integration and those pesky neo-Nazis that the government has tried (as much as the constitution here allows) to thwart. But for Germans, the differences in culture and class—or maybe I should say, the similarities in culture in class— stand out far more than those of color. As a Black, Haitian-American in Germany, I might very well have it easier than a blond, blue-eyed Turk. And I can no longer count how many times I’ve said hello or nodded to an African brother or sister on the street, only to be ignored or looked back at in bewilderment. Here, connecting to people sometimes goes way deeper than skin color.

What it is all about in German politics, is cojones(regardless of sex) and credibility. German voters can quickly spot “squeaky-clean” hypocrites who stand behind a façade of piety and conventionalism. That’s why few politicians here even try to play conventional morality games. Berlin’s mayor, for example, grew more popular when he came out right away and said, “I’m gay. That’s a good thing.”

Germans also don’t believe religion belongs in politics. You’ll never hear Chancellor Angela Merkel say “God bless Germany,” because she doesn’t need to. Germans are not God-fearing in their politics. Here, Obama’s association with Reverend Wright wouldn’t be as much as a scandal as would the attempt to demonize him based on the beliefs of someone he knows. I don’t even know if the chancellor goes to church, to be quite honest. Good Lord, she might even be an atheist!

The lack of a religious/moral backdrop in German politics is one of the reasons you’ll find virtually no sex scandals here. Bill Clinton’s impeachment for his extracurricular activities with Monica Lewinsky was widely met with comments like, “This is a political issue? A president can be impeached for this?” The Spitzer scandal would also have been a bust—prostitution here is legal. In fact, pervasive German stereotypes of Americans are that we’re prudish; hypocritically moral (read one Republican sex scandal after the next) and that we don’t respect public figures’ privacy.

But for all their progressivism, Germans are notoriously resistant to change; which, is why Obama’s popularity here is a phenomenon. Obama’s fame signals that Germans, deep down, want charismatic personalities to convince them that change is good and that it shouldn’t cause people to fear looking forward (although any future without Bush seems to be a welcome one for Europeans as a whole). Obama’s brilliant speech, “A More Perfect Union,” is not only a speech for America. A call for universality, for change and common dreams of all people, is exactly what has made Obama a hero abroad.

Thank you to Rose-Anne Clermont for contributing to the Meltingpot and for giving us a peek into another part of the world. To read more fascinating stories written by Rose-Anne, visit The WIP.

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!

Voting by Color

I have to admit I haven't been watching a lot of TV these days. What with the writer's strike, a general lack of interest and my busy life, the boob tube just wasn't calling my name.

Then, in a moment of weakness, I watched one episode of American Idol and now I'm hooked. I can't help it. I just find the show fascinating. I love listening to the 2 or 3 kids who can actually sing. And Simon's biting comments, while often cruel, leave me rolling on the floor in laughter. (You know he's doing that to keep the show in the spotlight.)But the real draw for me is seeing America's Meltingpot up there on the stage competing in the ultimate popularity contest.

I wonder do people really vote on talent (Does anybody remember Sanjaya?) or are these contestants being evaluated by their hotness factor? And then I wonder how and if race/ethnicity fits into the equation. Do the Black people vote Black? Are the Filipino voters overjoyed because there are at least two of their kind of people in the running this season? And what about those ambiguously brown contestants with the kinda/sorta Hispanic could be Italian surnames? Whose vote do they get? Based on the presidential primary coverage, one can't blame me for thinking that people vote based on who looks like them the most.

Now of course I could be completely wrong in assuming that the thousands of viewers who actually take the time to send in their vote only support their racial brethren, but it does make me pause. And if the opposite is true, if people strip away all of their ethnic/racial biases and just vote based on whether a person has true pop star appeal, then that's pretty cool too. Revolutionary, in fact. Of course there's probably no way to find out what's really at play in voter habits, but it sure is fun to watch the ride.

Stay Tuned.

Peace!

A Meltingpot Film & Literary Festival!

Hey Meltingpot readers...This Just In. Los Angeles will be the site for the 1st Annual Mixed Roots Film and Literary Festival.

The brain child of the two hippest Mixed Chicks around -- and hosts of the online talk show Mixed Chicks Chat -- Heidi Durrow and Fanshen Cox, the Mixed Roots Film and Literary Festival "was created to support and encourage emerging and established filmmakers and writers to tell stories of the racially and culturally Mixed experience." How cool is that!

The Festival runs from June 12 - 15, 2008 to coincide with Loving Day. Filmmakers and literary folks who want to participate in the festival should head over to the website and check out the call for submissions section. You have until March 4, so don't delay.

I had the pleasure of meeting Ms. Durrow at last year's Loving Decision conference. I am so inspired by her attitude of action. When she thinks something should be done, she gets it done. This Festival is just an example of what one (or two) people can do to get this revolution started. Take note!

I'm looking forward to seeing all of you Meltingpot readers in the City of Angels in June.

Peace!

It's Love Day!

I'd like to say something deep and meaningful about love, but instead I've provided some Meltingpot (eye)Candy for your Valentine's Day treat. Here's to Lovin in technicolor!

Enjoy!


Peace and Love!

Spain Shows Its Racist Side... Again

Okay, so I'm married to a Spaniard. I'm Black. I wrote a book, Kinky Gazpacho: Life, Love & Spain (due out March 4, 2008) about being Black in Spain and Spain's peculiar attitude and history with Black people.

So of course I have to comment about this latest incident of Spanish fans spouting racist taunts at Black Formula One driver, Lewis Hamilton. True confession, I know nothing about race car driving and what I do know is from watching Will Ferrell and Sacha Barron Cohen in Talledega Nights (very funny movie) so this is coming from the heart.

This SUCKS! It is ridiculous that in the year 2008 people in any country can dress up in blackface (yes they did! see photo above!) yell foul racist language in a crowd and feel that it is okay in the name of supporting your favorite race car driver. Hello? or Perhaps I should say, Hola? And don't forget Spaniards are not above throwing banana peels and making monkey noises during soccer matches when Black futbolistas come on the field. Por favor, people.

Time International writes a story about this latest incident and Spain's history of rabid, racist sports fans. You can read about it here

Being that my children are half Spanish and my husband still calls Spain home, I still have to figure out what to do with this information. Do I boycott any future trips to my husband's homeland? Do I keep going but wear Black in protest and refuse to speak to any of the locals? Probably not. Because there are still parts of Spain and Spanish culture that I love. And while many people may view these incidents and write off Spain as a Black spot of Europe (no pun intended) I have to remember to use some perspective.

If a Spaniard, or any other foreigner read about the Jena 6 tragedy or any number of racial profiling police brutality cases, they'd say America was a racist country as well. And we are! As is Spain. But as all of you know, despite the acts and attitudes of many Americans, this is still a country that in many ways embraces and celebrates diversity. I wouldn't say Spain celebrates diversity, but the people individually can be very welcoming and open-minded when it comes to racial differences...except in Sports!


So I will continue to go to Spain. And maybe my role there will be to be a cultural ambassador and knock some sense, I mean educate Spain's citizens about Black people, political correctness and well, just what is appropriate during a Formula One race.

Wish Me Luck.

Peace!

Black Literature Gets a Party

Two posts back I was lamenting the lack of contemporary fiction that featured characters of color by authors of color. Well, apparently I'm not the only one with the same feelings of frustration. But luckily, instead of just blogging about it, some people have decided to do something about it.

Stemming from a simple editorial written in the New York Times Book Review by author, Martha Southgate, ringShout was born. ringShout is "dedicated to recognizing, reclaiming and celebrating excellence in contemporary literary fiction and nonfiction by Black writers in the United States." Still in it's infancy, ringShout is currently just a lot of positive energy and great minds working together to show the world that street fiction is not the beginning and the end of African-American literature.

If you check out the ringShout website you'll find a downloadable list of recommended titles of the best contemporary Black fiction and nonfiction. It's a long list, which goes to show that ringShout was really needed because there is such a misconception that this work doesn't exist. The truth is the work does exist but the publishing industry and commercial bookstores don't know what to do with it.

Well the party is starting now. Happy reading and spread the word about ringShout!

Peace!

From Hitler to Papa Doc Duvalier: One Daughter Connects the Dots

Hey Meltingpot Folks,

Check out this amazing article -- part of a nine part series -- about two women who lived under similar horrific circumstances but worlds apart. One woman lived in Germany, the other Haiti. What connects these women? My friend Rose-Anne. She's the daughter of the Haitian woman and the daughter-in-law of the German woman. Rose-Anne was born in New York, lives in Berlin and is a talented journalist and writer. Not to mention, a living example of the Meltingpot archetype. You can read her riveting article here.

Peace!

A Meltingpot Discovery at the Library

Let me start off by saying I go to the library at least once a week. I need my library fix like a junkie needs a drug. When I go, I usually don't even have a particular title in mind, the thrill for me is browsing through the shelves of new releases and stumbling on the perfect book for my mood at that moment. I have to remind myself many times not to be greedy and check out too many books at once, for now that I have children and a husband who sometimes expect some of my attention, I can't read three books at the same time like I used to (sigh).

Right now I'm into fiction. I'm looking for books that explore complex human relationships. Preferably there would be an element of race thrown into the mix. Often I have to settle for stories about White people because it seems like the majority of good contemporary fiction is written by and about, White women and men and their emotional landscape. Of course I know there are books that feature "others" but I think you understand my point...

Anyway, so imagine my delight and surprise when I came home to discover that the book I selected at last week's library run, Lost Hearts in Italy featured not only a Black female protagonist, but the author was Black as well. And it truly was a surprise because the summary of the story on the book jacket describes the main character Mira, as an "American" not an African-American. And while I see it now, upon first glance at the author photo on the back jacket, I assumed the author, Andrea Lee, was White.

I enjoyed the book, which examines the dissolution of a marriage when one person cheats. The action takes place all over the world actually but mostly in Rome. Issues of identity and living abroad and race --in a very small way -- are all explored. But there is no way this would be classified as a Black book or even, as they like to put on those little stickers in the library, of "African-American Interest."

I just wonder how much Andrea Lee had to fight to make sure that neither the cover of the book nor the flap copy indicated that Mira was a Black woman. Was it deliberate? Does she know or suspect that if a book has a Black person on the cover, White people won't read it? Is this even true (And Karrine "Video Vixen" Steffans doesn't count)anymore?

I for one will definitely be checking out Andrea Lee's other books, Sarah Phillips and Interesting Women. Although she lives in Italy, she is still a Black American writer with a beautiful writing voice and a keen eye for the complexities of race and culture both here and abroad.

Peace.

Japa-Negro

Happy New Year Meltingpot readers! Thanks for coming back. I hope 2008 will be filled with thought-provoking and fascinating blog posts featuring loads and loads of cultural cross pollination.

So on that note...right before break I had the opportunity to share a meal with author extraordinaire, Veronica Chambers. We were talking about her latest book, Kickboxing Geishas which is all about fierce Japanese women, and I asked her where her fascination with Japanese culture came from. Her answer surprised me. She said that she views Japan, specifically Tokyo, like the Paris of the 1920s in that the Japanese people have a unique love affair with Black-American culture.

I'd never heard this before. As a black hair "expert" I knew that there were a lot of Japanese people rockin' dredlocks and into the whole hip-hop aesthetic, but I didn't realize the love affair included Black art, music and literature. So now I want to know more. I want to know about the Black experience in Japan. I found this blog Sista in Tokyo written by a young Black American woman working in Japan. And then there's the Japan African-American Friendship Organizationwhich really made me smile.

Now of course I know that there is no country where all people are really considered equal. But it sure tickles me to know that there is a place half way around the world that technically has no real connection to an African past, but yet and still the people have in some way embraced it.

Can somebody tell me more about the Black experience in Japan?

Peace.

13 Ways to Look at A Black Woman

Today I babysat for my friend. She had a job interview and needed a favor. While I was "on the job" in her home, several workmen were there finishing up some repairs in her kitchen. The foreman introduced me to the rest of the crew as the "housekeeper," even though my friend had told him the night before that her best friend from college would be watching her chubby-cheeked, blue-eyed son. I guess he forgot and just decided I must be the housekeeper. Not the babysitter or the friend.

Later today, a very high-end public relations firm contacted me because they wanted to handle the publicity for my new book, Kinky Gazpacho. They came looking for me after they read a positive review of the book in Publisher's Weekly magazine.

Yesterday I worked a shift as a waitress in a cozy little restaurant near my home. One of my customers, a distinguished-looking White man of a certain age, waited until he'd had enough to drink and his wife wasn't looking to plant a wet slobbery kiss upon my face and whisper nonsense in my ear with his hot, stinky, breath. Ugh.

When my children see me come to pick them up from school they yell "mommy" and jump into my arms, safe once again.

In the eyes of the world I am so many things. I am a servant, a potential gold mine, a whore and a mother. I do not get to speak to define myself. I am a Black woman in America. I am so many things. I am nothing.

Does anybody else feel this way?

Peace!

Translating International Adoption

As many of my readers know, I have a mild obsession/fascination with Spain. Lived there for a year. Married a Spaniard I met along the way. Wrote a book about my journey, (Kinky Gazpacho: Life. Love & Spain(Atria, 2008). Hablo Espanol...

In addition, my latest obsession/interest is international adoption. How does it work? How are cultures preserved or lost when a child is transferred to a different country to start life anew? Will Brad and Angelina stay together long enough for their rainbow coalition to really thrive and prove the naysayers wrong?

So imagine my great joy when I discovered the book, Daughter of the Ganges by Asha Miro, an Indian woman adopted by a Catalan family in Barcelona, Spain in the early 1970s. The book details the author's journey back to India to search for her past. The writing in the book is kind of bland (perhaps due to the fact that it is a translation from the original Spanish) but the story in and of itself is fascinating. Miro provides a new face and perspective on the nature vs nurture question and also just gives us a different version of international adoption to admire.

Even better, once Miro started this incredible odyssey, she decided to dedicate herself to adoption work, including penning a comic strip called Asha about, you guessed it, a little Indian girl who is adopted. The strip is published throughout Europe. Check out Asha Miro and all of her good work at her website.

Peace!