Storyteller Crystal Chan share with us, “My story was published by The Guardian in the UK about my mixed race experience. I hope you like it!”
We like it! Thanks for sharing Crystal!
Check out her story in The Guardian
http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/feb/01/mixed-race-childhood-midwest-crystal-chan
Angela Tucker shares her moving story of Closure.
A documentary about a trans-racial adoptee who finds her birth mother, and meets the rest of a family who didn’t know she existed, including her birth father. A story about identity, the complexities of trans-racial adoption, and most importantly, CLOSURE.
http://closuredocumentary.com/
For information about film screenings contact Angela at info@closuredcoumentary.com
Thank you, author Maureen Gilmer, for sharing your story! “This book about my family is a true tale of civil rights from about 1800 to 1910 New Orleans.” Book to be released 2014!
“In nineteenth-century New Orleans, Jean Benjamin Esnard and his family struggle to conceal their mixed-race ancestry and pass as white in the increasingly hostile racial environment of the post-Civil War South. Their secret begins to unravel, however, when their son, Adrien, is born darker than his siblings and labeled “C” for “colored” on his birth certificate. As desperation sets in, Jean Benjamin and his wife, Florentine must make the heartbreaking decision to separate the family in order to save it.
In Jumping the Fence, Maureen Gilmer shares the extraordinary true story of early civil rights activists—her ancestors—who stopped at nothing to protect each other and their assets in the struggle against slavery and segregation.” http://www.jumpingthefence.net/
Alison Hart submitted her story!
“My brother’s death rocked my paradigm and forced me to face the impermanence of our lives. Thoughts, feelings, experiences, people, faith, relationships, politics, identity, things (except maybe plastic bags) change; nothing is static.temp words is a journey through impermanence from my perspective as a mixed race woman of color living in America. This is my edge, this is how I navigate through life: one moment at a time.” https://www.createspace.com/4434561
You can follow Alison and her book at:
The 4th Annual New Orleans Loving Festival is seeking original artwork and short films with themes concerning “race, racism and the multiracial experience” for a juried group art exhibition. The art show is tentatively scheduled for June 7 through July 7 of 2014 in New Orleans, Louisiana. Please follow the guidelines below for consideration:
We would like to reach out to the Mixed Roots community to invite people to participate as a Guest Blogger on MixedRootsStories.org. Our blog is dedicated to sharing stories of the mixed experience, and helping to spread the word about artists, writers and others whose work addresses this experience. Our Guest Bloggers will add 2-4 posts during their designated month. These posts might share personal stories, be a reflection on an aspect of society, or a discussion and/or analysis of racial identity, and more. Your posts should be submitted one week before the month your posts will begin. Once we’ve moderated it and ironed out logistics with you, we will then feature your posts on the MXRS website, Facebook page and Twitter.
If you would like to participate, please email us a bio, picture, topic ideas, and the number of times you wish to post (2, 3, or 4) to info@mixedrootsstories.org with Guest Blogger as the subject line. We will reply within a week to confirm when we can add you as a contributor on our site (please remember to add our email address to your safe list).
Looking forward to blogging with you!
Storyteller “Qiana Mestrich is a photo-based visual artist and writer from Brooklyn, NY. A graduate of the ICP-Bard College MFA in Advanced Photographic Practice, her autobiographical work establishes a study of heritage within complex and convoluted visual histories.
She is the founder of Dodge & Burn: Diversity in Photography History, a blog which profiles photographers of color. In 2012, Qiana Mestrich co-edited (with fellow ICP-Bard alumna Michi Jigarjian) How We Do Both: Art and Motherhood (Secretary Press), a book about and by contemporary artist mothers.”
Her recent work, “Joseph: A Life in Colour, A Life in Care” can be viewed here!
Joseph: A Life in Colour, A Life in Care
“Under the United Kingdom’s Data Protection Act of 1998, my husband Joseph received photocopied files from the London Borough of Camden documenting the years he spent as an orphan in several children’s homes from 1965 to 1975. Born to a Nigerian father and Irish mother, Joseph remained “in care” under the child protection system in England until 1981.
This series combines select, manipulated text from those documents with my own images of Joseph. Both the photography and text function as character assessments, questioning the inherent misrepresentation of portraiture. The third-party narrative ultimately reveals the social and moral forces that denied Joseph hi birthright to a family, while my photographs show the beginnings of a new one.”
Born to an absent father—an African-American lawyer in 1960’s Chicago—and a crooked, Jewish mother, Keith L.T. Alexander had no ordinary childhood. Known to the media as “Anita the Burglar,” Alexander’s mother was a criminal by nature. Brilliant and creative, she mastered everything from bicycle theft, to mail fraud, to art forgery. Between scams, she built a castle and designed a human powered flying machine. “Whether as a member of a subculture or as an individual, Mom made choices that most mothers would not have made, “Alexander admits. Determined to fill the empty bellies of her two children and her desire for thrill, Anita was involved in whatever intellectual and illegal practices she could find. While she was out, Alexander and his older sister, Lin, were cared for by Anita’s circle of thieving and compassionate homosexuals who were called aunts and uncles. This support system was where Alexander and Lin turned to fill the void of their absent father, who lived with his wife, not twenty miles away. A very unique story, Alexander holds nothing back in his debut memoir Forgery-of-the-Month Club. From adolescence to adulthood, Alexander continues to cope with the decisions of his parents. Now, he shares his story of love, family, and friendship set against a delightfully dangerous backdrop.
“As the writing took shape, my demons awoke and were buckled as my understanding of our choices and of our extended family deepened,” he says. Forgery-of-the-Month Club is a captivating, coming-of-age memoir that will have thieves and law-abiding citizens alike on the edge of their seats!
“In all my years of being a newspaper columnist, interviewing “Anita the Burglar” was one of the memorable highlights. A bright and vivid character, she could give a good name to art forgery, as well as other unusual ways of breaking the law.” —Margo Howard, aka Dear Prudence
“Anita’s life as a hustler and artist brought us hours of laughter that made our sides ache! Keith’s telling of them is a gem.” —Warren Casey, composer, lyricist, writer, Grease
You can order Keith L T Alexander’s book here!
Hey, San Francisco!
Answer this CALL FOR FESTIVAL ENTRIES for shows and events to celebrate Pacific Islander and Asian Heritage Month in May 2014! The 17th Annual United States of Asian America Festival is looking for all mediums of art and culture welcome!
This year’s theme — “The Spaces Between.” That is, subject(s) of your submission should focus on themes related to Asian American culture and specifically to the spaces between people, places, times, communities, or cultures; to the building of coalitions; to the celebration of differences; to the closing of gaps created by injustice and inequality; or to honoring the intersections of identities. Mixed race artists are strongly encouraged to apply! he deadline for submission is 11:59pm on Wednesday, January 15, 2014. http://apiculturalcenter.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=section&id=7&Itemid=56
Hapa Happy Hour celebrated 5 years of podcasting in 2013! They explore through a lively discussion the celebration of mixed heritage and intercultural experiences!
http://www.hapahappyhour.libsyn.com/
Congratulations on a successful 5 years Hapa Happy Hour! Thanks for sharing this milestone with us!!