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“The Spaces Between” – Submission Deadline coming soon!

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

www.apiculturalcenter.org

Exploring Mixed Identity through Food!

Thanks Meso, for submitting your story!

Meso is an exploratory food project that brings people together to craft, sample, and discuss recipes featuring hybridity in food. Our goal is to create a Mexican-Chicagoan cookbook. In this project, we set out to celebrate our hybrid identities and call out to each of us who have felt like we’re in the middle, neither this nor that, but something of two or more, and still distinctly American. There is a reason we chose to communicate through food. For those of us living with mixed-race identity in the United States, it is a fitting metaphor for experience–mixed, concocted, politicized, appropriated, and of course, consumed. Food’s very nature allows for alterations to the recipe, improvements, mistakes, and quickly the “authenticity” of a dish becomes muddled. And, in the end, food brings us together like nothing else. With this and much more in mind, we present Meso, an exploration of Mexican-Chicago cuisine. This project is a test kitchen. Our process is collaborative and inclusive. We seek people who are interested in exploring identity, making connections between foods and cultures, and are not afraid of bizarre, spicy, frothy, heavy, exquisite, charred, or whatever else might describe the concoctions coming from our chefs’ baking dishes. Our participants give honest feedback and input on food, collectively deciding which recipes are published.

http://mesochicago.com/

Online Directory of Race Research

The Center on Race and Social Problems at the University of Pittsburgh has developed a new Race Research Online Directory that provides more than 10 years of research at your fingertips.

http://www.crsp.pitt.edu/

“The center has always served as a leading resource for race-related research, but now it offers unprecedented access for students, educators, foundations, and government agencies whose work depends on good scholarship.

  • More than 100 videos of lectures from the speaker series, summer institutes, and the Race in America conference.
  • Pilot studies and other research projects at the center.
  • Hundreds of publications, including the journal Race and Social Problems.
  • Educational resources, such as a graduate course listings and award-winning student papers.
  • A listing of all center activities.”

The site includes the topic of “Interracial Group Relations.”

This resource is a great place for those who do academic work to gather information and possibly submit their work to expand the discussion on the Mixed experience.

This is also a great resource for those who need some background information and/or research to consider/include/inform the development of their Mixed Roots Stories!

‘Becoming Mexipino’ – A Story Worth Telling

Becoming Mexipino

Rudy P. Guevarra, Jr., discusses the mixed history and identity of two minority groups (Mexicans and Filipinos) in his book Becoming Mexipino: Multiethnic Identities and Communities in San Diego.

He weaves together the stories of Mexipinos in San Diego by exploring their families immigration to the United States, their fight for civil rights, participation and creation of labor unions, and socialization through cultural functions that brought couples of the two groups together.

“Thus, by examining the intimate, complex relationship between Mexicans and Filipinos in San Diego and exploring how they and their multiethnic children carved a place for themselves in the United States, we can begin to appreciate how identities and communities are formed, nurtured, and sustained over generations. Indeed, the multiple generations of Mexipinos are testimony to this unique history of multiethnic communities in the United States. It is a story worth telling.” (p. 12)

We agree! It is a STORY worth telling.

Becoming Mexipino: Multiethnic Identities and … – Amazon.com

“Cultural Collisions” – MASC Benefit

Cultural Collisions

 

“Cultural Collisions” – a benefit performance for Multiracial Americans of Southern California (MASC)

Joe Hernandez-Kolski, two time HBO Def Poet, is performing his one-man show at the Bootleg Theater (2220 Beverly Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90057) as a benefit for MASC. The show is about the realities of being mixed race, and how American society is rapidly changing, and he does so with laughs on the way to truth.

If you live in Southern California, make sure to represent and show your support on December 7, 2013 – 7:30pm

https://www.facebook.com/events/1430119257201103/?source=1

Sharing stories through Cooking!

Food!  It has a way of gathering people….families….friends…communities.  Many favorite recipes are accompanied by a story that has been passed down through the generations. A recent blog post, Cooking Genes: Our Culinary Legacy on the Narrative Network, talks about the mixing of recipes that are brought from two different cultures in an a multiracial family. The author’s mother “loved to say that our food was delicious because we were a “mixed-up” family!”

http://yonarrative.com/cooking-genes-culinary-legacy/

This year Gloria Govan and Marlena Attinasi published A Mixed Girls Favorite Recipes.

A Mixed Girls Favorite Recipies

“This cookbook is a collection of recipes that Gloria Govan and Marlena Attinasi have developed over the years of entertaining and raising their children. The Book is a sampling of our favorite recipes that are from the flavors of the cultures of our childhood, African American, Mexican and Italian. Some of the recipes we have named after our family members to honor them, as they have been an influence in our cooking styles and why we love food and entertaining. We are passionate about family and food being the center of every gathering. ” Find out more about the authors and order their book on their website http://www.mixedgirlsfavorites.com/

 

“Other” Mixed Story told through Song

“Other,” a song by Guante & Big Cats, featuring Chastity Brown, See More Perspective & Chantz Erolin

The song “Other,” from Guante & Big Cats’ 2012 album “You Better Weaponize,” explores mixed-race and mixed-culture identities in a way that is intimate and personal while also keeping an eye on the bigger picture. Featuring Chastity Brown, See More Perspective and Chantz Erolin, the track weaves together different experiences, styles and approaches to coming to terms with what “mixed” really means. More on Guante: www.guante.info

Listen to the song now: http://guanteandbigcats.bandcamp.com/track/other-w-chastity-brown-see-more-perspective-chantz-erolin

 

Thank you Guante for sharing your story with us!

Laura Kina’s Art Exhibit 11/16/13 in Maryland

Indigo: An Exhibition of Textiles by Laura Kina and Shelly Jyoti

Saturday, November 16, 2013
Gandhi Memorial Center
Opening Reception from 2 to 4pm
Inaugural Remarks at 2:30pm

With Distinguished Guest Mr. Taranjit Singh Sandhu, Deputy Chief of Mission, Embassy of India

RSVP for Opening Reception by 11-14-2013
info@gandhimemorialcenter.org
301-320-6871
Exhibition May Be Viewed Through January 2014
Fridays and Saturdays 10am – 4pm and By Appointment

Gandhi Memorial Center 
4748 Western Avenue
Bethesda, MD 20816
www.gandhimemorialcenter.org

This exhibit is presented by the Gandhi Memorial Center in cooperation with 
the Embassy of India and with support of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations.

Shelly Jyoti’s “Indigo Narratives” refer to the 19th century history of India’s indigo farmers, their oppression and Mahatma Gandhi’s subsequent non-violent resistance leading to India’s freedom. Shelly lived in Gujarat, India and her “Narratives” use traditional embroidery by rural women in Gujarat with support of Shrujan: Threads of Life and indigo resist dyeing printing on khadi fabric with the 9th generation ajrakh artisans of Gujarat famed for their bold embellished textiles. www.shellyjyoti.com

Laura Kina’s “Devon Avenue Sampler” is a portrait of her South Asian/Jewish Chicago neighborhood, West Roger’s Park, and features a bricolage of pop street signage rendered in patchwork quilt paintings. The “Sampler” includes works hand embroidered by artisans from MarketPlace: Handwork of India, a fair trade women’s organization in Mumbai, India. Laura lives and works in Chicago’s “Little India”, a vibrant multiethnic immigrant community.www.laurakina.com

The common thread between both bodies of work is the color indigo blue from India’s colonial past, to indigo-dyed Japanese kasuri fabrics and boro patchwork quilts, through blue threads of a Jewish prayer tallis, to working class blue jeans in the U.S. Since 2009, “Indigo” has exhibited in galleries and cultural centers in Baroda, New Delhi, Mumbai, Seattle, Miami, and Chicago.

Black Coral : A Daughter’s Apology To Her Asian Island Mother

BlackCoralCover11

“Why the title Black Coral? “Locating my family has been like finding Black Coral. Black Coral lies deep within the coral gardens of the tropical deep waters and sea. It is exotic and rare, most precious in color above all other varieties, and often threatened by harvesters wanting to exploit it. Black Coral is often found embedded within the warm waters of the Philippines, the Caribbean and Africa—Black Coral grows in caves under ledges where light is dim; it thrives in the darkness. It grows like trees up from the ocean floor as precious as ivory and pearl.””

Find out more about author C.D. Holmes Miller and her book on her website http://cdholmesmiller.com.

 

Growing Up Mixed in San Francisco

Julie is scheduled to publish her book Growing Up Mixed in SanFrancisco by the end of 2014. Julie believes positive words, thoughts and actions leads to success.  Those are the things she can control and she chooses to have a positive response to situation, challenges and obstacles she faces.

Find out more about her story through her book and read her blog posts on her website http://www.juliegramlich.com/about-me/