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multiethnic

2 Girls | 1 Asian: A New Webseries

At Mixed Roots Stories we strive to support any effort to share stories of the Mixed experience.  2 Girls | 1 Asian is a comedic webseries co-created, produced, and starring Kelly Colburn and Kaela Mei-Shing Garvin.  They created the series, because, as Kelly and Kaela stated, “we don’t often see ourselves reflected in the entertainment we’re offered.”

Webseries Description “It follows Caela and Kelliye through breakups, career trials, apartment troubles, and even fissions within their friendship, but ultimately it’s the story of two girls who value each other more than they value the mistakes the other makes. Our perspective on race in America gives us a unique filter through which to view the “single girl in the big city” narrative, so our episodes actively work to subvert Asian American stereotypes we’re tired of seeing while passing the Bechdel test. We launched our independent, fully crowd-funded production online on June 5, 2014, and are releasing an episode each Thursday at 9pm through mid-July.”

ENJOY!

Episode 1: “I Enjoy Being A Girl…/Pilot”

Episode 2: “What Are You?”

Episode 3: “Eviction”

2 Girls | 1 Asian

When Do We Count and Why?

Why do we have a census count every ten years and does it really matter? The question popped into my head while reading a fascinating article by Tanzina Vega of the New York Times: Census Considers How to Measure a More Diverse America – about the preparations for the 2020 census and the challenges on how best to measure diversity.

 Why do we have a census is an easy question to answer. As our readers may know, America counts its population every ten years because it is required by the U.S.A. Constitution per Article 1 Section 2:

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Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined b adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons. The actual Enumeration shall be made…within every subsequent Term of ten Years, in such Manner as they shall by Law direct.

Since the census is enumerated in the Constitution it is clearly a political activity and as you can see by the 3/5 clause and the exclusion of “Indians not taxed” it has its pitfalls and has continued so every ten years since then.

The second question does not have an easy answer: Does the census really matter? It does matter when determining representation in the House for each state, but all the other questions regarding ethnicity, “race” and gender begs the question: what political purpose does it serve? I know – as a person with a complexity of identity markers – that I felt underserved by the census i.e. not fully counted, so my voice was not expressed in that realm even with the changes. I do still have the political power to vote, but that is an occasional political expression, but census outcomes have a lasting, significant impact, such as the distribution of funds. However, can federal, state and local funds be fairly distributed without asking questions of gender, ethnicity and “race”.

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I have ideas that I’m working on, but I’m curious as to what you all think out there, so please leave your comments on our Facebook page. And for resources on the topic I recommend reading the collection of articles on MixedRaceStudies website.
Thanks!

The Other Project

The Other Project is a documentary photography project shared with Mixed Roots Stories by storyteller Rachel Crick.

“The Other Project is a documentary project focusing specifically on the development of self-identity of people across the country who identify as “bi-racial,” or “multi-ethnic,” or who use other similar adjectives to make sense of their racial make-up. One goal for this project is to encourage public discussion around racial identity — to be a catalyst for people to see themselves, despite their so-called differences, and find the commonalities amongst themselves. We are looking for participants of both racial and ethnic diversity for this project. If you are of a multiracial/multiethnic background, or you know of others who may be interested, please contact us.”

For more information about the project and how to participate visit her website www.rachelcrickphotography.com.