Light-skinned-ed Girl

Oh, Etta! You Will Be Missed!

2012-01-20T15:20:40-05:00

Etta James died. I adored Etta James. It is a sad day indeed.

I fell in love with her music kind of late. I knew of her, but it was her albums of jazz standards that made me fall in love with her voice. I could play her version of Someone to Watch Over Me all day long. It is my all-time favorite song.

I first saw her in concert at the Hollywood Bowl a couple of years later. She was Ray Charles' opening act and I was in the front row of box seats (my summer intern treat!). I didn't know what an extraordinary performer she was. Wow! I saw her at least half-dozen times in concert after that--the last time was a couple of years ago again at the Hollywood Bowl. She was still and again amazing.

In my novel, Etta James actually plays a pivotal role. When Rachel, the main character, goes to see Etta James in concert she is profoundly changed. She says:

"Etta James is stuffed together like Grandma--a big, squishy capsule--and she's light-skinned like me. She's got the gravel to her voice when she sings the loud parts (and the parts that are kind of nasty too). She also has that soft spot in her voice when she sings songs that are about being lonely and sad.

The last song, which is an encore, is a long, slow song. I clap and clap. And stand and clap. I want to say this the way Grandma would if she agreed: I like me some Etta James! It feels like it's the only way to say it to make the meaning good."

I should have written: I LOVE me some Etta James. Oh, Etta! You will be missed!

A New Year, A Nice Vacation

2012-01-15T17:30:24-05:00

I am happy to report that this report comes from the Riviera Maya in Mexico. It was raining when we arrived in the late afternoon yesterday. I'm talking biblical kind of rain. And it was so chilly that I wore my New York City winter coat to dinner.

It was impossible to enjoy the scenery because it was already dark, but what a wonderful view I woke up to. Nice, right?

I've had the most relaxing of days: coffee, my morning pages, and NPR; delicious buffet breakfast overlooking the pool; a massage; a spa pedicure; and now a glass of wine before heading off for dinner. My goals for the next two days: 1) enjoy another massage; 2) walk on the beach; 3) read on the beach; 4) rest up! Ah . . . more soon from the other side of relaxation.

One Book Turns Into One Awesome Winter Hat

2011-12-28T08:04:00-05:00

Last Spring, I was traveling home from Portland, and noticed a woman knitting a gorgeous looking winter cap on the flight. It looked just like my beloved cap that I lost last winter in a cab. I was bummed out for several days about losing that cap--not just because it was blue and green (the perfect colors), but a family friend knit it for me shortly before she died of cancer.

It became clear to me that I had to have the hat the woman on the plane was knitting.

"Hi," I blurted as we got off the plane. "Can I buy that hat from you?"

She laughed and said she didn't sell her knitting. I explained how much the hat reminded me of one I had lost that meant a lot to me. Was there any way she could make an exception?

Well, in that case, she said, the hat was mine. She'd send it when she was done. What was my address?

How happy was I? Ecstatic, but felt like I had to give her something. So I signed a copy of my book and gave it to her along with my mailing address.

I hadn't thought about that encounter since--until I got a package in the mail last week. My hat! With a lovely note from Sara (I didn't even know her name), and a beatiful bracelet she made too.

She still isn't selling her wonderful work. Don't you think she should?

Thank you Sara! You made my week! And your hat will keep me warm all winter!

End of the Year Bustle

2011-12-21T08:19:00-05:00

Whew! I just finished the last of my deadlines for 2011 -- a short story commissioned by WNYC's Selected Shorts program. I hope they like it. And now, it is time to breathe again.

I feel almost giddy knowing that all I have to think about in the coming months is the new book! Whoo hoo! Okay, there are a couple of speeches I need to write (notably the Everybody Reads 2012 event with an audience of 2000 in Portland in March), and a workshop I need to put together. But still, what I am feeling right now is relief. I have some time to do some big picture thinking, reading, organizing my closets, exercising and of course, having some holiday fun.

Do you have time off during the next couple of weeks? What are you going to do?

The Cult of Done Manifesto

2011-12-01T10:12:54-05:00

I'm working on a short story that was commissioned by a popular NPR program. I'm freaking out as the deadline looms next week. And then I saw this wonderful manifesto that's helping me focus!

There are three states of being. Not knowing, action and completion.

Accept that everything is a draft. It helps to get it done.

There is no editing stage.

Pretending you know what you're doing is almost the same as knowing what you are doing, so just accept that you know what you're doing even if you don't and do it.

Banish procrastination. If you wait more than a week to get an idea done, abandon it.

The point of being done is not to finish but to get other things done.

Once you're done you can throw it away.

Laugh at perfection. It's boring and keeps you from being done.

People without dirty hands are wrong. Doing something makes you right.

Failure counts as done. So do mistakes.

Destruction is a variant of done.

If you have an idea and publish it on the internet, that counts as a ghost of done.

Done is the engine of more.

My CNN Red Chair Interview

2011-11-23T11:34:26-05:00

Remember back in August when I did the CNN Dialogues panel hosted by Wolf Blitzer? Well, that same trip I got to sit for a CNN Red Chair interview (watch the video it really is a red chair) -- CNN Red Chair feature is a newsmaker series that has featured the likes of the current crop of Republican presidential nominees, Chaka Khan and George Clinton, and now me. You can check it out here:

The Regimen Has Begun: Dieting Before the New Year

2011-11-16T08:15:00-05:00

I will confess: I let it all go while I was on the road for the last few weeks--heck, I let it all go for the last couple of years as I toured.

I can say that I didn't meet a plate of french fries, or a plate of pasta I didn't like since 2009. And then the workouts: well, let's just say that even though I brought that awesome foldable yoga mat with me everywhere as well as my workout wear . . . those things didn't often get used. It's a hair thing too. I like to travel with my hair straight so I don't get that bird's nest of matted curls when I'm on the plane (not to mention traveling with wet hair); and if I sweat, well then my hair isn't straight and then . . . -- well, as you can tell I had a bunch of "reasons" that I ended up packing on the pounds.

This week, I think I have broken the cycle!

1. I am officially "off the road." Whew! As much fun as it was, it was impossible to stick to a good diet and exercise regimen on my hectic travel schedule.

2. I have gone low-carb (this is day 4) and I think I can stick with it for a few months with some new additions to my diet. (E.g. Harmonized Protein Powder in iced coffee; Pasta Slim noodles; and more water than I am comfortable drinking when I am on the road if you know what I mean!)

3. I'm getting almost as intense a workout as I would working out with a trainer. I bought a timer app for my phone that allows me to do Tabata intervals. (More about that in another post.) The timer does a visual countdown, but also has a voice prompt that says "Ready?"in a really energizing way and then the bell rings for the next round. I'm getting my butt kicked by a timer voice! It's great!

So wish me luck on this journey. I'm looking at Feb. 1 as my goal weight deadline. Yup, I said it out loud: that means accountability. See you in the gym!

"I love me some Etta James!"

2011-11-15T11:19:00-05:00

It is a sad day indeed. I just learned that Etta James has released her final album. It doesn't really come as a surprise. She's not been in good health for years and the last year has taken a toll on her I understand from various press releases. I regret that I never sent her a copy of my novel in which she "appears" as an important figure for the development of the character Rachel. Heck, discovering her music was huge for ME! Maybe I will send a copy now anyway--and bookmark the page where the character Rachel exclaims: "I love me some Etta James!" Me too. Always will. Sending you well wishes and peace and love, Ms. James. Thank you for your musical legacy. NOTE TO READERS: Oh, and go buy the album. It's called "The Dreamer."

New Census Reports Show an Increasingly Multiracial Population

2011-09-30T08:42:00-04:00

This ran on NBC Nightly News yesterday about the new Census figures. Check it out!

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

New Words on Cover Even If It's Not New News

2011-09-15T09:41:37-04:00

I was so tickled when I saw the cover of the latest printing of the paperback. I'm not sure that other folks will notice, but I sure do. Instead of the words "National Bestseller", the cover of The Girl Who Fell From the Sky now says "New York Times Bestseller"--Whoo hoo!

A Great Reading at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History

2011-09-12T11:37:23-04:00

A huge thanks to everyone who came to my reading at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History last week. I will tell you, I was pretty nervous about this appearance. Who would come? And would my talk be of interest? Well, I must say that the audience was one of the warmest and most welcoming ever. It was a diverse audience: regular museum-goers, book clubs (The Wine Press Book Club pictured here), patrons of the literary arts, writers and parents and individuals interested in the Mixed experience. I was buzzing with excitement by the night's end. So thank you Heather Moffat and Easter Moorman for the invitation! I had a great time.
You can download and listen to the audio of the presentation here: I Am A Story: Heidi Durrow Reading & Talk at Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, Sept. 8, 2011(mp3 file). Or listen below.

Pen On Fire Writers Salon Wrap Up with Danzy Senna

2011-09-07T12:06:27-04:00

What a cool night! Writer Barbara DeMarco-Barrett hosts a monthly literary salon in Corona del Mar, CA and I was glad to be a part of it. I shared the stage with Danzy Senna (You Are Free) as we talked about the writing process, permission and fear. Thanks for a wonderful evening, everyone!

CNN Dialogues Wrap Up!

2011-09-05T15:31:44-04:00

I can't stop buzzing about the wonderful experience I had last week as a participant on CNN Dialogue's inaugural discussion in Atlanta. I was more than little nervous that I would flub the whole thing up. The panel, which was moderated by CNN's Wolf Blitzer, included fellow panelists Kris Marsh, Yul Kwon, Dana Young and Edward James Olmos. I was there as the author of The Girl Who Fell From the Sky-- talking about the Census and the New America. I wish I could give you a whole play-by-play but it all went by in a kind of blur. There were some interesting highlights --like when Wolf joked that I didn't "sound black" and then I didn't sound Danish -- well, until I busted on with some Danish on stage--I never get to do that. I also really enjoyed hearing from the young people in the audience. Two in particular stood out -- a young woman who clearly got her hackles raised when I said kids didn't necessarily know enough history (she obviously did--and she will definitely be a force) and another young woman who lamented that despite having the best education and access possible, she still found colorism to be so confounding. I wish I had an answer for her--all I could say was "Girl, I wish I knew. I straightened my hair this morning!" We came up with zero answers, but it was a spirited dialogue and I was so excited to be a part of the discussion. There's talk that it will be webcast on the CNN website. I'll keep you posted!

NPR's Summer Blended Book Series

2011-08-26T19:46:00-04:00

It was a great pleasure to help wrap up the first-ever Summer Blend Book Club created by Michel Martin of NPR's Tell Me More. If you haven't read these books, you must. You will love them. You will often laugh. Check out the interview here.

My New Gig: Blogging for the Huffington Post

2011-08-04T15:06:50-04:00

The new project of the Huffington Post, Black Voices, launched today. I'll be included as one of the regular bloggers. This is my first piece on Why Fiction Matters in a Digital Age.

CNN Dialogue with Wolf Blitzer

2011-08-02T10:21:00-04:00

I'm excited to be a part of this new series CNN Dialogues on Race moderated with Wolf Blitzer on August 31 at 7PM in Atlanta. Other panelists include actor Edward James Olmos, Survivor winner Yul Kwon, and Professors Kris Marsh, and Dana White. For ticket information visit the university website.

Summer is here at last!

2011-08-01T11:54:08-04:00

Okay, yes, I'm a little bit behind. I know summer officially started in June but I haven't felt it. I've spent the last few weeks tying up loose ends from the book tour and the Festival, clearing off my desk, dealing with some difficult stuff, and trying to figure out my next steps as I work on the new book. Today is the first day I feel like the pressure cooker lid is off and the long list of to-do's is actually do-able.

The weekend was peaceful and fun: a trip to the market, dinner with friends, a movie and there were a couple of naps involved too. Suddenly, my life looked like my life again pre-publication. It was nice.

And plus, there's the new ribbon I have in my typewriter which I am about to work on now--trying to spark some new thoughts using a new (classic) tool. Okay, now back to the words!

Portland Picks The Girl Who Fell From the Sky for Everybody Reads 2012

2011-07-27T14:52:18-04:00

It's official! I am beyond thrilled and honored that Portland has picked The Girl Who Fell From the Sky for its city-wide read, Everybody Reads for 2012! Details to come about events and appearances! Whoo hoo!

WIN a free copy of The Girl Who Fell From the Sky

2011-07-26T12:17:58-04:00

Algonquin is giving away 20 copies of The Girl Who Fell From the Sky in honor of the upcoming Algonquin Book Club event on 8/18 at 7pm. The awesome, best-selling writer, Terry McMillan will interview at Book Passage in Corte Madera. Can't make it? Well, it's going to be webcast LIVE! Just add a comment to the Algonquin blog here to enter to win the giveaway. For all the information about the event and webcast click here.

On How Story Happens, It's Happening Now

2011-07-21T17:15:41-04:00

Stories seem so well constructed that it's natural for teachers to assume they were thought up in advance, but Gregor Samsa could have mated with another cockroach, and Humpty Dumpty could have been unscrambled by feeding him to a chicken.

--Keith Johnston, "Journey Without Maps"

Finding the Soul of the Research: A Writer's Call

2011-07-20T11:35:51-04:00

"Maybe stories are research with a soul." - Brene Brown

I have stacks of papers, and note cards, and photos and books. It is the research for the new book I'm working on. I have been looking at all of this information trying to tease out the important details to shape a story, but right now the writing feels--well--soul-less. How do I put a soul to these facts and details? Any ideas?

On the Gift of Imperfection

2011-07-15T09:28:07-04:00

"There is a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in." -- Leonard Cohen (lyrics of "Anthem")

Writing in the Fever or Writing in the Calm?

2011-07-14T07:35:21-04:00

While I was writing my first book, I often wrote out of the angst of the moment. When I was most unsettled by life, I found a real well-spring of creative energy. It felt like a fever sometimes. I would write long-hand whole passages that ulitmately appeared in the published book almost unchanged.

When I was writing the final drafts of the book, I often tried to cultivate that highly emotional state by playing sad songs over and over as I sat at my desk. The writing, I thought, worked best when I felt emotionally raw, or even better yet when I wept.

Now, I believe that my writing is best-served when I have a tranquil mind and a tranquil life. As Flaubert says: “Be regular and orderly in your life, so that you may be violent and original in your work.”

I am hoping for some tranquility in these days, and relief from sleepless nights so all of that disorder can feed the writing. Wish me words.

On Happiness

2011-07-13T11:01:31-04:00

"Often people attempt to live their lives backwards: they try to have more things, or more money, in order to do more of what they want so that they will be happier. The way it actually works is the reverse. You must first be who you really are, then do what you really need to do, in order to have what you want." - Margaret Young

On Vulnerability

2011-07-07T18:37:08-04:00

This talk really touched me. It made me think about what all artists (and we all are artists with our lives too) need to remember as we dive into the work.

New York Times Front Page Feature

2011-07-05T16:58:49-04:00

We've hit the big time! This story will appear on the front page of the New York Times tomorrow July 6, 2011. The reporter did an amazing job reporting on the Festival and this important moment in the arts! Please check it out--share with your friends and leave comments. We're so excited!

Remembering My Old Me & How I Got the Writing Spark (Back in the Day)

2011-06-30T16:01:25-04:00

I wrote this piece in 2007 for an issue of a literary journal that was going to be dedicated to the work of writer David Bradley. This was before I won the Bellwether Prize, and had already racked up some three dozen publisher rejections. The literary journal issue didn't come together as planned, and the essay was never published.

I thought I would share it with you here because as I read it today, it helped me remember how I was able to connect with the writing and the words when I hadn't published a word. It was a great reminder. Maybe it is something that connects with you.

A Letter to David Bradley from “Kel,” a Fiction Writer

Dear David,

It was ingenious of you to write your letter to me in that book, Letters to a Fiction Writer, since you didn’t have my address. I never put in a forwarding request when I moved a couple of years ago; and since we talked last, I also got a new email address.

How did you know that I would find your letter at all?

Well, no matter. I did. And I’ve been meaning to write back ever since I read the letter back in (yikes!) 2002 or 2003? I didn’t see it until after the book came out in paperback. I hope you will forgive me for taking so long to respond.

“Dear Kel” is quite a stretch from “Dear Heidi,” but it was thoughtful of you to obscure my identity in an open letter. Just so you know—I wouldn’t have minded if you had used my real name. Actually, I thought you would have called me something different–something like Harriette, or Mara, or Cecile. Just a note: if I ever appear as a character in one of your books in the future, I like the name Cecile the best.

Describing me as a “rising star” was a little too much, though. Seriously, David, any “rising star” at Bread Loaf—with its well-established food chain of writers--would have been a Scholar NOT a Contributor (which is what I was). Still it was a nice touch. (I also liked that part about my being five-foot-two—I really measure in at five feet even.)

And let me finally admit: yes, you got me! I hadn’t read your books at all when we first met. I thought I had done a good job of fooling you in our initial conversations at the conference. You never quizzed me or cajoled me into giving you my take on your novels. Thank goodness.

To me, at least at first, you were just the black guy writer at the conference. As you know, I had come to see that certain “supernova” about whom you refer in your letter. I’d written an award-winning Honors thesis on the Supernova’s work. I attended Bread Loaf that summer to show the Supernova I was her number one Fan and receive her love in return. I quickly discovered the Supernova either didn’t want my adoration or felt uncomfortable about receiving it. I didn’t even get my well-thumbed books autographed while I was there.

Don’t get me wrong. I did know Who you were. This was before Google. Yes, it was that long ago since we met! I had taken the time to do some research “about” your work. I knew that you were the author of two novels. The second won the PEN/Faulkner Award and that was a big honor. Okay, maybe I got all that information from the conference brochure. I did buy The Chaneysville Incident before the conference on a good deal at Powell’s. I was impressed by the cover blurb. “The Chaneysville Incident rivals Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon as the best novel about the black experience in America since Ellison’s Invisible Man.” You can’t get better kudos than that.

I knew enough about your work to be stunned into silence when I did actually meet you at the conference. Day 2, in my journal, I wrote: “I wanted so much to talk to David Bradley but I couldn’t quite offer myself up.” It wasn’t lost on me that 1) I was at Bread Loaf; and 2) you, like Ralph Ellison had been some forty years prior, were a member of the Distinguished Faculty. I had to give you your props for that alone.

I can’t tell from my journal exactly what happened between Day 2 and Day 3, but it looks like I worked up some courage. Day 3, in what looks oddly like shy sixth-grade handwriting (there was a big circle above the “i” in your name), I wrote: “David Bradley sat next to me at the reading.”

You tell the rest of the story of how we came to meet better in your letter. Though, to be honest, I don’t remember it that way. We talked outside of the Barn during the dance? I do remember the DJ played a lot of white-people wedding music, but back then I wouldn’t have minded. I wasn’t much of a dancer—I’m still not. I’ll assume that detail in your letter was fictional license (like the pseudonym).

I remember that I’d wave to you when you passed by for your daily run: it’s hard to miss a black guy with a linebacker’s build running in the Vermont woods. (You know, I wish you had stressed how helpful an exercise regimen is to a writer. I took up weight-lifting and running a few years ago. And I agree with your remark I read in Runner’s World magazine: “To hear somebody tell me I’ve screwed up is a lot easier when I feel I can break him in half.”)

I remember you were always joking like that. I remember that you were generous with your stories and your time.

I had never known a real writer before. It was kind of cool.

The funny thing is you weren’t my workshop leader; still, I felt like I learned a ton from you during our talks and from your lecture on craft.

What was the title of your lecture? If only I could find my old copies of “The Crumb!” I think of it as The David Speech. Do you remember what you said? You told the apocryphal story of Michelangelo who was once asked how he had sculpted the extraordinary statue of David. His answer: “I just carved away everything that wasn’t David.” I sat in the front row and took notes that I carried around at least until—well until somewhere around that last move when I lost my old copies of “The Crumb,” and didn’t put in a forward-address request.

I was at the conference because I wanted to write a novel, but I didn’t have very much, if anything, written. I didn’t have a sense of who the characters of my novel would be, or anything about the story or plot. I did have philosophies, ideas and theories, and a heap of random notes from years of journal-writing. Your advice was: just keep chipping away—the novel will reveal itself. It sounds simplistic when I explain it. You said it perfectly, and entertainingly, and in a way that made me connect. Maybe the lecture is a kind of stump speech for you, but, without overstating it, to me, it was a revelation. All I had to do was keep writing and the notes and scribbles would become my novel.

I shouldn’t have let our correspondence slip given how important your mentoring—dare I say “friendship?”-- was as I took those initial steps pursuing a writing career. The truth is: I have been upset with you, as you guessed. I am “just like every other writer.” That comment cut me to the core.

Not knowing the Bread Loaf hierarchy, I thought just being a Contributor was something special. I mean, the acceptance letter said only some 13 or 15 percent of the applicants were admitted.

Being special meant something to me. I had just left my job as a corporate attorney to pursue a writing career. (By the way, it would have been fine to write that I was a lawyer. But, maybe you were going with the fictional license thing again when you described me as a lab researcher. Maybe you wanted to prove you knew something about High Pressure Liquid Chromatographs?) I believed that I had to be special to have made that transition. I had to be special in order to make the transition make sense!

I was like your John Washington, a card-carrying member of the Talented Tenth. I was, as you described him, “not the typical black” with my fancified degrees and such. You know that role too. You’ve played it. You’ve had to do ten times more work, ten times better, and you’ve got to uplift the folk. How could a “wannabe writer,” as you phrased it, do all that? When you said I wasn’t special, on the inside I was saying, to paraphrase Jesse Jackson’s famous chant: I am . . . special. I am. I am. I am.

You also insisted I give up my timetable. I refused. I was 27 when we met. I planned to write and publish the Great American Novel in three years. Why would I give up my timetable at the urging of a guy whose biography in Contemporary Authors Online begins:

“David Bradley has reaped considerable critical acclaim for his novels South Street and The Chaneysville Incident, both published before he turned thirty-five.” [emphasis mine] How many other writers can say that they have contributed a significant text to the body of contemporary American literature—much less before thirty-five? (Not that you would say it yourself, but it’s nice to have it said of you, right?)

I’m impatient. You must have been too. You wrote South Street in college. You’ve won most of the major prizes with your two books. Maybe you knew, as I did, that Michelangelo sculpted David at 27! So, why would you try to dissuade me?

The “wall,” as you describe the silence between us, started going up then.

I didn’t wannabe a wannabe writer. I didn’t wannabe thought of as a wannabe writer. I am special. I am. I am. I am. That’s when the chant inside started to sound like a child’s tantrum.

I can imagine now how you might have responded had I shared that inner-drama at the time. You would have posed the question as a challenge: “What are you gonna do with this ‘special-ness?’”

Nothing.

I did nothing for a long time. I didn’t write. I had writer’s block. Being described as “not special” was a good excuse to not write. It was a favorite excuse of many. I was depressed: my acting instructor thought it was okay for my white classmates to call me a “nigger” in improv skits because it was all “for-pretend.” I wasn’t writing because of my brother’s illness, and September 11^th and then a move West. There was a long list of things, real and imagined, that kept me from writing and held me hostage to my identity as a “wannabe writer.”

I am special. I am. I am. I am.

That mantra became: I was special. I was. I was. I was.

I suffered a great deal. I’d sit down to write, pretend to write, then open a new bag of chips or cookies or whatever was at hand.

And then, one day, I read the letter you wrote to me in Letters to a Fiction Writer. It was completely by chance that I found it. Who knows what I was looking for at the bookstore that day—if anything. Visiting the bookstore was always a good excuse to get me away from my desk and that awful blank page—I called it “research.”

I was drawn to the title of the book: Letters to a Fiction Writer. Wasn’t that supposed to be me? But I didn’t expect to find a letter written specifically to me in the book. In fact, I was shocked to see it, to be honest, and also thrilled. I was certain you had forgotten all about me. It had been years since I met you, years since I had bumped into you at the Portland airport, and years since I had last written you. How was it that, I, a “wannabe writer,” was still on your mind after all those years?

I sat down right there at the bookstore and read the letter through a couple of times. I read again and again this part near the letter’s end:

[by attending the conference] we were both making significant statements about ourselves, our lives, our ambitions. You were saying you wanted to be a writer. How can I claim to respect you as a person if I do not take you at your word? And if I, with whatever benevolent intent, were to take the pressure off, I would betray you by becoming part of a world that does not take you and your desire—and yes, your Goddamn talent—seriously [emphasis yours] . . . it matters to me whether or not you progress as a writer.

Thank you, David. I really needed to hear that. I can’t say that the words cured me instantly, but I think they started the process that let me heal.

I was tired of suffering. I was tired of not writing. I was tired of being in the state of wannabeing.

I took up weight-lifting and lost 15 pounds. I took up running and built up to five miles a day. I started writing. And then I wrote some more. Soon, I was getting rejection letters. It was wonderful. I was writing.

I hoped that you would see that first piece I published in a literary journal, or the announcement for some contest I had won. I hoped that you would be proud.

Sometimes, when I would get stuck, I’d re-read the letter you wrote me. “[H]ow much we write (or don’t write) is something all writers have to think about, and that wannabe writers have to think about especially hard.” Then I’d go write some more.

Now, David, I don’t mean to harp on this, but when I read the letter I sometimes feel like you’ve changed too many details about me and about our meeting. I may just be remembering things differently. I do think you take fictional license a little too far in some instances. Like the detail about my mom dying? In terms of fictional license, that’s kind of creepy. Mom’s alive and well, thank you very much! I’d advise being a little more careful about playing with details like that. You saw what happened to James Frey!

Anyway, with my pen as my chisel, the blank page as my block of stone and a couple of years of hard work, I chipped away until I finished my novel. I finished!

I’ve also had the really amazing experience of reading my writing to audiences all over--New York, and Wyoming, and Minnesota, and even overseas. Recently, as part of a lecture-reading I gave at a college in upstate New York, I quoted your letter:

The level of talent is only a minor factor in calculating the probability that a wannabe writer will become a writer. Talent may influence how good a writer you ultimately become, or how quickly you master certain technical aspects of the craft, but there are so many other factors that even a great deal of talent quickly becomes unimportant . . . thank God. [my emphasis] Because wanting to be a writer is a dream. Dreams can’t depend entirely on any a priori for their realization. The most dramatic and wonderful dreams are those that fly into the face of the greatest obstacles.

Here, I had come full circle. I was the writer and they were the wannabes. And guess what? I agree with you: those kids needed to hear that they weren’t special, and they didn’t need to be. All they had to do was do the work and dare.

David, I hope so much that this letter can re-open communications between us. There are tons of things I want to tell you like:

1) I read The Chaneysville Incident. I loved it!

2) I got another piece accepted in a good literary journal.

3) I got my first “fan” letter. Isn’t that wild?

And I have questions for you. No, not “can you introduce me to your agent?”—Ha! I already met her. I’m serious here.

I want to know how you’re doing. I want to know when I can get a sneak peak at Raystown or The Bondage Hypothesis. I want to continue this conversation that we started at Bread Loaf almost ten years ago

Do you know this quotation attributed to Michelangelo? “It is well within me only when I have a chisel in my hand.” Well, that’s me now—I’m happiest when I am chipping away, writing.

Thank you.

Best,

Heidi

P.S. You know--it would be a little embarrassing if there really were some person named Kel. There isn’t, is there?

My UNC-TV Interview with D.G. Martin

2011-06-20T19:56:24-04:00

I'm excited to share this excerpt from my interview with the very wonderful D.G. Martin on UNCTV's Book Watch program which ran last weekend. What do you think?

New Yorker Magazine Book Bench Interviews an Afro-Viking (that's me)

2011-06-20T18:31:11-04:00

Yes, I am jazzed! Today, my interview with Rachel Hurn appeared in the New Yorker Magazine's Book Bench! Check it out!

NPR Tell Me More Interview Festival Recap & Summer Blended Book Club

2011-06-15T12:14:03-04:00

I hope you'll check out this interview I did yesterday for NPR's Tell Me More. I give a little Festival recap (more on that soon) and help launch the show's Summer Blended Books Series focused on books of the Mixed experience. And please click "Recommend" at the top of the page if you could!

Beginning Again

2011-06-07T08:11:00-04:00

I'm in the throes of working on the new book in earnest. And frankly I will tell you I'm scared. What if the words don't come? What if it's not as good? And yes, what if I'm suffering the dreaded sophomore slump?

I feel good about the fact that I started this project before The Girl Who Fell From the Sky was published. So it has it's own energy --meaning it was my saving grace when I thought I'd never get The Girl published. So I feel friendly toward it and I think it likes me too.

That said, I wish that writing books was easier. Each book, it seems, has its own rhythms and reveals itself in its own way. Here I was thinking --well, I know how to write a book. But what I need to learn is: how do I write this book?

I started this off by saying I'm scared. And as I think about it--maybe that is a good thing. That means I'm thinking new thoughts and going deeply into the world of the unknown -- the creative world again. Today, I'm thinking of this quote by Julia Cameron (The Artist's Way): "Creativity - like human life itself - begins in darkness."

What are you doing for Loving Day?

2011-06-06T07:41:00-04:00

Loving Day is this weekend! How are you celebrating?

If you've been following this blog, you know that I will be up to my eyeballs with work helping to make sure that the 4th Annual Mixed Roots Film & Literary Festival which I co-founded with Fanshen Cox goes off without a hitch. (The Festival is June 11-12, 2011 at the Japanese American National Museum in downtown Los Angeles.

But first, what is Loving Day, you ask? It is the brainchild of the awesome Ken Tanabe. It started off as his Master's Thesis Project but has become a national grassroots celebration of the U.S. Supreme Court decision, Loving v. Virginia, which affirmed the right of people of different races to marry. In New York City, Ken has organized an annual 1000-person plus barbecue FREE -- this year it will be held June 12. June 12 is the official date of the Loving decision.

At the Festival, we are celebrating Loving Day on June 11 at 6:30pm with a special reception preceding the Loving Prize presentation and Mixed Unplugged, a live performance with spoken word, poetry, comedy and song. Not to mention we will be celebrating all weekend. It's a Festival afterall! We have film screenings, readings, and workshops. And all of it--every bit of it is free. If you're near Southern California, the Festival is where you want to be. So save your spot now!

And if you're not: here's an excellent resource for celebrations around the country!

Storycorps Interview on KPCC!

2011-05-31T04:13:00-04:00

I was excited to hear that a snippet of my Storycorps interview with my friend Fanshen ran on KPCC. I'm the interviewer this time! Check it out here.

5th Annual Mixed Experience History Month: 2011 Wrap-up

2011-05-30T08:00:00-04:00

Dude! This year's Mixed Experience History Month just about took me out! I had the most difficult time finding the information about some of my subject's backgrounds. But there were some real winners and very new to me including the awesome Japanese American Black Panther Richard Aoki.

I may have gone overboard in highlighting the Afro-Vikings this year, but I found it so fascinating to discover so many more including artist Camille Pissarro. That is still blowing my mind!

I realized only now that I only included two women in my profiles. It is a function of 1) not paying attention as I went along, but 2) there is a dearth of information on women's history still! I will make a best effort to include more women next year.

So I need your help for next year. Please send me your recommendations for 2012: remember, profiles are limited to non-living notables, but not limited to mixed-race individuals (see Richard Aoki as example). I look forward to hearing from you. Thanks again for celebrating Mixed Experience History Month with me!

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Mixed Experience History Month is the annual blog post series created by writer Heidi Durrow celebrating the history of the Mixed experience. Established in 2007, Mixed Experience History Month is an effort to show that there is a long history of achievements of those involved in the Mixed experience. Please look for more profiles of people, places and events of the Mixed experience every weekday of May at Lightskinned-ed Girl, the blog! Thanks for reading. And check out some of the previous year's profiles: 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010.

5th Annual Mixed Experience History Month: Ed Thigpen, Jazz Drummer

2011-05-27T08:00:00-04:00

Ed Thigpen was an American jazz drummer born in 1930.

At 18, Thigpen became a professional musician. In 1950, he joined Cootie Williams' band at the Savoy Ballroom in New York City. He was drafted in 1952 and served in the US Army in Korea and Japan. After his military service, he joined Dina Washington's trio. Known as "Mr. Taste," he went on to become a fixture in New York's vibrant jazz scene.

In 1959, he realized a dream to play with the Oscar Peterson Trio. From the mid-1960s until the mid-1970s, Thigpen accompanied Ella Fitzgerald's trio and also played as a freelancer in Hollywood for legends such as Johnny Mathis.

Thigpen moved permanently to Denmark in 1974. He worked with expatriate musicians such as Ernie Wilkins, and Danish jazz artists like Niels-henning Oersted Pedersen.

Thigpen died in 2010 and is buried in Vestre Kirkegaard in Copenhagen. He is survived by his two kids from his second marriage to a Danish woman.

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5th Annual Mixed Experience History: Jim Beckwourth, Adventurer

2011-05-26T08:00:00-04:00

James Beckwourth was born around 1800, the son of a white Virginia aristocrat and a mixed-race enslaved woman.

Beckwourth served as an apprentice blacksmith as a young man. In 1822, his father manumitted him so that he could travel west and work in the fur trade.

According to Beckwourth in his memoir, he was captured by the Crow Indians who believed him to be the lost son of a Crow chief. Beckworth spent many years living with the Crow Indians and was named an honorary chief.

In the mid-1930s he worked as a fur trader for the American Fur Company. Thereafter, he worked various jobs in the military -- first in Florida and then again in the west.

He is known for blazing the Beckwourth Trail--the easier trail used by those headed to California during the Gold Rush.

Beckwourth spent the last years of his life with the Crow Indians. He died in 1866.

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5th Annual Mixed Experience History Month: Garrett Augustus Morgan, inventor

2011-05-25T08:00:00-04:00

Garrett Augustus Morgan was born in either 1875 or 1877 in Paris, Kentucky. He was the son of formerly enslaved parents. His mother was African-American and Native American. His father was also mixed-race.

At 14, Morgan, who had a fascination with mechanical things, left home and worked as a handyman in Cleveland for six years

Morgan sold his first invention--a sewing maching belt fastener--in 1901.

In 1907, he opened his own sewing machine sales and repair shop. He married seamstress Mary Anne Hassk in 1908 and they had three sons. In 1909, Morgan established a clothes manufacturing plant.

Quite by accident--as he was testing the flammability of a fabric in the fast-moving sewing machines--he created a conconction that could straighten curly hair. His first test of the product was on the neighbor's dog and then himself. It worked. Morgan established the Morgan Hair Refining Company in 1913 and sold his hair care line for hair straightening.

In 1912, as a result of his desire to help firefighters, Morgan created the first prototyype of a gas mask that could provide 20 minutes of clean air. By 1917, Morgan had perfected his design and it was used widely in World War I.

Morgan also invented the precursor to the modern-day traffic light for which he was granted a patent in 1923. He sold the patent to General Electric for $40,000.

Morgan was also a dedicated civic leader and became a publisher of a weekly black newspaper.

He died in 1963, having lost his sight from the gas mask testing he did.

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5th Annual Mixed Experience History Month: Robert Wedderburn, abolitionist & activist

2011-05-24T08:35:00-04:00

Born in 1762 in Jamaica, Robert Wedderburn was the son of a Scottish sugar plantation owner and an enslaved black woman. Wedderburn's father sold his mother to another slave holder while she was pregnant with the stipulation that upon his birth Robert would be free.

Wedderburn left the plantation to become a sailor when he came of age. In 1778, he traveled to England and became a tailor.

In 1812, Wedderburn essentially began a tutelage to Thomas Spence, a radical reformer. Upon Spence's death, Wedderburn became a leader of the disciples who pledged to advance Spence's ideals. He also started his own Unitarian church.

Wedderburn was arrested several times for his radical remarks. He was charged with blasphemous libel when he advocated a simultaneous revolution of the European poor and the enslaved blacks in the West Indies.

In 1824, he published The Horros of Slavery, and spent the rest of his life championing free speech. The date of his death is unknown. Wedderburn is considered to be instrumental in achieveing freedom of the press in 19th century Britain.

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Monday Morning Mixed Links

2011-05-23T09:32:00-04:00

A few links on the Mixed experience for a Monday morning:

Who is a Black Actor? Vin Diesel? The Rock? Rashida Jones? And does it matter?
Danzy Senna's new book, You Are Free, gets a great review in the New York Times.
A Mixed Name for a Mixed Kid? An essay on choosing a name for a newborn who is multiracial.

5th Annual Mixed Experience History Month: Francis James Grimke, Minister & Activist

2011-05-23T08:00:00-04:00

Francis James Grimke was born in 1850, the son of a white man and an enslaved black woman. When Grimke's father died, Grimke ran away because his white half-brother claimed his "ownership rights" over him.

Grimke became an officer's valet in the Confederate Army. When the war ended, his paternal aunts funded his college studies at Lincoln University.

In 1870, he graduated at the top of his class. In 1878, he received a degree from Princeton's Theological Seminary.

Grimke began his ministry in DC at the 15th Street Presbyterian Church. He married poet and abolitionist Charlotte Forten in 1878; they had a child together that died in infancy.

Grimke was known for his ardent and vocal stand for civil rights. He denounced African-Americans who called for conservatism. In a 1898 speech he said:

"The sentiment everywhere is: This is a white man's government. And that means, not only that the whites shall rule, but that the Negro shall have nothing whatever to do with governmental affairs. If he dares to think otherwise, or aspires to cast a ballot, or to become anything more than a servant, he is regarded as an impudent and dangerous Negro; and according to the most recent declarations of that old slave holding and lawless spirit, all such Negroes are to be driven out of the South, or compelled by force, by what is known as the shot gun policy, to renounce their rights as men and as American citizens. This is certainly a very discouraging condition of things, but the saddest aspect of it all is that there are members of our race and not the ignorant, unthinking masses, who have had no advantages, and who might be excused for any seeming insensibility to their rights, but the intelligent, the educated who are found condoning such offenses, justifying or excusing such a condition of things on the ground that in view of the great disparity in the condition of the two races, anything different from that could not reasonably be expected."

Grimke was active in the Niagara movement and peripherally helped found the NAACP. Grimke died in 1937.

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5th Annual Mixed Experience History Month: Jean Toomer, writer

2011-05-20T08:00:00-04:00

Jean Toomer, born in 1894 in Washington D.C., became an important figure in the Harlem Renaissance best known for his book, Cane.

The son of two mixed-race parents, Toomer had a peripatetic upbringing and continued to move around to different universities as a young man studying agriculture, physical education, psychology, and literature.

In 1918, Toomer started writing short stories. In 1921, he traveled to the South for a teaching job. His time there sparked his imagination and resulted in his high modern, lyrical book Cane published in 1923. He continued to write but no other of his writing has had such a profound impact on literature.

There is currently much controversy about whether Toomer decided to "pass for white" in his later adulthood. See also Marcia Dawkins' response to the new assertions.

Of his heritage, Toomer wrote: "Racially, I seem to have (who knows for sure) seven blood mixtures: French, Dutch, Welsh, Negro, German, Jewish, and Indian. Because of these, my position in America has been a curious one. I have lived equally amid the two race groups. Now white, now colored. From my own point of view I am naturally and inevitably an American."

Toomer died in 1967.

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5th Annual Mixed Experience History Month: Sacagawea, Guide & Interpreter

2011-05-19T08:00:00-04:00

Sacagawea was a Shoshone born in 1788. At 12-years-old, she was kidnapped by members of the Hidatsa tribe.

As a young teen, she was married to French trapper, Toussaint Charbonneau. She was already pregnant when Lewis & Clark engaged her and Charbonneau as interpreters and guides for their expedition. Her son, Jean Baptiste Charbonneau was born in February 1805. As a young mother, Sacagawea traveled thousands of miles on the expedition and proved a valuable interpreter to Lewis & Clark.

Sacagawea and her husband settled in St. Louis after the Lewis & Clark expedition and entrusted the education of their son to Clark. It is believed that Sacagawea died in 1812 though others argue that she lived into old age and died in 1884.

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5th Annual Mixed Experience History Month: Patrick Francis Healy, Georgetown President

2011-05-18T08:00:00-04:00

Born in 1830, Patrick Francis Healy was the first person of African ancestry to earn a Ph.D. and became the first person of African ancestry to head a major American university.

Healy was the son of a white plantation owner and a biracial enslaved woman who later became the plantation owner's common-law wife.

Healy's father sent his son to the North so that he could acquire an education. Healy studied at College of the Holy Cross and in 1850 joined the Jesuit order. He went on to earn his doctorate in Belgium and was ordained to the priesthood in 1864.

In 1865, Healy returned to the U.S.to teach philosophy at Georgetown University. In 1874, he became the school's president.

During his lifetime, his African ancestry was not a secret, but was not always openly discussed.

Healy died in 1910.

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5th Annual Mixed Experience History Month: Casper Holstein, Afro-Viking gangster

2011-05-17T08:00:00-04:00

This year's Mixed Experience History Month is admittedly a little heavy on Afro-Vikings, but here's just one more.

Casper Holstein who was born in 1876 in the Danish West Indies on St. Croix would grow up to become one of Harlem's most notorious gangsters involved in the numbers racket.

Holstein was of African and Danish descent. His father was a landed person of color who was racially mixed. In 1894, Holstein moved to New York with his mother. After attending high school in Brooklyn, he enlisted in the Navy. After the war he held a variety of jobs, and eventually became the head messenger at a Wall Street brokerage firm.

Holstein learned about the market and started studying the numbers racket, the illegal lottery that many people engaged in. He developed his own lottery called Bolito, and by the 1920s he was said to be a millionaire twice over.

Holstein used much of his riches for philanthropy and became one of the city's great powerbrokers. Holstein donated money to many causes including impoverished children, black colleges, and hurricane relief for his native Virgin Islands. He also financed many of the Harlem Renaissance artists.

The New York Times declared that he was "Harlem's favorite hero, because of his wealth, his sporting proclivities and his philanthropies among the people of his race.”

Holstein was kidnapped by a group of white men and held for ransom. After several days, he was released and no ransom was paid.

Holstein eventually spent a year in prison for illegal gambling. Upon his release, he quit the numbers racket and became a full-time philanthropist. He died in 1944.

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5th Annual Mixed Experience History Month: Camille Pissarro, artist

2011-05-16T02:00:00-04:00

You're thinking: "No way is Camille Pissarro, one of the leading figures of the French Impressionists, in the Mixed experience?" But it's true.

Camille Pissarro was born in 1830 in the Danish West Indies. His father was of Jewish and Portuguese descent and his mother was Creole. Because his father had married outside of his faith, Pissarro and his siblings were forced to go to the all-black primary school. For secondary school, Pissarro's father sent him to study in France. There Pissarro developed an interest in the French art masters.

At 17 he returned to St. Thomas and practiced drawing from nature. At 21, Pissarro became the student and mentee of the Danish artist Fritz Melbye, and moved to Caracas, Venezuela to pursue his art. In 1855, he returned to France where he continued his studies.

In 1859, his first painting was displayed at the Paris Salon. That same year, while taking classes, Pissarro met the younger artists: Claude Monet and Paul Cezanne among others.

Pissarro married Julie Vellay with whom he had eight children.

Because of the Franco Prussian War, Pissarro was forced to flee to London with his family. Upon his return, he discovered that all but a few dozen of his paintings had been destroyed by soldiers.

In 1874, Pissarro along with his friends established an independent exhibition. These artists are known as the Impressionists. Pissarro constantly tried out the new styles in art. In 1885, he started painting in the style known as pointillism.

Pissarro died in Paris in 1903; he had sold few of his oil paintings.In the late 1889, Pissarro wrote to a relative that he thought his lack of recognition was, in part, due to his race: '…a matter of race, probably. Until now, no Jew has made art here, or rather no Jew has searched to make a disinterested and truly felt art. I believethat this could be one of the causes of my bad luck...'.

Today, some of his paintings sell for up to $4 million.

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5th Annual Mixed Experience History Month: Martin de Porres, Patron Saint of Mixed-Race People

2011-05-13T07:00:00-04:00

Born in 1579 in Peru, Martin de Porres was the son of a Spanish nobleman and a former enslaved black mother.

Unable to financially support her children, de Porres' mother sent him to live with a barber/surgeon to learn the medical arts. He began spending long hours at prayer as well--several hours a day by the time he was 10.

At 15, he became a servant boy in the Dominican Convent of the Rosary in Lima. De Porres felt the call to join the Dominican order. At 34, de Porres was assigned to the infirmary. Soon thereafter, miracles were attributed to him.

According to the Encyclopedia of World Biography, "Martín was said to be capable of bilocation (being in two places at once), and individuals from both Africa and Mexico swore that they had encountered him in their home villages even though he was never known to have left Lima. Patients under his care spoke on several occasions of his having walked through locked doors in order to render medical help."

De Porres was also known for his incredibly charity and skill in caring for the sick despite race or class.

In November 1639, De Porres died of fever. He was beatified in 1837 and canonized in 1962.

Pope John XXIII remarked at the canonization of Martin: "He excused the faults of others. He forgave the bitterest injuries, convinced that he deserved much severer punishments on account of his own sins. He tried with all his might to redeem the guilty; lovingly he comforted the sick; he provided food, clothing and medicine for the poor; he helped, as best he could, farm laborers and Negroes, as well as mulattoes, who were looked upon at that time as akin to slaves: thus he deserved to be called by the name the people gave him: 'Martin of Charity.'"

Hat tip to Steve Riley of MixedRaceStudies.org for introducing me to this wonderful historical figure.

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5th Annual Mixed Experience History Month: Richard Aoki, Japanese American Black Panther

2011-05-11T07:20:00-04:00

Richard Aoki was a third-generation Japanese American citizen born in 1938 in California.

In 1941, Aoki's family along with 20,000 other Japanese Americans and Japanese people living in the United States were forcibly relocated to concentration camps because of the war. After the war, Aoki's family moved to Oakland.

Aoki served in the Army for 8 years before attending Merrit College where he met the founders of the Black Panther Party, Huey Newton and Bobby Seale. Aoki went on to become a Field Marshall in the Black Panther Party.

Aoki transferred to attend college at Berkeley. There "he became a member of the Asian American Political Alliance, a student organization that led the fight for ethnic studies. From 1968, Aoki was one of the leaders of the Third World Liberation Front (TWLF), the group who led a strike that resulted in the development of Berkeley’s ethnic studies department," according to a 2001 Asian Week article.

“The Third World Liberation Front strike at Berkeley was the longest — at three months — ugliest — thousands of dollars of cost to the university — and bloodiest — 168 of us arrested — in the history of the U.C. system,” Aoki reportedly told the magazine.

Later Aoki would become one of the first coordinators of Asian-American studies at UC Berkeley and taught some of the program's courses.

Aoki died in March 2009 having dedicated his life to social justice and racial harmony. In his own words: “…Based on my experience, I’ve seen where unity amongst the races has yielded positive results. I don’t see any other way for people to gain freedom, justice, and equality here except by being internationalist.”

There is a new documentary about Aoki's life that is currently screening in several places across the country. For more information about Aoki read a radio transcript interview here.

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5th Annual Mixed Experience History Month: Bruce Lee, Hapa Martial Artist & Film Star

2011-05-11T07:00:00-04:00

Born in San Francisco in 1940, Bruce Lee was the son of a Chinese opera star and a mother who was of Chinese and German ancestry. His family moved to Hong Kong when he was three months old.

When Lee was a teenager, his parents decided he needed to train in martial arts after becoming involved in several street fights. In 1959, his parents sent him to the United States.

In 1961, Lee enrolled at the University of Washington where he met Linda Emery, who he married in 1964. Lee and Emery (who was white) had two children. Of the kids' mixed heritage, Lee once said: "Brandon is being brought up in the midst of two cultures. There are good points in Chinese culture; there are good points in Occidental culture. He will be taught to take some principles from one, some from the other. Brandon will learn that Oriental culture and Occidental culture are not mutally exclusive, but mutually dependent. Neither would be remarkable if it were not for the existence of the other." (Brandon died young in a tragic movie set accident.)

Lee started teaching martial arts once he was in the United States. He taught a style he called Jeet Kune Do. He taught martial arts to non-Asians which was considered taboo at the time.

Lee was cast as Kato in the TV show Green Hornet in 1966. A natural in front of the camera, he would go on to guest star in many TV shows and films.

Lee died in 1973 from a brain edema. He was 32-years-old. In his short life, Lee became a leading martial artist and a cultural icon. As Lee once said: "Basically, I have always been a martial artist by choice, and an actor by profession. But, above all, I am hoping to actualize myself to be an artist of life along the way . . . Therefore, to be a martial artist also means to be an artist of life. Since life is an ever-evolving pricess, one should flow in this process and discover how to actualize and expand oneself."

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Why we need the Mixed Roots Film & Literary Festival!

2011-05-10T08:28:00-04:00

My dear friend Rayme Cornell and I had the great opportunity to visit a Santa Monica middle-grade school where we got to talk to kids about the upcoming Mixed Roots Film & Literary Festival, June 11-12, 2011 in Los Angeles. www.mxroots.org.

People often ask me whether I think things are changing for kids who are mixed. Unfortunately, the answer is no. In a big city like Los Angeles, you'd think that the kids would encounter a lot of diversity, that they wouldn't find themselves feeling so lonely because of their dual identities. Here are some excerpts from the kids' writing. We asked them to write a few sentences about themselves using this prompt: When I think about my roots, I think . . .

"I am Swedish, Finnish, Native American. I have Viking blood and much more. I am Christian, and a pinch Catholic. I think of my roots when I'm bored, sad, or curious about me. I think about mixed roots when I'm walking on the street and when I'm at school. I feel curious about where people are from." --O.

"I see the world as a blend making a nationality smoothie!" --O.

"I think about my roots all the time because in second grade one kid said to me 'Why are you black?' so that scared me, so when I I with my friends I think 'Do I fit here?"-- B.

Some of the responses just broke my heart, but also helped me realize that we really have to carry forth with the Festival -- the young folks still need a place to be heard. If you're reading this post, you are someone, know someone or love someone in the Mixed experience. Won't you please consider donating to the Festival?

5th Annual Mixed Experience History Month: William Alexander Leidesdorff, Afro-Viking Millionaire

2011-05-10T05:08:00-04:00

William Alexander Leidesdorff was born in 1810 in the Danish West Indies. The son of a white Jewish Danish plantation owner and his common-law wife, Anna Marie Sparks, who was said to be of mixed African and Spanish and/or Carib ancestry, Leidesdorff left St. Croix in his teens to travel to Denmark in order to obtain his education.

He moved to New Orleans as a young man and became a master of shipping vessels as well as a naturalized American citizen.

In 1841, Leidesdorff navigated a ship to California via the South American route. He landed in Yerba Buena (what is now San Francisco) and began to build the empire that would make him a very wealthy man.

He launched a steamboat operation and built the city's first hotel, the City Hotel, as well as the first commercial shipping warehouse.

In 1844, he became a naturalized Mexican citizen and received a large land-grant.

Leidesdorff served on town councils, organized the first San Francisco public school as a member of the school board and was elected as City Treasurer.

On March 15, 1848, gold was discovered on Leidesdorff's property.

He died suddenly--without having married or having children--on May 18, 1848. He is considered one of the great pioneers of California and the "first black millionaire."

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