Light-skinned-ed Girl

The Girl Who Fell From the Sky Named Top Ten Debut of Season

2009-06-30T11:42:47-04:00

I hope this is just the first good news I can relay about my book which will
be published February 2010.

Today, Publishers Weekly, the main book publishing trade magazine, featured
The Girl Who Fell From the Sky as one of the season's top ten most promising novel debuts!

I am over-joyed!

Light-skinned-ed Girl in Copenhagen

2009-06-19T01:09:26-04:00

I am on the surprise 40th birthday celebration tour. It started in LA with an amazing surprise dinner and tomorrow I'm having a real Danish birthday lunch. I'm so excited. We were greeted yesterday at the airport by my dear cousin Lone, and kids, and aunt Henny. Waving flags the whole thing. This has been a wonderful week. (I haven't even told you about the wondrous 2nd annual Mixed Roots Film & Literary Festival -- but will when I return stateside next week.) For now, I am enjoying family, friendship, fellowship and food. This is the best birthday ever!

Please Join Us at the Mixed Roots Film & Literary Festival

2009-06-08T12:22:51-04:00

Many of you know that I am the co-founder and co-producer along with my buddy, Fanshen Cox, of the Mixed Roots Film & Literary Festival --www.mxroots.org--which takes place at the Japanese American National Museum in downtown Los Angeles, CA (369 East First Street) on June 12 and 13.

This is the second year of the Festival and we are so excited about the line-up. Mind you, as two women who didn't plan their own weddings because it was too daunting--it's a miracle that we're pulling this off, but we really are.

Last year we had the help of some extraordinary folks: cousin Lesa, Meesh, and Amy! They put in so many hours and hard work. There really is no way to thank them.

This year the lovely Jennifer Frappier has whipped our vision into what looks to be an exciting and smoothly run event.

I am so proud of this project. I would really love for you to join us. Please come. And guess what? It's all free! This is what you get:

The Festival hosts the largest West Coast Loving Day party, a nationwide celebration of the Supreme Court decision which affirmed the right of people of different races to marry, on Friday, June 12, 2009 at 6:30pm. The free mixer features the Coca - Cola Lounge for drinks and cool fun while DJs Life and Vika spin decades of dance floor classics.

Writer and producer Angela Nissel (Mixed, Scrubs) will receive the Festival's award for inspirational storytelling of the Mixed experience during the Saturday night Loving Prize Presentation, June 13, 2009 at 6pm, which features performances by musician Jason Luckett, actor Chris Williams, and comedian Maija DiGiorgio.

The Melting Pot Moms, a multiracial family support group, will host a Family Event on Saturday, June 13, 2009 at 10:30am-12:30pm, for kids ages 3-11, featuring TV actress Kim Wayans and husband, Kevin Knotts, reading from their popular children's book series, Amy Hodgepodge.

Hollywood actors, directors and writers discuss Mixed in Hollywood in a special panel on Saturday, June 13, 2009 12:50pm-1:50pm. Karyn Parsons, Chris Williams, Joe Anaya, Jenny Rich and Angela Nissel.

Among the dozen films that the Festival will screen is the award-winning In the Name of the Son (dir. Harun Mehmedinovic), which was an Official Selection of the Festival de Cannes and winner of the AFI Directing Award. Making her directing debut is the popular You Tube vlogger Tiffany Jones of the Mulatto Diaries.

The Festival includes author readings by award-winning author Danzy Senna (Caucasia, Where Did You Sleep Last Night?), Bellwether Prize winner novelist Gayle Brandeis (The Book of Dead Birds, Self-Storage) and poet Neil Aitken (Winner of the Philip Levine Prize, The Lost Country of Sight), among others.

All events are free and open to the public. The complete schedule can be found on-line at www.mxroots.org. Pre-registration is strongly encouraged especially for the Loving Day Party. On-line registration is now open at www.mxroots.org.

Festival sponsors and donors include: Japanese American National Museum, Social Justice Works!: The Aaronson Fund, Zerflin.com, the Coca - Cola Company, Trader Joe's, Subway, Dolls Like Me, Devachan Salon & Spa, SAG Indie, Urth Caffé, L.T. Projects Plus Catering.

Mixed Experience History Month: A Recap & Pledge to Soldier On!

2009-05-29T07:02:31-04:00

We've reached the end of the 3rd Annual Mixed Experience History Month! Here are some of my favorite posts this year: Paula Gunn Allen, Charles Curtis, and William H. Johnson.

It has taken an extraordinary amount of research to find these forgotten, hidden or erased stories of the Mixed experience: many of the people I profiled this month were "new-to-me" biracial--maybe they were for you too. In any event, I love mining the history books for these stories--more to come next year. In the meantime, please send recommendations my way of people/events/ideas that you'd like to know more about.

I leave you with this wonderful email I received last week from the brilliant actor Stephen McKinley Henderson who recently directed the amazing show, Zooman and the Sign, at Signature Theatre in New York. I am a huge fan of his work and was floored when I received this email from him in response to my August Wilson post. I share it here with you with his permission:

Hello Heidi,

I was moved to write you because of the August Wilson entry that Google sent my way. Your premise for the website is inspired. The ancient literary staple of the tragic mulatto has long been eclipsed by the contributions and personal missions of mixed blood perspectives. Every war that has been fought, perhaps even the war on terrorism soon, has produced children born across enemy lines. Nothing human is foreign to us.

Thank you for your piece on August. I traveled with him during the last ten years of his life as an actor in several of his plays here and abroad. Freeing ones self and others from negative perceptions of the self and the world is a noble mission. Soldier on, Sister. Soldier on.

Stephen McKinley Henderson

I soldier on! Thank you Stephen, and thanks to all of you who have followed Mixed Experience History Month this year.
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Mixed Experience History Month is a yearly blog post series celebrating the history of the Mixed experience. Established in 2007, Mixed Experience History Month is an effort to show that we have long been a nation of multiracial and multicultural individuals of achievement (not tragic mulattoes). Please look for more profiles of people, places and events of the Mixed experience every weekday of May right here at Lightskinned-ed Girl, the blog! Thanks for reading.

Mixed Experience History Month: Casta Paintings

2009-05-28T06:53:06-04:00

Casta paintings of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries featured mixed-race people in the post-Conquest period.

Done by many of Mexico's great artists including Miguel Cabrera, the paintings were often comprised of several family group scenes which showed the progressive dilution of 'pure' Spanish blood,
with Indian, and African blood.

In casta paintings, Spaniards have the highest social standing; in successive scenes, the families become darker and increasingly poor. Beneath the paintings are inscriptions, such as "From Spaniard and Black, Mulatto," which essentially: "narrat[e] the process of miscegenation."

More information: Casta Painting: Images of Race in Eighteenth Century Mexico.

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Mixed Experience History Month is a yearly blog post series celebrating the history of the Mixed experience. Established in 2007, Mixed Experience History Month is an effort to show that we have long been a nation of multiracial and multicultural individuals of achievement (not tragic mulattoes). Please look for more profiles of people, places and events of the Mixed experience every weekday of May right here at Lightskinned-ed Girl, the blog! Thanks for reading.

Mixed Experience History Month: Garcilaso de la Vega, historian & writer

2009-05-27T17:58:26-04:00

The product of a mixed marriage between a Spaniard and a royal Incan princess, Garcilaso de la Vega was born in 1539 in Cusco, Peru.

Garcilaso spoke both Quechua and Spanish and traveled to Spain in 1560 with money inherited from his father. There, he was educated but only after presenting his case to the Spanish courts to receive recognition for the rights of his father--mixed marriages were not recognized in Spain at the time.

Garcilaso took the name "El Inca," thereafter, as a proud statement of his heritage.

Garcilaso published Comentarios Reales de los Incas in 1609. The book serves as the most detailed document of Incan history and early colonial rule of its time.

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Mixed Experience History Month is a yearly blog post series celebrating the history of the Mixed experience. Established in 2007, Mixed Experience History Month is an effort to show that we have long been a nation of multiracial and multicultural individuals of achievement (not tragic mulattoes). Please look for more profiles of people, places and events of the Mixed experience every weekday of May right here at Lightskinned-ed Girl, the blog! Thanks for reading.

Mixed Experience History Month: Nicolas Guillen, poet & activist

2009-05-26T11:43:43-04:00

Nicolas Guillen, an Afro-Cuban born in 1902, became known as Cuba's national poet.

Of African and Spanish descent, Guillen studied law in Havana but abandoned a legal career to pursue journalism.

Guillen founded a literary magazine with his brother and wrote for several Cuban newspapers and magazines. In 1930, he published his ground-breaking collection of poetry, Motivos de Son. Guillen's poems were informed by his multicultural background. In Songoro Cosongo, published in 1931, he emphasized the importance of mulatto culture in Cuban history. Langston Hughes translated Guillen's poetry in a collection called Cuba Libre. Guillen's writing became increasingly political; and in 1937, he joined the Communist party.

Guillen spent much of the 1940s and 1950s in exile but was welcomed back to Cuba by Fidel Castro. Guillen published more than a dozen books in his lifetime. He died in 1989 after a long illness.

Mixed Experience History Month: Ann Plato, essayist and poet

2009-05-22T10:23:32-04:00

Ann Plato, born free in 1820, was African-American and Native American.

The details of her life are culled mostly from her book, Essays: Including Biographies and Miscellaneous Pieces in Prose and Poetry, published in 1841. It was the second book published by a woman of color in America.

Plato's writing focused on living a pious and industrious life dedicated to education. She wrote: "A good education is another name for happiness."

Plato's essays also dealt with European colonization of Africans and Native Americans and one that concerned her father, a Native American seaman.

However, Plato was criticized for not addressing slavery in her work.

Nothing is known of her life after 1845; the date of her death is unknown as well.

More information: Essays: Including Biographies and Miscellaneous Pieces in Prose and Poetry.

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Mixed Experience History Month is a yearly blog post series celebrating the history of the Mixed experience. Established in 2007, Mixed Experience History Month is an effort to show that we have long been a nation of multiracial and multicultural individuals of achievement (not tragic mulattoes). Please look for more profiles of people, places and events of the Mixed experience every weekday of May right here at Lightskinned-ed Girl, the blog! Thanks for reading.

Mixed Experience History Month: August Wilson, playwright

2009-05-21T17:51:04-04:00

August Wilson--born in 1945 Frederick August Kittel, Jr. in Pittsburgh--was the son of a German immigrant baker and an African-American cleaning woman.

Wilson's mother raised August and his siblings as a single parent until marrying in the 1950s when Wilson was a teenager.
The transition which included a move from a mostly black and Jewish neighborhood to a working class white neighborhood and school proved difficult for Wilson.

He eventually dropped out of high school but continued to educate himself reading the great African-American writers at the Carnegie Library.

Wilson joined the military serving for a year before he left. In 1965, he changed his name to honor his mother after his father's death.

In 1968, his first play was produced. He is best known for his Pulitzer-Prize winning plays Fences (1985) and The Piano Lesson (1990), which were both part of the ten-play cycle that secured his legacy as one of America's greatest playwrights.

August Wilson died in 2005 of liver cancer at the age of 60.

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Mixed Experience History Month: Paula Gunn Allen, writer & scholar

2009-05-20T07:55:08-04:00

Paula Gunn Allen, born in 1939 in New Mexico, was the daughter of a Lebanese-American man and a Laguna-Sioux-Scotch woman. She once described herself as a "multicultural event."

Her early education was at mission schools; she went on to earn several advanced degrees including a Masters of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from the University of Oregon and a Ph.D. from the University of New Mexico in 1976.

Allen was a pioneer of Native American literary scholarship. With the publication of her book, The Sacred Hoop: Recovering the Feminine in American Indian Traditions (1986), she helped define the canon of Native American literature.

Allen was also a prolific writer of poems, fiction and essays publishing 17 books during her lifetime. She received several awards for her work including the American Book Award, and the Hubbell Medal.

Twice married and twice divorced, Allen identified herself as a lesbian at one point, but later said she was a "serial bisexual."

She died in 2008 of lung cancer. She was 68.

"I have noticed that as soon as you have soldiers the story is called history. Before their arrival it is called myth, folktale, legend, fairy tale, oral poetry, ethnography. After the soldiers arrive, it is called history." Paula Gunn Allen

More information: interview; on-line memorial.

Mixed Experience History Month: Olivia Ward Bush Banks, poet & journalist

2009-05-19T12:37:52-04:00

Olivia Ward Bush Bank, born in 1869, was of African-American and Montaukett Native American descent.

Olivia married Frank Bush in 1889; they had two daughters. As a working mother, Olivia still managed to find time to write. She published her first book of poetry, Original Poems, in 1899. It was met with a great review by poet Paul Laurence Dunbar. Olivia published her second poetry book, Driftwood, in 1916.

Olivia's career spanned many decades and professions: she worked as a tribal historian for many years and also as a journalist writing for the Colored American magazine. In the 1920s, she created a salon for artists in Chicago called the Bush-Banks School of Expression. In the 1930s, she returned to live in New York and counted among her friends central figures of the Harlem Renaissance including W.E.B. DuBois and Langston Hughes.

Olivia was proud of her mixed heritage and celebrated her mixed-race background in her writing. Much of her work was unpublished in her lifetime because of the interracial themes. She died in 1944.

More information: Original Poems by Olivia Ward Bush Banks.

Mixed Experience History Month: Charles Curtis, U.S. Vice President

2009-05-18T10:08:16-04:00

Born in 1860, Charles Curtis was the first person--with non-European ancestry--to serve in the nation's Executive Branch as Vice President of the United States under President Herbert Hoover.

Curtis was the son of a woman of mixed Native American descent and a man of English ancestry. He grew up speaking French and Kansa and lived for a time on his mother's tribe's reservation. Curtis' childhood was marked by tragedy: his mother died when he was three and his father was sent to a military prison, a result of an incident during the Civil War.

Curtis was raised by both his maternal and paternal grandparents --on the reservation and off. Both sets of grandparents stressed the importance of an education and Curtis decided to study law.

Curtis became an attorney who served as an elected member of Congress (beginning in 1893) and then the Senate (beginning in 1907) representing Kansas for many terms. He was a passionate advocate for Native American rights but also believed that education and assimilation were important to elevate the status of Native Americans.

In 1929, Curtis was sworn in as Vice President under Hoover. In 1933, Curtis' term ended. He died in 1936 of a heart attack.

More information: Official Charles Curtis Website; Charles Curtis Museum in Topeka, KS; NPR story about Charles Curtis.

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Mixed Experience History Month is a yearly blog post series celebrating the history of the Mixed experience. Established in 2007, Mixed Experience History Month is an effort to show that we have long been a nation of multiracial individuals and importantly multiracial and multicultural individuals of achievement (not tragic mulattoes). Please look for more profiles of people, places and events of the Mixed experience every weekday of May right here at Lightskinned-ed Girl Blog! Thanks for reading.

Mixed Experience History Month: William Wells Brown, writer

2009-05-15T09:13:21-04:00

William Wells Brown, born into slavery in 1816, was the son of a white plantation owner and black slave. Brown attempted to escape from slavery several times as a young man. He succeeded New Year's Day 1834. Brown became the husband of a free African-American woman and father to three daughters. During the late 1830s and into the 1840s, he was a conductor of the Underground Railroad in New York state.

He was an active abolitionist and orator. In 1847, he published his memoir, Narrative of William W. Brown, a Fugitive Slave, Written by Himself, which was second in popularity to Frederick Douglass' autobiography.

Brown was also a novelist and playwright. His novel Clotel, or the President's Daughter: a Narrative of Slave Life in the United States (1853), gained much attention because of the parallels to the secret affair between Thomas Jefferson and his slave Sally Hemmings (who bore several of Jefferson's children.)

Brown who had moved abroad returned to the U.S. in 1854 when a friend "purchased" his freedom--as an escaped slave he was subject to the Fugitive Slave laws.

He continued to write focusing on historical works. Brown died in 1884 in Massachusetts.

More information: Wikipedia;

Mixed Experience History Month: Jan Ernst Matzeliger, inventor

2009-05-14T13:08:22-04:00

Jan Ernst Matzeliger was born in what is now Suriname to a white Dutch engineer and a black slave, in 1852.

At 19, he left his native land and worked as a sailor eventually settling in the U.S.

Matzeliger was good with his hands and mechanically inclined. He worked for a cobbler and developed a great interest in shoe-making. At the time, the upper part of a shoe had to be attached by handwork. Even expert "hand lasters" could only stitch together 50 shoes in a 10-hour work day. Shoes were very expensive.

After much trial and error, Matzeliger developed a shoe lasting machine and received a patent on his invention in 1883. Matzeliger continued to improve his design and two years later his machine could produce up to 700 pairs of shoes each day.

Matzeliger became ill from tuberculosis in 1886. He died in 1889 just 37-years-old. A Black Heritage Month stamp issued in 1991 commemorates his accomplishments.

Mixed Experience History Month: Joseph Bologne, the Chevalier de Saint-Georges

2009-05-13T20:02:48-04:00

Joseph Bologne, the Chevalier de Saint-Georges was born Christmas Day 1745 in the French island of Guadeloupe. Bologne was the mixed-race son of a Senagalese slave and a French plantation owner.

His father, unjustly accused of murder in 1747, fled to France bringing Joseph and his mother along so that they could not be sold. Granted a royal pardon, Joseph's father returned with the family to Guadeloupe when Joseph was eight.

As a young man, he earned a reputation as a great sworsdman (was a an elite musketeer of the King’s Horse Guard), a violin virtuoso, and talented composer.

Joseph wrote dozens of concertos, songs and sonatas in the style of Mozart and Haydn. In 1775, he was considered for the job of artistic director of the Royal Academy of Music. His consideration for the post faced strong opposition. In a letter to the Queen who oversaw the appointment, an opponent wrote begging: "that their honor and the delicacy of their conscience made it impossible for them to be subjected to the orders of a mulatto".

Joseph served in the Army during the French revolution and was appointed the first black colonel in the French army commanding a regiment of free colored soldiers. Though hailed as a hero for his brave service, Joseph was expelled from the army when he was denounced by one of his deputies (writer Alexandre Dumas' father). He spent a year imprisoned due to the accusations.
Joseph continued to work as a composer in the 1790s.

He died in June 1799 of a bladder infection with no known heirs.

Thank you to blog reader Anne-Suzie for letting me know about this fascinating man!

Mixed Experience History Month: William H. Johnson, artist

2009-05-12T11:37:06-04:00

Born in 1901, William H. Johnson was a talented artist who became famous for his Scandinavian landscape paintings and "primitive" scenes of black life.

A South Carolina native and son of an African-American/Sioux woman and a white man, Johnson moved to New York in 1918 to study at the National Academy of Design. In 1926, he was passed over for a traveling scholarship because of his race. Considered one of the school's most talented students, a teacher gave him $1000 to travel abroad.

Johnson would spend most of the next twelve years in Europe including France, Norway and Denmark. In 1930, he married a Danish artist, Holcha Krake.

Johnson returned to the U.S. in 1938 with his wife. When she died in 1944 of cancer, he returned to Europe only to return to New York three years later because of his own failing health. Johnson died in 1970 after being hospitalized for the last 20+ years of his life.

Today Johnson’s work is represented in many important collections, including National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC; The Columbia Museum of Art, South Carolina; Library of Congress, Washington, DC; and Kerteminde Museum/Johannes Larsen Museet, Denmark.

More information: William H. Johnson Foundation (provides grants to artists); biographical essay.

Mixed Experience History Month: Mary Seacole

2009-05-11T17:20:11-04:00

Mary Seacole, the daughter of a white Scottish officer and a colored "doctoress," was born free in 1805 in Jamaica.

Mary trained as a healer under her mother's tutelage and became a nurse whose healing work was as important to her era as the work of Florence Nightingale.

Mary married in 1836 but was widowed eight years later. Her life was dedicated to doing healing work. She treated patients of the cholera outbreak that killed tens of thousands of Jamaicans; and in 1853 during the Crimean War, Mary joined the English forces to treat sick and injured soliders. In 1857, Seacole published a memoir, The Wonderful Adventures of Mrs. Seacole in Many Lands which was popular for a time. However, after her death in 1881, Mary was lost to history until the early 1970s when she became a symbol for black nurses, the civil rights movement, and women's liberation.

More information on Mary Seacole: wikipedia; Mary Seacole website; essay about Florence Nigtingale and Mary Seacole.

Mixed Experience History Month: Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, composer

2009-05-08T12:05:41-04:00

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, born in 1875, was the son of an African doctor and an Englishwoman. He became one of the greatest classical composers of all time.

Coleridge-Taylor's father left his mother before he was born. It is speculated that he didn't know that she was pregnant. Coleridge-Taylor was raised by his mother with the help of her father.

Coleridge-Taylor studied at London's Royal College of Music. He proved his genius early with compositions such as Ballade in A Minor. His cantata, Hiawatha's Wedding Feast, is considered his major work.

In 1904 he traveled to the United States where, according to Wikipedia, he developed an interest in his racial heritage: "He sought to do for African music what Johannes Brahms did for Hungarian music and Antonín Dvořák for Bohemian music." After meeting Paul Laurence Dunbar in London, Coleridge-Taylor set some of his poems to music. Coleridge-Taylor came to be known as the "African Mahler."

He died suddenly in 1912 at the age of 37 of pneumonia having written some 80+ compositions.
In the 1915 biography, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Musician: His Life and Letters, his biographer wrote: "although certain of his friends whose opinions I value have counselled avoidance of his racial qualities, Coleridge-Taylor never forgot them, never feared to defend them, and his music is so fraught with their characteristics that to ignore them, had it been possible, would in my opinion have been a deliberate misinterpreting of my subject."

More information: biographical essays; book-length biography.

Mixed Experience History Month: Rudolph Lacasie, Albino Circus Star

2009-05-07T13:10:12-04:00

Rudolph Lucasie was an albino of African descent who made his living as a sideshow act with Barnum's American Museum. Lucasie and his family--who had white skin and pink eyes but "African" features--worked for Barnum as "living curiousities" for three years beginning in 1857. Barnum billed the family as "white moors" who slept with their pink eyes wide open.
The family continued to tour throughout the world with other circuses until 1898 when Rudolph and his wife suddenly died.

Mixed Experience History Month: Rebecca Protten, Christian Evangelist

2009-05-06T15:54:19-04:00

Rebecca Protten was a mixed-race woman born into slavery in 1718. As a child, she had a conversion experience and dedicated her life to converting black slaves to Christianity. She gained her freedom in 1730. Protten traveled widely throughout the Danish West Indies and also traveled to Europe working with the Moravian church. A preacher and prophet, Protten inspired the rise of black Christianity.

More information: Rebecca's Revival: Creating Black Christianity in the Atlantic World By Jon F. Sensbach

Mixed Experience History Month: Anna Heegaard, Mixed-Race Mistress of Danish West Indies

2009-05-05T13:06:42-04:00

Anna Heegaard, a mixed-race woman born in 1790 in St. Croix (a slave colony of Denmark), was the daughter of a native white Dane and a "free mulatto woman."

Heegaard's mother, abandoned by Heegaard's father, raised Anna with the help of family. Eventually Anna's mother married a white Danish shopkeeper creating a stable family life for Anna.

At 19, Anna embarked on a series of relationships with white Danes who provided her with varying degrees of security. Her long-term relationship with Admiral H.C. Knudsen afforded her new wealth and she eventually bought a house. As a free woman of color, she also owned 15 slaves.

Anna is known historically because of her relationship with Governor-General Peter Von Scholten. Von Scholten arrived in St. Croix in 1827. Von Scholten and Anna began a love affair that seems to be based on mutual respect. Anna, who served as Von Scholten's official hostess greeting dignitaries to their shared home, continually expressed concern about the situation of the free-coloreds, as well as the plantation slaves. Von Scholten agreed with Anna's views and expressed his concerns to the King of Denmark. The government tried to draft a compromise that would appease the plantation owners. The plan would phase out slavery over the next few decades. But the conditions on the plantations were growing worse, and the enslaved would not wait. In 1848, rioting broke out. As Frederiksted was burning, Von Scholten issued a declaration abolishing slavery immediately.

Von Scholten was recalled to Denmark eventually. Presumably returning to his white Danish wife. Anna died in 1859 in St. Croix. Her gravestone--covered under brush for years--was cleared recently and now serves as an important historical site.

More information: Peter Von Scholten (Danish film with subtitles) ; Danish West Indies. (I'm currently working on a novel inspired by Anna Heegaard's life. Stay tuned.)

Mixed Experience History Month: George Augustus Polgreen Bridgetower

2009-05-04T13:37:22-04:00

The 3rd Annual Mixed Experience History Month kicks off with a profile of George Augustus Polgreen Bridgetower, a 17th century biracial musical prodigy who is the subject of award-winning poet Rita Dove's new poetry book Sonata Mulattica.

Bridgetower, born in 1778 or 1780, was an Afro-Polish violinist. He performed throughout Europe as a child and in 1803 performed with Ludwig van Beethoven. Beethoven was impressed with Bridgetower's talent and dedicated a composition to him calling it Sonata per uno mulaticco lunattico. When the two had a falling out later, Beethoven changed the dedication and the piece is now known as the Kreutzer Sonata.

Bridgetower died in 1860 after a long musical career of performing and teaching. He was survived by a wife and daughter.

It's May so it's the 3rd Annual Mixed Experience History Month

2009-05-01T06:21:00-04:00

I know I've been silent --but I can't be silent when it's time to celebrate my peeps!

Mixed Experience History Month, established in 2007, celebrates stories of the Mixed experience. I'll bring you a new story each weekday of May starting on Monday, May 4: a new profile of some person, story or experience that highlights the Mixed experience.

I will say it again: the Mixed experience and Mixed identity didn't begin in the 1960s because of Free Love--we have a long history of Mixed experience that's been erased and/or forgotten. It's time to tell the complicated Truth.

I am more excited to share these stories with you this year than ever before--mostly because I have felt that silence was safer than talking about these issues. And that's not what I want to believe.

Here's why:
I attended a reception for NAACP President Ben Jealous -- lovely man. Lovely reception. I was glad to be invited.

Ben Jealous, by the way, is biracial. His white father was in attendance --and I know it's not something that Mr. Jealous hides, but it's also not something that he has allowed to complicate the story he's telling about "Colored People."

At dinner after the reception, I managed to get into one of those crazy conflicts when you think that you're in agreement but you see the other person is infuriated (not a good thing at a nice dinner party). I was talking about the Mixed Roots Film & Literary Festival and biracial identity and I was getting all excited. But the woman who was a Mexican mother of a black-Mexican child objected to the word Mixed. I couldn't recover. Or maybe she couldn't. I wanted to talk about her aversion to the word. And really, I thought, her aversion to the idea of talking about being Mixed. But I failed. The conversation ended on a bitter note in one of those dinner party ways. I know she was probably still talking bad about me when she left. And really, I was just wondering what had I said to inflame her?

How do I talk about this stuff without getting people all riled up in a way that turns them off? Especially someone who should be in my ideal audience. (Do you think she will buy the book? :) )

My default is to not make it personal--and maybe that's what went wrong--I didn't stick to the default. If Ben Jealous or Barack Obama or this young woman who is the mother of a biracial kid don't want to be biracial: cool. Self-identification is the key.

And it doesn't behoove the story I'm trying to tell to make the biracial thing a "trend." I love the magazine cover with Heidi Klum and Seal and the photos of their family--but I'm not talking about celebrities or a moment--I'm talking about history --

So .... welcome to Mixed Experience History Month. Tune in every weekday of May to read about something or someone that has to do with this loooooong history of Mixed folks and Mixed experience. And now I'm just talking facts! Go on and disagree or not. Here we go . . .

Light-skinned-ed Girl's Italian Adventure Comes to a Close

2009-04-18T17:41:44-04:00

The last day in Rome couldn't have been better. I got a good workout in before heading to the American Academy where we had lunch with Margaret and her husband, Matthew. Matthew is a photographer who's enjoying a year-long residency there. It really seems like heaven--the ultimate artist residency. Margaret gave us a tour of the building and gardens and then treated us to lunch which is prepared for them daily by a Chez Panisse chef. It was divine. We stuffed ourselves, enjoyed a coffee and then walked back to our hotel through Trastavere and by the Pantheon!
The flight home was easy and happily uneventful (unlike my flight out two weeks ago) and now I'm back home. The adventure is over. I've got some fun photos, an extra pound or two (well worth it), a pile of laundry, and many wonderful memories.

Lightskinneded Girl in Rome

2009-04-15T15:47:21-04:00

we were so sad to leave Catania this morning, but the adventure is coming to a close. We arrived in Rome at gelato time (the time at which we wanted gelato). Found some wonderful gelato flavors at San Crispin near the Trevi fountain. A quick nap and now off to dinner. Tomorrow's our last day abroad : lunch at the American Academy with a friend and dinner at a beautiful restaurant with a view from the Spanish stairs. All wonderful but still we miss the company of the DGs.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless mixedberry

Light-skinned-ed Girl: Loving Sicily!

2009-04-14T11:14:05-04:00

This should be a long love letter to Pippo and Pinna DiGiovanni! They have been so incredibly hospitable. We've eaten the best food--we call it Restaurant DiGiovanni--we have reserved seats for lunch and dinner every day of our stay. We've had amazing conversations (in a strange blend of English and Italian). And so much laughter!

Light-skinned-ed Girl in Sicily

2009-04-13T11:11:48-04:00

We are in Sicily and being hosted by the mostest of hosts: the DiGiovanni's, the in-laws of my buddy Fanshen (who is here too with hubby, Diego).

Pippo made the most incredible Easter meal. I'll have to fill in the details later with accurate Italian spelling. Then a walk by the sea with niece to make room for more food! The whole time lots of good talk and good fun and laughter. More photos soon. But now I must really take a nap. After another amazing lunch, I've run out of steam, and must gather my strength for the next meal!

Light-skinned-ed Girl in U.K.

2009-04-11T13:38:35-04:00

We made the move from Bath back to London, but not before I got a wonderful massage at the Bath Spa Hotel. Nice work Susan. The train ride to London is just shy of 1 1/2 hours--the perfect chance to write a few postcards. Yes, I am still old school in many ways. I can't help myself. I've culled my list of send-to people to about 5 after years of sending some 20 postcards to people who didn't really care to receive them. I'm down to sending the "hi mom" and family cards now. Still, it's always a satisfying part of my journeys (no, twitter and facebook status comments just aren't the same). London was a lot less sun-shiney today--nevertheless we headed to Notting Hill and Portobello Road where we found some delicious olives and salami. A very strange little to-go treat as we walked the streets, but you have no idea how much I have eaten! I wanted to skip lunch but it didn't want to skip me --thus the snack. Now, off to Benares, the most amazing Indian restaurant I've ever been to. Swank and comfortable. Pricey. But soooo delicious and a wonderful way to end the days here in the U.K. Tomorrow Sicily! Can't wait to see the DG's over Easter dinner!

Light-skinned-ed Girl in the U.K.: Bath and Beyond

2009-04-10T12:58:03-04:00

It was a lovely day: an excursion to see Stonehenge and a stroll in Bath proper with a visit to the famous Roman Baths. But oh how I hate being a tourist in a tourist destination: herded, and crowded and bustled about from one numbered sign to another looking at things that are no longer really there. It's the strangest thing: these audio tours. Dozens of people crowded around rocks that are sectioned off for display and we stare at the rocks while we listen to some bit of information from the audio guide about what the rocks used to look like. But still there are highlights of the day:
1. Well, seeing Stonehenge. It's a World Heritage site--on that long list of things you must see before you die.
2. Well, seeing the famous Roman Baths--but really, the best part was when a mallard--probably as tired from the rain and the cold day--flew down and took an afternoon swim in the warm therapeutic water.
Now, there's dinner; tomorrow a massage in the hotel spa; and then back to London for a fabulous meal at my favorite Indian restaurant in the world. And then Sicily for Easter dinner with friends! More from the road!

Light-skinned-ed Girl in England

2009-04-09T14:02:27-04:00

After a very difficult trip across the Pond--my flight out of JFK was delayed by 15 hours which I meant I slept in an airport lounge on Saturday sitting up--I finally arrived at close to midnight Saturday. The last few days have been incredibly fun. Here to celebrate my friend's 40th birthday. We had a blast. London dressed itself up gloriously for my best buddy, Rayme, who's never been to Europe before, with tons of sun. I saw parts of the city I never ventured before because it was too cold or too wet or too both. We saw the changing of the guards --quite by accident--and strolled through the lovely Notting Hill neighborhood. Lunch at a sidewalk cafe brought us an unexpected adventure: meeting best-selling author Simon Astaire! He gifted his book to me and I can't wait to read it. We walked along the Thames. We saw two plays: one at the Old Vic (Thank you to Tina and Kathleen) and one on the West End (Plague Over England--an extraordinary cast). There was some shopping. I think I found a good dress for Book Expo for me--and of course, there was much talk and wine drinking. Tea at Claridge's with a discreet playing of happy birthday and dinner at a wonderful Argentinian restaurant called Gaucho. Rayme headed home this morning--let's do it again, it was so much fun! Hubby and I continue the adventure today in Bath, tomorrow Stonehendge, and then off to Sicily on Sunday to reunite with my partner-in-crime Fanshen and husband for a family Easter celebration. Ah, vacation! Love it.

Remembering Nella Larsen on the Anniversary of her Death

2009-03-30T21:15:10-04:00

Today is the 45th anniversary of writer Nella Larsen's death. I don't know how much I believe in a life after a life, but if she's somewhere around I just want to thank her--for being brave enough to write the story of her complexity--being both black and Danish--almost 80 years ago! She made my book possible. It's my letter to her in a way. And my way of saying thanks. (This is a photo of the headstone I had installed on her grave two years ago. It had never been marked.)

Teri La Flesh of Biracialhair.org: Curly Hair Expert!

2009-03-20T19:29:32-04:00

One of my most read (and favorite) blog posts of 2008 was my interview with curly girl blogger/writer Teri La Flesh who created the website, www.biracialhair.org. Her website's filled with tips for curly hair--don't you want your curls to as gorgeous as that?
Today she was a guest on Mixed Chicks Chat and shared more about her own struggles to come to terms with her hair. We had the nicest conversation with her--and good news: her book is coming out from a major publishing house next year. I've proposed a joint book tour! I hope she'll say yes!
Here's the interview for you to hear:

James McBride Interview from Perth Writers' Festival 2009

2009-03-10T19:44:17-04:00

I love James McBride and this is a really enjoyable interview with McBride recorded this week at the Perth Writers' Festival 2009.

Are Those Your Eyes, Part 7

2009-03-09T18:34:00-04:00

I came out to my dermatologist as biracial because she greeted me by saying: "Wow. Did you change your eyes? What color are they?"

"They're blue--green--gray--They are different colors depending on light and mood and . . ."

"I don't remember your eyes like that."

Granted, I've only seen her once a year for the last four years --and last year she was on maternity leave so I saw her colleague instead. But still--really? She didn't see that my eyes are very light on a beige-colored person? It's usually the first thing people notice about me.

She checked out the "mole" in question and gave me a referral in case I want to have it removed in a way that won't leave a giant scar--it's nothing to worry about. She's a nice woman and a doctor with a good bedside manner, but her greeting really threw me? Was she really seeing me?

I was nearly out the door when I asked if I could talk to the doctor again -- She was talking to a pharmaceutical rep but led me back into the examining room when I told her I had a question and I said: "I hope you don't think this is stupid. But I thought it was important to tell you that I am biracial. I am both black and white. I'm not sure what you maybe thought I was--but I just wanted to let you know . . . in case, well, in case, you need to look at me differently."

My voice felt strangely shakey but I got it all out. "I don't think this makes a difference, but I wanted to make sure you knew, and that you were seeing me."

She was very kind and assured me it wasn't a stupid question, but really, there wasn't a difference in the way that she examined patients because of race. She talked a little bit about the different types of skin cancer and that melanoma was equal opportunity--that was what Bob Marley died of.

"He was biracial," I said.

"I didn't know," she responded.

Anyway, I'm glad I told her--and not that it mattered at all in terms of what matters to her as a physician--but I think I became more human. I think she won't be so shocked by my eyes next year.

Amazon Knows about The Girl Who Fell From the Sky

2009-03-04T16:24:58-05:00

I am a shameless self-googler though I'm making progress in breaking my addiction--I'm down to self-googling just twice a day. But if I weren't a self-googler how else would I have known of this: The Girl Who Fell From the Sky is listed on Amazon! Sign up to get a notification of the book's release which is still 11 months away: February 16, 2010 to be exact.

I am also floored by the generosity of writers I have met over the years who have taken the time to read an advanced copy. The blurbs they have provided for the book are so --well, stunning! I can't share them yet, but so glad to have them in hand--they're encouraging as I work on the new project in earnest now. More words. I know I can do it!

Making Connections: Lisa Marie Rollins & Hillary Jordan

2009-02-25T21:08:03-05:00

What an excellent day. I had the chance to have breakfast with activist and blogger Lisa Marie Rollins of A Birth Project and head of the Adopted & Fostered Adults of the African Diaspora. I love her energy and her commitment to creating community among other transracially adopted folks. She led a workshop at the 2008 Mixed Roots Film & Literary Festival --and it sounds like she's going to be joining us again this year. Yay! If you don't know of her, you should. She's smart, funny, warm and sassy (even though we couldn't seem to capture "sassy" in the photos we took together before parting!) (LMR: Can I post the photo here?) I have a lot I want to learn from this lady.

Then it was off to lunch to meet Hillary Jordan, author of Mudbound and the previous winner of the Bellwether Prize. She is just as pretty as her book jacket photo and really cool to talk to. We spent a good deal of time praising our hero, Barbara Kingsolver, who established the prize. And Hillary also shared with me some tips as I head down the road to publication. Her book is a must-read if you're interested in stories of the Mixed experience--I loved it! Her number one piece of advice: stop fretting about the book that's coming out --get to writing the next book--NOW!

So, enough socializing. Tomorrow's an all-day writing day. Wish me many words.

Mixed Minute: Nella Larsen

2009-02-24T20:14:49-05:00

I love Nella Larsen. She's my muse and literary forebear--a Danish and black woman writer! Here's my Mixed Minute tribute to her.

Mixed Minute: Nella Larsen from Heidi Durrow on Vimeo.

The Oscars for Books

2009-02-22T21:43:47-05:00

I LOVE the Oscars and am maybe way high with the excitement of the night but here's the idea: the Ocars for Books. (Can you tell this is just a blurt? because it's totally a crazy thought I am having watching the Oscars!)

I know we've got the Pulitzer and the Nobel and the National Book Award for books and the this and the that (no offense, I would love to be eligible for all those awards). But why don't we have books for the way that we read them? Best Lead Male Character? Best Female Lead Character? Best Plot? Most Lyrical? Most Suspenseful? Best Love Story? You tell me what else. This is how we read books. Let's award the ones that matter. I think Vroman's Bookstore may be excited about the idea as I twittered it to them moments ago. We can vote and announce the awards at the Mixed Roots Film & Literary Festival -- we've already got the space spoken for.

Okay, tell me: what do you think? And if you like the idea email Vroman's--they love getting emails and they also love for you to buy books from an indie as do I! Support your indie bookstores!

Vroman's Bookstore

orders(at)vromansbookstore(dot)com

695 E. Colorado Blvd
Pasadena, CA 91101
Tel: 626-449-5320
Fax: 626-792-7308

On Being a Writer

2009-02-21T17:13:56-05:00

“I didn’t want to be myself. I wanted to be a writer.” --Jamaica Kincaid

Kip Fulbeck: On Speaking Up

2009-02-20T22:16:51-05:00

I couldn't say this better. Thank you Kip for sharing this at the Mixed Roots Film & Literary Festival 2008.

Curly Hair Salon: Go and Be Worshipped!

2009-02-19T20:16:03-05:00

Yes, another post about a visit to Devachan! I love that place. My stylist is Keith, a dapper, handsome man, who "gets" my hair. Today, he cut the front so there are some rogue curls that can lazily (sexily?) fall into my face. And how cool: I met Lorraine Massey, the owner. They invited me to a special publicity event this weekend. She's gathering a bunch of curly-haired people to film "in the act of" doing good things to their curls. I hope to make it.

I love the shampoo beds. I love the bright lights. I love the super-fast drying hair contraption. I love the way my hair smells, and curls, and bounces. And I love that there is a whole racial spectrum of curly hair folks there. Maybe we should create our own tribe!

I was going to post before photos--but NOOO--not when the after pictures are so goooooood!

Mixed Roots Film & Literary Festival 2008: Kip Fulbeck Loving Prize Speech

2009-02-18T22:15:10-05:00

So great! I am glad we're able to share this. Hapa artist Kip Fulbeck is amazing. See for yourself. Makes you wanna come to this year's Festival, huh? www.mxroots.org.

Mixed Roots Film & Literary Festival

2009-02-17T18:44:45-05:00

We're gearing up for the 2nd Annual Mixed Roots Film & Literary Festival June 12-13, 2009 in Los Angeles, CA at the Japanese American National Museum, and we thought we'd share with you what you missed last year if you weren't there--just to entice you. Look for more footage from the Live Performance on YouTube in the coming week!

My Place by Sally Morgan: A Mixed Experience Memoir

2009-02-16T22:08:02-05:00

I picked up a sale book today because, well, because I have been lusting for it and it was $9.99. It's a thick dictionary-size softcover called 501 Must-Read Books --Not that I need anymore books to read. I have piles of novels on my office floor dying to be opened--all books that I haven't read exactly because I bought them and I figure I'll have them around a long time. But this 501 Must-Read Books book is gorgeous-- it has a good feel in my hands and the most beautiful images and photos inside. I've been opening it up to random pages and have read about many books I've never even heard about and sound fascinating. The book I am most eager to read now is My Place by Sally Morgan. It's a memoir about a woman who learns as a teenager that she is half-Aboriginal. According to the book, "Sally Morgan was one of the first people to give a voice to the Stolen Generations, the 35,000 Aboriginal children who between approximately 1900 and 1970 were taken from their parents and placed in government or religious facilities." In the memoir Morgan writes about reuniting with her ancestors: ". . . all of a sudden we had a context . . . we weren't just this small isolated family in the non-Aboriginal community, we were part of this huge family and that really gave us a sense of belonging, that was very important." I can't wait to get my hands on this book!

The Beige Girl Hears Some Words She Loves

2009-02-15T22:12:01-05:00

So I'm at the movies--watching the hunky Clive Owens in The International. His hunkiness is about all that recommends this very boring and improbable film--until . . . cut to the bad guy (who had been English speaking until this moment) at home playing chess with his son. Subtitles appear--but lo and behold, the little beige girl (me) in the dark doesn't need to read the words. They're speaking Danish. The father and son exchange a few lines--no one ever says: oh, the bad guy is Danish--in fact, I am guessing I am the only one who could identify the language they spoke. It was pure delight! It was like I was suddenly home. So thank you to The International for that. It made the movie worthwhile. It made my whole day!

Do We Still Need Black History Month?

2009-02-14T15:51:18-05:00

Clarence Page asks the questions in his column. I say yes--and we need a Mixed Experience History month too! What say you?

On Imagination

2009-02-12T21:55:15-05:00

"If there is any threat to our humanity, it’s the threat that somehow our imaginations will be squashed, will become obsolete. It will become redundant, useless. And writing is one way to keep that idea of imagination alive. In my best days I see that as the primary enterprise I’m involved in. Simulating the imagination. Foregrounding it, saying that it counts. Saying that whatever is in your head has some meaning. And I think most of the messages in the culture are saying that it doesn’t have meaning, that it doesn’t matter what’s inside your head. Fuck you, ya know. Get in line. So I welcome people who are on a different track. We’re on our little boat, ship of fools, and there we are. It’s nice to have company." -- John Edgar Wideman

The Girl Who Fell From the Sky -- Update

2009-02-11T20:55:58-05:00

Well, guys, you're going to have to wait just a little bit longer for the novel. It's now slated for release for February 2010. I can't really use the baby metaphor any longer 'cause the bun's not coming out for so long--well, unless, it were a baby something that gestates for a long time: like a baby elephant (22 months) or a baby giraffe (14-15 months) or . . . Oh wait, listen to this: 12-13 months gestation for . . . baby zebra. Perfect.

What Writing Is . . .

2009-02-10T21:54:18-05:00

Cynthia Ozick says: "If we had to say what writing is, we would have to define it essentially as an act of courage." I like that. And I liked even more, the talk that Elizabeth Gilbert gave at the TED conference this year on creativity. You might find inspiration in it too.

Thank you Zihuatanejo

2009-02-09T17:05:02-05:00

It was great! Sent from my Verizon Wireless mixedberry