tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15672906Sun, 29 Jan 2012 19:00:16 +0000Sustenance for the socially conscioushttp://sustenancescout.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.com (Sustenance Scout)Blogger312125blogspot/XmWDhttp://feedburner.google.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15672906.post-3664995565836597739Tue, 24 Jan 2012 19:28:00 +00002012-01-24T12:43:46.457-07:00<!--[if gte mso 9]> Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]>http://sustenancescout.blogspot.com/2012/01/beyond-facts-even-tough-girls-wear.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Sustenance Scout)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15672906.post-534499070905226458Tue, 01 Nov 2011 15:45:00 +00002011-11-01T09:50:56.858-06:00<!--[if gte mso 9]> Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]>http://sustenancescout.blogspot.com/2011/11/beyond-fiction-little-bride-by-anna.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Sustenance Scout)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15672906.post-8772001172511279790Fri, 28 Oct 2011 16:49:00 +00002011-10-29T09:22:40.519-06:00Poet and best-selling memoirist (THE LIARS’ CLUB, CHERRY, LIT) Mary Karr was recently in Denver for a Lighthouse Writers Workshop Writer’s Studio weekend that included an interview and Q&A, an after-dinner pep talk and fundraising push (“Pony up and ride, y’all”) for Lighthouse, then a Sunday morning seminar. Each event was packed with local writers and Mary Karr fans, some of whom were already http://sustenancescout.blogspot.com/2011/10/beyond-fly-by-decoding-mary-karr.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Sustenance Scout)4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15672906.post-2921808030543155951Thu, 20 Oct 2011 15:25:00 +00002011-10-20T13:44:42.389-06:00It’s been a while. A while since I’ve written a blog post, a while since I’ve thought back to the darkest day of December 1988. With the death of Gadhafi, I’m back in Hartford CT, hearing over the phone from a close friend that a boy from Hartford, a Syracuse student we’d known at school who’d gone to London to study for a semester, has been killed in the bombing of Pan Am 103.Today’s news also http://sustenancescout.blogspot.com/2011/10/beyond-form-elegies-1995.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Sustenance Scout)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15672906.post-8887275152154956780Mon, 07 Mar 2011 17:55:00 +00002011-03-07T11:29:57.635-07:00 One of my recent stories for MixedAndHappy.com focused on the story of Michael Fosberg, whose memoir, Incognito: An American Odyssey of Race and Self-Discovery, was recently published. The basics of Michael’s story—as told in his book and in the one-man play, also called Incognito, he’s been performing for 10 years—are pretty powerful: His mother, a daughter of Armenian immigrants, married a http://sustenancescout.blogspot.com/2011/03/beyond-facts-incognito-american-odyssey.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Sustenance Scout)6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15672906.post-2247709109490087574Thu, 03 Mar 2011 23:19:00 +00002011-03-03T16:23:43.184-07:00Back in the days before Facebook, I found blogging to be the best on-line way to get to know others who love to write and to learn from (and about) them on an on-going basis. Bloggers are writers, regardless of their topics of choice, and when writing is combined with a passion and a little bit of polish, it can’t help but shine. Author Meg Waite Clayton in her role as host of the SheWrites http://sustenancescout.blogspot.com/2011/03/beyond-fun-she-writers-blogger-ball.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Sustenance Scout)23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15672906.post-6496125330127896998Sat, 19 Feb 2011 18:02:00 +00002011-02-19T11:39:24.257-07:00I’m happy to announce I’m now a weekly columnist at MixedAndHappy.com, a site I profiled last spring. My M&H columns will highlight resources of special interest to M&H readers, many of whom have young mixed-race families.Founded by supermom Suzy Richardson, MixedAndHappy.com is growing into a dynamic community of readers from all over the world and now writers located across the country and in http://sustenancescout.blogspot.com/2011/02/beyond-finesse-sister-mixedandhappycom.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Sustenance Scout)5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15672906.post-3884219031985975585Tue, 08 Feb 2011 18:11:00 +00002011-02-08T19:53:21.418-07:00Activist, author, and public speaker Deborah Jiang Stein has launched The UnPrison Project so she may continue to reach out to female prisoners across the country. Deborah speaks to women about her birth and first year of life in the Aldersen Federal Prison for women in West Virginia as a heroin-addicted infant, multiple overdoses later in life, and eventual drug rehab.When Deborah visits women http://sustenancescout.blogspot.com/2011/02/beyond-fundraising-unprison-project.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Sustenance Scout)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15672906.post-452251251111710920Thu, 03 Feb 2011 19:18:00 +00002011-02-03T12:32:31.637-07:00In Call Me Okaasan, Corey Heller writes in her personal essay “I Am Mutti” about her choice to speak German with her children in her home though she hails from California and is raising her children in the U.S. with her German-born husband. Having experienced a year of immersion in the German culture and language, she found upon her return home that she was driven to retain those ties, and the http://sustenancescout.blogspot.com/2011/02/beyond-finesee-corey-heller-founder-of.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Sustenance Scout)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15672906.post-674250639716824303Tue, 01 Feb 2011 21:59:00 +00002011-02-01T15:12:12.075-07:00One of my favorite non-fiction pieces published in the Call Me Okaasan anthology is “Two Names for Every Beautiful Thing.” Spanish-American author Violeta García-Mendoza writes with such grace that at first I thought “Two Names” was a work of fiction. She notes in an interview on the Motherlogue blog that this piece “started with freewriting on gardens. I wanted to explore the garden origin myth http://sustenancescout.blogspot.com/2011/02/beyond-finesse-violeta-garcia-mendoza.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Sustenance Scout)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15672906.post-7896450451592669779Sun, 30 Jan 2011 23:13:00 +00002011-01-30T16:26:42.687-07:00The New York Times article “Black? White? Asian? More Young Americans Choose All of the Above” is loaded with fantastic, insightful quotes from college students of mixed-race heritage. To get a glimpse of what many Americans of mixed-race heritage face on a daily basis, read this article and then read it again. It’s an eye-opener.And it offers up a few statistics that may surprise some:--http://sustenancescout.blogspot.com/2011/01/beyond-facts-black-white-asian-more.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Sustenance Scout)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15672906.post-5265446687657703868Sun, 30 Jan 2011 00:43:00 +00002011-01-29T17:52:12.279-07:00Also edited by Suzanne Kamata, Call Me Okaasan reveals challenges faced by moms with multicultural families. As Mamazine.com has noted, like much of Suzanne’s work, this essay collection explores “new ways of seeing family,” new ways that help those of us with traditional families understand what it takes to ensure a non-traditional family thrives. Meanwhile, Call Me Okaasan also reassures moms http://sustenancescout.blogspot.com/2011/01/beyond-non-fiction-call-me-okaasan.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Sustenance Scout)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15672906.post-8657167280431903952Mon, 24 Jan 2011 00:04:00 +00002011-01-23T17:29:18.917-07:00As noted in my profile of editor and author Suzanne Kamata, the premature birth of her twins and subsequent diagnosis of her daughter’s deafness and cerebral palsy led Suzanne to search for books that might help. “I was looking for deep and sustaining stories to guide me on the long path ahead,” she wrote in the introduction to Love You to Pieces: Creative Writers on Raising a Child with Special http://sustenancescout.blogspot.com/2011/01/beyond-non-fiction-love-you-to-pieces.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Sustenance Scout)7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15672906.post-6033716716519117713Sat, 01 Jan 2011 22:23:00 +00002011-01-01T16:06:09.521-07:00Suzanne Kamata leads a much more diverse life than even your typical ex-pat: A Michigan native educated in South Carolina, she ventured to Japan to teach English to teenagers through a Japanese Ministry of Education exchange and teaching program. Within two years in Japan she met her husband, with whom she lives in rural Tokushima Prefecture on an island that sounds mythical with its coastlines, http://sustenancescout.blogspot.com/2011/01/beyond-finesse-suzanne-kamata-cross.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Sustenance Scout)4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15672906.post-5100032977464240879Mon, 29 Nov 2010 03:54:00 +00002010-11-28T21:15:34.210-07:00On Friday at FridayReads I mentioned I was reading My Sisters Made of Light, a truly luminous novel by Denver author Jacqueline St. Joan. The fact I read this book in two days (not counting yesterday, when we hosted our 12-year-old’s birthday party here at the house…though I did fit some reading in last night!) I just turned the last page. And yes, I’m sad it’s over.Published by Press 53, a http://sustenancescout.blogspot.com/2010/11/beyond-fiction-my-sisters-made-of-light.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Sustenance Scout)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15672906.post-8446748682536302815Sun, 14 Nov 2010 16:15:00 +00002010-11-23T08:46:49.471-07:00This month my post on Teaching Diversity in a White-Washed World has been featured on Denver blogger and educational specialist Melissa Taylor’s terrific Imagination Soup site. Named the best books and reading blog in the Scholastic Parent & Child 2010 Parent Bloggers Award competition, Imagination Soup serves up resources, insights, and how-tos on reading, writing, science, math and just plain http://sustenancescout.blogspot.com/2010/11/beyond-fun-imagination-soup.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Sustenance Scout)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15672906.post-4460457494643354807Mon, 08 Nov 2010 03:10:00 +00002010-11-07T21:00:10.585-07:00My last post mentioned some of the obstacles faced this election year by many national candidates of South Asian descent. Those obstacles include negative remarks made by opponents that directly attack cultural heritage and religious affiliations. SAALT, South Asian Americans Leading Together, recently released a report on just this subject. Called “From Macacas to Turban Toppers: The Rise in http://sustenancescout.blogspot.com/2010/11/beyond-frustration-report-documents.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Sustenance Scout)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15672906.post-1224829906873437138Thu, 28 Oct 2010 21:05:00 +00002010-10-28T15:13:43.638-06:00I switched on NPR yesterday morning with the funny feeling I was going to learn something new. Not a rare occurrence, I readily admit, but during my short drive home this story—“South-Asian Americans Discover Political Clout”—happened to be aired.I’m still shocked when I hear about blatant discrimination in this day and age. Though this story was told in a light tone as it discussed increasing http://sustenancescout.blogspot.com/2010/10/beyond-finesse-south-asian-american.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Sustenance Scout)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15672906.post-3449464191761933829Mon, 27 Sep 2010 15:18:00 +00002010-09-27T09:46:49.123-06:00I was pretty darn excited to learn Debbie Davis of Mixis Living is featuring my novel, One Sister’s Song, as a Mixis Book Club pick! Debbie also links to my brand-spankin’-new author website, KarenDeGrootCarter.com, in her post, which I greatly appreciate.Debbie created the Mixis brand to “offer products and services for an ever-growing, multi-racial and diverse market. Mixis™ represent a http://sustenancescout.blogspot.com/2010/09/beyond-fantastic-one-sisters-song.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Sustenance Scout)4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15672906.post-18275165105335420Mon, 06 Sep 2010 19:14:00 +00002010-09-06T13:36:35.005-06:00While at a writing conference this past spring here in Denver, I visited the SUNY (State University of New York) Press table and learned one of its newest titles was subtitled “A Song of the Salt City.” The Salt City (Syracuse, New York) is where I grew up and attended college, so I was pleased to learn Joe Amato, author of ONCE AN ENGINEER, would be available later in the conference to sign http://sustenancescout.blogspot.com/2010/09/beyond-facts-once-engineer-by-joe-amato.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Sustenance Scout)4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15672906.post-1374992683578088924Tue, 24 Aug 2010 19:39:00 +00002010-08-24T14:02:54.655-06:00Five years ago today I wrote my first post (of substance) here on Beyond UNDERSTANDING: Beyond THE FUTURE: MAVIN. I’ve decided to enter my sixth year of blogging by revisiting some of the 200+ resources I’ve highlighted so far. And there’s no better place to start then at the MAVIN Foundation.An early and original resource for people of mixed-race heritage, MAVIN’s site now offers links to http://sustenancescout.blogspot.com/2010/08/beyond-familiar-mavin-revisited.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Sustenance Scout)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15672906.post-6998263136496444213Mon, 16 Aug 2010 14:34:00 +00002010-08-16T08:56:39.761-06:00Imagine beginning your life not only born in a prison but raised there with your mother your first year, then put up for adoption. Add to that the fact that your birth mother was a heroin addict and at first, so were you.So begins the story of Deborah Jiang Stein, an amazingly inspiring writer, speaker, and visionary based in Minneapolis. Deborah openly shares her story through her blog; her http://sustenancescout.blogspot.com/2010/08/beyond-finesse-deborah-jiang-stein.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Sustenance Scout)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15672906.post-5856211264756913833Tue, 10 Aug 2010 16:53:00 +00002010-08-10T11:24:55.409-06:00I’ve written about Suzy Richardson over at MixedAndHappy.com before and am now very excited to share a link to my family’s own corner of this terrific website for folks of mixed-race heritage and their loved ones. In a very short period, Suzy and her assistant director, Liz Brown, have put together (and very sucessfully promoted) a dynamic, fantastic resource that regularly features not only a http://sustenancescout.blogspot.com/2010/08/beyond-family-my-mixed-race-family.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Sustenance Scout)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15672906.post-1105326375971527150Mon, 21 Jun 2010 02:38:00 +00002010-06-20T21:46:05.057-06:00I first heard about WALK IN MY SHOES via my nephew Anthony DeFeo, who works with Kabir Sehgal (author of JAZZOCRACY: JAZZ, DEMOCRACY, AND THE CREATION OF A NEW AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY and founder of MusicForTomorrow.org) at JPMorgan in New York. The godson of Andrew Young, Sehgal set out to document many of the “winding” conversations he and “Uncle Andy” have shared over the years on topics as diversehttp://sustenancescout.blogspot.com/2010/06/beyond-facts-walk-in-my-shoes-by-andrew.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Sustenance Scout)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15672906.post-7488207023800108979Sat, 19 Jun 2010 12:59:00 +00002010-06-19T07:07:39.350-06:00http://sustenancescout.blogspot.com/2010/06/report-on-loving-case-1967.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Sustenance Scout)0