Really interesting...

I thought this was really interesting because I will be in China next semester (Ireland/Irish heritage this semester, China/Chinese Heritage next! I even made it to CA last summer to reconnect with my only other Asian family in the US - rest in thailand - I'm doing pretty well ;) ) but anyway its on mixed race views in china. I haven't fully read it yet but I plan on it soon. For now I'll just post it here: http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/13/chinas-changing-views-on-race/?8ty&emc=ty

Mixed Roots Festival taking submissions!

I wanted to try to become a volunteer, and maybe intern organizing it but it takes place June 12-like 14 or something. I might still be in China. I am sad T_T but I figure I'd post it here anyway :) http://www.mxroots.org/

celeb

So, I realized awhile back that Vanessa Hudgens was mixed. I really did think she was latina until I saw her last name. I actually got pretty excited about it (yes, I saw all 3 High School Musicals) also because Disney targets the next generations of kids, all at a time in their lives where they are the most influenced by things they watch, hear, and are exposed to. But I wonder, I heard that its easier for mixed race, or "ethnically ambiguous" people to get different "ethnic" roles in movies and its an advantage I think in that regard, but does Hudgens ever feel strange acting as the "ethnic person" with roles/castings that don't really care what you actually are or if you actually understand the culture of who you're representing? What are the rules about this? Its all a very grey area.

another blog!

Yea! I was happy to see that there is another blog: mixedchild.com - and it has news articles, celebs, events, and so forth all for mixed race stuff. I have been looking for blogs like this one, that are more professionally run and regularly updated. Another reason I started this blog was because I couldn't find any, so I had to put everything I found on my own blog, but I am terrible about updating ^_^ I hope it gets more popular, and people will get more interested in mixed race things.

interesting video

So this is an interesting little (and by little I mean looooong) video that a friend showed me. Its really interesting, I feel like its exaggerated though, this woman is interesting, her approach. And for trying to be "scientific" she doesn't hide that fact that this is also a very personal matter (I think it has a LOT to do with her daughter" but I haven't finished it yet, its still really interesting. This is the html: http://www.channel4.com/programmes/is-it-better-to-be-mixed-race/4od

So I finished it. I totally understand some parts of it - she REALLY liked the word homozygous, but really I have to say it had an underlying (and by underlying, again, I mean kind of obvious) message of how mixed race was seen as bad but now it will help your kids fight disease. I like the other scientists on the show, they were clear in talking about how its not genes as much as lifestyle, really, and downplayed the "mixed is better" phrase. The shooting of the movie is weird too, like, why are you talking to a Brazilian scientist on the steps? Why not in a lab or something? Like there are really staged interviews but overall it was interesting and I am glad I saw it. Not sure I would recommend it right away though.

Multiracial Week!!

I am so sad that I cannot make it to Brown this week :( because there is an entire week every October for Multiracial heritage!! With lots of events! Its so cool, its the only place I have ever really heard of it before I meant to go last year but I didn't learn about it till after it had passed.

News article

So I was sad on hearing this - problems for multiracial partners still exist :( This is about a rejection of an interracial couple for a marriage license in Louisiana:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/15/interracial-couple-denied_n_322784.html

Most ridiculous line EVER: "I'm not a racist. I just don't believe in mixing the races that way"

random new article in news

A new article - its been awhile, and I just thought this is the place to put any hapa news (obviously) and this is a pretty crazy article about a wife taking her kids back to Japan with no notice to her ex-husband (American guy).

Students talking about Interracial marriages

So its another video, but truthfully, I like videos the most! Unless its a really good article or something. This one is super interesting cause its an interview with students just like me in college talking about interracial marriages.

Its interesting because you'd think that feelings are changing about it, and its true, there is a radical change from only 10 years ago, but there are quite a few students who don't agree. They are actually kind of hypocritical saying that they accept interracial marriages but in fact would never consider it for themselves. Interesting... now I see where our "liberals" align! (just kidding, I know this is only a few students, but its still interesting)

What are Youtube?

This is a cool little idea, cause you know how much people like taking videos of them (lol, though actually only 5 people replied surprisingly) check it out:



This kid actually asked people what they were and to make a short video of it. I like how the videos are all different in how they reply and how it has some moms with their kids. One of the responses is super short, another is really long. All of them are interesting, maybe I should do one...??

What the mutt?

Haha, just loved this title that was one of the sections of this new website I found: Musings for Mutts. I am still uncertain what it is... I think it is kind of like this blog but more well-run and professional. It seems really fun, it really puts being multiracial in a humorous light (that is still respectful). I am still unsure, though, like I said of what it is, though I only have skimmed it thus far, I plan on looking more into it. It has a great layout, if anything.

Obama is now Irish, Kenyan/African American, AND Asian now...

So I find it fascinating on how, for multiracial people, so many people identify with them. I mean, look at this:



and this article: Obama the first Asian-American president?

And even from multiracial people I have heard, they say how people will think they are many different cultures. To Italians, they are Italian, to Greeks, they are Greek, to Spanish, they are Spanish, and so forth. That maybe an amazing or bad thing about multiraciality. It connects cultures in the very basic way: genes, and then others will be able to identify with them no matter where they are. The only problem with that is that other people are imposing identities on you, and its got to become frustrating. But all these articles about multiraciality and every culture claiming Obama (who wouldn't?) as their own really made me think.

Another Washington Post Article

So its all old news to us multiracials, but the problem of the box-checking seems to be coming to light once again as formats are going to change:

"Starting in 2010, under Education Department rules approved two years ago to comply with a government-wide policy shift, parents will be able to check all boxes that apply in a two-step questionnaire with reshaped categories. First, they will indicate whether a student is of Hispanic or Latino origin, or not. (The two terms will encompass one group.) Then they will identify a student as one or more of the following: American Indian or Alaska native; Asian; black or African American; native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander; or white."

I apparently didn't realize that this was still an issue. But it seems to be, still as the article came out in just March. This is the article.

Anyway its an interesting read, although it wasn't really anything new to me :)

Interacial marriage declines

So turns out that interracial marriage is declining... so much for how everyone thinks that multiracial marriage is going to be the cure-all for racism. The Washington Post made this article: Immigrants' Children Look Closer for Love. Its interesting, I have only skimmed it yet. I thought it was funny though - racialicious and angry asian man blogs both caught this one earlier. I actually did see it awhile ago, but I think I was too lazy to put it up. It almost makes me a little sad though, less mixed people? I think mixed people are the best ;) but you know, that's just me :)

This is an image from the article, with the girl saying that she realizes she prefers dating Asian men when she came into cultural clashes with others of different races.

Though I have to say I get where she is coming from, I have seen in my own parents' marriage (which is very happy!) different kinds of cultural clashes. I think, actually, my Dad, being the international one, had a hard time fitting into an all-white family here, while my mother had less of a problem because they lived here, around her family. But I am sure, that if she had to live around my Dad's family there would have been lots of problems. Not saying my Mother had it easy, just culturally things swayed her way in the end I think. I also think it is a mother thing, too, as mother's tend to be the cultural center a lot of times (not all of the time) for the family.

A video

This is a really cool video, this person is clearly artistic enough to make a really nice video. I like the way its presented - it doesn't get boring or repetitive. They seem really smart and bring a lot of issues to the foreground. Its just sometimes some of the issues a lot of mixed race people have like people asking "What are you?" - I dunno. I don't find as offensive. Admittedly, I have done it before, too. I like that, cause then i can declare my ethnicity to people, and they are confronted with how I define myself instead of automatically assuming what I am. But I understand the whole frustration thing. Its a really good video though and a few of the parts, like the piece with the girl telling her how it was "cool" to be mixed, really made sense.

iLL-Literacy

So Asian American Coalition is bringing iLL-Literacy to campus this Wednesday and honestly the only thing that has stuck out for me about the group is one of the members is blasian and he made this video:


So that is the most exciting thing about the group for me ^_^ but I have to say that they seem really interesting and good. This video though - its awesome. Cause it blatantly puts out there how image-based race is and how these mono-racial asian groups can't see past that, and are kind of exclusive. I love his commentary, too :)

Cool Project

So i found this random project and its really cool! This is the site. Its called the "bi-racial doll project" and it deals with how bi-racials in China are seen as so super beautiful. I think that this is good cause while it would be great to be bombarded with how pretty I am in China (lol) I think that this is also a stereotyped notion and is really detrimental to bi-racial Chinese. Cause if you really aren't so pretty, then you get this stigma. Also, there is great beauty in full-Chinese, too (man do I wish I was as pretty as some of these women!), so being bi-racial should not automatically make you prettier. It actually puts TONS of pressure on bi-racials to be pretty and try to maintain that image. I could really relate cause the most Chinese (women only, so far) all comment on my prettiness which wierdly has a stupid side-effect of making me more self-concious and needed to keep up this appearance. I think I will look into this project some more. This is the description that was provided on the site:

"Bi-racial Doll Project is an attempt to look at the stereotypes which people in China (both Chinese local and foreign) have about kids who are 1/2 Chinese. Many parents agree that when they take their child outside in China, they are bombarded with comments about how MORE 'beautiful, cute, healthy, smart, handsome, talented, etc' their 1/2 child is compared to Chinese kids. Another aspect is that these comments are only accessible to both child and parent if they have the language, otherwise it is easy to tune out this babble. Furthermore, people already have an image formed in their head of what a 1/2 Chinese child should look like, act like. This project hopes to challenge those notions."

Apparently Biracial Asians have some health issues...

So I just found this article: Mental Health and Biracial Asian Americans

Apparently us biracial Asian Americans got issues - mental issues, and are more likely to have a mental disorder. It kind of sucks, actually. The article was written last August so it isn't that old either. I mean, it definitely could be wrong... (I hope so!)

But you know what the worst is? When you google "biracial Asian Americans" its the first thing that comes up - there is an entire google page all leadign to this finding. Great, so now when people look us up, they're basically seeing that we are all mentally messed up :(

Lecture Today

So I went to a lecture-type faculty luncheon talk today that was offered by Peony Fhagen-Smith, a professor of psychology here at Wheaton. She gave an interesting lecture about the multiracial identity formation model. Its called the "MAREID" model and it is really new, they just are in the process. I really appreciate it cause they are trying to keep up with the changing social atmosphere towards mixed race and the psychological development of mixed race. I will put in the actual image of the model later when I can get my hands on a scanner. But overall, it was really interesting, if kind of boriign at times, just because she basically read off a piece of paper, it was not as engaging as it might have been. Some of it really seemed to ring true and some of it was over my head.

But in the end I was kind of upset at some fo the faculty's reactions. One woman said "I could have told you that just because of my family, and how I come from a multiracial family" and I was angry. She is supposed to be a faculty member, surely she understands the necessity for academia to create a more general model that she can identify with. I could have told Professor Fhagen-Smith some of that stuff too, but havng it at arms length with and attempt at removal of emotional bias is what science is all about. I was surprised she didn't understand that.

All-in-all it was a good experience and I learned a lot. I think I want to talk to Professor Fhagen Smith some other time about it, too.

Online communities

So this is a aquick post but I think I should have put these up first, cause they actually were the first "communities" of mixed race people that I found. I was just online and I finally started to google "mixed race" versus "asian" - and I found these places. This is mixedrace.com and eurasiannation.com. Actually I just checked and Eurasiannation is under construction right now. But I found these two communities of people who just talk about hapa, mixed race, or just random stuff. They are not super active, but they are decent - mixedrace is probably more active (in general, even when EAN was not under construction). I found limitation though in these forums. I like the person-to-person interaction, online just can't cut it. But they were important to me in the beginning :)

Cool Website

So I should have done this awhile ago but I just googled "mixed race news" and this website pops up. I haven't found anything so specifically mixed race and such a store of information! I have yet to really go through it though I think this one will be a better site then others I have found. It has things like events, in the news, even poetry and celebs! I will definitely check out more of it later and post what I find probably.

Conference

There is a conference this summer, and awesomely enough, I happen to be in LA visiting family at that time anyway! The venue is the Japanese American National Museum. It is from June 12th at 10 AM to June 13th at 8:30 PM. It is called "Mixed Roots Film & Literary Festival" and the schedule seems very interesting. This is the site for it. There seems to be some great discussions and workshops! I had a hard time choosing what events I wanted to go to, which is always a good sign although it is difficult :)

Mixed Chicks Chat

Sooo somehow Mixed Chicks Chat has found this blog, and I am very happy for it! They are a great podcast that talks about mixed race issues. I actually was planning on putting them up earlier, crazy enough. I have listened to a few of the shows before though I am horrible about keeping up with weekly shows (TV or otherwise unfortunately). Here is the site: mixed chicks chat (I am still unsure about how to upload audio yet)

Famous ハーフ's

So I was looking into ハーフ's; which means "hafu"s which is the Japanese importation of the word "half" which refers to half-japanese, half-foreign people. It also has derogatory connotations, just like "hapa" used to have. But anyway I was looking them up cause I was thinking about this character in the Japanese TV drama "Hana Yori Dango" or 「花より男子」in Japanese (yes I learned how to type in Japanese on my computer and its wicked fun). But anyway - there is this character, Shizuka, who's like, drop dead GORGEOUS and I didn't really understand what made her stand out so much at first. The more I thought about it - the more I thought that she might be part western, or not full japanese, but there is like no info online about her ethnicity. So she probably she is full japanese, but who knows. 

But anyway thats the long intro to the list of half-japanese famous people I found, and it was really cool. Here is the list: 

Reika Hashimoto
Anna Tsuchiya
Anna Umemiya
Linda Yamamoto
Beni Arashiro
Tadanobu Asano
Meisa Kuroki
Angela Aki
Chieko Kawabe
Megumi Nakajima
Emi Watanabe
Keisuke Ogihara
Masayoshi "Mabo" Kabe
Minami Hinase
Sowelu
Marcus Tulio Tanaka
Lisa (musician)
Koji Murofushi
Yuka Murofushi
Masumi Okada
Takeshi Kaneshiro
Kiyoshi Okubo
Yuu Shirota
Koji Ota
Hiromi Hayakawa

Quite a few, ne? But I looked up all of them actually to see what they looked like (actually thats a lie - only the women I looked up) and I found one that had the same kind of western characteristics as me (though she is like a bajillion zillion times prettier lol). Here's a couple photos:

Its crazy! she looks so not-asian but she is a famous star in Japan. She sings, I guess. Though I read that she is pretty famous here, too. Oh well, I haven't heard of her before. But she has wavy hair (stereotypically not asian), a bigger nose (stereotypically asians have smaller noses), her eyes are not as slanted, and her face isn't as round (stereotypically Asian's faces are rounder). Anyway, all those things I have always noted on why people don't see me as Chinese is because I don't have that. Though its cool cause she is totally accepted and loved in the generally very homogenous japanese society though she doesn't look super asian. Though... when you are famous its true everyone wants to claim you as family... and I recognize that... though its still a cool idea.

Tiger Woods - Hero to Multi's!

So I found this video - I guess its what all started this multiracial movement thing. Oh Tiger Woods, lol hero for multiracials everywhere! It was interesting, and you just kind of get a glimpse of the multiracial thing, it doesn't really come out and say it, which was interesting because when I first heard about it I imagined it to be basically more forward and blatant about Woods' multiracialism, but nonetheless, its pretty interesting. I am not sure when it came out - I probably will check it out later.

Multiracial rapper/spoken word artist

So I heard this guy with a couple other musicians at the Conference, he was pretty good and had a really good poem on being multiracial. The other two artists were ok, the Cory Wong Violinist kid was decent... the guitarist not so great, but I think that it might have been better if it was so loud and RINGING IN MY EAR THE ENTIRE TIME - yeah it was annoying.

But check out his myspace page - it was different then hearing him live (live was waayy better) but it gives you the idea he has wicked smooth rhymes.

Time Article

So I just saw this at the conference - the cover at least. I have yet to read it though I am not sure where I can, though I am really glad that people are taking notice! I really want to raise awareness on multiracial issues. I really want to read it! Its going to take some more looking around to find it I think...

So first off - the conference was AMAZING, there were some parts that were a bore, and there were some parts that made me want to sing about multiracial pride and some that made me want to cry, but overall it was a great experience to meet so many others who have the same exact issues I do. Ever since I was little I thought it was just me - but know I know I got multiracial brothers and sisters! (lol)

But I didn't want to just write a review about the conference, I can go into length about that another time or at all, because I want to keep this blog less review-like, and more archive-like, so here is an article that I thought was really good on the Hapa Project

You should definitely read it I was interested because it was actually written by a monoracial asian. I am very interested in understanding better the Asian American reaction to things like the Hapa Project, or Hapa issues, because I have found some to be very accepting and understanding of these issues, and others to be not really care about them. It was a really, really well done piece, too. I love the line: 

"But white-bread, rice-bred, or cross-bred, we are all, in one way or another, hapa."

I thought that was cool.

Another video!

Its amazing what "related videos" can bring up, there is a lot of trash (what is this "Tribute to black and brown honeyz"?? please, let me go gag now.) but there can also be a lot of great stuff and I can spend hours just click, click, clicking away!

So this workshop seems to be really good, though, and I hope there are things like this in the conference this Saturday. She seems to know a lot and what she brings up seems to be major issues and some great answers in a clear and organized format. I want to see if I can set something like this up in my school, that would be too cool.

UPDATE: This is so cool! I just found out who the speaker is (I was thinking, she is really good, I want to bring her to my school or at least go to a lecture/workshop with her and - boom!) Checked out New Demographic which is the place that put on the workshop, and turns out she is the creator, Carmen Van Kerckhove, who I have heard so much about and I think is even going to be at the SWAYA Multiracialism Conference this weekend! I am sooo excited, and she is also the creator of Racialicious (which I mentioned before), too! This hapa knows her stuff (I think she is hapa... van kerchove... but she looks more asian, so more like hapa-haole) and it would be HUGE if I could meet her (I want to so bad!).

A Little Detour

So this has to do with my journey to re-discovering any Asian-ness I might have (which is still in question) but more its just wicked exciting!

Our awesome AAC or Asian American Coalition at my school was in the paper this week! It is not for any particular reason, its just a club spotlight, and I wasn't totally happy with the article, but it was still really cool to open the Wire and see us all in there. This was taken last week:

I know, we are all wicked cool, aren't we? But anyway, the article itself is here, although, like I said, it wasn't a spectacular one but a decent one.

Awesome new vid I found...

So I just found this awesome video that came up on "related links" when looking at kip's interview (which I have seen before, but this one is new). I definitely agree with what they are all saying, although I have never been approached and asked "what are you", cause usually people assume I am white or at least that is what I figure because they don't say anything, and usually if I looked a different race, they would point it out. Its all because of the 'white is 'nothing'', and how its only when you are another race someone wants to point it out.

But I got to say that I really agree with the kid from Western Mass, its basically the same thing. He never felt like he had much link to his Chinese culture because his Dad wasn't really into it, and I think thats a thing I have, too. Also, the girl who talked about feeling special because she was half - that was the whole jump-off point for me. The issue was this since I was born: I feel really special and proud to be Chinese, but when the pride is continually thwarted by this silence I get from other people about me being Chinese, it hurts. It makes me want to throw away my white part (for her it was the Chinese part). Not that I want to look full Chinese, but I want people to think about it twice before they categorize me as white.

Kip Interview

So here is Kip talking about hapa-ness with Betty Nguyen, who, go figure, happens to be hapa, too. I think that is interesting and I wonder did she chose to do this interview? Or was she put on it because she was hapa? I think it would be interesting to figure that one out.

Hyphen and Fulbeck

All hapas who are one iota interested in their hapa-ness know about (or should know!) Kip Fulbeck. He is like the God to the active hapa community (ok, not really, but he is the one who reclaimed the term "hapa" - it was a derogatory term previously, and he brought an immense amount of awareness to the issue.).

The above pic happens to be from a HYBRID ISSUE (no joke, how amazing is that?!?!) of Hyphen, a wicked cool magazine that I have always found (since I started following it) to be really hapa-friendly. It is an Asian-American magazine, but it isn't dry and frustrating like The Multiracial Activist which is supposed to be about multiracial issues but it has lots of random other stuff too and it really wasn't that interested when I read it. Now, to be fair I didn't spend that much time exploring it (I wonder why...).

The magazine has an interview with Kip, and you can read part of it here. You know that I will be going straight to the magazines in the Marshall Center for Intercultural Learning (ha! I don't need to pay for it) next time I can get there to get the issue, I hope we have it! I think its the newer edition. 

No way! Fellow bloggers talking about race!

No way! So I just found, just now, another blog at Blogger that is all about race and is written by an Asian woman, a professor, actually. It makes me think, how many others are writing a blog just like mine? Well anyway, here is her blog, though it is not about multiracial issues in particular.

Other Spoken Word Poem

So here is the other poem I was talking about, I decided it was pretty easy to put it up and I wanted to get more stuff up. Man do I have a backlog of all the info I have found online from searching "multiracial" this, "biracial" that on google and youtube and yahoo and everywhere! Unfortunately the embedding was disabled, but here is a link. I LOVE the part about oreo cookies! It made me think of the terms "twinkie" or "banana" (white on inside, yellow on outside) and I actually wrote a poem about it, I can put that up later, too. But what is this and mixed race and food? What is that saying about how people view mixed race? I actually will write a blog post on that later.

Why I no longer like Freakonomics author

This article made me so pissed. Apparently us mixed kids are the worst and most delinquent type of kids there are, we get the good looks from the parents, and the bad behaviors. What one commentator said was so right, how can he even judge what attractiveness is?

So basically this article was how the Freakonomics author wanted to figure us biracial kids out (exclusively black and white mix) and so did a study that found that, and I quote:

Mixed race kids do have one advantage over white and black kids: mixed race kids are much more attractive on average

There are some bad adolescent behaviors that whites do more than blacks (like drinking and smoking), and there are other bad adolescent behaviors that blacks do more than whites (watching TV, fighting, getting sexually transmitted diseases). Mixed-race kids manage to be as bad as whites on the white behaviors and as bad as blacks on the black behaviors. Mixed-race kids act out in almost every way measured in the data set.

What are they talking about?! and I guess the rest of the study was pretty biased. Now, at first I was like, why am I angry, they said that they kids are more beautiful? But honestly:

1. Attractiveness is in the eyes of the beholder, and if they say that mixed kids are prettier, they are claiming they have a right over distinguishing the beauty of the child and can speak for everyone

2. In conjunction with the rest of the "facts" they came up with, this is not a compliment, it is a cold-hearted judgement, looking at us mixed kids as exotic animals that should be studied.

I am so upset, too, because I actually like Freakonomics and always recommended it and claimed how good a book it was whenever it came up. I really respected the author. And then he judges mixed race like THIS? It made me upset!

Side note - not only that but what is that about the "typical" delinquent behaviors of blacks and whites? Way to enforce stereotypes.

Video

So I am just learning how to do this blog, and its pretty simple in general. But I couldn't figure out how to comment under my video. So I just made another post.

So I found this video the other day, cause I was searching for biracial spoken word artists (having dabbled in spoken word myself) and she was really good! There is this other spoken word poem, too that I really like, though not as much. Though neither of them are hapa :( but I figure we all go through the same issues (us biracial kids) and a lot of what they said resounded in me. I have a couple poems about being hapa, maybe I will post them someday.

Conference

So I found this conference about Multiracialism hosted by Harvard HAPA and SwirlBoston this weekend. I am SOOO EXCITED I will actually get to meet other mixed up kids like me who actually are passionate about their mixed-up-ness, if you will. There will be great convos it looks like, too. I am trying to get our AAC at Wheaton (Asian American Coalition) to go, but understandably, they are not quite certain about it, as its not specifically Asian. This is the link for the event. I hope it will live up to my expectations!

First one I got

Multiracial kids are caught between not existing at all -- with outdated forms that require them to check only one box for their identity -- and existing so far outside the percieved norm that people can't pass them by without commenting on their appearance

This was by Donna Jackson Nakazawa and I think it is really true, from what I found multiracial kids will tend to be asked "So... What are you?" all the time, or they, like me, looking one race or another (I tend to look white on most days) so people won't even ask before checking off "caucasian" on the form they are filling out for you (Stupid blood donation nurse woman! A story for another day). This comes from a larger article I found that was really good: Black/White/Other: "Helping Multiracial Kids Find Their Way" from Edutopia.org

So this is the first one...

Hey!

I know that no one is probably going to read this, but I felt like publishing random articles and videos and so forth that I find on the web all in one place because it helps me have a place I can, through random meandering, figure my way into my multiracial heritage (I am half Chinese, my father is ethnically and culturally Chinese though he grew up in Thailand until he went to college, and my mother is from a proud Bostonian-Irish family). So bear with me through my wandering!