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Season 2, Summer Short 7: Author Susan Katz Miller, Being Both: Embracing Two Religions in One Interfaith Family

August 1, 2015 by admin Leave a Comment

RECORDED 8/31/15: I was excited to speak with Susan Katz Miller about her writing and work on embracing two religious identities in a family.

Being Both Cover, High ResShe is the author of Being Both: Embracing Two Religions in One Interfaith Family. We talk about “post-authenticity” and “bringing the blur” and the parallels between the mixed race experience and the interfaith experience.  You can listen to the episode here or download it from itunes.-Heidi Durrow

A great conversation with @beingboth on the Mixed experience of an interfaith family!

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susankatzmillerstephaniewilliamimagesAuthor and journalist Susan Katz Miller is both an interfaith child and an interfaith parent. Her father is Jewish, her mother is Protestant: she grew up in Reform Judaism. After marrying a Protestant, Miller and her husband decided to raise their children in both religions, in a community of interfaith families. Miller served as Board Co-Chair of the Interfaith Families Project of Greater Washington DC.

Miller graduated from Brown University, and began her journalism career at Newsweek in New York. After working in the Los Angeles and Washington bureaus, she moved to Dakar, Senegal for three years. While there, she wrote travel pieces for the New York Times, was tear-gassed in the streets while covering an election, interviewed the President of Senegal for Newsweek International, and wrote Christian Science Monitor pieces from Benin, Togo, the Gambia, and Sierra Leone. On returning to the States, she became a US Correspondent for the British weekly magazine New Scientist. She then spent three years freelancing from northeastern Brazil. After her two children were born, she and her husband settled in the Washington, DC, area, and she founded the first blog devoted to interfaith family communities and interfaith identity,onbeingboth.com, and began blogging at Huffington Post Religion.

Miller’s writing has also appeared in Time, Slate, Utne Reader, Discover, Science, National Wildlife, Health, Moment, Jewcy.com, interfaithfamily.com, and many other publications. Miller studied photography at the Maryland Institute College of Art, and her photographs have been published in the New York Times, the Christian Science Monitor, and International Wildlife. Her work on interfaith families has been featured on NPR’s All Things Considered, NPR’sHere & Now, NPR’s Diane Rehm Show, on the PBS program Religion & Ethics Newsweekly and on HuffPost Live, and in dozens of other media outlets. Miller also writes for the Jewish Daily Forward‘s interfaith relationship advice column, The Seesaw.

 

 

Filed Under: Episodes Tagged With: being both, biracial, growing up biracial, interfairth, mixed, mixed experience, multiracial, susan katz miller

Season 2, Summer Short 4: Kristen Green Author of Something Must be Done About Prince Edward County

August 1, 2015 by admin Leave a Comment

RECORDED 8/10/15 11:00am: I had a great conversation with Kristen Green, author of Something Must Be Done About Prince Edward County: A Family, a Virginia Town, a Civil Rights Battle.

something must be done about prince edward countyHere is the publisher’s description: “In the wake of the Supreme Court’s unanimous decision in the case of Brown v. Board of Education, Virginia’s Prince Edward County refused to obey the law. Rather than desegregate, the county closed its public schools, locking and chaining the doors. The community’s white leaders quickly established a private academy, commandeering supplies from the shuttered public schools to use for their all-white classrooms, while black parents scrambled to find alternative education for their children. For five years, the schools remained closed in Prince Edward County.
Author and journalist Kristen Green grew up in Farmville and attended Prince Edward Academy, which didn’t open its doors to black students until 1986. Thirty four years after the Supreme Court ended school segregation, Green first began to learn the truth about her hometown’s shameful history. As a wife and mother in her own multiracial family, the revelations of the haunting period in our nation’s past become more complex and painful as she discovers the role her own grandparents played.
Combining hard-hitting investigative journalism and a sweeping family narrative, Something Must Be Done About Prince Edward County by Kristen Green is a provocative true story that reveals a little-known chapter of American history.”
Kristen Green is also part of a multiracial family and has written movingly about her experiences in articles widely shared on social media like this NPR Code Switch essay.  You can listen to the episode here or download it from itunes!
One lucky listener can win a free copy by signing up for my mailing list or email me at heidi(at)heidiwdurrow.com; people on the mailing list are already in it to win it!  I’ll pick one lucky listener at random next Monday 8/17.–Heidi Durrow

My conversation w/writer @kgreen abt her new book & being part of a #multiracial family.

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“Powerful. . . . The author movingly chronicles her discovery of the truth about her background and her efforts to promote reconciliation and atonement. A potent introduction to a nearly forgotten part of the civil rights movement and a personalized reminder of what it was truly about.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

Kristen Green grew up in Prince Edward County, Va., the only community in the nation to close its schools for five years rather than desegregate. She attended an all-white academy, which was KGREEN_AuthorPicfounded in 1959 by her grandparents and other white leaders when the public school doors were locked. The private school did not admit black students until 1986, when she was in the eighth grade.

Kristen has worked for two decades as a journalist at newspapers including The San Diego Union-Tribune and the Boston Globe.

She was recognized by Media General for her local news writing at the Richmond Times-Dispatch in 2011. She has been awarded the Best of Gannett Outstanding Achievement in Writing, and her work has been recognized by the San Diego Society of Professional Journalists and the National Headliner Awards. Kristen also received a fellowship from the Scripps Howard Institute on the Environment at University of Colorado at Boulder. Kristen has a Master in Public Administration from Harvard Kennedy School. She and her husband, Jason Hamilton, and their two young daughters live in Richmond, Va.

 

Filed Under: Books, Episodes Tagged With: biracial, heidi durrow, mixed experience, mixed race, multiracial

Season 2, Summer Short 5: Blaxicans in Los Angeles

August 1, 2015 by admin Leave a Comment

RECORDED 8/17/15: I had a great talk with Walter Thompson-Hernandez about his wonderful photo project on Blaxicans of LA.  Learn more about how he navigated growing up Black and Mexican in LA and is scholarship on the issue as well as some of his thoughts about whether there is a multiracial movement afoot.

“The wblacklovebrownay I see it, Blaxicans really challenge the way we think about race and force us to think about racial identities in more inclusive and broad ways. Blaxicans are dual minorities. We represent two of the largest ethnic minority groups. And I think because Blaxicans represent two of the most aggrieved groups in Los Angeles, it’s important to understand that certain sets of issues and challenges that have been traditionally labeled as African American or Latino, ultimately, do not exist for people who self-identify as Blaxicans.” Walter Thompson-Hernandez

Learn more about the project in this LA Times article or listen in on our conversation here or download it on itunes! –Heidi Durrow

 

A great conversation with @blaxicansofla about #multiracial #mixedrace experience.

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walter thomopson hernandez
Walter Thompson-Hernandez is a researcher, photographer, and documentary filmmaker based out of Los Angeles, California who will begin his doctoral research in the Fall of 2016. He was born and raised in Los Angeles, California and is a recent graduate of the Stanford University Latin American Studies Master’s program. He is currently a researcher at the University of Southern California (USC), Center for the Study of Immigrant Integration (CSII), and Program for Environmental and Regional Equity (PERE), where he is part of a research team that is working on a forthcoming book about Latinos in South LA. Outside of his work at CSII, Walter’s research looks at issues related to immigration, race, Afro-Latinos, and sports in the United States,  Latin America, and Europe. His research and projects have been featured by CNN, BBC, Los Angeles Times, Remezcla, and UNIVISION. His latest academic project will be featured in a forthcoming book titled, “Afro-Latinos in Movement: Critical Approaches to Blackness and Transnationalism in the Americas.”
instagram:
@mychivas
@blaxicansofla
personal website: wthdz.com

 

 

Filed Under: Episodes Tagged With: biracial, blaxicans, heidi durrow, mixed, mixed experience, mixed race

Season 2, Summer Short 3: Schwarz Rot Gold, German Documentary Series about Being Black and German

July 30, 2015 by admin Leave a Comment

jermain

RECORDED 8/4/15: I loved talking to the filmmakers behind a German documentary series Schwarz Rot Gold. Schwarz Rot Gold portrays ten famous German Black and talks about the past, present and future of identities and racism in Germany. The goal of the project is to raise awareness about racism in Germany and to present role models for young people.  Learn more here.  And check out their Facebook page too.

A really great talk with Black German filmmakers about new documentary Schwarz Rot Gold! @schwarzrotgold_#multiraical #mixedrace

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“Schwarz Rot Gold” is produced by Jermain Raffington (journalist) und Laurel Raffington (psychologist). The project is motivated by Jermain’s personal experience of growing up as a Black person in Germany as well as Laurel and Jermain’s dream of raising their children in a non-racist, open-minded Germany. The idea to start Schwarz Rot Gold originated in 2012. All portraits were filmed in the summer of 2014. Season 1 was published in April 2015 and season 2 is now in post-production. You can see all of the first season with English subtitles on the filmmakers’ website.

You can hear our complete interview here or download it from itunes.

 

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Jermain was born in 1985 in Hamburg, Germany, and is the eldest of four boys. His mother, who now lives in Sweden, is German and his father, who still resides in Hamburg, is Jamaican. A basketball stipend allowed Jermain to go to a US college in Iowa. Later he played basketball professionally for 7 years in four different teams of the first and second national basketball league in Germany. Jermain married his wife Laurel in 2012. He retired from basketball in the summer of 2014 and is now a sports editor at Vice Germany.
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Laurel was born in 1988 in Siegburg, Germany and is the youngest of three. Her mother is American and her father is German. She spent her childhood in Germany, the US and Japan. After completing high school at a German-American school in Berlin, she went to the UK to study psychology. A masters in cognitive neuroscience in Berlin was followed by her current position in psychology research at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development, where she is working on her PhD. Both Jermain and Laurel call Berlin, where they currently reside, their home.

 

schwarzrotgold1

 

Great interview with Black-German filmmakers @schwarzrotgold_! #multiracial #mixedrace

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schwarzrotgold2

 

Filed Under: Episodes Tagged With: biracial, growing up biracial, mixed, mixed experience, mixed festival, mixed race, mixed remixed festival, multiracial

Season 2, Summer Short 2: Writer/Blogger Nicole Blades

July 29, 2015 by admin Leave a Comment

RECORDED 8/3/15: I loved speaking with a fellow writer and blogger who has seriously got it going on.  Listen in to the conversation I have with Nicole Blades and hear about her journey to becoming a writer, and her thoughts on the Mixed racial and cultural experience as the mom of a mixed kid.-Heidi Durrow

 

Listen to my talk with writer/blogger @nicoleblades! #multiracial #mixedrace

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Blades_bioheadshot

Nicole Blades is an author and freelance journalist who writes about motherhood and race, identity, culture, and technology. Her debut novel, EARTH’S WATERS, was published in 2007 and her second novel, THE THUNDER BENEATH US (Kensington), will be published Fall 2016.  You can find her on Twitter @nicoleblades and on Facebook too!

Filed Under: Episodes Tagged With: biracial, mixed experience, mixed race, multiracial

Season 2, Bonus 5: James Ong, scholar & writer

May 18, 2015 by admin Leave a Comment

LIVE 5/28/15 6pm EASTERN: I was excited to talk with James Ong, a young scholar about his take on the “mixed-race movement” (is there one?) and what the best way to move the needle on the conversation about multiracial identity and experience is.  You can listen here or download the episode on itunes.–Heidi Durrow

jamesong

James Ong is a recent graduate of the UCLA Asian American Studies Masters Program and current doctoral student in the UC Davis History Department where he studies racial and ethnic history, immigration, critical-race theory, and environmental history.

He recently completed his M.A thesis which examines how socially-constructed monoracial and multiracial dichotomies emerge from discursive processes and interpersonal interactions, creating contextually specific definitions of “racial normativity.” Multiethnic individuals are often subjected to multiple and contradictory racial frameworks which socially, culturally, and legally define “ethnic identity” based on monoethnic standards. However, these “standards” constantly shift depending on the external observer’s interpretation of an individuals’ “mixed” phenotype and prevailing notions of “normative identity.” This perpetuates a seemingly intrinsic multiethnic “racial otherness” engendering both positive and negative consequences. His thesis explores the effects of this dynamic for mixed Japanese/Americans over the last 100 years. He argues this racial formation process remains a significant social and political issue for many Asian American groups today.

James has co-taught and co-authored courses on mixed race in Asian American history at UCLA with Lane Hirabayashi (PhD, UCLA Asian American Studies) and Robert Romero (PhD/JD, UCLA Chicano Studies/Asian American Studies). These courses engage critical race theory, historiography, and media analysis to address past and contemporary issues.

Beyond ethnic studies, his research interests include Japanese and Japanese American history, specifically and transnational migration. He has also contributed to courses related to general Asian American history, Contemporary U.S. history, and the History of East Asia.

James is also involved in various community projects and occasionally writes articles on race and identity. He enjoys traveling, photography, film, cycling, and soccer in his free time. He is also the creator, CEO and lead author for the coffee website coffeeisforlovers.com.

 

Filed Under: Episodes Tagged With: biracial, growing up biracial, mixed, mixed experience, mixed festival, mixed race, multiracial

Season 2, Episode 29 : Daria, “Ambassador of Song”

May 17, 2015 by admin Leave a Comment

daria and shekere

LIVE 6/15/15: I’m excited to speak to this internationally known musician about all the influences of her music that speaks to kids and adults alike.  Don’t miss this episode!-Heidi Durrow

Called “”an ambassador of song”, by US newspapers, Daria has traveled around the world to create music that uplifts and empowers.  A winner of multiple “Parent’s Choice, NAPPA and Kids music awards, Daria’s cd’s are currently being played around the globe from Australia, to South Africa, to Europe and South America as well as across the United States in homes, preschools, schools and on several Native American Reservations. Says the Christian Science Monitor: “When Daria Marmaluk-Hajioannou makes music, the world listens– literally! “

Learn more about .@dariasmusic for kids #multiracial 6/15 5pm Eastern!

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In concert, Daria shares a wonderful mixture of favorite songs from American and world folk music traditions.  She introduces unique authentic instruments and allows the audience to take part in playing them – from Buffalo and Pueblo drums to shékeres, box drums, washboards, guiros, handbells, singing bowls, chapchas and much more.  During the show she presents songs in a variety of languages; including English, Spanish, Arabic, Hebrew, Zulu, German, Quechua Indian and Oneida (Iroquois) and includes best-loved songs such as “La Bamba” and “The Lion Sleeps Tonight”.  Her live performances are popular at major art centers, festivals, venues, schools and other locations.  In addition to her live concerts, Daria also offers workshops, residencies and community workshops for exploring these exciting and diverse musical traditions.

Daria has recorded and released numerous children’s music CD’s and special releases including GRANDCHILDREN’S DELIGHT, BEAUTIFUL RAINBOW WORLD, I HAVE A DREAM and JADDA, JADDA, JING, JING JING!.  Her various cd’s all share a vision of a world of dignity and respect for all peoples.  Enthusiastically reviewed by press, children and parents alike; songs from these albums have been featured on XM Radio, Direct TV, World Wide Community Radio, Playhouse Radio, Kids Corner and the Songsforteaching.com website. In addition to her cd’s, Daria has created a resource-rich children’s music website that includes songs, activities, on-line coloring pages, build-an-instrument and hear-an-instrument sections located at www.dariamusic.com.

Daria was selected as the only female teaching artist for the STOMP/PULSE tour in 2004 and she represented the USA in World Expo in Seville, Spain 1992.  Recently, she received a Pennsylvania Council On The Arts Arts Commentary Award and a citation for her contribution to education in the state of Pennsylvania. With a passionate interest in music and community-building, Daria holds a degree in ethnomusicology and is active in education, Special Education, Native American, peace and children’s issues.  Daria lives with her family on a farm outside of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania in the United States.

For complete information, visit www.dariamusic.com or contact Daria at (610) 346-9087.

Learn more about Daria on Facebook.

Follow Dario on Twitter!

Filed Under: Episodes Tagged With: biracial, growing up biracial, mixed chick, mixed experience, mixed race, multiracial

Season 2, Bonus Episode 6: Multicultural Kids’ Founders

May 15, 2015 by admin Leave a Comment

Beautiful Rainbow WorldRECORDED 6/1/15: I was excited to speak with the founders of Multicultural Kids, Suzee Ramirez and Lynne Raspet and the co-creators of the gorgeous new book Beautiful Rainbow World.  Tune in to hear their story and how they are trying to celebrate the diverse blends of families and experience.  You can listen to the episode here or download it from itunes.-Heidi Durrow

 

I interview the co-creators of new #multicultural kids’ book @Two_Poppies 6/1 1pm EASTERN!

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Suzee Ramirez and Lynne Raspet are ‘culturally curious’ sisters and co-creators of the newly released book, “Beautiful Rainbow World” ~ a lyrically inspired, soul-filled photography book of global children ~ through their creative/publishing company Two Poppies (twopoppies.com).

Multicultural KidsSuzee lives in Southern California, is married and has two lovely animal- and nature-loving girls. Creativity, nature, travel and movement (yoga, hiking, biking, SUP, etc.) are things that inspire her.

Lynne Raspet is a mom of four who bounces all over the country with her Air Force pilot hubby and loves discovering new places to travel and adventure everywhere they live (currently El Paso, TX). Previously she was a bilingual English/Spanish Kindergarten teacher in California. She loves capturing REAL LIFE with her camera and has been featured on several photography sites.

In addition to publishing, Suzee and Lynne co-own Multicultural Kids , an online supplier of products for children that encourage the discovery and appreciation of our amazing world and its people.

www.MulticulturalKids.com
Twitter: @culturalkids
Facebook: www.facebook.com/MulticulturalKids

www.TwoPoppies.com
Twitter: @Two_Poppies
Facebook:
www.facebook.com/TwoPoppies

 

Filed Under: Books, Episodes Tagged With: biracial, growing up biracial, mixed, mixed experience, mixed remixed festival, multiracial

Season 2, Episode 27: Author Viet Thanh Nguyen, The Sympathizer

May 6, 2015 by admin Leave a Comment

Nguyen, SYMPATHIZER jacket artRECORDED 6/1/15: I was excited to speak with Viet Thanh Nguyen, author of the newly released novel, The Sympathizer.  The novel centers on the story of a Eurasian spy and begins just as Saigon is about to fall.  The narrator tells us from the beginning: “I am a spy, a sleeper, a spook, a man of two faces. Perhaps not surprisingly, I am also a man of two minds.” You can listen to the interview here or download it on itunes.-Heidi Durrow

“I am a spy, a sleeper, a spook, a man of two faces. Perhaps not surprisingly, I am also a man of two minds.” @viet_t_nguyen

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Nguyen, Viet Thanh photo credit BeBe JacobsViet Thanh Nguyen was born in Vietnam and raised in America. His stories have appeared in Best New American Voices, TriQuarterly, Narrative, and the Chicago Tribune and he is the author of the academic book Race and Resistance. He teaches English and American Studies at the University of Southern California and lives in Los Angeles.

Don’t miss my interview with @viet_t_nguyen 6/1 5:30pm Eastern! author of The Sympathizer @groveatlantic

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Filed Under: Books, Episodes Tagged With: biracial, mixed experience, mixed remixed festival, multiracial

Season 2, Episode 26: Mixed And Irish

April 27, 2015 by admin Leave a Comment

RECORDED 5/18/15: I really enjoyed speaking with a group of Mixed/Irish writers who discussed the spectrum of what it means to their writing and what they claim as their heritage when Mixed Irish-ness is a discussion that the Irish are just beginning to explore.  You can listen to the episode here, or download the episode from itunes.-Heidi Durrow

murphemail-1-214x300Stephen Murphy-Shigematsu is an Irish-Japanese psychologist, author, and storyteller. Born in Tokyo, raised in Massachusetts, educated at Harvard, his life has been between Japan and the U.S., exploring borders of cultural identities. He uses this life experience in his writing about mixed heritage for both academic and general audiences, most recently in When Half is Whole and a blog for Psychology Today. He teaches mindfulness and narrative psychology at Stanford. @drshigematsu

 

 

 

 

 

 

What are you? Mixed and Irish! Listen in to this great conversation! #multiracial

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Clare-Ramsaran Clare Ramsaran was born and raised in England, but checks “other” on forms when asked to define her heritage – or creates her own category of “Indo-Guyanese/Irish”.  She is an alumna of the VONA Voices workshop and is an MFA candidate at the University of San Francisco. She is currently working on a novel about two Caribbean brothers who join other young immigrants to London in their pursuit of love (of the inter-racial and queer varieties) and justice. She blogs for Mixed Remixedand her writing has been published in anthologies in the USA and England, and in journals including the St Sebastian Review. Visit her blog at: clareramsaran.blogspot.com

dylanDylan Amaro-McIntyre is a reformed former misanthrope who finds beauty in the details because the big picture terrifies him. He draws words and writes pictures. He also writes poems, sometimes well. He has been published in various poetry collections and has been featured as a performer at well known venues throughout the Bay Area. On Thursday nights he binge eats peanut butter; he recently discovered Macadamia butter and it is ruining his life.

 

 

 

 

Caroline Mei-Lin Mar was born and raised in the Bay Area. Carrie is a queer mixed-race Chinese-Irish femme who was raised to cause trouble by her radical lefty parents (her first childhood St. Patrick’s Day parade participation involved staging a pro-IRA “die-in”). She currently works as a secondary Special Education teacher and owes great gratitude to her students and colleagues for Carrie-Marwhat they teach Flag-Pins-Ireland-Guyanaher every day. A recent graduate of the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College and an alumna of the Voices at VONA workshop, Carrie is seeking publication of her first book, Special Education. Her poems have been published in The Collagist, Shadowgraph, As Us, and others.

Filed Under: Episodes Tagged With: biracial, growing up biracial, mixed, mixed experience, mixed festival, mixed race, mixed remixed festival, mixed roots, mixed roots festival, multiracial

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Host Heidi Durrow

Host Heidi Durrow

Heidi Durrow is the New York Times best-selling writer of The Girl Who Fell From the Sky and the founder of the original mixed roots film and book festival and now the founder of Mixed Remixed Festival , an annual film, book and performance festival, which will be held next on June 10-11, 2016 at … [Read More]

Recent Posts

  • Season 5, Episode 3: Award-Winning Writer Amina Gautier November 14, 2017
  • Season 5, Episode 2: New York Times Bestselling Writer Julie Lythcott-Haims October 12, 2017
  • Season 4, Episode 19: Writer/Literary Critic Janet Savage July 3, 2017
  • Mixed Experience History Month 2017: Paula Gunn Allen, writer and scholar May 17, 2017
  • Mixed Experience History Month 2017: Gertrude Simmons Bonnin, Educator & Activist May 16, 2017

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