The Mixed Experience

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Season 3, Episode 22: Award-winning Writer Dmae Roberts

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RECORDED 6/30/16: I was so excited to talk with my friend and writer-filmmaker Dmae Roberts about her wonderful new book The Letting Go Trilogies Stories of a Mixed Race Family.  Listen to her interview here or download it from itunes!-Heidi Durrow

Listen to my interview with @dmaeroberts about her excellent book! #multiracial

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dmae LettingGo-CoverDmae Roberts has recently completed her memoir book The Letting Go Trilogies: Stories of a Mixed Race Family which traces four decades of what it means to be a mixed-race adult who sometimes called herself A Secret Asian Woman. With her personal essays written over a ten-year period, Dmae Roberts journeys through biracial identity, Taiwan, sci-fi, and the trials of her interracial Taiwanese and Oklahoman family amid love, loss and letting go of past regrets and pain.

Dmae RobertsDmae Roberts is a writer/producer who received two Peabody Awards for her documentary Mei Mei, a Daughter’s Song and the Crossing East series. She received the Dr. Suzanne Ahn Civil Rights and Social Justice award from the Asian American Journalists Association and is a USA Fellow. She’s been published in Oregon Humanities, The Sun, Where Are You From? (Thymos Group) and Mothering in East Asian Communities (Demeter Press). Her book is The Letting Go Trilogies: Stories of a Mixed-Race Family.

Mixed Experience History Month 2016: Regina M. Anderson, playwright & artistic leader

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mixed race historyRegina M. Anderson (1901-1993) was born of mixed-race ancestry.  She identified as “American” and was a leader in the black artistic community.

Anderson received a master’s degree in library science from Columbia University.  She worked as a librarian with the New York Public Library for more than 40 years.  Her home became a central hub for Harlem’s intellectuals and artists.

She was a founding member of the Krigwa Players, a black acting troupe with became the Negro Experimental Theatre.  Anderson was also a playwright who wrote under the pseudonym Ursula or Ursala Trelling.  Her work included Climbing Jacob’s Ladder (1931) and Underground (1932).

She is quoted as saying in 1981: “It gives me a great deal of personal satisfaction to have lived to see much of what we and other pioneers worked to achieve becoming a reality. However, we need more and more opportunities for our actors, writers, and directors.” Anderson died in 1993 in New York. –Heidi Durrow

Mixed Experience History Month is the annual blog post series created by The New York Times best-selling author Heidi Durrow celebrating the history of the Mixed experience. Established in 2007, Mixed Experience History Month is an effort to highlight the long history of folks and events involved in the Mixed experience.  Please look for archived profiles of people, places and events of the Mixed experience every weekday of May!  Thanks for reading.  And check out some of the previous year’s profiles: 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012,  2013, 2014, 2015.

Mixed Experience History Month 2016: Samuel Cornish, journalist and religious leader

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mixed race historySamuel Cornish (1795-1858) was born to free parents of mixed race.

Cornish was ordained in 1822 and established the first black Presbyterian church in New York City.

He was an editor of Freedom’s Journal, the first black owned and operated newspaper in the country.  In 1833, he became one of the founding memebers of the interracial American Anti-Slavery Society.  Cornish died in 1858.-Heidi Durrow

Mixed Experience History Month is the annual blog post series created by The New York Times best-selling author Heidi Durrow celebrating the history of the Mixed experience. Established in 2007, Mixed Experience History Month is an effort to highlight the long history of folks and events involved in the Mixed experience.  Please look for archived profiles of people, places and events of the Mixed experience every weekday of May!  Thanks for reading.  And check out some of the previous year’s profiles: 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012,  2013, 2014, 2015.

Mixed Experience History Month 2016, James McCune Smith, doctor & abolitionist

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James McCune Smith (1813-1865) was born free to an enslaved woman who later self-emancipated herself.  His father was a white slave owner.  Smith was an exceptional student, but was denied admission to universities because of his race.

Smith found a champion in an African-American minister who helped finance his education at University of Glasgow in Scotland instead.

He graduated at the top of his class in 1835.  He received his medical degree in 1837.  Smith returned to New York in the 1840s as the first university-trained black doctor in the country.  He cared for both black and white patients and worked tirelessly to help children specifically, the kids of the Colored Orphan Asylum where he practiced for 25 years.

Smith was the first university-trained black doctor in the US. #mixedrace #multiracial

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He was a prominent aboilitionist and wrote extensively against slavery including writing the introduction to Frederick Douglass’ autobiography.  Smith died in 1863 in Ohio where he served as a professor at Wilberforce College.  He was survived by his wife and five children.-Heidi Durrow

Mixed Experience History Month is the annual blog post series created by The New York Times best-selling author Heidi Durrow celebrating the history of the Mixed experience. Established in 2007, Mixed Experience History Month is an effort to highlight the long history of folks and events involved in the Mixed experience.  Please look for archived profiles of people, places and events of the Mixed experience every weekday of May!  Thanks for reading.  And check out some of the previous year’s profiles: 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012,  2013, 2014, 2015.

Season 3, Episode 9: Traveling Abroad While Mixed & Other Musings

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the mixed experience by heidi durrowRECORDED 1/11/16: In the first episode of the season, I took the opportunity to muse a little bit about my recent trip to a remote island and my search for a “tribe” that looks like me.  Also, I share a recent blog post about my thoughts on the state of Multiracial America.  Is this a multiracial or biracial moment or is it a multiracial or biracial movement?  I say there is no multiracial movement (at least not yet).  What do you say?  Listen here or download the episode from itunes.-Heidi Durrow

Traveling abroad while #mixedrace or #multiracial & trying to find my “tribe”.

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Season 3, Episode 12: Best-selling Author Shilpi Somaya Gowda, The Golden Son

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The Golden Son

RECORDED 2/1/16 5PM: I was excited to speak with best-selling author Shilpi Somaya Gowda. She’s making a big splash with her second book, The Golden Son just published. Listen in to the interview here and learn about the inspiration for her second book and her journey as a writer or download the episode from itunes.-Heidi Durrow

Don’t miss @heididurrow interview of best-selling author @shilpigowda! #multiracial #mixedrace

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Shilpi Somoya Gowda on Heidi Durrow's podcastShilpi Somaya Gowda was born and raised in Toronto, Canada. In college, she spent a summer as a volunteer in an Indian orphanage, which seeded the idea for her first novel, Secret Daughter, published in 2010. It became an international bestseller, selling over 1 million copies worldwide, and has been translated into 24 languages. Her second novel, The Golden Son, is being published in late 2015-early 2016 around the world. Shilpi holds an MBA from Stanford University, and a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she was a Morehead-Cain scholar. She has served on the Advisory Board of the Children’s Defense Fund, and is a Patron of Childhaven International, the organization for which she volunteered in India. She lives in California with her husband and children.

Season 3, Episode 1: Pulitzer Prize Winner Gregory Pardlo

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Digest Gregory Pardlo Heidi DurrowHeidi DurrowRECORDED 9/28/15: I enjoyed speaking with Pulitzer Prize winning poet Gregory Pardlo to kick off Season 3 of The Mixed Experience.  Listen in to learn more about his writing, his scholarship, and his connection to the Afro-Viking experience. You can also download the episode on itunes.-Heidi Durrow

I talk with Pulitzer Prize Winner Gregory Pardlo .@pardlo abt his path to writing!

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Greg Pardlo in conversation with Heidi Durrow

Gregory Pardlo‘s ​collection​ Digest (Four Way Books) won the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. Digest​ was also shortlisted for the​ 2015 NAACP Image Award and is a current finalist for the Hurston-Wright Legacy Award. His other honors​ include fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York Foundation for the Arts; his first collection Totem was selected by Brenda Hillman for the APR/Honickman Prize in 2007. Pardlo’s poems appear in​ The Nation,Ploughshares, ​Tin House, T​he Norton Anthology of Contemporary African American Poetry,Best American Poetry, and elsewhere. Pardlo lives with his family in Brooklyn.

Season 2, Summer Short 6: Actress/Writer Katie Malia of web series “Almost Asian”

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Katie MaliaRECORDED 8/24/15: I loved talking with Katie Malia, creator of the web series Almost Asian.  She’s talented and funny and just simply great.  You can listen to the show here or download it on itunes.-Heidi Durrow

This is what Katie says about the impetus for creating the webseries: “Growing up half-Asian was very confusing. From filling out ethnicity sections in college applications to introducing lunch trades with pre-trending Japanese food on the grade school playground, before the United Colors of Benetton effect took hold, being the bi-product of an interracial couple was new. Nobody was talking about it, especially in suburban America. Before Obama and yes, Keanu came along, there was no half-anything to admire as a role model, particularly a female one. It’s really no surprise that my best friend growing up was also half-Japanese due to our relatable childhood experiences. And by expanding on these shared experiences, my intention with “Almost Asian” is to celebrate the nuanced mixed-ethnic identity while challenging our social conventions regarding race, nationality, and culture through a comedic lens.”

Listen to my interview with @iamalmostasian creator @kathrynmalia on hapa identity & Hollywood.

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Katie Malia is an “ethnically-ambiguous” working actress and writer in Los Angeles. Having appeared in over 100+ national commercials and print campaigns and featured on HBO’s Hello Ladies, How I Met Your Mother, The Mindy Project, Sleepy Hollow and Ground Floor, Katie studied at Columbia University in New York and continues to write and create her own content playing numerous original characters, one of which was featured on Funny or Die’s homepage. She also performs stand up around Los Angeles, was a contributing writer for Daily Candy and Time Out LA, and also produced the short film “VARMiNT,” which won the Grand Jury Prize at Dances with Films Festival in Hollywood, the Audience Award at New Orleans Film Festival in 2013, and was a Vimeo “Staff Pick” in 2014. Katie lives in Silver Lake. Oh yeah, and she hates the term “ethnically-ambiguous.”  You can also find her on Facebook and Twitter.

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

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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.

 

 

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

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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

“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.

 

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