Loving Day Cambridge 2017

We are excited to partner with various organizations and businesses as well as the City of Cambridge, MA to bring a series of events celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Loving v. Virginia decision.

Loving Day Cambridge 2017 events will offer welcoming and celebratory spaces for individuals and families of all colors and cultures. Each event is open and free to the public and designed to reflect and promote inclusion, equity and the right to marry regardless of race, color, national origin, sex, gender, physical and mental disability, sexual orientation or religion.

JOIN US!


A Problem with Christmas

Christmas carols drifted into the living room of the small apartment from the tablet plugged into speakers in the kitchen while Mom prepared dinner. It clashed only slightly with “A Christmas Story” running on TV where two young girls lay flopped about like lazily thrown blankets. It was already dark outside the living room window but it was fought against by the soft glow of a single string of lights hastily hung about the small windows.

Dad was late getting home but the children were already used to that by now. The big adjustments came months earlier when they moved to Southern California so Dad could work on films. Somehow it made things feel more “normal” in the family now that Dad went out to work and Mom could work from home. Dad never seemed happy around their old home in Minnesota which made no sense to the children. Why did they trade their big house with a yard for this little place and so many cars? Still, it was always a celebration when Dad came home. The door handle rattled as someone fumbled with the lock.

“Ho! Ho! Ho!” came a voice booming down the hall.

“Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!” cried the children as they jumped up to meet him.

They ran into the hall but were not ready for what faced them. Instead of their father they faced a floor to ceiling pine tree waddling down the hall. They quickly got out of its way.

“What is this?” cried Mom half in shock and half laughing.

“Haven’t you seen a Christmas tree before?” said Dad’s voice, his face still not yet visible from behind the foliage.

Soon enough the tree popped through the hallway passage into the living room and the children could finally embrace Dad and his wife give him a quick kiss hello. He leaned the tree up against the window next to the TV then stepped back to admire his work.

“Where’d you get it Dad?” said the eldest child.

“The lot around the corner.”

“You carried this a whole block?” asked Mom.

“Why not? It’s Christmas Eve. We don’t have to give up all our traditions since moving out here,” replied Dad.

His wife smiled and shook her head knowingly like she had done a hundred times before. She turned back to the kitchen then said over her shoulder, “Well, dinner’s ready. Let’s eat!”

After dinner the Dad and Mom sat at the dining room/kitchen table. Dad was leaning back on his chair, one arm hanging over the back of the chair, the other resting on the table holding the base of his glass. The eldest daughter ran in wearing her pajamas.

“Dad?”

“Yes, baby.”

“Will it snow tonight?”

“Not likely. It almost never snows in Southern California and certainly not here.”

“Oh,” she said casting her eyes down. “I miss our home.”

“This is our home, remember?” he replied.

“I know, but I don’t even know how we’re going to celebrate Christmas anymore.”

“We’ll celebrate it as a family like we always do. Now go brush your teeth,” he said while turning her around an giving her a gentle push.

The children could be heard jostling with each other in the bathroom as they fought over the sink to brush their teeth. The Mom listened to them, laughing to herself, as she cradled her wine glass. She looked across the empty bottle standing on the table between her and her husband.   His eyes were fixed on a pile of parcels on the floor next to the tree still leaning against the window, Christmas presents received over the past week from their mid-west family.

“What are you thinking about?” asked Mom.

“Oh, just wondering what we would be doing if we were back in Minnesota right now,” he answered her without moving or taking his eyes off the packages.

“You know what we would be doing. In the even numbered years, we would be at your aunt’s house, with everyone else in your family. In fact, judging by the time, they probably tore into their presents hours ago and are probably figuring out who is the least drunk to drive home. Same thing they do…we did, when we were there,” she replied.

Dad chuckled slightly at the drunk driving remark.

Without taking his eyes off the presents he replied, “And in the odd years, no pun intended, we would see your family on Christmas day after church services and open all their presents. Then break open the wine and then have to figure out how to get home.”

Mom nodded to herself then said to him pointedly, “So what’s bugging you?”

Dad suddenly snapped to and turned to his wife.

“Nothing’s bugging me. I was just thinking about how the longer we stay here the further our kids will be from the family traditions we grew up with,” he said.

“You know we can’t afford to fly home right now.”

“I know and I can’t take the time off work, yet. But still, I can’t help but feel like we’re missing something. Christmas just feels smaller now somehow.”

“Smaller?” she asked.

“Yeah, well, you know. Sometime tomorrow we’ll open presents, and that’ll be it.”

“That doesn’t sound too bad to me.”

“Yeah, but there will be fewer people. Less time spent. And besides, my family always opens presents on Christmas Eve.”

“Ok, but my family always waited until Christmas Day.”

“Santa comes on Christmas Day.”

Again the eye rolls came from the Mom. They sat in silence for a while. Mom looked up to see Dad staring through the table then she looked over at the parcels on the floor.

“Well, why don’t we open all the presents we got from your family tonight?”

“What?”

“You said your family always opened presents on Christmas Eve. Well, we’ll do your family’s presents tonight and tomorrow we’ll do mine.”

Dad scratched his head for a moment, cocking it to one side, then back again to look at his wife. A smile grew on his face starting from one corner of his mouth then moving to the other.

“Oh yeah. Why didn’t I think of that?”

His wife rolled her eyes.

“Call the kids.”

“Hey kids!” Dad shouted.

The children ran out in their pajamas.

“What Dad?” they asked slightly asynchronous with the eldest leading as usual.

Holding them close, Dad looked them with large eyes, “How would you two like to…open some presents?!”

Screaming and hopping around ensued causing Mom and Dad to wince from the shrill noise.

“Which ones?” they yelled.

“Go find the packages from my family sitting next to the tree and we’ll open those tonight,” he said.

“Not until we’ve cleaned off the table!” yelled Mom.

But it was too late. The children were already off going through the boxes. Dad completely ignored her, too, bending over the kids and setting aside packages. Again Mom smiled to herself and shook her head. She grabbed a few plates from the table and turned to the sink such that she couldn’t see the kids and Dad anymore although she could still hear their voices through the kitchen doorway.

“And when will we open the other presents?” asked the eldest astutely.

“Well, we’ll open them tomorrow of course, just like we’ve always done,” replied Dad.

“Ah, it’s like we’re going to have two Christmases instead of one! Thanks Dad!”

At that last remark Mom looked indignantly.

“Thank your Mom,” said Dad quickly, “now let’s get this tree set-up first.”

By Holiday Guest Blogger Thomas Lopez
President / Latinas and Latinos of Mixed Ancestry (LOMA) Founder and Director

Thomas Lopez

Thomas Lopez has been a member of MASC for over fifteen years and is a past president of the organization.  He has made numerous television, print, and on-line media appearances and speaking engagements as a keynote and panelist.  As a long-time board member he has also organized conferences, a mini-film festival, and diversity training workshops.  Apart from MASC, Thomas is a mechanical engineer having worked in multiple industries the most recent being medical devices.  He was born and raised in Southern California with parents from Mexican American and German-Polish roots.

 


Book: Contrast: A Biracial Man’s Journey To Desegregate His Past

Devin C. Hughes recently filled in our ‘Promote Your Story‘ link to tell us about his book Contrast: A Biracial Man’s Journey To Desegregate His Past

From Amazon.com:

In 1967, the Supreme Court legalized interracial marriage in America. Devin Hughes was born two years later to a black father and white mother who fled to Washington DC to escape the racism of the Deep South. Bigotry still ran rampant up North, and light-skinned, greeneyed Devin felt its pull from both ends: strangers who didn’t know he was half-black and friends who didn’t care he was half-white. In racial limbo, Devin found himself more consumed with his dysfunctional family life—a father who offered an alternative “street” education and a mother whose drug use zombified her for most of his childhood. Despite his parents’ flaws, they were Devin’s greatest believers. From his dad founding a neighborhood baseball team to his mom advocating for him in school, they taught Devin that anything imaginable was within reach, that their mistakes needn’t be his choices, and that his destiny was for greatness. Ultimately, Contrast: A Biracial Man’s Journey to Desegregate His Past isn’t a book about race; it’s a book about acceptance, perseverance, and love.

Purchase the book from Amazon by clicking here: Contrast: A Biracial Man’s Journey to Desegregate His Past

Follow Devin C. Hughes on Twitter: @devinchughes
And support his work with a ‘like’ on his facebook page: facebook.com/ChiefInspirationOfficer


2014 Critical Mixed Race Studies Conference

“Global Mixed Race,” the 3rd biennial Critical Mixed Race Studies Conference, will be held at DePaul University in Chicago November 13-15, 2014.

 

Conference Description: Global Mixed Race, the third biennial Critical Mixed Race Studies Conference, will be hosted at DePaul University in Chicago, November 13th-15th, 2014. It will bring together scholars from a variety of disciplines around the world to facilitate a conversation about the transnational, transdisciplinary, and transracial field of Critical Mixed Race Studies.

We are looking forward to presentations addressing this year’s theme by:

– tracing the history and historiography of mixed race in academic, popular, and legal discourses in a global context;

– identifying and measuring the impact of global migration, settlement, and sociocultural encounter and interaction on these mixed-race histories and historiographies;

– encouraging broad, interdisciplinary debate connecting different historical periods and seemingly disparate or far-flung regions of the world, such as comparative racial ideology in Europe, Africa, Latin America, and Asia or the study of comparative anti-miscegenation laws.

Mixed Roots Stories logoMixed Roots Stories is partnering with Critical Mixed Race Studies in bringing arts and cultural programming to the 2014 conference. In addition to three full days of peer-reviewed scholarly panels and round tables and a featured CMRS keynote speaker, arts and cultural programming will be offered each conference day along with two featured evening events – Friday, November 14th keynote talk/night of short films and Saturday, November 15th live performance event.


The 2014 conference is organized in partnership with DePaul’s Department for Latin American and Latino Studies and the Center for Intercultural Programs, and the non-profit organization Mixed Roots Stories. CMRS 2014 is also co-sponsored by DePaul’s Office of Institutional Diversity and EquityAfrican Black Diaspora StudiesArt, Media, & DesignCenter for Latino Research, Critical Ethnic Studies, Global Asian StudiesIrish StudiesLGBTQ StudiesWomen’s and Gender Studies, and the Dean’s Office of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences. The conference is also sponsored in part by a grant from the University Research Council.


Registration:
 Conference registration is free, compliments of DePaul University, however, registration is still required. You are highly encouraged to register early, but “day-of,” or “walk-in,” registration will also be permitted.
Register here: http://condor.depaul.edu/dpulas/cmrs/2014/

Preferred Conference Hotels: The conference will be held in the DePaul Student Center located at 2250 N. Sheffield, Chicago, IL For your convenience, we have selected four nearby boutique hotels as the official conference hotels. Be sure to CALL and ask for the “CMRS2014″ or “DePaul” hotel discount.
CMRS2014_Preferred Conference Hotels

Download the CMRS 2014 Schedule (accurate as of 10-2-14).
The final schedule will be posted after Oct 17, 2014 and printed copies will be available at the conference.

CMRS 2014 Event Flyer


Schedule at a Glance

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2014 – DePaul University Student Center 2250 N. Sheffield, Chicago, IL
8:00am-5:00pm Registration
8:45-9:30am Opening Remarks
9:45-11:15am Session One
11:30am-1:00pm Session Two
1:00-2:15pm Lunch/Caucus Meetings
2:15-3:45pm Session Three
4:00-5:30pm Session Four
5:45-7:15pm Keynote address: Rebecca Chiyoko King-O’Riain “Mixed Race, Transconnectivity, and the Global Imagination”

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2014 – DePaul University Student Center 2250 N. Sheffield, Chicago, IL
8:00am-5:00pm Registration
9:00-10:30am Session One
10:45am-12:15pm Session Two
12:30-1:45pm Lunch/Caucus Meetings
12:30-5:15pm Information Fair
1:45-3:15pm Session Three
3:30-5:00pm Session Four
5:15-7:00pm MIXED ROOTS STORIES: Keynote address by Zélie Asava “The Black Irish Onscreen”; short film screenings

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2014 – DePaul University Student Center 2250 N. Sheffield, Chicago, IL
8:00am-12:00pm Registration
9:00-10:30am Session One
10:45am-12:15pm Session Two
12:15-1:30pm Lunch/Caucus Meetings/Journal of CMRS and Business Meeting
12:15-5:00pm Information Fair
1:30-3:00pm Session Three
3:15-4:45pm Session Four
5:00-6:30pm MIXED ROOTS STORIES: Live Performance Event


Schedule Highlights
CMRS Featured Keynote Speaker Thursday, November 13, 2014 5:45-7:15
Rebecca Chiyoko King O"Riain
“Mixed Race, Transconnectivity and the Global Imagination”
Rebecca Chiyoko King-O’Riain
 is Senior Lecturer, Department of Sociology, National University Ireland Maynooth. Her research interests are: “race/ethnicity, multiraciality, Asian Americans, beauty pageants, gender, children, migration and the globalization of love.” She is the author of Pure Beauty: Judging Race in Japanese American Beauty Pageants (Minnesota, 2006) and co-editor, along with Stephen Small, Minelle Mahtani, Paul Spickard, and Miri Song, of Global Mixed Race (New York University Press, 2014).


Mixed Roots Stories Featured Keynote Speaker and Short Film Screening Friday, November 14, 2014 5:15-7:00pm
Zelie Asava
“Mixed Race Representations in Contemporary Irish Cinema”
Zélie Asava
 is Joint Programme Director of Video and Film at Dundalk Institute of Technology in Ireland. Her research covers issues of race, gender and sexuality in Irish, French, American and African screen culture. She is the author of The Black Irish Onscreen: Representing Black and Mixed-Race Identities in Irish Film and TV, (Oxford: Peter Lang, 2013).

Friday Night Featured Shorts:
America in Red and Black
America in Red and Black: Stories of Afro-Native Identity (2006), by Alicia S. Woods
This intimate film follows six Afro-native Americans from around the U.S., as they reflect upon the personal and complex issues of Native and African heritage, ethnic identity, and racism within communities of color.


The Happiest Person in America
The Happiest Person in America (2013), by Sara Israel
Set at the cultural intersection of American Judaism and the Asian American experience, The Happiest Person In Americais a whimsical, slyly insightful, and ultimately bittersweet tale of what we lose and what we gain throughout our lives, and how those transactions affect our identities—even while we must acknowledge that there are aspects of each of us that are immutable.

For The Love Of UnicornsFor the Love of Unicorns (2014), by Genevieve Erin O’Brien
At the heart, this a short film about queer utopia, Asian/American utopia, and mixed race utopia.  The young girl, Kylan, represents the hope that when we speak out and organize, one day, we can live in a queer utopian world where, even though everyone’s unicorn may look different, they can all dance together under a glittery rainbow.


Negro: A Docu-Series About Latino Identity
Negro: A Docu-Series about Latino Identity (2013), by Dash Harris
Negro is a docu-series exploring identity, colonization, racism and the African Diaspora in Latin America and the Caribbean and the color complex among Latinos. Through candid interviews from Latinos, the social manifestations and consequences of the deep-seated color complex is deconstructed.


Mixed Match
Mixed Match trailer (2014), by Jeff Chiba Stearns
Mixed Match is an inspirational, emotional, and evocative feature-length documentary that explores the need to find mixed ethnicity bone marrow and cord blood donors to donate to multiethnic patients suffering from life threatening blood diseases such as leukemia.  This live action and animated film is a dramatic journey focusing on the main characters’ struggles to survive against incredible odds.


Mixed Roots Stories Live Performance Showcase Saturday, November 15, 2014 5:00-6:30pm
Joe Hernandez Kolski
Joe Hernández-Kolski
“Cultural Collisions”
Originally from Chicago, Joe Hernández Kolski – a two time HBO Def Poet – is an in demand actor/poet/comedian, known for live performances that are hard hitting, truthful and incredibly funny. As a stand-up comedian/poet, he travels to colleges performing his two shows “Refried Latino Pride” and “Cultural Collisions.” He also runs an open-mic for high school performers called Downbeat 720 – and received an Emmy as producer/host of the televised version.  For more: www.pochojoe.com

Elizabeth LiangElizabeth Liang
“Alien Citizen: An Earth Odyssey”
Elizabeth Liang was raised in Guatemala, Costa Rica, Panama, Morocco, Egypt, and Connecticut as a Guatemalan-American business brat of Chinese-Spanish-Irish-French-German-English descent. Her show ALIEN CITIZEN: An Earth Odyssey, has begun its international tour. She co-hosts the podcast “Hapa Happy Hour,” leads a workshop on solo show writing and writes for TheDisplacedNation.com.

Fred SasakiFred Sasaki
“How to Hafu it All: Three Easy Steps to 100%”
Fred Sasaki is art director for Poetry magazine, a gallery curator for the Poetry Foundation, founding organizer of the Printers Ball, and co-founder of Homeroom Chicago’s “101″ lecture series. With his son and late father he is the author of the zine series, FRED SASAKI’S & FRED SASAKI’S FOUR PAGER GUIDE TO: HOW TO FIX YOU.

Tania Canas
Tania Canas
“Untouchable”
Tania Canas is the Arts Director at RISE Refugee, Australia’s first aid and advocacy organisation to be run and governed by refugees, asylum seekers and ex-detainees (http://riserefugee.org/). She is a second year PhD student at the University of Melbourne, and sits on the Editorial Board for the International PTO Academic Journal. Her one-scene monologue script “Untouchable” was published with Currency Press Australia 2013. For more: https://tania-canas.squarespace.com/

Tangled RootsTangled Roots
Lladel Bryant, Adam Lowe, Katy Massey, Zodwa Nyoni
Four strangers meet on a train and share their stories. Have they more in common than they think? A live performance of true stories from the Tangled Roots Book of True Life Tales. Conceived by Dr. Katy Massey, adapted by Zodwa Nyoni and directed by The Cast. Tangled Roots is a programme of performance, workshops and books celebrating mixed race families in the UK.
For more: http://www.tangledroots.org.uk/

 

Feature Films:
Not Quiete WhiteThurs, Nov 13 4:00-5:30pm Silk Road Rising presents Not Quite White: Arabs, Slavs, and the Contours of Contested Whiteness(2012, 24 min 8 sec) directed by Jamil Khoury and Stephen Combs – screening and talk back session with Jamil Khoury.
A documentary film that explores the complicated relationship of Arab and Slavic immigrants to American notions of whiteness.


Finding Samuel Lowe
Fri, Nov 14, 3:15-5:00pm Finding Samuel Lowe: From Harlem to China (2014, 1 hour 28 min) – screening and Q&A with the executive producer Paula Williams Madison. Family transcends race, space, and time. Three successful black siblings from Harlem discover their heritage while searching for clues about their long-lost grandfather, Samuel Lowe. Their emotional journey spans from Toronto to Jamaica to China, reuniting them with hundreds of Chinese relatives they never imagined existed.


A Lot Like You
Sat, Nov 15, 10:45am-12:15pm A Lot Like You, (2012, 82 min) directed by Eliaichi Kimaro. Join the director for a round table discussion “Mixed Experiences on Screen” on Thurs, Nov 13 9:45-11:15am along with Jeff Chiba Stearns (Mixed Match), Megumi Nishikura (Hafu), and our Mixed Roots Stories keynote Zelie Asava.
Eliaichi Kimaro is a mixed-race, first-generation American with a Tanzanian father and Korean mother. When her retired father moves back to Tanzania, Eliaichi begins a project that evocatively examines the intricate fabric of multiracial identity, and grapples with the complex ties that children have to the cultures of their parents. A Lot Like You raises questions about the cultures we inherit and the cultures we choose to pass down, and reveals how simply bearing witness to another’s truth telling can break silences that have lasted lifetimes.

Contacts

CMRS Conference organizer:
Camilla Fojas, Professor Latin American and Latino Studies and Vincent de Paul Professor
e-mail: cfojas@depaul.edu
phone: (773) 325-4994

Mixed Roots Stories and arts programming contact and CMRS co-organizer:
Laura Kina, Professor Art, Media, & Design and Vincent de Paul Professor
e-mail: lkinaaro@depaul.edu
phone: (773) 325-4048
For more information on Mixed Roots Stories visit: http://www.mixedrootsstories.org/
Or contact the co-organizers Fanshen Cox DiGiovanni or Chandra Crudup at info@mixedrootsstories.org


UPAJ = Tap Dancing + Ancient Indian Dance

“How can you evolve without giving up your integrity?” is what Pandit Chitresh Das asks at the end of the trailer for this wonderful new film called Upaj:Improvise. Watch as he and Jason Samuels Smith learn from one another and share their cultural differences openly, critically – and creatively. We can’t wait to see this film!



Funding Your Projects – Creative Capital

We know what it’s like to try and get funding for the projects you’re passionate about, especially when you are just starting out, or when the ‘gatekeepers’ tell you they don’t think there will be enough interest in your story. That’s why we want to be a resource to help you find ways to garner financial support. One such resource is Creative Capital. Even if you haven’t begun to put pen to paper, take a look at their requirements, and the other projects they have supported – so when you are ready, you’ll have strong guidelines to help you get the funding you need.

Website: Creative Capital

 


In/visible Ethnicities – Portrait Project by Vanessa Newark

A portrait photographer in the United Kingdom takes on self-identified mixed-race individuals as subjects with lovely results:

This project is about how people of mixed ethnicities self-identify and explores how they have been identified through Census forms and in society. The work also highlights how the subtle differences between self-definition and ethnic categories are often too varied to fit within the single tick-box “Other”. (from http://www.vnewarkphotography.co.uk/)

Click here for more: In/visible Ethnicities Portraits

Follow photographer Vanessa Newark on Twitter here: @vnewarkphoto

 



Wednesdays in Mississippi: Interracial Support in the Civil Rights Era

Wednesdays in Mississippi is a documentary film-in-progress about a group of women who came together – regardless of their supposed ‘racial’ differences – to fight prejudice during the Civil Rights era in the United States. The film is looking for funding, so please take a look at their site to learn more, and support this project however you can (financial support, join their Facebook page, share this post and their website with others to help spread the word!)

Wednesdays in Mississippi Official Website

Wednesdays in Mississippi Facebook Page