mixedmediawatch's Xanga

Friday, February 01, 2008

Fri, 01 Feb 2008 23:18:42 GMT

I'm bringing Xanga back - drop a comment if you're with me!

Thursday, January 06, 2005

Thu, 06 Jan 2005 13:25:22 GMT

Update your bookmarks – we’ve moved!

CVK

Happy new year everyone! We’ve upgraded to a newer, better system. So please update your bookmarks to www.mixedmediawatch.com for all the latest news. You can continue to access all our 2004 archives here at the Xanga site.

Thursday, December 23, 2004

Thu, 23 Dec 2004 13:52:29 GMT

Organization helps underprivileged mixed children in Korea

CVK

The Korea Herald profiles the work of Pearl S. Buck International Korea, an organization which helps mixed Korean children navigate the prejudice and discrimination in Korean society:

“The Christmas party is also a great boost for the organization itself, as it strives to help Amerasian children who are often orphaned, impoverished and socially ostracized because of their mixed racial heritage.

"Most of times, we struggle to get sponsorship for our activities. These Christmas parties are special because we don't have to worry about that part," he said.

The Amerasian population is about 15,000 and Kosian 10,000, according to rough estimates by the Pearl S. Buck group. Kosian is a newly coined word for a child from the marriage of a Korean and another Asian national, mainly migrant workers…

One out of 10 Amerasian children drops out of elementary school and the rate doubles in middle school. Over 80 percent of the children are from single-mother families, and they face prejudice and discrimination not only at schools but also at workplaces.

"Children of Korean-black or Korean-southeastern Asian mix tend to have more of a hard time than those of Korean-Caucasian origin, reflecting the bigotry of our society," Lee said.”

Tuesday, December 21, 2004

Tue, 21 Dec 2004 18:40:08 GMT

Happy Chrismukkah!

I got a heads-up (thanks ELW!) about this great line of cards that caters to those who celebrate both Chanukah and Christmas. Finally, something substantial for the interfaith kids! Chrismukkah.com has gotten quite a bit of press. Check out the story ABC News did:

Move over, Festivus. Chrismahanukwanzakah is the alternative December holiday du jour. Or maybe you both light candles and decorate a tree, so you'd like to officially celebrate Chrismukkah this year.

This year, the 18-day-long Chrismukkah observance began Dec. 7, according to Ron Gompertz, owner of Chrismukkah.com, a Web site devoted to the celebration of the holiday. Gompertz, who is Jewish, and his wife, Michelle, who is the daughter of a Protestant minister, were inspired by an episode of Fox's "The OC" in which Seth Cohen coins the phrase describing his interfaith family's Christmas and Hanukkah traditions. "Chrismukkah is sort of the great umbrella name for describing the chaos and whimsy and excitement that goes on during the month of December," Gompertz said.

Tuesday, December 21, 2004

Tue, 21 Dec 2004 17:48:13 GMT

WARD WATCH: Connerly gives a computer through the Detroit News Helping Hands project

Yup, we're watching Ward's moves -- big and small. I think it’s interesting that he participated in this charitable program in Michigan, reported by The Detroit News. I wonder if it has anything to do with the fact that his salary has been all over the news and he wants to appear to be a giving fellow…or that Michigan is the state he will soon be courting. Don’t get me wrong, I think that the act was quite commendable. He came to the aid of someone who really needed help. I just hope that he doesn’t have ulterior motives. Your favorite conspiracy theorist signing off…

Gutierrez received a call from a woman who donated two turkeys. She also got a call from Ward Connerly, founder of the American Civil Rights Institute. Connerly had read the story and wanted to outfit Vashon Gutierrez with a computer. "We are getting him a computer and all the accoutrements that go with it," said Connerly, 65, of Sacramento, Calif.

Tuesday, December 21, 2004

Tue, 21 Dec 2004 16:31:09 GMT

Santa Claus is mixed too

Aaron Gruder of The Boondocks makes his Santa Claus mixed this season.

Monday, December 20, 2004

Mon, 20 Dec 2004 15:49:38 GMT

Reality show re-unites adoptee with real father…along with chance of winning $100,000

MSN News reports the latest in tasteless reality TV. On January 3^rd, Fox will present a special enititled “Who’s Your Daddy?” A woman who was adopted at birth has to pick her real birth father from among 8 men. One will be the correct one, the others, each just acting as if they are the correct choices. If she picks the right one, she wins $100,000. If she does not pick correctly, the imposter walks away with the 100 thou. And then facelifts for all!!! Oops. Sorry. That’s another show.

Activists in the adoption community immediately attacked the special…"This is really perverse," said Adam Pertman, executive director of the Evan P. Donaldson Adoption Institute, a research and policy organization.

Pertman, a former Boston Globe reporter and author of the book Adoption Nation, predicted the television show would denigrate the experiences of families who have gone through adoption. "It really is sort of one-stop shopping for insulting millions of people, maybe tens of millions," he said.

Monday, December 20, 2004

Mon, 20 Dec 2004 14:51:57 GMT

It’s good to know we aren’t the only ones who are noticing…

JC
The current issue of Time looks back at the marketing trends of 2004 and notes “color blind casting”:

With little fanfare, interracial couples were everywhere — in ads for Heineken…Harley-Davidson and BMW, as well as in Verizon's new American family: white dad, Hispanic mom and a bunch of biracial kids.

Wednesday, December 15, 2004

Wed, 15 Dec 2004 14:54:05 GMT

LETTER TO EDITOR

Love more than black and white

Our letter to the editor regarding an article on interracial relationships was printed in today’s Corvallis Gazette-Times:

We are writing in response to Mary Ann Albright's Dec. 12 article, "Love sees no color."

Mixed Media Watch is a grassroots coalition we started that works to promote more realistic, three-dimensional portrayals of mixed race people, couples and families in the media.

While it was nice to see a positive portrayal of interracial relationships in Ms. Albright's article, we were disappointed that she only featured couples in which one partner is black, and the other is white.

We hope that in any future articles about interracial couples, your newspaper will reflect the far more diverse reality of the mixed race community. While only 6 percent of African-American husbands and 2 percent of African-American wives are in interracial marriages, the intermarriage rate among other groups is much, much higher. In the case of Japanese-American women, for example, 49 percent are married to non-Japanese-American men.

And interracial marriages don't happen only between white and non-white people — there are many couples in which both partners are people of color (e.g., Black/Asian, Latino/Black). In short, being in an interracial relationship is not just a black/white thing.

As the number of interracial couples has grown, so have the number of resources available for mixed race individuals and interracial couples and families. It is important that people recognize that support does exist. For a fairly comprehensive list of resources, please visit www.swirlinc.org, or visit us at www.mixedmediawatch.com.

Jen Chau and Carmen Van Kerckhove
New York

Monday, December 13, 2004

Mon, 13 Dec 2004 22:41:31 GMT

Oh no! More hair drama!

CVK

When it rains, it pours! Right after my rant about the unnecessary hysteria that white moms exhibit when it comes to doing the hair of their black or biracial kids, here comes yet another story! This one's from Wisconsin State Journal:

“Three-year-old Anna Jo Lubasi wears her hair in stylish braids adorned with blue beads.

Her mother, Joey Lubasi, who is white, learned how to make the tight corn-rowed braids from her in-laws, who are from Nairobi, Kenya.

Styling and caring for her daughter's hair, which is so different from her own, has been a learning experience, said Lubasi, a Madison resident.

"It's not like I can think back 'How did my mom do my hair?'" Lubasi said.

Lubasi found some advice from hairstylist Yetta Harris, who helps parents of biracial and adopted black kids learn to care for their children's hair.

Harris teaches a free class on the first Thursday of every month at Blues hair studio, 1222 Williamson St.

Harris said she wanted to help after years of seeing white parents using their own shampoo and the wrong combs on their black kids' hair.”