** Update: The Addicted to Race podcast is up!
I hope Ethnically Incorrect Daughter does not mind, but I absolutely loved her essay, Bridges.
Also, I was able to see the Science Museum of Minnesota‘s exhibit, Race: Are We So Different? I have to admit, I was nervous about this exhibit, but I’m pleased overall. My daughter really enjoyed the section of teenagers discussing their experiences in a film segment called "Where do you sit in the cafeteria?" As a multiracial person, she’s had a tough time at school in this area. We live in a diverse neighborhood and have a diverse group of close friends whom we see at least weekly for Potluck. However, it’s been difficult for her at school to mimic this diversity because kids tend to self-segregate. As a multiracial person, she struggles to figure out where she belongs.
The documentary I am in is one in which different people, of various backgrounds, talk about their experiences with race and racism. The part of my interview that was chosen is when I talk about not having a language to talk about racism growing up, changing my name to my Korean name, and an incidence of racism that Mr. HM and I experienced.
And finally, I was invited to be a guest host at Addicted to Race. Out podcast, in which Carmen and I talk about Oprah’s school in South Africa and her diss of inner-city kids, and the Toys R Us contest, will be up this week. Come check it out! (I have to admit, I was terrified. I’m not so good at these kinds of unstructured discussions. I tend to be a rambler !! So I hope I’m not too all-over-the-place)!
Harlow's Monkey 
damn TYR contest. Idiots they are! If they had just given it to all three, then they wouldn’t have had a problem. But, no…now they go overboard and give it to the perfect multicultural trifecta.
Talk about a PR reversal and obvious “pat-ourselves-on-the-back” routine.
I’m pissed about the “100% American” comment.
Oprah, well…you know how I feel about Oprah.
On diversity – I have lived for most of my life in communities that were and are very diverse. Including my current location in Silicon Valley, California. As a young person, many of my years were spent living on American military bases around the world.
What strikes me as very different between these two are how people behave. There is always some sort of segregation I suppose, but as a military child and teenager the peers I spent my time with were of every sort there are. There were so many children of mixed ethnicity that I have always considered it normal.
Yet here were I live now as an adult, I see many different people all living next to each other, for the most part in neighborhoods that do not have a predominant group. But in practice, these people spend very little time with anyone outside of their group.
As much as I don’t care for the purpose of the military, I do see my experience as a vague glimpse of what is possible when relationships transcend human appearance. Trouble is I guess it requires a larger super-culture, in this case the military. Then again, what if the super-culture was simply mutual understanding and respect?
Hey Jae Ran – if you were nervous, it certainly didn’t come through! 🙂 I had a great time co-hosting with you, and we should do it again soon!
I’m so eager to go to the exhibit. The fact that you’re part of it makes it that much better.
I’ll have to check out the exhibit when it comes to Hartford.
I’m also going to have to listen to the podcast, when the site comes back up.
Nice job on the podcast!
Ah, Carmen – when I get nervous I tend to get giggly. According to some constructive criticism I received, when I giggle, I sound “condescending” so I sure hope it didn’t come across too much that way. But I enjoyed it and it got easier, once I got over my “ahs” and “ums.”
🙂