Mixed Remixed Faves Archives - Page 3 of 10

Support the Festival! Contribute to Our Indiegogo Crowdfunder

March 26, 2015 by admin

We NEED YOU! We’ve launched our crowdfunder to raise money for the Mixed Remixed Festival and we need you to help spread the word and we need your contributions.

Donate

Support the Festival you love! donate now! #multiracial

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We have some great incentives for you to donate that include a day sail on the Pacific Ocean, a gourmet dinner for 4 people, a Festival tshirt, and a meal with half of the dynamic duo of Key & Peele! Yes, Keegan Michael-Key wants to dine with you and a friend if you contribute to the Festival.

Dine with @keeganmkey with your contribution to the Festival! Seriously! #multiracial

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Please donate now! Every bit counts! And thank you!–Heidi Durrow

2015 Mixed Remixed Festival Line-Up Revealed

March 24, 2015 by admin

MIXED REMIXED FESTIVAL REVEALS 2015 SCHEDULE

(Los Angeles, CA) The Mixed Remixed Festival will take place at the Japanese American National Museum in downtown Los Angeles (100 N. Central Avenue), June 13, 2015.

The Festival celebrates stories of multiracial Americans and families, the fastest growing demographic in the U.S. A free public event, the Festival brings together film and book lovers, innovative and emerging artists, and multiracial and multicultural families and individuals for workshops, readings, performances, and film screenings.

The Mixed Remixed Festival attracted close to 700 people from across the country last year and featured dozens of writers, scholars and performers including Comedy Central’s hit comedic duo Key & Peele.

The Festival, a non-profit arts organization — is produced by The New York Times best-selling writer, Heidi Durrow, and talented team of volunteers.

“It’s exciting to finally see mixed people and families in mainstream media and to connect with each other on-line,” says Durrow who calls herself an Afro-Viking because she is African-American and Danish. “But the Festival is the only nationwide cultural arts event where we get to meet each other and network.”

The event is free and open to the public. Registration opens on April 20, 2015. The complete Festival schedule can be found online at www.mixedremixed.org.

Festival Highlights Include:

The Festival hosts the largest West Coast Loving Day Celebration, Saturday, June 13, 2015, at 6:30 p.m. with the annual Storyteller’s Prize presentation and live show. The Festival will present the Storyteller’s Prize to The Daily Show’s Al Madrigal and New York Times best-selling writer Jamie Ford (Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet and Songs of Willow Frost) as part of a dynamic live show featuring comedians, spoken-word poets and soulful songstress Donn T, Questlove’s sister, who will perform songs from her highly anticipated album Flight of the Donn T.
Families can enjoy interactive craft activities as well storytelling events as part of the Target Free Family Day.
The Festival will present two notable feature films including the award-winning feature documentary You Have His Eyes (dir. Christopher Wilson) about a transracial adoptees’s search for his biological parents. Immediately following the screening there will be a panel discussion with transracial adoptees and activists. French Dirty (dirs. Wade Allain-Marcus and Jesse Allain-Marcus, award-winning executive producer Stephanie Allain). The Festival is also pleased to present Mei Mei, the newest short film by two-time Peabody Award winner Dmae Roberts.
The Festival includes author readings by Mat Johnson, the author of the breakout hit Loving Day, about a mixed-race utopian society; Marie Mockett, author of Where the Dead Pause and the Japanese Say Goodbye; celebrated writer and Fresno’s Poet Laureate James Tyner, and many others. Skylight Books is the Festival’s official bookseller.
More than a dozen esteemed panelists will speak on diverse topics related to the Mixed experience, including: educator and community leader Marcia Dawkins, producer of the Tony Award-nominated play The Scottsboro Boys David Greer, and award-winning journalist Erika Hayasaki.

Festival sponsors include: Japanese American National Museum, Zerflin.com, The Black List, Cruise Invictus.

The Nive Nulls: A Chat with YouTube’s Hottest Mixed-Race Multiracial Family!

March 20, 2015 by terri

It’s officially the age of YouTubers – funny vloggers, how-tos and everyday insights! What many are perhaps not as aware of is the booming community of family vloggers who take you through their days and make you feel like you’re hanging out with their cool family.

One family that is truly dominating this market at the moment would be the Nive Nulls of Kansas City!

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Mixed Remixed had the chance to catch up with the Nive Nulls, where we spoke about race in their relationship, tackling the “What Are You?” question and the beauty of love crossing borders!

Who Are The Nulls?

Well, you have the hilarious Austin, his gorgeously quirky wife Brittany and their two bundles of joy Audrianna and Kailand. And soon they’ll be welcoming a third Null to the bunch! Congrats!

Did we mention they’re a mixed fam?!

The Nive Nulls Interview:

MR:

How would you two describe the relevance or presence of race in your early relationship (as well as now, if applicable)?

NN:

Early on, we definitely talked about race and how it related to our relationship a lot more. We would make more jokes, goof around more and just focus on it a decent amount. Now, we’ve kind of matured our relationship more and we don’t make as big of a deal about the fact that we’re an interracial couple. However, it’s still a part of our life because race relations in general are things that we experience outside of our personal relationship.

MR:

Sidenote: I spied that your FB page is a fan of Love Crosses Borders which is of course awesome! Was either one of you hesitant to spring into an interracial relationship / did you guys even really think about that?

NN:

We love “Love Crosses Borders” on Facebook! They’ve been super supportive of us and always share a lot of our stuff. No, we never thought about [us] as an interracial relationship.We just liked each other’s personality and thought each other were hot. lol

MR:

What would you say you’ve learned about each other and perhaps, people in general, through breaking down color barriers through love?

NN:

We’ve learned to accept the differences we have and embrace them. It also has taught us to just live and not worry about other people’s opinions. If someone is ignorant, it’s their problem and it’s sad for them. It doesn’t affect us.

MR:

How do you feel about the racially charged “What Are You?” question and how do you guys think you’ll advise Kailand and Audri as they get older? (If entertaining that question is even an option)

NN:

I mean, it’s kind of brash way to ask something but it’s not that big of a deal to us. If they ask our kids, we’ll tell them they can say “I’m Kailand” or “I’m Audri” but we also are fine with them answering “I’m biracial and adorable” lol

10404493_905515656159370_5108551362546573347_n — Kailand (left) and Audri (right)

MR:

Your YouTube Channel is one of those few that is almost always free of the cruel YT trolls, how would you describe the continuously loving support of your online Nive Null Family?

NN:

I think it’s because we’re pretty real in our vlogs. We don’t try to put on a front and make our life look SO FUN AND AMAZING AND LOOK AT US ALL DRESSED UP AND PERFECT! We just live. We talk about when we’re down or sad or happy or mad or whatever the case may be. It’s important to be yourself because that’s the only way people will come and stick around.

MR:

Mixed family aside, what do you think separates The Nive Nulls from other Youtube families? (Definitely, NO shade to your YouTube-fam buddies!)

NN:

Haha! Let’s start drama!!! lol jk jk. No, I’d just say it’s probably our personalities. All of the YT families out there have their own unique niche and vibe to their channel. I would describe ours as fun, funny and real. Also, our kids are hilarious and Audri says some of the funniest things I’ve ever heard a human say. lol

Mixed Remixed wishes The Nive Nulls nothing but happiness as they welcome their third baby Null later this year! Check them out on YouTube!

[youtube width=”500″ height=”400″]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKwyg3xEVZg[/youtube]

“We’ve learned to accept the differences we have and embrace them.” – Nive Nulls #multiracial

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Lady Icarus in the Mixed Experience

March 14, 2015 by admin

I was excited to see this wonderful story about someone you may not have heard of before who is part of the Mixed experience. Lady Mary Heath was a rival of Amelia Earhart and was the first woman (indeed first person) to ever fly solo the length of Africa to the United Kingdom. Eleven years later she died after battling alcoholism and succumbing to injuries in a fall.

Lady Heath received scorn when she married a handsome Trinidadian jockey called Jack Williams. #multiracial

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Despite her talent in aviation, she was often excluded from opportunities in the field. She also was shut out of social circles and advertising endorsements when she married a black Trinidadian jockey. According to the Daily Mail, when she married him she committed: “[t]he unpardonable sin in those days of marrying a black man … referred to as ‘the little n****er’ …True to form, she ignored them all and her marriage to Jack was by far the happiest and the longest until her dipsomania, or craving for alcohol to put it another way, forced them apart.”

A documentary about her life airs this week. Learn more about this extraordinary woman here.–Heidi Durrow, Mixed Remixed Festival Founder

5 Best Tumblr Blogs for Mixed & Biracial People

March 9, 2015 by admin

1. What We Should Call HAPA (whatweshouldcallhapa)

This blog is perhaps one of my favorites just because it takes a refreshingly light-hearted approach to relaying the frustrations that come with being biracial or multiracial.

In a thank you note for reaching 100K subscribers, the author wrote:

“I never thought I’d find so many people who get these jokes and understand what it’s like to be mixed.”

“I never thought I’d find so many people who get these jokes and understand what it’s like to be mixed.” #multiracial

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2. F**k Yeah Mixed Beauty (fuckyeahmixedbeauty)

“Exploring what it means to be “mixed” by questioning, redefining ourselves, and celebrating the beauty of multiethnic identities.”

Visiting this blog in particular is always an enriching experience. There are always well-researched stories that deal with mixed people or people of color throughout history scattered around the world – you can find yourself in these stories from decades or even centuries ago and feel a sense of pride in shared multiracial experiences.

3. Iyannwayway

Now this one is a personal blog by a beautiful 21 year old mixie named Lyann who shares her life story as well as those of others through reblogged photos, gifs and article snippets relating to all our mixed up experiences.

“[V]eggie,puerto rican, afro caribbean. Afrocentric. Student. Philosophy. Feel free to talk.

Se habla español.”

4. We Are All Mixed Up (weareallmixedup)

How the 4 moderators describe their site: “This is a blog for those of us who are forgotten in the mainstream anti-racism movement. Those of us who are biracial, multiracial, and multiethnic and have struggled year after year with establishing our identities. This is a safe space for all mixed people of color..
This space encourages stories, submissions, art, poetry, photos, research, links to articles, questions, and whatever else you would like to submit!
We hope to create a space that highlights that not every person of color is monoracial and not every problem we face can be looked at through a monoracial lens.”

5. Acceptance Is The First Step (acceptance-is-the-first-step)

We love this site. We love our curls! No matter your curl pattern or texture, this site celebrates us all and plainly shows how beautiful diversity truly is!

Let’s all learn to love our curls! #loveyourcurls

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Biracial Celebrity with New One-Woman Show: Festival Fave Erica Gimpel

March 9, 2015 by admin

Erica Gimpel, a biracial beauty inside and out, is one of our all-time favorites at the Mixed Remixed Festival. She’s internationally known for her role as Coco on Fame, and she’s starred in countless shows since then including Profiler and Veronica Mars and dozens more. A talented actress, singer and dancer, Erica is now taking her talent to new heights with a one-woman show, Sister, running in Los Angeles for the next three weeks. Don’t miss it! Read a review of the show here.

“Graceful, angry, passionate and funny, the star of Sister” is @ericagimpel #multiracial #mixedrace

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FOR TICKETS: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/1219639

Biracial Historical Figures on Being Mixed: Isamu Noguchi

February 24, 2015 by admin

Isamu Noguchi (1904-1988) was the son of a Japanese writer and a white American woman. He became one of the greatest sculptors of his time. You can learn more about him here.

“First of all, my mother was American. And going to Japan with an American mother and being half-Japanese puts on in a very anomalous position. On the one hand, she is of Japan, she wanted to be in Japan. But the fact of the matter is that the Japanese do not accept foreigners as another person equal to themselves because Japanese are Japanese and everybody else is foreign, you understand. It’s a very traditional country in that sense; and very unusually so, perhaps. I mean very exclusive in a sense. And, on top of that, my mother was separated from my father when I was very, very young so that I didn’t have that contact that I might have had to one-half parent anyway. So I was an appendage on a stranger; that is to say….And yet, as I say, she loved Japan, let’s say, had friends and pupils there. She taught English. But I was more or less a kind of waif because she was always working a great deal of the time and I was sort of thrown onto the neighboring children and so forth who, of course, were Japanese. So my playmates and so forth were Japanese but I was not Japanese, you see. And, you know, people talk about the discrimination that exists against half-breeds. And, it is probably so. Although I mean, personally, I can’t say that I experienced discrimination as such, a third person looking at it more objectively would probably say that it’s a classical case. I, for instance, have never felt discriminated against in this country either, for that matter, but somebody else looking at it might say: “Well, but you don’t realize that this is evidence of discrimination.” And my own attitude, of course, is another question. Am I really free? Or am I really inherently self-protective against incipient discrimination. Do you understand?”–Isamu Noguchi

The great #biracial sculptor Isamu Noguchi on being mixed! #multiracial

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Mixed Remixed Festival Fun at Black or White Film Screening #lovehasnocolor

February 1, 2015 by admin

The Mixed Remixed Festival planning team had a good time seeing the film Black or White, written and directed by Mike Binder and starring Kevin Costner, Octavia Spencer, and Anthony Mackie. As we’ve mentioned before, the story is about a custody battle between two grandparents of a biracial girl who is winningly played by Jillian Estell.

I thought the film was very touching. And I was very glad to see that a story about a mixed family has reached the mainstream.

It’s great that a film about a mixed family is reaching a mainstream audience. #lovehasnocolor #multiracial

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Best of all was the Q&A afterwards with the film’s director and star Kevin Costner (who also financed the film with $9 million dollars of his own). It was clear that the story was personally meaningful for both of them–in particular Binder who has a biracial nephew with whom he is very close.

Costner said something I thought was really important–especially in light of some of the criticism I’ve read about the film–“This is just one story about this experience.” Yes, exactly! And we hope Hollywood will keep making more stories about the multiracial experience. The films certainly have a home at the Mixed Remixed Festival.–Heidi Durrow

.@mikebinderjokes spoke about his personal connection to #multiracial story of film. #lovehasnocolor

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We Need Our Stories Represented: Costner’s “Black or White” is an Important Film

January 30, 2015 by admin

We’re excited to see the film “Black or White” –which opens TODAY nationwide–starring and produced by Kevin Costner and directed by Mike Binder. I haven’t seen the film but I can tell you that it’s definitely a great beginning in mainstream films embracing the stories of the Mixed experience.

“Black or White” via @modernwest is important in sharing stories about #multiracial families. #lovehasnocolor

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We started the Mixed Remixed Festival exactly because we wanted to create a place to share films and books about blended families like the one depicted in Black or White. Writer Kimberly Cooper writes eloquently about the importance of films like this in today’s Huffington Post: “Black or White is trailblazing both for its balanced and inclusive portrayal of black and white interrelationships while at the same time hitting hard at both sides. Long overdue, Black or White and its contribution to the discussion on race in America shouldn’t be overlooked.”

Great piece via @literatigurl on @modernwest “Black or White” #lovehasnocolor #multiracial

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Check out the full article here. If you want to see more films like this, please go see this flick. Show your interest. Show up!-Heidi Durrow.

[youtube width=”500″ height=”500″]http://youtu.be/yqlE-7PP7Ho[/youtube]

2014 Festival Recap: The Mixed Experience & New Media

January 26, 2015 by admin

The Mixed Experience & New Media

Our panelists Abigail Allen, Mari Naomi, Grace Hwang Lynch, Channing Sargent had a wide-ranging discussion about how stories of the Mixed experience have thrived in the new media environment with blogs, Tumblr, Twitter, YouTube and graphic novels.

Abigail Allen

A half-black, half-white native New Yorker, storytelling Buddhist, and branding extraordinaire, Abby is the creator of Perfectly Mixed, a project documenting belonging and identity in America through the mixed race experience. It’s been kicking around in her heart for as long as she can remember and she’s so grateful for the chance to bring it to life. Abby has worked in the advertising and marketing industries for over 12 years on billion dollar brands like Olay, Listerine, L’Oreal and Aunt Jemima, launching countless campaigns across everything from print to social media. Not too long ago, she left her traditional advertising job to fall head first into serving the world by developing brand strategies, identities and marketing platforms for small businesses, companies, individuals and organizations that are “doing good.” And so, because she believes marketing matters as much for saving the world as for selling toothpaste, she founded her firm, Neon Butterfly. Abby is also the Communications Director of the Brooklyn Zen Center and obsessed with pizza and peanut butter (not together).

Mari Naomi

MariNaomi is the author and illustrator of the award-winning graphic memoir Kiss & Tell: A Romantic Resume, Ages 0 to 22 (Harper Perennial, 2011), the upcoming books Dragon’s Breath and Other True Stories and Turning Japanese, (2D Cloud), and her self-published zine, Estrus Comics, (1998 to 2009). Her work has appeared in numerous anthologies, including, I Saw You: Comics Inspired by Real Life Missed Connections, Cheers to Muses: Contemporary Works by Asian American Women, No Straight Lines, Anything That Loves, QU33R and Action Girl Comics. Her comics and essays have been featured on The Rumpus, The Weeklings, Truth-out, SFBay.CA, The Comics Journal, The Bay Citizen, XOJane and more. MariNaomi’s artwork has been featured in such venues as the De Young Museum, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, the Cartoon Art Museum, San Francisco’s Asian American Museum and the Japanese American Museum in Los Angeles. In 2011, Mari toured with the literary roadshow Sister Spit. She splits her time between San Francisco and Los Angeles.

Grace Hwang Lynch

As a journalist and blogger, Grace Hwang Lynch explores the evolving relationship between communities of color and mainstream America. A former television news reporter, she founded HapaMama.com in 2008 to give voice to Asian mixed-race family issues. As News & Politics editor for BlogHer, she writes about current events and finds a diversity of stories. Whether writing about parenting, food or politics, Grace analyzes her subjects through the lens of culture and ethnicity. Her work has also been published by PBS and Salon, and in 2012, she was nominated for the Women’s Media Center Social Media Award.

Channing Sargent

Channing is an actor, writer, and producer with a B.F.A. in acting from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and the Moscow Art Theatre, and is an alumnus of the Upright Citizen’s Brigade comedy improv training program. She is a producer of web content, working with the top YouTube multi-channel networks to create viral video campaigns. While working with Maker Studios in its first year, she produced viral videos for Shay Carl, Lisa Nova, HiimRawn, Ceciley and The Game Station, among others, and consulted with individual YouTube talent to grow their audiences across YouTube and social media. She then went to StyleHaul where she helped create a community production strategy for its network of fashion and beauty channels, and helped individual channels grow their audiences with YouTube’s built-in resources. She currently produces branded content with Fullscreen, currently the largest multi-channel network, where she produced the YouTube activations for @Summerbreak, the first real-time reality show on YouTube. In addition to acting and producing, Channing is Co-Editor in Chief of the Southern California Review and a writer for LA Weekly and LA Magazine. She is working on her first book. www.channingsargent.com; linkedin.com/in/channingsargent

Abigail Allen

Mari Naomi

Grace Hwang Lynch

Channing Sargent

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