Mixed Love Notes #3 #mixedlovenotes
Mixed Love Notes #2 #mixedlovenotes
Mixed Remixed Festival Fun at Black or White Film Screening #lovehasnocolor
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.
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
Rising Tennis Star Madison Keys Doesn’t Claim White or Black But the Middle Ground
Madison Keys has been on fire. She lost in the semi-finals to Serena Williams but put in a solid effort. Lately she’s also making headlines for claiming the middle-ground in matters of race. She is quoted in the New York Times as saying: “It’s something that’s always there obviously, but I’m very much right in the middle,” she said. “I don’t really think of it. I don’t really identify myself as white or African-American. I’m just me. I’m Madison.”
The statement has created some flack from fans and detractors alike. But why? Why can’t she claim the solid middle ground on race when she is both black and white? She wants to speak to the whole of her experience and America’s race labels don’t tell her complex story. Agree or disagree?–Heidi Durrow
We Need Our Stories Represented: Costner’s “Black or White” is an Important Film
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.
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.”
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]
Festival Deadline EXTENDED AGAIN! Now Due 2/13!
We’re extending the deadline for submissions! SUBMISSIONS ARE NOW DUE 2/13! Filmmakers note: we MUST RECEIVE your DVD by that date; it is not a postmark deadline.
We are are especially interested in finding individuals who are interested in speaking on panels. That means you don’t have to have a panel proposal and all the panelists confirmed to put your name in the mix to be a presenter at the Mixed Remixed Festival.
So if you are someone who has an interesting angle on the Mixed, multiracial, or transracial adoption experience, why not introduce yourself? We’ll match the most interesting folks on panels that we are certain will be dynamic, informative and transformative! So bloggers, writers, students, artists, actors, scholars, filmmakers, community leaders, please apply NOW!
But we’re also looking for performers, filmmakers, artists, and writers. Apply now!
Have questions about the submission process? Please email info@mixedremixed.org.-Heidi Durrow
“Are Those Your Eyes?” Well, kind of . . .
Here’s another in the series from my personal blog, Light-skinned-ed Girl, from 2008.
When adorable five-year-old Niece stops by to say hello, she and my husband play the jumping-on-the-bed game, the I’m-going-to-tickle-you game, and any other kind of fun that riles her up into a tizzy of energy–and then we send her home. Hee hee–that’s the great benefit of being Auntie and Uncle. Well, this Auntie and Uncle are trying to change our ways and not send the kid home in a frenzy for her folks to deal with. When Niece (and her mom) stopped by the other day, after the jumping, tickling, wiggling and assorted frenzy-making activity (all in the span of about 20 minutes), we played a calmer game: I Spy. “I spy with my little eye, something white,” Niece said. We gave a few wrong answers and she would giggle and say “Nooooo” delighted that she had picked something we would never guess. The something white was Uncle’s teeth. Of course! Then there had to be one more round of I Spy before she would leave: “I spy with my little eye something blue.” Was it Uncle’s pants? Was it the blue in the drawing she made for us? Was it the sky? No. No. No. “What is it?” . . .
Read the rest of the post on my personal blog here.–Heidi Durrow
Are Those Your Eyes?: Part 1
I started my personal blog, Light-skinned-ed Girl, in 2006 when I was trying to regroup. I had just heard from my uber-agent that ALL of the 36 publishing houses she had sent the manuscript (that would become the book The Girl Who Fell From the Sky) had rejected my book. It was the end of road. But when I looked back at the reasons they had rejected the book, a number of them said that there was no market for a story about a half-black and half-Danish girl. There was no 
Afro-Viking demographic to sell it to. With my blog, I set out to prove them wrong!
This is part of a series of posts that I did about people reacting to my eyes. I have brown skin and blue eyes and this seems to amaze (or haunt) a lot of people. For me, the “Are those your eyes?” question is as common as the “What are you?” question.
Here is the first post in the series:
At the gym last week, I noticed a woman kind of smiling in my direction. She had a friendly face and I smiled back. Later, when I got on the exercise bike next to hers, she said: “Are those yo
ur eyes?”
The question is as familiar to me as “What are you?” Often people will say: “I bet people tell you that you have beautiful eyes all the time.” It’s just shy of a compliment so it’s difficult to know how to respond without sounding vain. I would never respond: “Well, actually, yes.” Instead, in those instances, I give my standard line: “You know, I always feel appreciative when I hear that.”–which by the way is true. Who doesn’t love to receive a compliment?! But the lady at the gym that day had a new response to my eyes . . .
Read the rest of the post here.–Heidi Durrow
[ “”Are those your eyes?” = the new What are you question #multiracial #mixed”]
Mixed Love Notes #mixedlovenotes
Hello dear wonderful YOU!
We hope you think of the Mixed Remixed Festival as your annual homecoming
–the place where you feel most comfortable and at ease, the place where you feel safe about talking about your mixed-ness and difference (and hair:)), the place where people aren’t doing “math” on your family trying to figure out how you all belong together.
But the Festival happens just once a year and we know that it is sometimes a daily struggle to deal with the “What are you? question” and all of the micro-aggressions you experience as someone who is mixed or in a blended family.
So we created Mixed Love Notes #mixedlovenotes to help remind you about all the awesome-ness that is you.
For all of February we’ll share a new #mixedlovenote every weekday as a daily affirmation to help you through the day. We’re sharing these #mixedlovenotes with you and we hope you’ll share the message with others too. Sign up below and you’ll get a #mixedlovenote delivered directly to your inbox every day in February.
Here’s to you and a happy love-filled February! From our heart to yours!
The Mixed Remixed Team
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