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W
elcome
to the primer issue of Mezclados.
cultural, biracial, blended and/or adopted family.
The journal for people living a bicultural ex- This issue is the BETA issue, and although I consider myself perience. The impetus for this journal goes an artist I’d be remised if I didn't BEG for design and layout
far beyond the adoption of my children. About 20 years ago assistance from would be interns. In any case, be on the a friend revealed that she made sure there were no pictures look out for the 12/12/12 holiday issue and please send of images of people in her home. She was taking an active stand against the onslaught of dominant images of men and women who did not reflect her family. It seemed to be a
comments and story ideas.
good rule and today I make sure I don't purchase clothing or toys which reflect Western idealized beauty or patriarchy.
Sincerely, Javaughn Renee
But, I’m an artist.
Founder/Editor themezclados@gmail.com
So, I feel perfectly comfortable filling my home with images of people, places and things that reflect our bicultural family. This is a hard task. So Mezclados tries to help. With stories, reviews and flat out imagery, I hope this journal finds a comfortable lap to sit on and be read by anyone in your bi-
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CONTENTS Fun Reviews Art
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Editorial Do African Americans enjoy the great outdoors? You wouldn’t know if you believe what you see.
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The Heart of Adoption
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Feel. Western Bento for Lunch
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Pics-again for fun.
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A mother for Choco, is Keiko Kasza’s tale of an abandoned bird looking for a mommy. He finds love amongst non-birds, but gt hugs and kisses all the same.
Caucasia follows Birdie’s search for father and sister in the
aftermath of coentelpro and the break up her biracial activist parents. Don’t read if you think this is a how to book for Black and white parents. It is a lesson in chasing fantasy, identity and in facing family reality with dignity. Caucasia Riverhead, 1998 Danzy Senna
A Mother for Choco Keiko Kaska Puffin, 1996 32 pages
Genuine Negro Jig is the fourth album of the Carolina Chocolate Drops, one of the few African-American string bands playing today. Like most of the Carolina Chocolate Drops' work, the album, a mixture of traditional folk songs and recent pieces, is part of the Chocolate Drops' effort to celebrate the string band music of the Piedmont region of North and South Carolina, and the influence of AfricanAmericans on this music.
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Good dreams and bad dreams inspire love and art for Los Angeles painter Rick Rodriguez.
My friend and fellow artist is mixing it up in Southern California! As a musician and painter/sculptor, Richard Rodriguez utilizes dreams the way we all wish we could. As an eternal motivator for a life of beauty. Raised to accept all the Mexican, African, French, Hindu and Christian roots in his family tree, Rodriguez brings the collage of his life into his art. Rick
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paints on canvas and found objects. He creates contemplatively in the studio and live at music shows. He is also the Conga player for L.A. based band Mexico 68. “ I decided that art was all I wanted to do , “ says Rodriguez, “for as long as I lived...I’m inspired by everything; Life, happiness or sadness; people in my life, dreams, new teachings, and the un-
known...Struggle love and loving life is inspiring. Even hating life is inspiring you just got to create something out of it! Enjoy the following pages of Ricks work, including pieces from his latest show, “Somos Animales.”
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We are told not to believe what we see, but still, we trust our eyes not only to reveal truths about our immediate environment, but to tell us about our cultural practices. Before the Great Depression, images of Black bodies in nature could be categorized into three
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groups; exploited laborers, lazy workers, or as terrorized victims. Of course, these images are not our true and only story. AfricanAmericans have and continue to participate in “nature,� via vocations, religious rituals, environmental justice movements, and in
the preservation and conservation that African-Americans are not of natural resources. connected to environmentalism as a movement and even less enUnfortunately, many mainstream gaged in outdoor recreation. I enenvironmental publications and courage all people of color share media outlets ignore images of family photos that depict people African-Americans positively enof all hues engaged with and engaged in the outdoors. And this joying the great outdoors. Share has created a popular perception your photos with Mezclados, or
A few places to find positive, alternative images of African-Americans in natural spaces. Your own family album Javaughn Renee MA thesis project www.jfmls.shutterfly.com Black Surfer Network http://www.blacksurfingnetwork.com/ My Grandmother in the Caribbean. Left, Colored Conservation Corps Photo, Library of Congress.
with publications and in other places where our faces are not often visible. Also, download the posters and put them in your home, classroom, church, or environmental organization. Let’s create a new vision of ourselves outdoors and return to the history that waits for us.
Whitewash Documentary about African-American Surfing. http://www.whitewashmovie.com/
Asian Pacific Environmental Network http://apen4ej.org/ Center for Environmental Diversity http://www.environmentaldiversity.org/resources.html
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By Stephanie Ashcraft
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A
dopting a child requires a
you or your spouse, chances are good
other words, it’s a personality that you
blind leap of faith. Every-
that the child’s personality resembles
know and have dealt with before. One
one says that nobody
one of your first-degree relatives: in
of the two infants my husband and I
would ever have the cour-
adopted was, from the start, like no
age to have children if they knew how
oneeither of us has ever known be-
hard it would be. Well, adoption is even
fore. Even dealing with her basic per-
scarier. Psychologists have determined
sonality has taken an incredible amount
that somewhere between 50 and 70
of energy and changed us to grow in
percent of personality is heredi-
ways and learn new skills that we never
tary. This is one of the few things that
thought we’d need.
people don’t think to worry about when they adopt. Although in a traditional family, your child may not be a lot like
Add to that the fact that she turned out to have fetal drug syndrome and maybe fetal alcohol syndrome on top of her
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“One of the hardest things about having a child with an invisible disability is that you have to prove, over and over again—with each new doctor, neighbor, teacher, school—that you are not a driving, dominant personality, and you
whether caused by toxins, injury, or
schedule. They pretty much have oppo-
can imagine how our lives have
heredity. Our older child has been diag- site personalities. Neither has an ounce
changed. Actually both of our children
nosed with Bipolar II; the younger with
were diagnosed as having fetal drug
Bipolar I. They each have a different
syndrome by the time they were 9. De-
sub-type of ADHD. They each have
pending upon the stage of the fetus
different types of anxiety disor-
when they are exposed to toxins, differ-
ders. They react differently to the same
ent parts of their brains can be affect-
medications, and each needs an indi-
ed. Brain damage is brain damage
vidually tailored medication list and
of patience.
This required us to develop a lot more patience: we were the adults, after all. Just finding good child psychiatrists—an increasingly underserved specialty—filling out the endless paperwork and going through the intake inter-
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views required a lot of patience. One of will not, I hope, discourage healthy and
with some kind of emotional or mental
the hardest things about having a child
intelligent parents from adopting chil-
challenge. There was a time when I
with an invisible disability is that you
dren. Watching these children over-
thought that, if I hadn’t adopted, if
have to prove, over and over again—
come each new challenge in life is dou- I had been able to have biological chil-
with each new doctor, neighbor, teach-
bly rewarding. Seeing how hard they
er, school—that you are not a bad par-
work to blend in with their peers is in-
ent. Not abusive, not neglectful, not
spiring. Behaviorally and socially they
overly indulgent, not stupid, not mean,
have always been a few years behind,
not mentally ill yourself. That will al-
but, now in their late teens, they are
ways be everyone’s first assump-
quickly reaching an age where a few
tion: “it’s the parents.” You are guilty
years won’t matter. And with the ris-
until you can demonstrate that you’re
ing incidences of anonymous neuro-
innocent.
logical assaults from the environment,
dren, they would have been
more and more children are being born The hardships of this path, however,
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“normal.” Now I can look at the way
dren, I always thought that people
the mental-health insurance coverage
other children in my extended family or
should adopt at least one child who
better? Are the schools better? Is the
among my friends turned out and real-
needed a home before creating any
medical infrastructure better? When
ize that my biological children probably new ones. We need to take care of the we did move, it was always a chore to wouldn’t have fared any better than my people who are here on earth now be-
find new doctors, new sup-
adopted children. I don’t know what is
port. NAMI—the National Alliance on
fore overpopulating any further, before
causing the upswing in pediatric mental building new empires, before going to
Mental Illness—was a lifesaver for
illnesses such as ADHD, bipolar disor-
me. They give free evening classes
Mars.
der, depression, and autism; but I know that, as a society, we had better figure it out. And I remember the reason I wanted to adopt in the first place.
that I can’t recommend highly enough Since adopting our children, we have moved a few times. My husband would be offered a new job elsewhere, but what clinched our decision of
Even before I knew I couldn’t have chil- whether to move or not was always: Is
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for the relatives of those struggling with mental illness and for parents of braindisordered children. I learned far more from them than I ever did from a doctor—everything from people’s experi-
ence with different doctors and medications to more effective communication strategies and how to see the world through the eyes of the person with the disorder. They also offer a support group and emergency telephone support. And all aspects are run by people who “have been through it.” Because no one else can really understand what it’s like. Not your relatives and, most of the time, not even the doctors.
We’ve made plenty of mistakes, but there is one thing that has always reassured us that we did the right thing in adopting. Even with all our mistakes and the early years of misdiagnoses and bad schooling choices, we sometimes get the gift of seeing what the alternative for our kids could have been if we hadn’t adopted them. We occasionally meet children with the same diagnoses who have, perhaps, grown up in the foster care system, in poverty, without health insurance, without understanding, or living with birthparents who didn’t want them or couldn’t take proper care of them but didn’t place them for adoption. They are light-years worse off than our wonderful, but frustrating, pair. The future of such kids indeed looks very bleak—and often short—and it is unbearable to think that there, but for fortune, would be our beloved teens. Ours may not make it through college or get a high-paying job—but they will not end up in jail or any other institution, they will
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WESTERN One hundred and seventy: the number of lunches prepared and photographed by college friend Lorelei Cress for her beautiful daughter. For many parents this may not be a fantastic feat, but Cress's lunches are special to the "nth" degree. Cress uses a Japanese tradition called bento as inspiration to design and prepare her daughter’s lunches.
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I call them "practical" bentos, since there usually is no rice or left-
American mothers on sites like Anna the Red’s Bento Factory
overs involved. Still, Lorelei makes sure they are balanced with a
(http://www.annathered.com/) and Happy
protein, fresh fruit and/or vegetables and a tasty entree. For her
Little Bento (http://happylittlebento.blogspot.com/). When I saw
fans (74 comments to date from the friends and family who have
the simple yet still very cute bentos on Pigs Do Fly
access to them on Facebook), her presentation is delightful and inspiring. I finally caught up with this busy mom and got a few tips.
(http://www.pcgirl.net/blog/?cat=4), I first thought I might be able to pull them off. I was also inspired by the fact that they are “green” – since everything is packed in reusable containers (no
Why and how did you decide to use Bentos as a style for baggies, plastic wrap or paper bags needed), we create a lot less creating lunches?
trash. Lately it seems American versions of bento lunches are be-
My daughter has been underweight her whole life, and doesn’t eat coming much more popular (I’d even go so far as to call them much even when she’s not completely distracted by a new environ- “trending”), and there are many more online sources of inspirament, new kids, etc. – so when she started school last year I want- tion available than there were when I first began. ed to make her lunches something special she’d look forward to
How much time do you usually spend on a lunch, and
opening and relish eating. I was familiar with the concept of bento when do you think about it? lunches from having visited Japan several times as a touring musician, and had come across photos in the last few years of cute (the Japanese term is “kawaii”) bentos that Japanese mothers were making for their children, as well as the efforts of some inspired
I spend between 10-30 minutes on each lunch, depending on how complex the design is and how much prep needs to be done. Most of mine are very simple. Sometimes I plan them out in advance, but most mornings, it’s just whatever I have on hand and however
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– a field trip, family outing, or holiday. Other days, what she’s stud- also find lots of reusable plastic lunch boxes at Target, Walmart, ying in school (currently the rain forest) or the weather or season
etc. with locking lids that work great. Cookie/vegetable cutters are
serves as inspiration.
probably the most inexpensive and versatile tools, and they come in
About how much do you spend on a lunch or on lunch
nearly every shape and size you can imagine. Sandwich cutters that
supplies monthly?
simultaneously cut off crusts and cut sandwiches into fun shapes,
I haven’t actually bothered to calculate what the lunch supplies cost on their own – I’d guess that I’m spending around $120 - $150 per month just on the groceries, but that’s supplying lunches for myself as well as for my daughter, on weekends as well as weekdays. I’ve probably spent around $150-200 on tools and supplies since I began over a year ago – but I’ve discovered that you don’t really need much in the way of tools to make fun and tasty lunches – just some imagination, a sharp knife, and a good variety of fruits, vegetables, breads and cheeses.
and pocket sandwich molds/presses that cut off the crust while sealing in the filling (which is nice when you have messy fillings like egg salad or peanut butter and honey) are also nice to have on hand. Reusable silicon cups are great for containing things like blueberries, edamame, Goldfish crackers or Teddy Grahams, but paper or foil cupcake liners can work well, too (if you don’t mind creating a little recyclable trash). Decorative, reusable plastic food picks can be found online and in stores that sell baking supplies, and can be used to hold sandwiches together, spear small fruits or vegetables, or just add a touch of whimsy. Japanese egg molds can
What are your favorite tools and supplies, and where can they be found? Bento boxes can be found online and in Japanese markets – they come in a large variety of sizes and styles. For small children, I think the single layer boxes with locking lids are the best. You can 26
be purchased online or at Japanese markets, and turn a plain hardboiled egg into an adorable bunny, fish, car, heart, star, bear, and
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inspiration strikes me at the moment I’m putting it together that
At first it took me so long to assemble them that I didn’t have time
dictate what I make. Sometimes I try to do a theme based on an up- to make more than one, but now I make a simple version for myself coming event other cute shapes.
every day. As a result, I’m eating a lot healthier and saving a ton of
What is your daughter’s and her friends' response?
money.
She looks forward to seeing what’s in her lunch each day, and usual- Why don't you use leftovers? ly eats most of it; the exception is when I put in something unfamil- I don’t usually have much in the way of leftovers available – and iar, so I try to introduce new things at home before including them
what I do have wouldn’t be very tasty eaten cold. Unfortunately, mi-
in her lunches. She tells me her friends think they’re cool, but most
crowaving is not an option at my daughter’s school, and I don’t cur-
of the feedback I’ve received is from family and friends who’ve seen
rently have a container appropriate for keeping food warm, so eve-
the photos posted on Facebook, and a few teachers and aides from
rything is served cold.
my daughter’s school. Your choice to post your pics is a telltale sign that this is a creative endeavor as well as a nutritional one. Am I right about that? Absolutely! I don’t have time for much in the way of hobbies, so this is definitely a fun creative outlet for me. I also post pics as a visual reference for myself (to remind me what I’ve done before and could do again) and to provide ideas/inspiration for my fellow parents who are struggling with what to give their kids for lunch every day. How often do you make these for yourself? 31
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Intern Opportunities at MEZCLADOS
Design Intern
Coordinate stories and artwork Think of graphic ideas and make suggestions Supervise and assist with page design Supervise design of the entire publication Sets color scheme for the edition Plans cover with editor
Associate Editorial Intern
Work closely with editors-in-chief to set the magazine's production schedule Organize and update staff communications Assist in editing articles
Copywriting duties.
Send resumes, samples to themezclados@gmail.com 41
Issue 1. 42
November 2012.
