MIXED ROOTS: WRITERS ON MULTIRACIAL IDENTITY & BOTH/AND BELONGING

WRITERS ON MULTIRACIAL IDENTITY & BOTH/AND BELONGING
Beacon Press-Penguin Random House
Edited by Anne Liu Kellor 
 
29 personal essays exploring mixed identity, belonging, family, racism, community and the paradoxical ways of being in the world Mixed people carry lifelong embodied knowledge about existing in non-binary, intersectional worlds. Mixed Roots presents 29 personal essays that complicate the narrative around race and identity—dispelling narrow ideas that there is ever one “right” or singular way for folks to identify. 
 
Born out of a community of writers formed through editor Anne Liu Kellor’s annual writing workshop, Mixed Roots is filled with pieces infused with a deep examination of privilege, microaggressions, whiteness, ancestral trauma, internalized racism, and paradoxical truths—going beyond common tropes found in many mixed-race narratives. Highlighting various Asian, Black, Native, Latine, and Arab mixed voices from writers ranging from their 20s to 70s, Mixed Roots invites more multiracial and mixed roots people in to actively contribute to the dialogue around race, whether or not they publicly identify as “mixed.” 

A powerful collection of personal truths and cultural insight, Mixed Roots reveals how community and narrative can be useful tools to see how alike we are. We all carry in our bodies the historical legacies, confusion, trauma, and harm caused by racialized experiences—Mixed Roots says we are multilayered, not easily defined or contained by one story, and as such, can speak to us all.

ABOUT THE EDITOR: Anne Liu Kellor is a mixed-race Chinese American author, coach, developmental editor, and teacher based in Seattle. anneliukellor.com

MIXED ROOTS: WRITERS ON MULTIRACIAL IDENTITY & BOTH/AND BELONGING

The War Shirt: A Dialogue with the Ancestors


Michael Downey holds a Ph.D. in Dramatic Art from the University of California at Santa Barbara, and taught for 28 years in the Department of Theatre Arts at Santa Barbara City College. As a dancer he performed in various companies based in Los Angeles and Santa Barbara that operated in the 1980s. For the last fifteen years he has worked in the Department of Psychiatry and Addiction Medicine at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital, leading groups for patients in creativity and self-care. His autobiographical video performance,
The War Shirt is his most recent theater endeavor. 
 


THE WAR SHIRT
is a video performance of a one-person play that I wrote in response to the exceptional closure I experienced with my father when he died in 1994. What were the dynamics that moved our lifelong encounters from fear and conflict to mutual respect? This major theme interfaces with my reflections on my sexuality as a gay African American man coming into adulthood amid the turbulent events of the 1960s. THE WAR SHIRT is also a tribute to my ancestors, whose influence has always impacted me through my grandmother's stories. 
 

Setting Imperfect Prayer

by Kim Shuck

Stitching old stories with types of 
Love we actually know 
All of the rivers changed to 
Bring us closer 
Hiding nothing as is 
Essential for both and 
Someone right now is 
Trying there is no 
Book in particular 
Rhetoric damned 
Carrying a central truth closer finally there is 
Just
Truthshiver and the most complete 
Ache of intention it is 
Possible to offer 

Copyright © Kim Shuck. All rights Reserved.

Kim Shuck is the 7th Poet Laureate of San Francisco Emerita. Shuck is solo author of 9 books, co-authored one, edited another ten and has contributed to a vast array of anthologies, journals, curriculum guides, tours, and protests. www.kimshuck.com

Crisosto Apache named the 11th Colorado Poet Laureate


Crisosto Apache is originally from Mescalero, New Mexico (US), on the Mescalero Apache Reservation, and currently lives in the Denver metro area in Colorado. They are Mescalero Apache, Chiricahua Apache, and Diné (Navajo) of the 'Áshįįhí (Salt Clan) born for the Kinyaa'áanii (Towering House Clan) and are Associate Professor of English at the Rocky Mountain College of Art + Design. They hold an MFA from the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico. 

River, Blood, And Corn Literary Journal: A Community of Voices

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