“Too much, not enough, It’s not that hard to comprehend, I am not one but many, I am the perfect blend…”

“I wrote this article, "Does Being Asian Enough Matter?" sometime in early March of 2020. I’ll touch upon my thoughts on that piece later, but after some waking up and leaning in, here are some lessons about mixed identity that I am internalizing everyday.”

“A hand reaches out – to open that door? Yes and no because they drag me through that door. Run me through like the freshness of spring dirt off celery down the drain, particles of toxic lead safely stored in the Brita filter, yolk of an egg as the white trickles through patient hands. Whites are examined for shells, for bits of yellow, for anything non-white.”

“As a blasian, I have to worry about whether or not my Black father will encounter aggressive racist cops, or if my Japanese mother will be safe at the grocery store if she goes alone…”

“What I discovered was that in this struggle that felt uniquely mine, were five other people who had been tackling the same things. Mixed-raced, multiracial, and white-passing stories need to be told. My hope is for these stories to find the eyes of a mixed-raced reader searching for clarity and community. What you will find is that even within a single family, the mixed-race experience varies greatly. There is no single archetype, but that diversity is what unites us.”

“…she asked me, how are you so tan? it’s winter. I thought to myself, I am tan because when amber drips down a tree it hardens dark. I am tan because when you crack open the sunburned shell of the coconut sweet water spills out and you sink your teeth into its meat grateful for the jungle and its saccharine sustenance….”

““Se dice…”, a phrase I know all too well. In Spanish, an expression of correction that is used to express “It is said like this.... and not like that”. A phrase I hear too often to have learned Spanish as my first language. A phrase of embarrassment.”

“My granny spent her childhood feeling the thorough effects of the Raj. Her grandmother would tell her to speak Konkani. My granny speaks English. It’s no source of shame to her, to my knowledge. She said that all the women in her family, her whole family in Mangalore would speak Konkani to her & she would reply in her mother tongue, English.” Beka Bowkett tackles the tightrope between language and ancestral responsibilities in this striking poem and statement, click to read more!

A collection of mixed identity and literature and an essential reading list! Whether you’re looking for an escape from the chaos of today or have a few of your own mixed questions you want to explore through some great novels, this list is for you.

“she speaks to me in my dreams in the language of my ancestors - she does not know the sinful syllables of white men, she teaches me to do the same. she speaks to me like she spoke to juan diego, she speaks to me like she spoke to all of mexico…”

“Many other Latinos are also mixed, whether it be with Indigenous, Spanish, African, or a multitude of other races. However, due to colonization, a lot of mixed people, or mestizos, feel a disconnect between their Native culture and the one of the colonizers. They may not feel comfortable with identifying as White or Native because of that disconnect. I myself, feel this disconnect sometimes as well…”

“Texture: strands of hair that seem minor, but are packed with history and significance. My father’s hair is close to the 1b hair type. My father’s hair tells a story of the multiple ethnicities coursing through his veins. (Czechoslovakian, Cuban, White and Italian). My mother’s hair tells a different story…”

As a first generation Chinese-Israeli, food has always been an important source of connection to my culture, food binds my grandparents and I. I am growing up in a world drastically different than any of them could have even imagined, but their food is a source of consistency and serves as a connection. I wanted to share a recipe from both sides of the family that has always been important to me.

“It’s a weird thing when you’re mixed. I feel like your identity is partially how you self-identify, but also how other people perceive you. So then I went through this thing where I was like, oh, how do I identify?” We had a chance to interview mixed writer and director, Sarah Kambe Holland about her journey with her film Egghead and Twinkie.

“How a lover would water me down enough, until they are comfortable swallowing my existence…”