Meet Mexipina Mentor, Christina Torres

Aloha, Hip Hapa Homeez!

As always, Your Hip Hapa thanks you for your loving support. Since Facebook deleted all inactive accounts, the numbers for our Watermelon Sushi fans has plunged. Please “like” our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/watermelonsushi and help build us up again.

Christina Torres

Your Hip Hapa is so grateful for your continued views of our links at the bottom of this post. And, please tell your family, friends and multicultural community organizations to join us here every other month to read about our featured Hip Hapa Homee.

This bi-month, we’d like to introduce you to educator Christina Torres. Here’s her story:

Q: Who are you parents and how did they meet?

A: My Mexican father and Filipina mother met at the University of Southern California.

mother, father, daughter

Q: What was it like growing up?

A: Growing up was tough. 

I’ve written about it here: http://www.tolerance.org/blog/why-teaching-about-social-justice-matters 

and here: https://teachrunwrite.wordpress.com/2015/03/31/the-paradox-of-high-expectations/. 

I was at a mostly white school, so that was hard.

in Hawai'i

Q: Now that you live in Hawai’i, how different is it from your former residence in Southern California?

A: I'm way more accepted here than in SoCal. In L.A., there was also lot of racial profiling that affected me. Here in Hawai'i, everyone is mixed and in interracial relationships, which helps a lot. Still it's hard.

Q: What inspired you to become an educator?

A: I wrote about that here:

http://rance.org/blog/why-teaching-about-social-justice-matters 

But some of it was also the realization that kids who shared my racial background, but grew up a half an hour away, had received an education that lacked a number of opportunities that mine had. I realized I had to do something about it. 

Q: How do you guide your students when it comes to developing multicultural awareness?

A: I make it a point to consistently bring up conversations around race with my students. I've actually already written a paper on facing stereotypes and biases with my students to discuss race issues.

Q: As an educator, how do you see things changing for multiracial people? Or, do you? 

A: I think that as interracial relationships become more common and race issues become more prevalent, we'll move towards a world where these issues are discussed more, and multiracial people will have more representation. I think we have a LONG way to go, however.

Q: What other ways are you active with the multicultural movement?

A: I'm part of the #educolor collective:

bit.ly/EduColorTwitter 

and talk about mixed-race issues.

Mahalo nui loa, Christina! 

Hey, Hip Hapa Homeez, until we meet again on June 3, we wish you a HAPA Spring. Remember to check us out at these sites:

Watermelon Sushi film

http://www.watermelonsushi.com

Watermelon Sushi on Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/watermelonsushi

Watermelon Sushi World Networked Blogs on Facebook

http://www.networkedblogs.com/blog/watermelon_sushi_world

  

Hapa*Teez on YouTube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBIMaJUljjI

Hapa*Teez on Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/hapateez

Hapa*Teez on Café Press

http://www.cafepress.com/hapateez

War Brides of Japan v.2 on YouTube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNSEUkT2N4E&feature=plcp

War Brides of Japan on YouTube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnJkujn1iek&feature=colike

War Brides of Japan on Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/WarBridesOfJapan

Yayoi Lena Winfrey fan page on Facebook (sorry, but Your Hip Hapa can’t add any more friends to her regular profile page)

https://www.facebook.com/yayoilenawinfreyfanpage

Twitter

https://twitter.com/watermelonsushi

And, remember to join our Hip Hapa Homeez group on Facebook to read the most intriguing articles and comments about the multicultural community.

buy a HapaTeez t-shirt like this one!

Your Hip Hapa,

Yayoi

Messy And Beautiful Adventures From Jersey Shores To Espana

Aloha, Hip Hapa Homeez! 

Big ups, big hugs and big fat smooches to you all. Your Hip Hapa appreciates your continued purchases of Hapa*Teez t-shirts. Every penny of profit goes to support our Watermelon Sushi film, and earns you a rear crawl credit. Be sure we have the correct spelling of your name for when the film is produced and released. If you’ve already bought a Hapa*Teez, drop us a line at hapateez@me.com And, if you have a pix of yourself in one, please share.

Rob Lee shares Hapawood with you!

Your continued participation in our Hip Hapa Homeez group on Facebook indicates that the topics of being mixed-race, multi-cultural, multi-ethnic, interracially involved, transracially adopted, and/or crossing cultures continues to be important ones. Keep up the comments, discussions and posts of relevant subjects!

Watermelon Sushi and Hapa*Teez also have Facebook fan pages, and there’s a myCuz @Oprah campaign on Twitter. Follow us at watermelonsushi, read about us on HUB, and please sign the twitition. I hear my cousin Oprah is looking for OWN projects so let’s help her out.

This month’s featured Hip Hapa Homee is the hilarious and irreverent Ali Berlinksi, author of A Beautiful Mess. Chapter one is titled You’re Not White, and you can read it here:

http://aliberlinski.com/

Here are more of Ali’s links and, below them, a Q&A:

http://www.pubslush.com/book/view/84

http://mochimag.com/blog/2012/02/alison-berlinskis-a-beautiful-mess-sheds-light-on-biracial-struggles/

Ali in Paris

Q: You’ve had one heck of a mixed family experience. Please divulge some details.

A: In addition to being biracial, I’m also bicoastal. My birth mother is a Filipina immigrant raised in San Francisco, ergo she's wasn't your typical immigrant Filipino parent. As for my father, he's from Jersey. His other ethnicities include Polish, German and Welsh. I was born in Jersey, but moved to Northern California when I was 9 with my birth mother, Puerto Rican stepfather and two younger siblings, who are Puerto Rican-Filipino. Growing up, I visited Jersey twice a year to see my father and two older brothers, who are from my father's first marriage and half-Italian. Though I’m not ethnically Italian or Puerto Rican, I very much relate to the cultures. (See family diagram, below.)

Ali's Family Tree

Q: Were you always funny? 

A: This question is the best compliment anyone has ever given me! Um, no. I don't consider myself funny but rather, entertaining. If anything, I've always been eccentric and a bit awkward, which happens to be in fashion these days as far as comedy is concerned. Consider me your hot, female, ethnic Michael Cera. I don't try to be funny. If I make people laugh then great, but when this humor trend eventually changes, and it will, I'll continue being my zany self.  

Ali before she left NYC

Q: You currently live in Spain. I'm guessing being half Filipina has something to do with it, right?

A: Three words: chorizo, wine and siesta. This place is a foodie's paradise. Before moving abroad, I applied to teaching programs all over the world. I had to get the hell out of NYC. My life there was too comfortable and I desperately needed a change. Spain was my first choice. For one, they really have their priorities straight--work to live and not live to work as we tend to do in the U.S. They also have amazing coffee, which if I were Popeye would be my spinach. I'm sure my Filipino "Puerto Rican" roots did play a role. For, while the culture is different from my own, it's still very familiar. Still, the most important thing to me was that I radically change my life. Moving abroad seemed to be a fun way to do that.


Q: What are the biggest differences in identifying as a multi-cultural person in Spain versus presenting yourself like that in the U.S.?

A: Whenever you're considered a "not", it reinforces whatever qualities make you a "not". In the U.S., I'm considered "Not White" and so I align myself with minorities even though many minorities would consider me "whitewashed". Even the “nots” have “nots”.

The idea of a biracial person doesn't exist in Spain. They're a very homogeneous insulated society. Moreover, the Spanish don't tend to think in terms of race, but culture. To them, I'm just different, period. Thus, here I'm "Not Spanish" which reinforces my American identity. Subsequently, I crave peanut butter more than I ever did when I was in the states. By no means are the Spanish egalitarians; rather, they have a completely different understanding and relationship with these ideas.

Ali goes "all Waiting to Exhale"...

Q: What inspired you to write A Beautiful Mess?

A: This book has been a dream of mine since forever. In a way, I've always understood my life to be different. After going through some really tough breakups and realizations, I decided to take some time and reboot. Writing has always been my sanity, and writing this book provided me with a productive way to express some really tough emotions. Although the book is deeply personal, the issues I discuss are very relatable: divorced single-parents, sibling rivalry, racial identity, heartache, cancer, death of a loved one, career struggles, gay, "handicapped" and bipolar family members, and so on. Clearly, my life can be ridiculous, which is why I think it’s so important to laugh. 

Right now, the book is available exclusively through pubslush.com. There, you can read a chapter and support my book for as little as $10. I need to have 1000 people pre-order it in the next 60 days in order to get published. I need as much help spreading the word so tell everyone you know--and don’t know, for that matter! When I reach this goal I'm published just like any other author. Plus, those who pre-order can list themselves as an original discoverer of my book. It's a company I'm really passionate about because not only does it help me get published, but it also helps promote literacy in third world countries. For every book you buy, a book is donated to the featured charity. Tell everyone you know!

Q: Some of the encounters you describe in your essays are not vastly different from what most mixed-race people experience as far as being constantly questioned and validated. Are you writing to assure the multicultural community, or is it more for informing the non-mixed population about our issues?

A: My essays are intended for everyone and the only message I hope to convey is that everything in life is a choice. Aside from that, I'd be flattered if a person reads an essay and has an “ah-ha” moment, thereby motivating questions and eventually, a dialogue. But then, you can never tell what people are going to take from your work. 

Q: What's next? Another book, films, TV appearances? 

A: After this book gets published, I plan to do lots of publicity, which will probably include TV appearances, book talks and tours this summer. It’s exciting and yet daunting. Whenever you put yourself out there, you risk getting hurt. But I stand by my book and am excited to share it. And, I’m writing a second book that will focus on my life now that I've moved to Spain.

Bravo! Ole muy bien, Ali, and mucho gracias.

So far, Hip Hapa Homeez, 2012 has been beyond busy for us. Mad props to each one of you for coming along on this journey towards One World. Mahalo nui loa to you who know who you are. Until next month, when we present another Hip Hapa Homee, I am

Your Hip Hapa,


Yayoi

Perfect Peace

Although I consider myself an armchair anti-war activist, I have to admit that growing up on military bases was one of the best things that happened to me and my sister. Ironically, we spent our teen years as peaceniks protesting the Vietnam War and the "military industrial complex". But looking back now, I see that had it not been for the U.S. Army I wouldn't have been born me. The only reason my father was in Japan was because of war. Had he not met and married my mother, I might've ended up with a Japanese otosan. What a strange concept to consider!

But back to childhood. Even though we were unaware of it at the time, those military bases were havens of perfect peace for us kids of mixed marriages. Shortly after WWII, American military men took warbrides from Europe, Asia and Australia. Many GI's ended up with German and Japanese wives. During our years at Ft. Lewis, I remember having lots of friends with Japanese or German mothers. Their fathers were sometimes white, sometimes black.

In any case, I never heard a single racist comment during that period. Instead, I learned snippets of various languages and cultural traditions from all of my classmates. My best friend, Sondra, whose family was Puerto Rican once invited me to her Catholic Church. Although I consider myself agnostic, it was richly rewarding to be exposed to someone else's religion. My sister's best friend, Tessie, was Filipina and I remember that meals served in her home were markedly different from what Sondra's family dined on. The mother of the Mexican family next door taught my mother to make a popular noodle dish. In fact, there was so much ethnic diversity in our neighborhood that it was like living at the United Nations. Only no one seemed to notice that everyone was different because being different was normal.

Several years later, when my father moved us to an all-white, middle-class neighborhood in nearby Tacoma, our neighbors there rolled up the welcome mat and tossed it out. Today, I realize that the only reason no one burned crosses in our yard was because they thought they had too much class although they probably thought about doing it. A fireman who lived across the street called my sister and me the "n-word" one day as we walked past his house. Huh? How'd you like to have him come put out the fire at your house? Let's see, "Ya'll are nothin' but a buncha "n-words" so I'ma jest let yo home burn down." Most of the kids in our 'hood just told us point blank that they weren't "allowed" to play in our yard like we had a disease or something. Only one girl, whose parents both worked in factories, ever actually came inside our house. I guess, in the eyes of the rest of the neighbors, her having laborer folks put her in the same class with us coloreds.

When I was in high school, my two best friends were also the offspring of warbrides. Silvia's mother was Austrian while Helen's mother was French. I was also friends with two girls who both had German mothers although one had a black father, and the other a white. I don't think any of us were particularly conscious of it then, but one of the reasons, I figure, that drew us together was our having mothers with accents. Having a foreign-born mother is what separated us from other classmates more so, I believe, than being mixed-race, or even black. I mean, it was a pretty big deal to attend some mother-daughter school function and present your mom to "real Americans" who would gawk at her before rudely demanding of you, "What did she say? I can't understand her." Of course, there was probably some remaining hostility towards Germans and Japanese who had been America's enemies during the war. Still, common sense would dictate that warbrides had been screened and approved for immigration by the U.S. How harmful could they've been? Was my mother toting a machine gun during the war? Was she the one who ordered the bombing of Pearl Harbor? Between dodging bombs dropped by Americans and running to bomb shelters, she barely survived on the few rations doled out by her government.

While we've come a long way since the days of outright animosity towards foreigners, we still have a ways to go. That's evident by some of the events that took place post-9/11. A friend of mine who is half black and half white, but looks of Arab descent, caught hell the first year following 9/11. When he once visited me in Los Angeles, he was stopped from taking photos of the LaBrea Tar Pits! No kidding.

These days, I'm grateful for my military upbringing although I remain vehemently anti-war. Still, I believe the only answer to peace is education. Until people learn the truth by studying accurately recorded history, we are doomed as a species to continue battling one another based on some physical trait.

Your Hip Hapa,

Yayoi