MultiCulti Mario: American Artist And Haitian Hunk

Hau’oli Makahiki Hou, Hip Hapa Homeez! In case you’re not familiar, that’s literally Happy, Year, New in Hawai’ian. Hawai’ians also gave us the word “hapa”, which is the way they pronounced the English word “half”. Along with “haole”, meaning “he without sacred breath” or “non-Hawai’ian”, "hapa" was used in reference to Hawai’ians of mixed blood. Thus, "hapa haole", or "half non-Hawai’ian".

Hey, welcome back to Watermelon Sushi World! We’ve missed you. Here we are in a brand new year with a brand new interviewee.

Remember our last featured guest, Pei Ju Chou? Because she emigrated to the U.S. as a teen, she often felt as if she had one foot in two worlds—Taiwan's and America's. So, Pei created a documentary—Stuck on the Boat—featuring the stories of “1.5 generation” children.

Like Pei, this month’s featured guest--Mario Louis--also arrived on the shores of the U.S. as a teenager. Besides being a prolific rapper and music producer, Mario also served in the U.S. military and is preparing to tour with To the Fallen Records.

To Mario, we say, “Bonn Ane”--Haitian Creole for Happy New Year! Check out the Haitian hunk in the pix above and below, and follow him at these links:

www.quietgunz.com

www.facebook.com/quietgunz

http://twitter.com/quietgunz

Here’s Mario’s story:

Q: Lately, Haiti has been in the news for its tragedies, but it can't be all bad. What city were you born in, and what was it like living there?

A: I was born in the L'artibonite section of Haiti. My dad left for the States a week later, and then mom moved back to the capital, Port-au-Prince, when I was three months old.

Growing up in Port-au-Prince was rough, but it was beautiful. Despite all the struggles and political unrest, it was my home sweet home. It's the kind of place where you expect anything to happen at anytime. Nothing surprises you after awhile, and then life goes on.

Q: How old were you when you left, and what was it like leaving and coming to America?

A: I left Haiti at 15. It was painful. It was kinda like mixed feelings. I was happy to be reunited with my dad and to know a better life and opportunities were waiting ahead, but it was painful leaving it all behind. My family, my friends, my neighborhood.

Q: Why do you think that so many African Americans, and Americans of other ethnicities, know little about the Haitian Revolution and its significance to the history of black liberation?

A: The Haitian Revolution took place in the late 1700's and ended in 1804 with the African slaves in Haiti defeating the French army. The same way the Internet is popular in our time today, slavery was the biggest business around the globe back in those times. It was a conflict of interest for the American government to deal with the free Africans in Haiti, when every African in the United States was still enslaved. The last thing they wanted was for African Americans to be inspired to start another "Haitian Revolution" in their own backyards.

Q: How many languages do you speak, and what are they?

A: I speak four languages. Haitian Creole, being my first, was spoken at home and in the streets. Then, French, which was always on TV, media, books, and spoken in school with the teachers.  Both Spanish and English were mandatory in junior high school, but I had already learned a lot of Spanish since my dad’s side of the family lived near the Dominican Republic border. English was the last one I picked up.

Q: What were the hardest and easiest things to adjust to after you moved to the U.S.?

A: Everything was hard moving to New York. It was basically starting your life all over again. Here, I come from Haiti, where everyone knew me and I knew everyone. Then, I wake up one day and nobody knows anything about me or cares to know. It was hard to communicate with peers in school at first. It was a big change, and the hardest part was accepting that change and adapting to it day by day. So nothing was easy really easy, but it didn't take me too long to adjust because I was never shy to ask questions or make mistakes.

Q: What led you to join the U.S. military and how long were you in it?

A: I was just looking for avenues after high school. Many of my close friends were getting involved in the streets and I was watching some of them go to jail. Others were being deported back to Haiti. I wanted to go play college basketball, but couldn't get into the schools I wanted. So that's when I joined the Marines. But right before I went in, I got accepted into UMES in Maryland. I still had the option of walking away from my military contract at that point, but I chose to stay in the reserve for six years after boot camp. It's still one of my proudest accomplishments to date.

Q: Tell us about your music--how did you get started and what’s going on with your career now?

A: I used to listen to a lot of reggae when I was a kid and that's how I learned my first song structures and how to rhyme. Then, my cousin introduced me to rap and I started hearing AZ, Nas, and Xzibit. After I moved to the States, I started writing my own stuff in high school and people used to be amazed. I remember one time somebody had my notebook and, for like a whole day, my rhymes were being passed around the school and people were coming to me like, "Yo, you always quiet, but I ain’t know you rapped. You nice wit it, son."

When I went away in the military, every down time we got turned into a freestyle session. In college, I started doing talent shows and performed on military bases. But it was all a hobby. When I wanted to get serious with it, I realized it was costing too much to buy beats. So I learned how to make them myself. Then, recording was costing me money. So, I bought all the basic equipment and taught myself how to record. I was so addicted to the whole process that I acted as if I were a record label on foot. I got into graphic design and created my CD covers and flyers. I then released my first project "Silent, but Deadly" in late 2007. I sold it out of my trunk, online and received lots of offers from DJ's, promoters, and semi-pro basketball leagues to perform.

As of now, I'm getting ready to release "Trigga Muscle: a Tribute to the Troops and Fallen Warriors". One of the singles recently got released on a compilation through To the Fallen Records, which is an independent label distributed through Universal Music Group/Fontana. They've helped me reach a larger audience and are preparing to tour various military bases.

Merci beaucoups, Mario. Wow! Four languages, a prolific musician, and cutie-pie to boot.

Hey, Hip Hapa Homeez, as you may know Sexy Voices of Hollywood (SVOH) was launched as an Internet edutainment show to help finance the Watermelon Sushi film. You can listen to it every other Wednesday on YouTube or any number of Internet channels. You can also “like” the SVOH Fan page on Facebook and sign up on the SVOH Event page to stay tuned for upcoming shows. You can also purchase an SVOH t-shirt, follow SVOH on Twitter, or friend SVOH on MySpace. Sexy Voices of Hollywood is everywhere!

Don’t forget, you can also show your support for Watermelon Sushi World by joining our Hip Hapa Homeez group page where we post news about multiethnic communities, transracial adoptees and multiculti moments. And, you can “like” our Watermelon Sushi fan page, follow our impromptu tweets on Twitter, or buy a HapaTeez t-shirt on Café Press—where every purchase will earn you a rear crawl credit on the film, so be sure we have the correct spelling of your name.

No matter how you show us your love, HHH, we love you back.

For now, Watermelon Sushi World moves to a monthly format. Look for us on the first Wednesday of each month. Until next time, may I be the first to remind you, I am and will always be…

Your Hip Hapa,

Yayoi

Aloha Actress/Hawai'ian Healing

Aloha no, Hip Hapa Homeez. Pehea ‘oe? Maika, I hope.

One of the most gracious and graceful hip hapas ever, Traion C. Le is also beautiful—both inside and out. Besides being a model, actress, screenplay writer and graphic designer, she also promotes aloha ‘aina spirituality by offering healing via massage therapy in Hawai’i.

As a Honolulu resident, Traion reps so much of what being multiracial is all about. Claiming all of her heritages, she’s equally proud of them all. For sure, her aumakua are pleased.

Check out our island girl in the photo spread here, and the links to her sites below. Our Q&A follows:

www.youtube.com/traion

http://www.myspace.com/traika

www.facebook.com

http://www.modelmayhem.com/491285

Q: What's a nice multiracial girl like you doing in the movies?

A: Aloha! Well, acting found me. I received my first major film and TV feature by word-of-mouth. My first role ever was as a background actor (flash wedding scene) in the movie Forgetting Sarah Marshall. The second largest production was for the primetime TV show Lost where I play a camp soldier from 1952. I have been in a couple of Hawai'ian short films also.

Q: What was it like working on Lost?

A: I was pleasantly impressed by the organization, direction and dedication of the production company and crew. Long hours, yet everyone was friendly and we were treated well.

Q: What are you parents’ ethnic backgrounds?

A: My parents’ ethnicities are varied. There's the mutual base culture, African-American, then Irish and East Indian on my father's side.

Q: How did you end up living in Hawai’i?

A: It was a slow progression to the islands. I lived on the east coast all my life of 36 years and sought an exotic adventure based on faith, spiritual healing and a location to set up my massage therapy practice.

Q: You do a lot of spiritual healing work. How does that fit in with what you do as an actor?

A: I believe you can fuse healing throughout any profession because it's all an innate sense of being. I'd hope to share that healing in the entertainment business through presence, touch, prayer and sharing of the healing arts.

Q: You have a lot of love for Japanese culture. Can you explain where that came from?

A: I'd have to say, it stems from living in a multi-cultural, melting-pot locale of the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area of Arlington, Virginia. Earlier on, in my teens, I loved martial arts movies and learned of the Japanese and other Asian cultures through this medium. Lastly, through college, alternative health vocational school, living in Hawai'i and business, I developed a few close Japanese friendships.

Q: You’re also a musician and dancer. Can you tell us about your music?

A: Currently, I enjoy learning to play the Australian aboriginal wind instrument, the didgeridoo. I would like to learn how to play the Japanese koto! It sounds lovely.

Mahalo nui loa, Traion, for giving us Hip Hapa Homeez a little taste of the islands. For those of you who want to support our Watermelon Sushi film, your purchase of a t-shirt will do just that. Go to http://www.cafepress.com/hapateez. Join our Watermelon Sushi Fan club on Facebook, too. And, you can join our Hip Hapa Homeez group page on Facebook to stay informed about issues affecting all of us in the blendie and mixie world. Follow us on Twitter, too!

A hui hou, I am,

Your Hip Hapa,

Yayoi

Gung Hay Fat Choy!

Hau'oli makahiki hou, omedetto gozaimasu, and happy new year...again. Yes, it's Lunar New Year (or at least it was on Monday), and time for the Year of the Ox. Or as my mother calls the animal, "cow". "Cow," she will say, "is god." Whether I respond or not, she will go on by listing all the things people take from cows--from their milk to their flesh to their hides to make boots. Even when I argue, in my best vegan voice, "That's murder!", my mom will continue praising the god-cow and its useful body parts snatched by humans regardless of its refusals. "But Mom," I'll protest, "That's why Hindus worship cows. They're sacred so you shouldn't eat them."

I love listening to my mother "talk story" as they say in Hawai'i where everyone has a tale to share. (Check out the storyteller, below, at the Hawai'i state library.) I'm not sure why she's so good at it, but over the years I've heard my mom repeating all of them endlessly without wavering. Her facts are always the same, and the details she provides paint such visually rich pictures that I always feel like I'm right there at the scene.

My mother's stories range from the time when she was a little girl of six (when her father died and left their family penniless) to the time when she first arrived in America aboard a ship that landed in Seattle to many, many tales beyond. She tells stories of living in Richmond Texas in the 1950's when it was segregated and a white bus driver conspiratorially advised her that she need not sit in the back with my father's black relatives. She talks about my paternal grandmother who taught her how to wring a chicken's neck and fry it for my dad's lunch. One of my mother's favorite stories is about going to New York after learning English from our southern black kin and asking the bellhop to bring her "soda water". Of course, he brought her seltzer because at that time in New York if you wanted a soda, you'd call it a "pop".

My mother's stories have entertained me and my sister for decades. Even her husband perks up with attention whenever she begins with, "When I was little girl, stay Japan, I not have nothing. My daddy die, then we so poor." Evidently, my mother's family owned a hair salon with six employees, but the business burned down during a devastating earthquake. A year later, just as he rebuilt the salon, my maternal grandfather suddenly became ill and died. That threw the family into a tailspin with my grandmother forced to raise five children by herself.

Another time period that yields many tales are the childhoods of my sister and me. My mother loves telling the story about how as a baby in Texas my sister cried all night keeping her awake. I was three at the time and fast asleep as my mom relates it, but my sister could not be placated. As my mother walked to the bathroom cabinet and reached up to get a lamp to light the room with, something crawled over her bare feet. Looking down, she saw a snake sashaying away to hide behind the dresser. Quickly lighting the lamp, my mom grabbed a hoe and hunkered down in her bed watching for the snake to come out. Surprisingly, my sister suddenly stopped crying. (During this part, I always remind her that my sister was born in the Year of the Snake.) Hours later, in the still of the night, the snake crept from its hiding place, and my mother jumped up and chopped that poor creature into bits. Depending on my mood, I'll either tell my mom that she was very brave or, if I want to get a reaction, I'll chastise her for killing a helpless animal.

My mom is always filled with so many stories, but I think the most dramatic ones that she shares are about her life in Texas. After all, there were no Asians living in our little country town then, and she was treated like an oddity--except for by my dad's people. Talk about culture shock! I can't imagine moving somewhere where absolutely no one looked, spoke, ate or behaved like me. But she did it, and she earned some rewarding life experiences for it.

That's why I think it's so important to reach across cultural lines and invite someone different into your life. Interracial couples do that all the time. Just think how boring life would be if

every single human on earth was of one race.

Just remember this new year is Ox time and those animals are stubborn and pragmatic. This could prove to be one really s-l-o-w year.

Speaking of time, it's hard to believe that it's been one year since I began blogging regularly about mixed-race issues. I actually started Watermelon Sushi World in 2006, but with no time to invest in it then, I let it languish. What really brought me to attention was you. You guys are so encouraging and your comments throughout the last year are so appreciated. Please don't stop. And, please consider emailing me your mixed-race stories so that I can include them in a future blog. Email me at hiphapa@comcast.net

Oh, and here's a reminder that the producers of the Watermelon Sushi film are still checking out talent for our principal characters. Although we've received some nice reels and headshots, we're open to looking at more. We want to give everyone a chance, so please spread the word. Although we don't have our locations set yet, it doesn't matter where you live. It's a new world and even though this year may be slow as an ox, we can always bring you to us wherever we end up.

Here are some photos of my mom showing off her new boots (no, they are not made of "cow") and a hilarious note she posted on the fridge about her dog, Muffin. I added the "e" to her "befor".

Gung Hay Fat Choy to all of you from...

Your Hip Hapa,

Yayoi

New York Times Punks Out: Hot, Hapa Mess!

Well, as promised, below is the link to the New York Times "Mixed Messenger" article on hapas which was not even written by a hapa, but by the Jewish mother of a hapa daughter. After you read the article, please return to my blog to read my rebuttal which was not accepted by the New York Times' short-sighted editors.

Even if they had edited it (it was too long for both the Letters and OpEd pages), I would've been happy just to see them acknowledge an article about hapas written by a hapa. And, people wonder why race relationships in this country are so bad! If I, a Japanese-black woman, decided to write a piece on what it means to be Jewish, I'd either be laughed out of town or hideously chastised. Instead, the vice versa is perfectly acceptable.

Sign me,

Disgusted.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/23/magazine/23wwln-lede-t.html?ex=1206936000&en=a75aa4c5e7d2072f&ei=5070&emc=eta1

March 25, 2008

Editor/Op Ed, New York Times

Dear Editor,

I was very surprised to read an article in your publication about hapas written by someone who is NOT hapa. Just because a mono-racial person has a biracial child doesn't make her an expert on hapas. And, in Ms. Orenstein's case, that goes double (pun intended).

First of all, for her to write that Senator "Obama has increasingly positioned himself as a black man" is wrong. Most biracial people aren't allowed to choose their own identity, but are thrust into one by mono-racial people based on nothing more than their physical appearance. She also makes no mention of the One Drop Rule, a legacy of slavery that is still in effect today--which is substantiated by her next remark:

"White America, too, has a vested interest in seeing him as black (as) it's certainly a more exciting, more romantic and more concrete prospect than the "first biracial president"...

Please. White America wants Senator Obama identified as black in order to perpetuate the One Drop Rule, which was enforced by white slave masters seeking to ensure that their property never fell into the hands of their half-Negro slave offspring.

The anti-miscegenation laws Ms. Orenstein refers to were enacted to prevent WHITES from intermarrying. Period. Those laws were based on the concept of white supremacy and were enforced to keep white blood from being tainted by any other race. Certainly, no one would arrest a black man and an Asian woman who married, or vice versa.

Ms. Orenstein is also misdirected when she says that hapa is a Hawai'ian word meaning half. Native Hawai'ians didn't have a word for half because they had no concept of it. If Ms. Orenstein had done her homework, she would've learned that hapa is a mispronunciation of the English word half. Hawai'ian phonetics, which adds vowels to endings of words, would dictate that half comes out sounding like hapa. Half-a. Hapa.

Ms. Orenstein's article is rife with misinformation. If your paper's intent was to educate the mainstream about hapas, you should've asked a genuine one like Jen Chau, head of the largest mixed-race organization in the world--http://www.swirlinc.org--to comment.

In fact, there are dozens of well-known hapas who write, speak and promote hapa-ness that would've given a much clearer and more accurate picture of what it means to be biracial. Thanks to Ms. Orenstein, we now have a hot, hapa mess on our hands.

Your Hip Hapa,

Yayoi Lena Winfrey

btw, that's Jen Chau above, right, with my friend Doris when I visited both in NYC in 2000.

Hapa*Teez Hits Cyberspace!

At last! After months of delays, my Watermelon Sushi store is finally opened for business and my Hapa*Teez t-shirts are for sale. Just for you, I've created three designs splayed across the top of several styles of t's all using the word hapa.

Now, about that word that some communities like to claim as their own. Personally, I feel that it belongs to all of us blendies. Originally, the Hawai'ians used it to mean "half" as in a measurement. And, it was traditionally linked with the word haole--a combination of ha (life's breath) and ole (nothing); literally, "he without breath". You see, the first Europeans arriving on the scene looked much too pale to the Natives to contain any ha or life's breath, and because they didn't prostrate themselves before the King and expel their last ha as was the custom, the Hawai'ians figured they had none. Thus, haole. And, please, don't mispronounce it by saying howlie as if you're referring to a wolf or something. Instead, try "hah" "oh" "leh". Ah, much better.

As Europeans began marrying Hawai'ians, their offspring were called hapa haole--half European. Then, with the arrival of East Asians, even more intermarrying occurred. Soon, Native Hawai'ians could boast few among them as being pure blood. The hapa haole phrase then became more applicable to those who were half Asian and half white.

Like I said, I use hapa to describe anyone who is biracial. Half is half of any race as far as I'm concerned.

So, please check out my store at: http://www.cafepress.com/hapateez

I know some of the prices are a bit much, but believe me my commission is not. On a serious tip, I hope my Hapa*Teez t's grow so huge in popularity that I'll be able to finance my feature film this year. If that's the case, I'll give an onscreen credit to all of you who buy them.

Another project I'm currently working on is a short documentary about hapas. So, if you're biracial and have a story to share onscreen, contact me at watermelonsushi@comcast.net

And, here's a shout-out to my SWIRL girl, Jen Chau. You can read her blog at jenchau.typepad.com/thetimeisalwaysright or check out www.swirlinc.org to connect with the largest mixed-race organization on Planet Earth!

Next up, Mia G updates the www.watermelonsushi.com website with new photos of Kool Mo Dee and Chuck D at Studio 52 in LA where we watched Mo Dee tape his new TV pilot, iamhiphop.com this past November.

And, I'll keep you posted about that newspaper article featuring hapas (including yours truly) that should be published this weekend.

Alafia!

Your Hip Hapa,

Yayoi

Gung Hay Fat Choy!

That's omedeto gozaimasu in Japanese, hau'oli makahiki hou in Hawai'ian, and Happy New Year in English. Welcome to the Year of the Earth Rat! Let's hope that all of our entrepreneurial dreams manifest into solid, material reality in this fresh time. (For insurance, remember to clean your stoves and hang a mirror behind it to reflect extra burners--the more burners, the more money to burn!)

Speaking of fresh, as I left yoga class today, I was NOT thinking about race at all. You know, yoga does have that effect on you even when you're a double-minority surrounded by the dominant majority as I currently am. Anyway, as I entered a supermarket to purchase orange juice (non-concentrated so that the vitamins are still intact), a young Caucasian woman (again, I wasn't thinking race--this is an afterthought) attempted to hand me a flyer offering a free Valentine Day's card if I purchased three. Refusing, I explained to her that I was an artist who made my own. Instead of being angry, she was overjoyed because, she told me, she was a musician and singer who writes her own tunes. When I uttered the word "artist", it sealed an unspoken spiritual connection between the two of us and, for the next 20 minutes, we engaged in an inspiring discussion of just what it means to be a creative person in this world. During our talk, we both expressed our frustrations about having to perform work that we didn't like just to earn a living. And, it's not just about doing meaningless work, it's also about not having any time left to express the natural talents that we possess.

Here, this lovely creature was handing out flyers in a grocery store instead of sitting at her Mac and mixing sounds. As I revealed some of the challenges surrounding my film, Watermelon Sushi, she told me about her aspirations to cut a record deal. Then, she relayed a story about how she was casually listening to her TV the other night when she heard a familiar song. Shocked, she realized that it was one that she had written and licensed to MTV. She had been so thrilled hearing it then, yet today she found herself standing in the cold draft of a chain store handing out coupons to shoppers. I had few words of comfort to offer the girl. You see, I'd done similar gigs (and worse) just to pay the rent--all the while resenting the time spent working at jobs I didn't want while putting my REAL work on the back burner to deal with late at night, on weekends or on holidays.

Even though our conversation veered towards the depressing, it felt good to link up with someone who still believes in herself. I walked away feeling uplifted, and ready to tackle more creativity.

One of my many upcoming creative projects is a documentary about mixed-race people. I'd like to get a good cross section of ethnicities, ages, and sexual preferences. As with most documentary projects, it's hard to predict exactly how these stories will unfold. However, I'm interested in all aspects of multiracial stories. For instance; how your parents met and the kind of challenges they faced for crossing racial lines; what your early life was like and any repercussions you encountered in your environment. Also, how you identify racially, and why.

So, if any of you knows a biracial person who would like to share his or her thoughts onscreen, please let me know. You can find me at: watermelonsushi@comcast.net

Meanwhile, I send you all creative vibes. That's me above with two of my illustrations sitting on the futon. Both pieces feature palm trees, and one has a Rastaman playing a guitar. Irie.

Gung Hay Fat Choy!

Your Hip Hapa,

Yayoi