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

In Character With Tony Insignares

Welcome back, Hip Hapa Homeez! This week’s featured guest is actor/model Tony Insignares, pictured here and below. Since Tony is so willing to share, let’s just jump right into his thoughts.

Q: What’s a nice multiracial guy like you doing in show biz?

A: It’s actually been something I’ve wanted to do since I was young, but I never really committed to it because I was participating in sports. It wasn’t until I was playing college football that I caught the “acting bug”. All I remember is something inside of me said that I’m supposed to be an actor. After I prayed about it and talked with my family, I told my coach that I was moving on from football. I’ve been acting in projects ever since and never looked back.

Q: What are your parents’ ethnicities, and how did they meet?

A: My mother is black, Cherokee, and Irish. My father is Guajira Indian, Hispanic and Italian. My parents met in Caracas Venezuela at a book fair, and I guess you can say they were both on the same page. They married in the U.S., and my brother and I were born.

Q: The word “Hispanic”, like the word “European”, can mean a lot of things. Do you know some of your Latin roots?

A: My family name is Italian. My grandfather on my father’s side came to South America from Italy when he was a little boy, and the family settled in Venezuela. My father was born in Caracas.

Q: You work in film, TV, onstage, in music videos, and commercials; and, also model. What do you enjoy about each one, and why?

A: It’s fun being in front of the camera no matter whether it’s film or television because the relationship of the story and the character are very detailed. I love the entertainment side of film and TV because viewers watch you on screen in given circumstances and it takes their minds off everyday life. It’s the same in doing music videos and commercials.

I love being on stage doing theatre because it’s where I can express myself through a character and be truthful. It can still be entertaining, but it also allows me to really use my imagination. There’s nothing better than being in the moment and the audience is on the edge of their seats sensing everything going on in front them through your eyes. That’s what I love about theatre.

I enjoy the work involved in modeling when it comes to looking good and seeing myself in photos. What I really love about modeling is how it has helped me to have more confidence in myself. Modeling forces me to be body-oriented. By that, I mean it requires a person to make health and fitness a priority as well as good grooming. In addition, it makes you aware of how you move by refining and controlling posture and walking, like the discipline of a dancer. It can really develop poise and confidence.

Q: Some might say you’re just another pretty face, but you’ve had some academic achievements, too, haven’t you?

A: Throughout my years in high school and college, I’ve won awards for being a scholar-athlete and earned scholarships for my academics from The National Society of Collegiate Scholars and The International Scholar Laureate Program where I traveled to China as a diplomat. I made the Dean’s List every semester in college and graduated Cum Laude with a Bachelor’s Degree in Speech Communication and Theatre. But I would say that my biggest academic achievement was being in special education for eight years and graduating college with honors without any assistance.

Q: What have been your favorite or least favorite roles so far?

A: Wow! I have many favorite roles, but I don’t really have a least favorite. And that’s because every role, no matter how big or small, has its own purpose. In addition, with each role I learn something about myself either as a person or about my craft as a professional.

My favorite characters are Village from The Blacks: A Clown Show, Miss Roj from The Colored Museum, and Tybalt from Romeo and Juliet. The character Village helped me to become a better interpreter and made me better at learning lines faster because we didn’t have a lot of time. I used to be a very shy person, but this character opened me up and now I’m able to take command of any speaking situation.

The character Miss Roj is actually a drag queen. She has a 15-minute monologue by herself in the play. What I liked about playing that character was the research. It taught me not to judge or be scared to get to know a stranger that’s misunderstood. At one time, I think I may have been homophobic, but playing that character helped me to have respect for people no matter who they are. The bottom line is we are all human beings.

Lastly, playing the role of Tybalt was remarkable for me because the theme of this Romeo and Juliet production was about “gangsta life”. So, the director decided that this presentation should be a Crips and Blood version. I loved playing this character because it made Shakespeare fun. Instead of using the usual Elizabethan elements, we used our own. We wore the red and blue bandanas of the two gangs and used guns instead of swords. This interpretation helped me to view the play in a broader perspective so that there is a contemporary message and context for Tybalt with thugs and gangsters of today.

Q: What are some of the positives and negatives of having an ambiguous racial identity when it comes to your career?

A: The positives about it are that I stand out like a sore thumb on a hitchhiker. I like it because I get to play so many diverse characters that aren’t considered black or Hispanic. It gives me more flexibility as an actor and it doesn’t put me in a specific category. I don’t have to be something that I’m not so I get to be what’s true to me. I’ve been fortunate to play African, Mexican, and Japanese characters and each one has taught me to respect each culture and identity including my own.

The negative side of it is that sometimes I may not get jobs because the casting director doesn’t consider me black or Hispanic enough to play a character. It’s bittersweet because I live in Nashville and the city doesn’t cater much to those who are ethnic. As much I have respect for the city and all it does, I’ve learned from agents and casting directors that I need to be in Los Angeles or New York because I have a very distinct look that doesn’t fit in with this town’s environment.

One example is an ongoing play that I’m in right now called The Dance on Widow’s Row, which consists of an all-black cast. I was helping out with show at first because they had already cast their actors, but a couple of them dropped out because of scheduling conflicts and we had nobody else to play the characters. I was thinking that the director of the show would let me step in and perform one of the roles since we’ve worked with each other for years. But he didn’t want me in the show because I didn’t look “black”, even from the audience standpoint. He chose two new black actors, but one of them dropped out a week before the show. He finally called and asked me to perform in the show. I learned my lines and learned the blocking, and I’ve been in the show ever since. I’ve even performed as the understudy for the second lead actor in the show. I wasn’t mad about not being in the show because of my look. It taught me to appreciate who I am, be patient, and have faith because every director/producer has a vision of what he/she wants the show to be, and I wouldn’t want to be cast if I didn’t fit that vision.

I would have done the same thing if I were in that position.

Q: We first spoke last year about a role you were offered playing a mixed-race Japanese. How do you feel about actors playing characters not of their own race? Does a minority playing a different kind of minority still risk accusations of “blackface” or, in this case, “yellowface”?

A: I have mixed feelings about that because if an actor plays a character that isn’t their own race or culture, they have to be careful about the message they interpret to the audience. But I’ve also watched one-man/woman shows where the actor plays multiple characters and some of them are outside of their race, but they portray the characters respectfully and with truth so the audience can relate to the character. They make you look past the color of their skin and use your imagination.

On the contrary, there are actors who only present the stereotype of race, color, and ethnicity. Instead of showing respect for characters, they neglect them and don’t try to learn or research about their cultures, which causes this stigma of it being “blackface” or “yellowface”. In The Dance on Widow’s Row play, I play a black man, and I have to put on make-up to become the character, but I don’t try to insult the character or the audience who relate to the character. Of course, I use what I know about the locale of the play and what I’ve researched, but I do my best to play the character with authenticity and honesty. As actors, we reflect reality and teach people about a person’s circumstance when we’re in their shoes. Acting is about putting yourself in somebody else’s shoes, no matter who they are or where they come from, so we can understand human nature and the mystery of life.

For more information, Hip Hapa Homeez can contact Tony at:

jcinsignares@gmail.com

Facebook: Tony Insignares

Myspace.com/jcinsignares

As usual, we invite you to join our Hip Hapa Homeez group page on Facebook for updated news about multiethnic and transracially-adopted people. You can also sign up as a Watermelon Sushi Fan on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, and buy a t-shirt to help support our film.

In closing, Watermelon Sushi World extends our condolences and best wishes for a speedy recovery to our Haitian friends reeling from their recent catastrophe.

Bonjou Konpe-m! Since 1804, when Haiti liberated herself from French slavemasters to become the first free black republic of the Western world, she has struggled. Other countries refused to recognize her government, instituted unfair trade embargos, occupied this autonomous nation, and worse. Haitians have suffered from immense poverty, diseases like AIDS, ecological calamities, brutal governments, and more. The inequity of a racial caste system based on skin color that firmly placed mulatto elites at the top (witness dictator Papa Doc) further damaged the potential of this island state. In spite of it all, Haiti has survived and we know she will rise again. Mwen renmen ou!

Until we meet again, I am now and forever...

Your Hip Hapa,

Yayoi

War! What Is It Good For? Absolutely, Uh, Something!

Earlier, I wrote about the tensions between Japanese in Nippon v. the J/A's (Japanese Americans) in the U.S. Even though I slammed Mr. Sulu for his snide remarks about how I pronounced my name, I didn't mean to make light of the issue of Nipponese v. J/A's. Certainly, there is much to be said about the suffering on both sides.

J/A's languished behind the barbed wire of interment camps and were separated from family and friends, lost careers, property, and--most important of all in Asian culture--face. The Japanese in Nippon, also lost face along with millions of innocent lives in Hiroshima and Nagasaki which were destroyed by American atomic bombs. My own mother, living in Tokyo at the time, often found herself racing towards a bomb shelter to avoid the constant rain of B52 bombs dropped by Americans. One day, she arrived at work only to find her office in shambles; completely demolished by bombing.

No one ever really wins a war. The devastation comes not only in the loss of lives, but also in the deeply psychological pain that often lingers following the trauma of war.

But if there's any kind of light at the end of the tunnel to be celebrated, it's the births of thousands of mixed-race babies who would've never been born had it not been for a war somewhere. So, war can be a kind of cultural bridge, too.

Who would've ever thought that an African American man from the South, whose ancestors were brought in chains from a place he has no recollection of, would end up marrying a Japanese woman whose own sad personal history made her eligible to move to America? And, who would've ever thought that a spirited and artistic Japanese woman would marry a man who should've been considered a representative of the enemy of her people?

But it happened. And, it happened to many others like my parents. It happened to Germans and Italians, too. One of my best friends in high school had a French mother and Swedish American soldier father who had met his bride while he was stationed in Europe. Another had an Austrian mother and Caucasian American father. War brides are what they called these women, but they were so much more. They were brave souls who struggled to recover from the devastation of war and, if that meant marrying a stranger from a strange land, whether or not love fit into the equation, so be it. I'm sure most of those women loved the men they ended up with, but who among us can say how we would behave romantically after losing our families, friends, countries, and even our hope.

About 3/4's of the kids I knew while our family lived at Ft. Lewis were either Japanese and black or Japanese and Caucasian, and German and black or German and Caucasian. Quite frankly, if it hadn't been for a war, I wouldn't be me.

Still, it's too bad that it takes a war to bring some folks together. Perhaps in the future, people will make an effort to not segregate into tribes and, in the words of Bob Marley, "Spread out! Spread out!"

Cool runnin's, ya'll.

Your Hip Hapa,

Yayoi

P.S. That's me and Moms, above, with her bike in Tokyo many moons ago.