What was your first experience with race?

Well, if you’re reading my blog it’s no surprise that Im now reading Tim Wises book, White Like Me. And in it, he mentions facilitating or participating in race workshops where folks are asked to describe his or her first experience with race. He made an argument, and the point was something I kinda thought I knew and understood, but he really kinda drove it the rest of the way home.

Are you f-ing kidding? Reebok EasyTone commercial

ADHD tools: focus booster

I downloaded this on my work PC this afternoon, and it was really pretty helpful. I’ve gotten to the point where I tune out outlook reminders, and even reminders from mycell phone  palm pilot pocket pc blackberry. I was really surprised by how much I got done in the 25 minutes I used it… not allowing myself to be distracted by new incoming mail or other tasks and just focusing on this ONE folder in my mailbox… although I couldn’t exactly ignore the Office Communicator message that came in from a colleague in another department… I downloaded it on my laptop at home in hopes of managing my blogging time better (I get lost on google when I do research & fact checking)… it takes me WAY too long to compose!!!

A free application to help you get what you need done. Pronto!

 focus booster is a simple and elegant application designed to help you eliminate the anxiety of time and enhance your focus and concentration.

focus booster has been designed based on the principles of the Pomodoro Technique and features:

• a sleek and unobtrusive design
• changes color as time goes by for quick, peripheral updates
• alarm/buzzer sounds for completed sessions
• customizeable time and sound settings
• session counter

It’s quick to start up and works efficiently in the background without consuming computer resources, or your focus.

Pomodoro in your browser!

Don’t feel like installing our desktop version? Away from your computer? Use our online version, focus booster live!

Coming soon!

• break counter to keep you rollin’ through the sessions (v1.0)
• record your sessions with notes and rating
• online community to track and share your sessions

What is the Pomodoro Technique?

the Pomodoro Technique is a time management method created by Francesco Cirillo. It can be used for any kind of task and enables you to view time as a valuable ally in acomplishing what you want to do.

focus booster is a digital pomodoro timer to help you implement the Pomodoro Technique as quickly and efficiently as possible. Use it with ease and no fuss to focus on the things that are important, ignoring the distractions.

#ADHD (& Gifted) « @curlykidz

OK, I’m busily transferring more of those blog archives from other locations, and have been focusing on some from about two and a half years ago, when my oldest hit a dark, scary, and unfortunately, very common place for kids who are exceptional learners: anxiety, depression, and thougths of suicide.

Here’s the link to the ADHD/Gifted archives:

ADHD & Gifted « curlykidz.

Children’s Books « Irene’s Daughters

OK, I’m responding to the request for Children’s Books via trackback because I don’t know how this table will post in a comment. If any of my blog reader’s have some book recommendations, please share them here & over at at Irene’s Daughters.

It’s pretty old, but we started one of these in a very small yahoo group I was in seven years ago. We have more books now, but this list has more of the details about the books than the list I’ll handwrite while going through my bookcases Also, Amy Hodgepodge is a must have!

Bill Marten Jr. & John Archambault	Chicka Chicka Boom Boom	ABC’s	book, audio, VHS. audio tape features ray charles. silly song sang by several persons, makes the ABC’s too cool!
Cheryl Willis Hudson & Bernette G. Ford	Bright Eyes, Brown Skin	race	beautiful and simple story featuring and celebrating the unique beauty of children with African heritage. a MUST HAVE for anyone with ethnic children.
Chief Jake Swamp	Giving Thanks – A Native American Good Morning Message	faith	Mohawks traditionally begin the day by giving thanks to mother earth, known as the thanksgiving address.
Debra Frasier	On The Day You Were Born	Birth	Great book that talks about many species and the wonders of our planet and the child’s place in that circle
Jane Kurtz	Faraway Home	Travel	Desta’s father must visit his dying mother in Ethiopia – what if he never comes back?
L.T. Sparrow	All My Relations, A Prayer	faith/race	An incredibly powerful poem embracing and honoring all forms of life and faith
Mem Fox	Time For Bed	bedtime	cute little story featuring animals as mamas prepare their babies for bed. can be a great resource for teaching some of the proper names for animal babies
Mem Fox	Sleepy Bears	bedtime	as this bear family settles in for hibernation, Mama bear gives each child a special ‘dram wish’. I especially like this book because the children’s names seem multi-ethnic, and it is not filled with sexual stereotypes of what boys and girls dream about.
Molly Bang	When Sophie Gets Angry – Really Really Angry…	Growing Up	character goes through a tantrum… can be used to help a young child or toddler identify anger and what it feels like, and how to respond to those feelings.
Phil Mendez	The Black Snowman	race	the story of a young boy finding pride in his heritage
Sylvia Long	Hush Little Baby	bedtime/song	mama offers baby comfort in the Earth and immaterial things, vs promising to buy baby things… 4 stars!

Beware Young Girl.

This broke my heart…  how many Sara’s will we lose to the sexualization and objectification of women?

In response to the constant objectification of women, the recent gang rape of a 15 year old girl in Richmond, CA, the unjust incarceration of Sara Kruzan and even the highly publicized violence faced by Rihanna, conscientious rapper and activist Jasiri X has put out a track that discusses the injustice and inhumanity of these crimes.

you can find the lyrics at Beware Young Girl. – Feministing.

Me and My Shadow: Life with ADHD

A Hollywood writer and producer, who wrestled with ADD since childhood, spills it all: what he’s learned about himself, the unaccepting world, and his ADD brethren.

by Frank South

 

Ed Krieger  

One lesson I’ve learned: We ADHD folks are everywhere.

We’re the creative vice-president in the cubicle who, while you’re yelling at us for missing another deadline, comes up with the intuitive leap that saves a whole product line. We’re the spouse whose highly sensitive antennae pick up a vibe from our 13-year-old daughter that she needs to talk. So we sit down with her for a half-hour as she pours out her problems, leaving you waiting at the car place, after promising you we wouldn’t be late.

We’re the 20-something working at the fast-food drive-through who forgot to remove the pickle that you’re allergic to from the Double cheeseburger. We feel terrible—I swear we’re not doing any of this on purpose—but we also find it so freaky funny that we’ll put the whole mess in a stand-up routine that will knock you out laughing when you see it on HBO in two years.

We’re the fifth-grader who makes you wish you had gone into the forestry service and been stationed out in the wilderness rather than teaching us. But then one day we not only hand in our homework—finally—but we also hand in a startling pastel-and-pencil drawing of you that captures the light coming across your desk from the window exactly the way it does every afternoon. You realize that we weren’t staring out the window, we were staring at the light coming in.

We are not stupid or crazy. Well, I could be fairly labeled crazy-ish, due primarily to my off-the-charts ADHD, hypomania, alcoholism, and some depressive tendencies. When you get over being furious at the things we did or didn’t do, don’t waste time feeling sorry for us. We’re working on being less forgetful and accidentally destructive. Even though we talk with shrinks and coaches, work on our social and organizational skills, and take our meds, our core ADHD selves are not going to change into anything normal. Guess what? I don’t think you want us to. That’s because we remind you of that part of you that doesn’t fit in, that’s dying to open the dark door down the hall.

Random

There are a couple new videos on the White Privlege 101 from Jay Smooth, and a new video on twists on curly hair. In the sidebar, I’ve “shared” interesting stuff from my google reader.

Enjoy!

Wordless Wednesday

Disney Racefail

Sometimes, I just don’t know what to say. The next time disney pulls something from the vault and releases it as “remastered” I’m going to have some questions!

crossposted from Sociological Images

For more posts on Disney princesses, look here, here, here, here, and here.  Two other great posts include this rejection letter (”we don’t hire women”) and this post on the original inclusion of black slaves in Fantasia.

[Love Isn't Enough editor's note: Note, too, that but for Jazmin, who is kind of brownish, Disney's princesses hold fast to a European-influenced beauty hierarchy.]

Hat tip to Jezebel for alerting me to this post. Also on Jezebel, see what one woman is doing to make Barbies more diverse. It’s awesome! I’ve never wanted a Barbie before, but now…

Genevieve wrote:

When I was in high school, I did a report on Race and Gender in Disney for History Day. The report itself was weak (I was 14 years old), and I still have a soft spot for Disney, since I was raised with it and their movies are visually masterful, but this post reaffirms what I was trying to get across to the judges: that Disney does promote messages that are actively harmful, and whether or not that’s deliberate, they have a responsibility as providers of entertainment for children to be responsible in the messages being sent. Then that got into a whole capitalism-responsibility debate (if you don’t like it, don’t watch, etc.), plus the fact that my topic was considered a bit unsavory, I think.

Some major things that I really felt strongly on were the rewriting of Pocahontas’s history (REAL PERSON) and the Mulan story (Here: Mulan was a SUPER-PATRIOTIC lady who served in the army for her family since her brothers were too young, and in the end, astonished her comrades by revealing she was a woman, since they never would have guessed. Vs. Disney’s Mulan who goes into and stays in the army for her father, falls in love with her commander, and, when revealed, uses, you guessed it, her sexuality, this time socially conditioned sexuality, to save… a man. Although apparently, there was a Chinese TV show that used the romance theme as a gag when Mulan’s general has to confront his “homosexuality.”). Oh, and Fantasia, of course, but no one ever believes me on that until they see the video for themselves.

“Beauty and the Beast” tends to break the mold (despite Belle’s lack of a mother, her motherish “fairy godmother” Mrs. Potts, and the clownish “gag fat woman” dresser/chiffarobe/thing). HOWEVER, this is due to the outright theft of the “Belle as bookish” motif from the novel “Beauty” by Robin McKinley (published fully 23 years before the 1991 movie release)– the library gift in particular is almost word-for-word what ended up in the film– in response to protest over “The Little Mermaid,” plus the theft of the Gaston archetype (and other visuals) from Cocteau’s film “Beauty and the Beast.”

Esmerelda, oddly, is not included as a Disney Princess at all, despite Mulan’s inclusion, and she’s not a princess, either. I think it’s because Esmerelda is seen as too sexual to be a role model, honestly. Then again, I remember my main impressions of “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” being that Esmerelda was gorgeous, and that Frollo was waaaaaay too creepy for me to begin to be comfortable with. Speaking of sex, Tinkerbell is heading the “Disney Fairies” line, which is nice, especially with the introduction of POC as other fairies; but she was originally introduced in Peter Pan (which is like a black hole of women- and race-related issues, seriously) as petty, vain, and sexualized, but who eventually redeems herself. I understand Hugo didn’t help by killing Esmerelda off in the source material, but as I recall, Tinkerbell dies in the Peter Pan book, as well. I guess you can sanitize the sex out of a white character, but not out of a brown one?

I’m concerned about “The Princess and the Frog,” because at first I was hoping Disney was just feeding off of HBO Family’s “Fairy Tales for Every Child,” but she still appears to be a traditionally “European” princess as far as dress and hairstyling go. Her turning into a frog for most of the movie is also an issue for me, but I was more stunned by the giant, fat, bipedal gator (a la All Dogs Go To Heaven) in the trailer to really analyze the “ethnically ambiguous” prince. Despite how happy I am we’re finally, officially getting a black princess, I would watch it by myself before I took anybody’s kid to see it.

Posted 02 Nov 2009 at 4:50 pm ¶

via Disney Princesses, Deconstructed | Love Isnt Enough – on raising a family in a colorstruck world.

Amy Hodgepodge

Check it out.

Nancy : “This story truly touched me.  The authors made me love Amy, love her family and feel everything she felt.  It teaches friendship, kindness and gives us all insight into how to be good people.”

Aileen: “As a teacher, I am so grateful to the authors for providing my students with such dynamic material.  My students immediately identified with the characters.  Finally, a series that addresses real concerns with humor and love.”                                                                     

Joyce: “I just ordered all four of your books for my grandkids and grandnieces and nephews.  Thanks for this delightful, wholesome series!”

Maria: “Finally! A book for children who are a hodgepodge of so many different things.  Thank you for doing this book.  I have no doubt it will have great success and I hope to see it evolve into a whole series of cartoons, merchandise, etc.!                                  

Michelle & Melydia: “Thank you, thank you, thank you! My daughter (6) and I just finished reading some of “All Mixed Up!   Our family consists of black and white, with marriages bringing in Portugese and Cuban, and adoptions bringing in Indian.  She related so much to this book.  Here  is what she said: “I like your book and can’t wait to finish it.  I like it because she looks like me.”

Jil: “I love AMY HODGEPODGE.  As a grown Mixed woman it is so exciting to get to know this girl.  I fell in love with her, her family and her friends.  So sweet, engaging, well-written and great illustrations.”              

Angela: “I just wanted to thank you SO much for your ground-breaking work in providing images for the multiracial generation!  I am the founder of Melting Pot Moms, a national organization for multiracial/multicultural/multiethnic families (through birth and adoption).  Your books reflect our children exactly!”

Sheryl: “I love these books!  Amy is such a sweet character.  My six-year old adores her, and my eight-year old next door neighbor does too.                                                                   

LC: “I can’t say enough how much I love this series.  Finally multiracial girls have a heroine in Amy Hodgepodge.  Amy is a great role model for all kids.  A great discovery!”

Kyle: “My daughter loves these books.  It’s definitely timely in that more and more families have mixed-race kids.  But the books are truly for everyone.”

Stephanie: “My six-year old daughter found this book and loves it.  She has announced that she wants to collect all the Amy Hodgepodge books and will be adding them to her bookshelf right next to her Junie B. Jones and Magic Tree House collections.”

Mary: “My granddaughter, who is seven, absolutely loves the Amy Hodgepodge books.  Amy and her friends are good kids who have lots of fun together and come up with good solutions to kids everyday problems and adventures.”                                                      

Ruby: “I love Amy Hodgepodge with a passion.”           

Shenita: “My girls love your book.  We read the first chapter last night , and they didn’t want me to put it down.”

Lisa: “My fourth-grade class is sooo enjoying listening to me read your delightful books to them.   They really relate to and love the character, Rusty, too.”

Kenya: “I read your book and couldn’t put it down.  I know it’s a children’s book, but I loved it.  This is an excellent book for biracial kids trying to find their place in the world.  It’s also a great book for all children to encourage them to be true to themselves and celebrate their differences and similarities.  I’m buying these  books for all my friends with kids!”

Reggie: “Almost all my nieces and nephews are multiracial.  They love your books and really related to them!”

Barbara: “Your books are such a great idea.   I am of mixed-race.  My mom is African-American and my dad is Latin-American.  I’m pregnant, so I’ll be stocking up on these books for my baby!”

Michelle: “Congratulations on your wonderful book series.  There’s a real need in this world for these books you’ve created.”

Daphne: “I just bought all the Amy Hodgepodge books off the shelf at Storyopolis bookstore.  You’d better have them reorder!”

Kim Wayans has numerous television and film credits and now brings her skill and charm to the stage with her own one-woman show. Part of a unique family of comedians, Kim Wayans has enjoyed working with her brothers, film and television stars Keenen, Damon, Marlon and Shawn. She starred with all of them on the groundbreaking television comedy sketch show IN LIVING COLOR and has worked with them in various combinations in such motion pictures as SCARY MOVIE 2, I’M GONNA GIT YOU SUCKA, DON’T BE A MENACE TO SOUTH CENTRAL WHILE DRINKING YOUR JUICE IN THE HOOD AND LOW DOWN DIRTY SHAME. Kim starred in JUWANNA MANN with Miguel A. Nunez, Jr. And Viveca A. Fox. Kim’s first break in entertainment came when she was booked to do stand-up comedy at the The Laugh Factory and The Improv clubs in Hollywood. Since then, Wayans has made several guest television appearances, and has starred as a regular on Quincy Jones’ IN THE HOUSE opposite Debbie Allen and LL Cool J. She excelled as a producer, director and writer on the ABC comedy MY WIFE AND KIDS. Kim’s writing has expanded to plays and full length screen plays.  She is presently touring the country with her hit one-woman show, A HANDSOME WOMAN RETREATS.  Her latest project is a series of children’s books she wrote with her husband, entitled “AMY HODGEPODGE.”  This ground-breaking series gives a face and voice to multi-racial children, and is published by Penguin.

AmyHodgepodge.com.