Mixed Up Messed Up?
I’m Sorry For Staring At You, Interracial Couple
thoughtcatalog.com | 23 August 2013
"I’m sorry for staring at you, interracial couple.
I know you must get that a lot, and on good days you probably let it slide. You think, “We’re happy and that’s all that matters,” you think, “Some people are just ignorant, but that’s not our problem.” But on bad days, during trips to particularly backwards towns or visits with whichever one of your families is more, um… traditional, it probably grates a bit. I mean, the staring, it’s probably the least of your worries until you’ve had a terrible day and it’s the last goddamn thing you want: the judgment of a stranger, that is.
But I stare at you for a different reason, I thought I should write and let you know. I stare at you because about 30 years ago, my parents did the same thing you’re doing..." Read more on her story
Media articles
Johnson: Bringing up baby bilingual
Economist | BERLIN | 29 October 2013
"Johnson’s own nipper is still pre-verbal at nearly 18 months, meaning that every request not immediately understood and satisfied may quickly turn into a piercing shriek. But we take comfort that Johnson, junior, is cognitively just fine. If his language comes a little late, that is probably because, for one thing, he is male, and for another, he is surrounded every day by three languages: English and Danish at home, and German all day at nursery. More confusingly still, the three languages are closely related: is it bread, Brot or brød? Apple, Apfel or æble? House, Haus or hus? The earthy words in English are mostly Germanic, meaning these triplets are coming up in his world all the time.
Children raised bilingual or multilingual show similar results. In early days they will mix languages. They make errors by using the syntax of one language and the words of another. (“Touch the guitar”, my old Spanish teacher’s daughter would say, instead of “Play the guitar”.) But these problems disappear quickly. By three or four, children reliably separate the languages, knowing which can be spoken with whom. Their fluency in each would be the envy of any adult language-learner." Read more on the benefits of raising children bilingual
The everyday microaggressions I experience as a black woman in Berlin
The Guardian | BERLIN | 8 December 2013
"Just before my one-week anniversary of arriving in the city, I was invited to dinner at the home of a couple of Berliners, something I understand is a big deal for Germans. So I went along with a bunch of yellow roses – which I remember reading mean "friendship" but also, confusingly, "jealousy" – as a token of my gratitude. Dinner was lovely: everyone spoke English for about 70% of the time, and asked questions that they didn't have to, just to make me feel welcome. I left after 11pm, full of stomach and light of foot, and headed home to Neukölln on the U-Bahn." Read more about this story
Growing up black in Nazi Germany
The Woyingi Blog | 27 December 2010
Ever since reading Hans Massaquoi’s memoir Destined to Witness: Growing up Black in Nazi Germany, I’ve become fascinated with the life stories of Afro-Germans. After World War II, when African-American soldiers were stationed in Germany, the number of mixed race Afro-Germans would increase rapidly up until today when their existence, although not as common as in the US, France or even Britain, could hardly be said to be rare. There are even Black History Month celebrations, organizations like the Initiative for Black Germans (ISD), that combats racism and supports programs for Black youth. Read more about this story
