FANSHEN: Recently I asked my friends, when was the first time they learned about the one-drop rule, and their answers were incredible, so we’re sharing them with you here, and we’d like to hear yours. So send us an email onedropoflove@gmail.com, tweet us, anything, and let us know: When was the first time YOU learned about the one-drop rule?
RUDY GUEVARRA, JR.: I took an undergraduate course at the University of San Diego – Intro to Ethnic studies and that’s where I learned about it. As somebody that was mixed race it really made me interested into how that functioned with identity and larger issues of race relations. And that course gave me that information and that one thing got me interested in understanding how race functions. I’m racialized Chicano and oftentimes when I’ve had conversations, I’ll say I’m Filipino, or I’ll say I’m Mexipino and they’re like, “But you’re Chicano,” and I’m like, “Yeah, but I’m this too.” And the fact that, I think that I have this ‘drop’ – but more so the phenotype that comes with that drop, I think that there’s a conversation that I have to push back on sometimes, from people. Sometimes, and in particular within the Latino community, in particular the Mexican or Chicano community, they don’t often think that…or there’s not so much…there is and there isn’t…this association with Blackness and these connections and intimate relationships with Blackness that I engage in and always felt this engagement with, that I get questioned on sometimes.
But, I’m going to love who I love – and I don’t care what anybody says.
CHANDRA CRUDUP: Don’t forget to subscribe to the channel to keep up with the latest One Drop news and other videos. Do you have ideas for more video content? Tell us what you’d like to see. We’ll see you next time to share more drops of love. Be sure to tell us by commenting here and on twitter @onedropoflove andfacebook.com/ondedropoflove how YOU are spreading drops of love.
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which is where the writer is from. So
check it out, Native Voices that the
0:01:17.400,0:01:23.939
Autry. Alright tonight I’m going to my
school. Cal State LA. I don’t think I’ve
0:01:23.939,0:01:27.590
talked to you about where I got my MFA,
so I got my MFA at California State
0:01:27.590,0:01:33.180
University Los Angeles. It is the
cheapest MFA in the entire country, so
0:01:33.180,0:01:36.909
that makes it unique in and of itself;
the other great thing is that Cal State
0:01:36.909,0:01:44.640
LA is very, very diverse and an inclusive
environment socioeconomically, racially
0:01:44.640,0:01:50.630
and culturally, age-wise it’s a
wonderful campus and tonight they’re
0:01:50.630,0:01:55.070
doing their MFA alumni awards and
so I’m going to that and I’m always down
0:01:55.070,0:02:00.719
for supporting my school, so I’m excited
to go to that. I just…I’m…so many
0:02:00.719,0:02:04.750
people have talked about this already,
and I just want to kind of like, leave
0:02:04.750,0:02:08.569
it here for posterity, and also to see if
I change my mind
0:02:09.179,0:02:13.450
on this later on because I think it’s a
good healthy thing to grow and
0:02:19.530,0:02:24.920
Now I know how this business works. I
know it so well and I know that this is
0:02:24.920,0:02:30.019
not entirely of Zoe Saldana’s doing,
and that there was lots of pressure to
0:02:30.019,0:02:34.430
do the role and also that she felt like
she could do that role. And I never
0:02:34.430,0:02:38.109
want to take away from another actor –
because I know what it feels like to
0:02:38.109,0:02:43.250
have somebody not believe in you to be
able to deliver on a performance – but
0:02:43.250,0:02:50.220
unfortunately they made the really bad
decision to put black face on her. I mean I’m
0:02:50.220,0:02:54.549
like, look – if you’re confident that you
can play this role? Don’t put blackface,
0:02:54.549,0:03:00.290
don’t put on prosthetics, like, let
Nina Simone’s essence come out of you.
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But more importantly, Nina Simone fought
against racism and colorism and shadeism
0:03:08.329,0:03:15.169
and that was an important part of who she was as a
person and her activism, so to cast
0:03:15.169,0:03:21.909
somebody who is representative of the
system that the lighter you are, the
0:03:21.909,0:03:26.139
closer you are to white, the more
attractive you are, the more acceptable
0:03:26.139,0:03:30.849
you are, the more you can sell tickets – it
just is wrong. Obviously I don’t know
0:03:30.849,0:03:36.150
Nina Simone personally, but her family
has spoken out against it and it’s just
0:03:36.150,0:03:41.930
a really unfortunate situation, and it
just felt like an insensitive response.
0:03:41.930,0:03:48.060
I think for me, one of the most
heartbreaking things about racism is a
0:03:48.060,0:03:55.099
lack of sensitivity, and Nina Simone
herself couldn’t have wouldn’t have been
0:03:55.099,0:04:00.310
cast or paid the amount of money
that Zoe Saldana got paid, like not even
0:04:00.310,0:04:06.790
today. It was just really unfortunate and
I support Zoe Saldana in other roles, and
0:04:06.790,0:04:11.540
the work she does, she’s a great actor –
but this was a bad choice and a painful
0:04:11.540,0:04:12.160
one
0:04:12.160,0:04:19.019
and insensitive. Let’s all be more
sensitive to each other. I published a
0:04:19.019,0:04:24.600
Q&A session with my very good friend
Tanya McRae this week on “Presidential Mixedness” check that out, it’s under the
One Drop of Love playlist here on the
0:04:30.000,0:04:35.460
channel. I backed a Kickstarter project.
Check it out in the links. So this young
0:04:35.460,0:04:41.490
woman Nijla Mu’min – I hope I’m saying
her last name correctly – Nijla Mu’min – and
0:04:41.490,0:04:47.500
homegirl works, like she’s making her own
opportunities and she’s already raised
0:04:47.500,0:04:52.090
lots of funds for the movie, but YOU can
help out too. We talk about the
0:04:52.090,0:04:57.310
problems, here is a solution. When a
filmmaker is sharing their own story,
0:04:57.310,0:05:03.940
most importantly she’s telling her truth,
telling her story – and not letting
0:05:03.940,0:05:08.660
somebody else tell it for her. So please
back her project called Jinn and there
0:05:08.660,0:05:14.060
are links to that below, or if you don’t
have the funds, then please share it and
0:05:14.060,0:05:16.590
encourage your friends and family to
support it.
0:05:16.590,0:05:21.740
OK this was week two of my new job Head of
Equity and Inclusion of Pearl Street
0:05:21.740,0:05:27.790
Productions, and this was a good week.
So I had a good phone call with Matt an
0:05:27.790,0:05:32.830
Ben and got approval on the things that
I laid out, that I want to get done in this
0:05:32.830,0:05:37.320
first year. And I’ll talk about that a
little bit more because one of the
0:05:37.320,0:05:41.000
things that I want to do is make our
commitment to equity and inclusion
0:05:41.000,0:05:46.260
transparent to everybody, so one of the
things I’m working on is giving us an
0:05:46.260,0:05:50.820
online presence that is specifically
about this commitment we’re making and
0:05:50.820,0:05:55.030
so we’ll have a place where people can go – it
is not about being congratulated or
0:05:55.030,0:05:58.770
rewarded for the work, but, I
want there to be a place where people
0:05:58.770,0:06:02.070
can go and look at our numbers and look
at our data and say,
0:06:02.070,0:06:06.350
“You’re not doing very well in this area,”
or “Hey this is great!” I had a couple of
0:06:06.350,0:06:11.330
good phone calls with friends to
initiate some other things that I want to
0:06:11.330,0:06:15.870
get done and also I made a list of
festivals and conferences that I want to
0:06:15.870,0:06:19.700
attend, so of course I’ll vlog a
little bit from those conferences and
0:06:19.700,0:06:24.190
events. And I’m so excited about the job. I feel really good about it and I feel like I’m
0:06:24.190,0:06:25.960
gonna get some good things done.
0:06:25.960,0:06:31.160
Alright you all, this was another This
Week as an Artist – thanks for watching.
0:06:31.160,0:06:36.030
Share it if you like it, subscribe to the
channel or give a thumbs up if you like
0:06:36.030,0:06:36.440
it,
0:06:36.440,0:06:45.290
add comments if you want to, and you…YOU…
you keep doing your good work.
0:06:45.290,0:06:51.200
Tell us if you need support, tell us what
you’re up to. Yeah. Kick BUTT. GO Women’s
0:06:51.200,0:06:55.390
History Month! If you’re a woman,
celebrate yourself, Sister! If you’re a
0:06:55.390,0:07:00.600
man, celebrate a woman BIG time. Let her
know how important she is. Let her know
0:07:00.600,0:07:05.140
that you support her, and don’t just say
it DO it. All right you all, have a
0:07:05.140,0:07:09.090
wonderful, wonderful week and I’ll talk
to you next week. Bye!
TANYA: I have a question in terms of the understanding of what being “biracial” is. And now that it is “presidential” (laughs) and people in this country see a person in power who is of mixed race, what have you seen in terms of the different concept of what being biracial is now compared to when you were growing up, and people not really knowing what “mixed” meant?
FANSHEN: I have to say I’ve kind of come full circle. So you saw some of my identity search and conclusions growing up, and then for a while I was very involved in the mixed community, and proud of being mixed, and I started to see that there was this issue of privilege in that community too, that wasn’t being recognized, and it’s problematic.
One of the things we would do a lot is complain about being asked “What are you?” well, the truth is, that’s a privilege. Because when someone asks you that, they want to be relieved by finding out that you’ve got some white in you, right? And they want to determine where they’re going to put you on a hierarchy. And so I’m more careful about what being mixed means.
Some people that I work with, we have a non-profit called Mixed Roots Stories, and we want to encourage the personal narratives, but within a critical framework. So: understanding history, understanding privilege, understanding that this is all part of an evolutionary process and that if we’re not about doing some good, dismantling of some racism, then that’s not cool. And President Obama publicly stated that on the Census he chose African American. That’s how the world treats him. That’s how he’s seen, and he’s proud of it. So – the biracial folks, and mixed folks, I’m like, ‘yeah, yeah, cool, but just don’t let that determine that you have decided now that you are exclusive of, or better than.
One Drop of Love is a multimedia one-woman show exploring the intersections of race, class, gender, justice and LOVE.
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2017 in February. I’ll talk about it
a lot as it comes up – so we had an LA
0:03:51.400,0:03:56.340
site committee meeting on Monday at USC,
and it was great. We’re starting to talk
0:03:56.340,0:04:00.299
about who should be invited, Keynote
speakers, how can we really spread the
0:04:00.299,0:04:04.740
word and get the word out more about the
conference. So if you…check it out, there
0:04:04.740,0:04:09.050
are links there if you’re interested, if you want
to hear more about it, let me know and we
0:04:09.050,0:04:13.030
will bring you on board – we’re looking for
volunteers, we’re looking for people who
0:04:13.030,0:04:16.820
are excited about it and I’ll tell you
more later. OK I want to talk a little
0:04:16.820,0:04:23.670
bit about self-care, because I’m not
great at it, but I intend to be, and
0:04:23.670,0:04:27.230
I think it’s important. For me
0:04:27.230,0:04:36.730
self-care is nutrition, exercise and
spiritual health, and so I started at a gym
0:04:36.730,0:04:44.440
Last Monday. Well, I definitely hurt myself
0:04:44.440,0:04:49.890
after the first couple of days, and then
had to take a few days off, but it’s great
0:04:49.890,0:04:53.520
and it’s a women’s gym and I really
appreciate that everyone really
0:04:53.520,0:04:58.290
kind of pushes each other. It’s called Pink Iron here, if you’re in LA check it out and then
0:04:58.290,0:05:04.660
also I’ve got this thing where ok during
the week I am eating healthy meals which
0:05:04.660,0:05:12.060
for me a good balance for me are: a good
amount of protein, lots of vegetables,
0:05:12.060,0:05:19.130
and a tiny bit of grains – a tiny bit of
carbs, so that’s gonna be during
0:05:19.130,0:05:23.940
the week. And then on the weekend I let
myself enjoy myself so I’ll get a mocha,
0:05:23.940,0:05:28.020
which I try not to drink a lot of
caffeine, will get a mocha, have a glass
0:05:28.020,0:05:32.120
of wine, some sweets and enjoy myself.
Chocolate. Chocolate is always a good
0:05:32.120,0:05:37.540
thing. So anyways SELF CARE. What do you
do for self care? I’d love to hear. OK you
0:05:37.540,0:05:41.050
know I like to go see theater as much as
possible,
0:05:41.050,0:05:48.090
and I saw The Mountaintop. It’s playing
at the Matrix theater until April 10 here
0:05:48.090,0:05:53.330
in LA. So if you’re in LA please go see
it. It’s by Katori Hall. It takes place
0:05:53.330,0:06:00.039
the last evening before Martin Luther
King Junior is assassinated, and he gets
0:06:00.039,0:06:05.560
a visit from a woman – I can’t tell you
much more about it to not spoil it, but
0:06:05.560,0:06:12.509
the woman – the character is incredible. I
think she’s one of the strongest, most
0:06:12.509,0:06:20.120
complex and beautifully developed Black
women in theater – who’s specifically
0:06:20.120,0:06:27.199
written as a Black woman – and this woman:
Danielle Truitt plays Ca’Mae and she’s just
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incredible and Larry Bates is also great. He
plays Martin Luther King Jr. Without
0:06:32.800,0:06:37.259
question, though, Daniel Truitt steals
the show. This production is also
0:06:37.259,0:06:40.940
directed by Roger Guenvere Smith. There were not enough people in the
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theater when we went, so PLEASE go see
this. Support them. Spread the word. If
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you’re not in LA, see if anybody’s doing
this show. They’re doing it at the
0:06:50.000,0:06:53.490
Matrix for Black History Month – you don’t
need to only see it on Black History Month,
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you should see it anytime. It’s so good. Oh
my gosh! April 7 through 9, 2016 I’m
0:06:59.969,0:07:04.270
looking at my phone ’cause I want to
read this to you. There is the Black Girl Movement Conference in New York. It’s
being held at Columbia University – which
0:07:10.250,0:07:15.240
is my school!!! I went to Teachers College – yayyy! So, “Black Girl Movement – a national
0:07:15.240,0:07:19.569
conference is a three-day gathering at
Columbia University in New York City to
0:07:19.569,0:07:24.750
focus on Black girls, cis, queer and
trans girls in the United States.
0:07:24.750,0:07:32.990
Bringing together, artists, activists – ARTIVISTS! –
educators, policymakers and Black girl
0:07:32.990,0:07:37.029
leaders themselves. This first national
conference on Black girls seeks to
0:07:37.029,0:07:42.520
address the disadvantages that Black
girls in the United States face while
0:07:42.520,0:07:47.139
creating the political will to publicly
acknowledge their achievements,
0:07:47.139,0:07:52.420
contributions and leadership.” Alright I
know you can read yourselves, but I just…
0:07:52.420,0:07:58.730
I read that and I get excited every time I
read that. So links for everything down
0:07:58.730,0:08:04.590
below. What are your goals? What’s going
on? What have you achieved as Artivists?
0:08:04.590,0:08:11.230
Keep up this great, great, incredible, important
work we do – and wish me luck on this new job.
0:08:11.230,0:08:18.420
and on staying in shape – staying FIT and I’ll talk
to you next week. Bye bye.
CHANDRA: One of the best parts about the post-show conversations is when people feel compelled to share their own stories. In this clip, Ashley shares what it’s like for her as a Black female traveling through the Dominican Republic.
ASHLEY: One of the things that really resonated with me was the dynamic with race in other cultures. As a Black individual I’ve had the experience to go live in the Dominican Republic and there’s this racial dynamic between Haitians and Dominicans and oftentimes I was cussed out in four languages, by Haitians – they were telling me I’m denying my Haitian roots. The Dominican family I lived with, they had problems with my braids because those were identified as Haitian. Especially as a Black American you go on these journeys to really figure out who you are because you DO have so many people trying to tell you who you are – or what it means to be Black, or what it means to be this and, you think – well I had the perception that if I go overseas, I’ll be able to connect more, and I’ll be able to just be me, and it won’t have to be about race or how dark I am or how I sound and, just hearing that my experience wasn’t the only experience like that. That it really didn’t matter, like I didn’t find that oneness, that wholeness that I was expecting to find. I found more divisions. And hearing that in the story, it was sad.
Because I’m actually a Youth Pastor at an all-White church (laughs). At an all-White church. I never share that story. I always kind of tread on light water because I always have this feeling that…I know that my being here is a great thing, but it ruffles some feathers as well. And it’s like you never know when you’re put in these environments how you’re supposed to be. What’s uncomfortable? What’s not comfortable enough? What’s too, what’s saying too much? How bold can I be? Our congregation is older, white individuals, it’s a highly conservative church and things that are just uncomfortable? We don’t really do.
PATTI: And that’s the show. Like, if it’s uncomfortable…
ASHLEY: You just gotta deal with it yourself. You’re uncomfortable within yourself because you can’t find any comfort talking about it. But, with this show I appreciate it because you realize how many people have similar stories. Even if it’s just a little part of her story resonates with someone else, you realize that, OK. I’m not uncomfortable by myself. People ARE talking about this. And…one story DOES make a difference. The stories are never the same but the themes are always recurring. It’s human nature.
ARTIVISTS!!! That’s YOU! What’s up you all? How was your week? How are your goals going? What did you accomplish? I’m for real – I really mean it when I ask you this, like, leave a comment, make a video, tell us what’s going on – really – what did you get done this week towards your Artivism?
We did it! We booked a new show! So we don’t have all the details, we don’t have the date yet, but a good friend from Pasadena City College checked in on availability and it’s gonna happen. It’s gonna happen! So Pasadena City College – we did it! Go ‘head, Lilah. We also are talking to someone in Ottawa, Canada at Carleton University about bringing the show, and Cambridge – bringing it back to Cambridge for a special event. I’m not gonna tell you quite yet, but I promise I will as soon as details get a little bit closer. So YEAH! Bookings! Good stuff, good week, we got a lot done this week for One Drop, and that was fantastic.
Who saw the Black Panthers documentary on PBS this week? Great documentary – I thought it was a great documentary – now the director is Stanley Nelson, and a woman named Elaine Brown came out with a really strong critique of the film and I’m…ohhhh…how are you feeling about it? ‘Cause I’m torn because I feel like the documentary is really important. I feel like it tells us a lot of history that we didn’t know. It certainly helps us see the role of the government in suppressing radical movements and suppressing something that really was very positive and really, like, all they were doing for the most part – not everybody – but just like there are good and bad people in all groups, but for the most part around especially carrying the guns they were like, “Look, this is our legal right and we’re protecting ourselves.” NRA people should be happy about that. I don’t know – watch for yourself. I say it’s all important. I say context is important and one person’s truth is somebody else’s different perception of the truth, but it is important. It’s all good we’re talking about it – that’s beautiful.
OK a couple friends my friend Leilani, who has a theater troupe called TeAda Productions – I’m going to put information about it there. My friend Leilani and Carol Banker we went to go see Criers for Hire at East West Players here in LA. So they do the show in Tagalog, which is the main language of the Philippines. The show is in Tagalog and then they either translate within their dialogue or they also and they add subtitles, or super titles, to the wall with projections and BIG UPS to East West players for doing this show because we need to hear these stories – especially those of us who are not Filipino – although I also loved feeling in the audience the Filipino folks who understood the Tagalog before they translated into English. And it’s funny – the show is hilarious, so if you’re in LA, go check out the show, support East West Players; they do really important work.
OK so I told you that I was hired to be an Assistant Director at the Boston Court Theatre and I have had to turn that job down. I know that I told you last week I’m not teaching ESL anymore and now I’m telling you that I’m not doing the Assistant Director job and it is all because there’s this new potential job that I should be hearing about and having confirmation on any day now and as soon as I do I will let you know. But it is certainly in line with the goals that I have in life and so I’ll just leave it at that. But I will say this interestingly that within the negotiations of the contract, at some point a person within these negotiations told me that I was being paranoid for requesting clarity and this is so common for Women and for People of Color to be told that we’re being paranoid when we’re displaying behavior that by another person would be considered good business sense, would be considered protecting your interests, but when we do it we’re called paranoid so that’s not cool and we’re not gonna put up with it, so yeah I will still keep demanding clarity for my job.
Oh! I love this. My high school in Cambridge is doing an event for Black History Month where they’re having alumni make videos talking about how they are innovative in their work, so I was very honored I just made my video for them and once they show it, I’ll put it on this channel. But I just love that – what a beautiful idea to have folks come on and hopefully inspire the young people – and as I told them on the video actually young people inspire me – they’re the reason that I keep doing what I do.
OK that’s kind of it. It was a quick update this week.
What are YOU up to Artivists? What are your goals? What did you accomplish this week? What are you planning on accomplishing? How are YOU going to change the world with your art? Let me know. Make a video response, tweet @fanshen@onedropoflove
If you like the t-shirt Oh! We’ve got t-shirt on the web site – I’ll put a link. And also subscribe to the videos – please subscribe to the channel.
Alright you all have a wonderful, wonderful week. I hope to have some clarity and information for you next week. Bye bye. Keep up the great work.
FANSHEN: Recently I asked my friends – when was the first time that they heard about the one-drop rule. And their answers were really incredible, so we’re sharing them here and we’d like to hear yours – so send us an email, tweet us, anything and let us know, “When was the first time YOU learned about the one-drop rule?”
LAURA: My name is Laura Black, and the first time I heard about the one-drop rule was in the 7th grade. An English teacher had introduced me to Langston Hughes. I read Simple Takes a Wifewritten in 1953. And the quote was,
“It’s powerful,” he said. “What?” “That one drop of Negro blood. Because
just one drop of black blood, makes a man colored. One drop? You are a Negro.”
CHANDRA CRUDUP: Don’t forget to subscribe to the channel to keep up with the latest One Drop news and other videos. Do you have ideas for more video content? Tell us what YOU’D like to see. See you next time to share more drops of love. Be sure to tell us by commenting here and on Twitter and Facebook how YOU are spreading drops of love.
TRANSCRIPT:
Hey…What’s up, Artivists? How’s it going? What’s going on with your goals? Have you reached any of them? I didn’t get the goal of getting a new show booking last week, but that’s OK. But some amazing things happened this week – really wonderful, positive stuff, good stuff for storytelling, good stuff for Artivism, for the stories I want to tell so I’ll fill you in a little bit on those things.
OK. Beyonce’s #Formation video came out last week just before the Superbowl and that song in the Superbowl and there was a lot of conversation about LOTS of things in the video, but something that was really important to me was the conversations about #colorism and #shadeism, especially in Louisiana, there are people called Creoles and what I didn’t know is that Creole does not mean ‘light-skinned’ and that was the idea that I had, but a woman named Yaba Blay wrote an article about living in Louisiana and having some really painful moments around shadeism and colorism and I was really moved by her piece and so I posted about it, and then some other folks from the Mixed and Creole community came on a were like, “Wait a minute – her analysis is lacking the fact that there are lots of Creole people who are ‘dark-skinned’ and it has to do with the geographical area you’re in and so it was really a great conversation – so shout out to Carolyn Battle Cochran, Joahana Workman, to Senta Burke for sharing your very personal story on our thread and I thank you so much. I just want to keep talking about things and I know I’m going to get things wrong, especially when it’s something I have zero context on – so I just appreciate the conversation and let’s keep that going.
On Tuesday I went to #KPCC, which is our local #NPR station – one of our local NPR stations here in LA and had an interview with Leslie Berestein Rojas – she’s doing a story about #multiracial identity in Los Angeles and so that’s coming out on Monday. It was a wonderful opportunity to talk a little bit about One Drop and talk about my experiences being a Mixed person growing up and how I’ve evolved around that and how my focus more is on justice – so we had a great conversation and I’ll put a link once that comes out and I’ll talk about it more next week.
While I was at KPCC, I met Liz Garbus, so anyway I hugged her and said thank you for her documentary – What Happened, Miss Simone if you didn’t see it, I believe it’s still on Netflix. It’s really powerful – speaking of shadeism and colorism – it is very, very clear in this movie, so check out that documentary.
OK so, I have been an ESLTeacher for the majority of my life at this point – I started teaching ESL after I joined the…when I joined the Peace Corps right after college. I lived in West Africa and I taught ESL and I coordinated the English Department in the Cape Verdean Islands, West Africa and I’ve been teaching ESL pretty steadily ever since then everywhere. In New York City, in a high school in the South Bronx, I taught 5th grade for one year – a bilingual 5th grade class. I then taught in a few schools in Los Angeles including CalAmerica, where I met my husband Diego and…oh my gosh, maybe I’m going to cry. After that I taught at East LA College for a long time and then for the last 8 years or so I’ve been teaching at Glendale Community College, where the majority of the students are Armenian, we’ve recently had a lot of Syrian students come in and still there are also Latin American students mostly Guatemalan and Mexican and Salvadorian and Thursday was my last day teaching. And so I’m – whooo – I’m making a transition I can talk about the transition probably in next week’s video, but teaching ESL has been such a wonderful, wonderful, part of my life for the last 20 years and I will miss it so much. I’ll miss my students. I will certainly infuse my new job with everything. All the incredible tools that I learned and I’ll also maintain my relationships with the communities that motivated me to be grateful for everything that I have and to be grounded and to really understand what things are important in life – and that those are not material things – and they are not about money and power, they are about community, they are about family, they are about LOVE. And so I’m saying goodbye to ESL teaching, but not to my life as an Educator and to my life as a person who’s committed to justice and equity for everyone. So I want to say thank you – if you’re one of my students – I will miss you so much and you have made my life wonderful and THANK YOU for that. And you have my email address, so email me any time, and I’ll remind you how to use ‘Be’ verb correctly and ‘what is a noun’ and ‘what is a subject pronoun’ – I’ll remind you of all of that, so I am still your friend forever.
I am so proud, I have to say, of the students at CalState LA. So I went to CalState LA for my MFA and the students there have made a list of demands to the President of CalState LA. I’m going to put the link so that you can read. And they got it! They got the things that they were asking for – including divesting from private prisons, money to support their work – it’s so exciting. I’m so proud. And congratulations, keep up the amazing work you’re doing.
And shoutouts to everybody who’s been watching these videos! Thank you for watching them, thank you for your ‘likes’ on the videos. Please subscribe if you haven’t and also interact with me. I’m sorry I know this is a lot of just talking at you, but I don’t mean it to be, what I mean it to be is to hear from you your thoughts and questions. Let’s talk about Shadeism, ESL students if you’re watching you can ask me questions about grammar, and Artivists – what’s going on for you this week? What are your goals? What are you planning on getting done? What did you get done last week? Let me know. Let’s talk about it. What do you need support on? Have you got projects going that you need support on? Alright everybody have a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful week. I’ll have great, amazing news for you that I can share next week. And until then: Bye Bye!
B.A.: I’ve known Fanshen since I was too young to admit, and I’ve been a supporter and a fosterer of her storytelling for a while – particularly around One Drop.
WHO IS YOUR FAVORITE ONE DROP CHARACTER?
B.A.: The father – because I find it really interesting the complicated relationships we have with our fathers – and fathers with daughters. I have two daughters and it’s been new ground for me. I find that really fascinating because it’s a fraught story and it’s not easy.
B.A.: The urgency and the need to have difficult conversations – and that most of us, even those of us who consider ourselves to be, like, “Hey, I’m a good person. I think of everyone as the same. I’m liberal and enlightened and so on – we all need to force ourselves into uncomfortable places to have uncomfortable conversations.”
WHAT IS YOUR MOST MEMORABLE CAREER MOMENT?
B.A.: When I got a part in an independent movie called “Dark Side of the Street” [Dark End of the Street] when I was 7 years old.
WHAT ARE YOU CURRENTLY WORKING ON?
B.A.: The project that I’m currently working on, you see behind you, is a movie called “Live by Night,” and it’s starring me and Zoe Saldana and Sienna Miller and all kinds of awesome actors.
One Drop of Love is a multimedia one-woman show exploring the intersections of race, class and gender – and in search of justice and LOVE. www.onedropoflove.com
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