Dear Readers,
I have this spiffy new blog design and I went to not one, but two, how-to -be-a-better blogger conferences this summer. And I’ve updated my links list and thought about things to sell in my Meltingpot Shop, but something still doesn’t feel right. And I finally figured out what it is. My blog is having an identity crisis.
When I started the Meltingpot way back in 2006, I thought I wanted to create an online repository for magazine-style stories with a multi-culti focus. But, being a memoirist at heart and an embarrassing over-sharer, my real life kept getting in the way. I’d drop a post in here and there about my kids or el esposo or my hair and people would respond. So, I’d write more about my family, but then pull back because I wanted The Meltingpot to be a source for smart news and information from a colored person’s point of view. You know, something like Colorlines magazine. But, Colorlines already exists. And they’re doing a pretty good job, I might add.
So, I went back to my family tales. But then I had to deal with the very real problem of my paranoia. Every time I thought about sharing some cute story about my sons or babygirl, I’d read about some unfortunate blogger who received threatening comments about her half-breed kids and I’d retreat back into my non-personal-information-only mode of blogging. Or I’d tell the story, but only with sweeping generalizations and very little details, to protect my innocents.
So, I feel the Meltingpot needs to find its voice. And I need to find my courage to be myself here. Blogging and journalism are very different things. As a journalist, I am taught to keep myself out of the story. As a blogger, the best posts come from when the storyteller is smack dab in the middle of the action. I know the only blogs I read religiously are the ones where I feel invited into the lives of the writers. I like to see how other folks live and deal with the same issues that I am. Parenting three kids. Parenting mixed kids. Being married to a Spaniard…. I also like to see how people who live the life I wish I were living are holding up in paradise. I see you Arlene in Italy. And of course, sometimes I just can’t help myself and I read about those people who have like 10 kids, live on a farm, make their own cheese and have a smile every day to show for it. I admit it. It’s a bit of an addiction.
A lot of folks are predicting that blogs are dead. And it’s true, for many people, their message is easier told in 140 characters or in a quick facebook post. But I still have some stories to share and I hope you want to hear ’em.
I’m still going to stay true to my mission of using this space to talk about parenting, pop culture and identity politics, but using my authentic voice and by peeling back the layers and letting you all in. I look forward to taking this journey.
Thanks for listening. Until Wednesday.
Peace!
Comments
6 responses to “Ms. Meltingpot is Peeling Back the Layers”
I really have liked you blog since I started reading it. I am not sure when that was. I have always been fascinated with race issues, mixed families and cultures. Just wanted to let you know I’ve followed you here from the old site!
Soy Yo,
Thank you so much!!!!! You made me smile and almost shed a tear. I feel like my readers are truly my friends and I appreciate every one of you so much. Your feedback is invaluable.
I think it was a little more than an year ago, I came across your blog because it was listed on “Black and (A)broad. I started reading on a regular basis. At first I made some replies under “anonymous”. I guess, I too, was not willing to reveal myself. Then I started a second blog ( I already had one, a photoblog) on blogger and I put my name. So whenever I replied to your blog my name appeared.
I have found your blog enjoyable, informative and entertaining. We have shared some of the same experiences. Yes, I know your hometown and probably some of the same people you know as well. I went to university in that “Beer City” on Lake Michigan. So that was one point which drew me to your blog. The second is many of the topics you mentioned above. Okay, I don’t have the kids, but I have the European husband. I have a multi-cultural life. However, I live on the other side of the pond. So it is interesting to see how life is in America for a multi-cultural family. How do you get the kids to stay focus on their multi-culturalism when many only want to either focus just on being American, Black or White? Here, I have friends who have children and I see how different their focus and orientation is to those kids in America. For, one being multi-lingual is not a luxury, it is a basic. Education is also different. My school never had a ski vacation included in the school year, nor did we make a school trip to a foreign country. Yes, there was this possibility, but it was an option and only those who could afford it went.
Finally, I read your blog and respond to let you know that some of the things that might seem different in the US are indeed normal else where and it is indeed okay to borrow the positives from other cultures. I believe developing a multi-cultural person from a young age is a benefit to the world. So the more you tell your story, the more you might find that many others have the same issues, concerns and experiences. Remember it takes a village and your village is global.
Cyretha,
Wow, thank you so much for sharing and making me think. Thank you for taking the time to make me feel better. And most of all, thank you for reading my work. I appreciate you too.
From one over sharer to another, I would love to be let in. :o) I bought your book Kinky Gazpacho for three reasons. I love Spain, I love autobiographies, and I love multicultural families. I won’t write a review here, but the book put me through a range of motions and brought me a bunch of ideas. I cried in the beginning when you wrote (and I paraphrase) “Everyone knows that black people come from nothing.”
I think a lot of people spew crap on the internet because they feel it is anonymous. I wouldn’t let the possibility of a troll replying to a blog scare you off. But then again, like you, I get paranoid and have shut down my facebook account because a person with an imbalance could put two and two together. I digress…
Point being, I have enjoyed reading your blog. Over the last three years out of frustration, out of disagreeing, out of agreeing, I have applied to many a post. I would like to keep doing.
Colombia Mami
Wendy,
Thank you for reading. Thank you for writing. Thank you for pushing me to think. I am so honored that you have stuck with me for all these years 🙂