Wednesday Round-Up: Mississippi is Mixing it Up, Disgrasians and Black Dolls

Hi Meltingpot Readers,

Today I’m introducing a new feature here on the Meltingpot, *drum roll please* ‘Wednesday Round-Up.’ From now on, Wednesday’s posts will feature a collection of stories from around the blogosphere that I think are worthy of a Meltingpot mention. They might be hilarious or horrific, I’ll let you decide (and comment upon). And please feel free to send me your suggestions for a future Wednesday Round-Up. I’ll take links to a great story, a funny video, one of your own blog posts, as long as there’s a MyAmericanMeltingpot connection. I can’t guarantee that if you send it, I will post it, but I will consider everything carefully. Sorry, Ms. Meltingpot gets the final word.

So, let’s get to it:

1. Thanks to a tip from my li’l brother, I found this article about an initiative in the state of Mississippi to bring the races together. It combines two of my favorite things, food and interracial dialogue. Basically, if you go out to dinner with someone of another race (to participating restaurants), you get a discount on your meal. For a lot of us, just going out with our families would qualify, but down there, mixed race dining isn’t so common, I guess. Read the whole story in USA Today. What do you think about that? Does it sound like a good idea or a gimmick for publicity?

2. Anybody who has been reading the Meltingpot for a bit, knows I have several Asian friends. I love most Asian cuisines. I am a closeted Martial Arts fan. And I can say, “My name is Lori and I am crazy,” in Japanese. Still, by no means do I feel myself to be any kind of expert on Asian culture, language, cuisine or the Asian diaspora (Can I even say, ‘Asian diaspora?’), but I do consider myself, “really into a lot of Asian stuff.” So, imagine my thrill when I stumbled upon the Disgrasian website. The brainchild of two snarky Asian women, this website spoke to my Meltingpot soul and tickled my racialicious funny bone. Please check it out.

3. Anybody who has been reading the Meltingpot for awhile, might not know, because I’ve never mentioned it before, that I love dolls. Always have. I don’t have a collection or anything like that, I just love baby dolls. Accent on the baby, not Barbie dolls. In fact, I’ve always really disliked Barbie, for no other reason than she was just too damn angular to hug. But I digress. It was just announced that the African-American Kenya doll, once all the rage for Black girls growing up in the 90s, will be relaunched in November. The doll comes in three different skin tones, but all three have super long, wavy hair, unlike almost any Black girl I’ve ever seen. The re-launch is going to be huge with a TV show, a blog, music and a whole lot of other stuff for little Black girls to acquire. I hope with all the merchandising the company is planning, books are also part of the plan. Personally, I have never seen the Kenya doll before. I think I’m too old. What about you, dear readers. Anybody excited to get reaquainted with their old friend? You know I’m listening.

Thanks for reading and feel free to share the links.

Peace!