CVK

Last week’s New York magazine had an interesting article about how gentrification is affecting one single block in Bedford-Stuyvesant, a neighborhood long known as one of the most dangerous slums in Brooklyn, but now being prized for its supply of well-maintained brownstones and proximity to Manhattan.
The article points out that many of the neighborhood’s new […]

CVK
This is the letter I wrote to Essence magazine, complimenting them on their profile of Mariah Carey. Historically, Essence has not been the most forward-looking in the way they’ve handled mixed race issues or interracial relationships. Therefore, it was refreshing to see a very different take on the topic in their April 2005 issue. In […]

CVK
Mariah Carey graces the cover of Essence’s April issue. Though the coverline takes a one-drop stance (”Mariah Carey: America’s Most Misunderstood Black Woman”), the article inside deals almost completely with her mixed identity, and makes for pretty interesting reading. Here are some excerpts:
So this isn’t a twenty-first-century version of Imitation of Life. Still, race and […]

CVK
By sheer coincidence, last week’s New York Magazine was chock-full of mixed folks in its Culture Pages section. First up was an interview with MMW Image Award winner Jennifer Beals:
After green-lighting The L Word, Showtime approached Beals about playing one of two characters: Bette, a headstrong, temperamental workaholic, and Tina, Bette’s slightly more well-adjusted domestic […]

CVK
Playbill reports that Jeffrey Wright is in talks to star alongside Ben Stiller in Neil LaBute’s new play, “This Is How It Goes” at New York’s Public Theater from March 8 to April 10:
In “This Is How It Goes,” LaBute trains his eye on a small town in America for what is billed as a […]

JC & CVK
Thanks to everyone who nominated our site for the 2005 Bloggies!
Mixed Media Watch is currently a FINALIST for the Best Kept Secret award, so please vote for us!
Please vote for us here.
(”Best Kept Secret” is the 4th category from the bottom.)
Thank you for your support, and please ask your friends and […]

CVK
Just when you were starting to feel good about your career, Elle magazine runs an item about Kifu Augousti:
Designers are exploring global styles in 2005. Kifu Augousti, surely the youngest designer on the map at 10 years old, is no exception. The half Filipino, half Greek Parisian, inspired by travels to Bali and Santorini, draws […]

CVK
The Buffalo News reports on an ongoing investigation to locate a serial rapist in Buffalo. What’s problematic is that the police are partially relying on a DNA test that determines the suspect’s supposed racial make-up:
A Florida company, DNAPrint Genomics, has determined that the local rapist is 51 percent European (white), 30 percent Native American, 13 […]