I was all set to write about something else, which I may write about later, but then something happened.  I saw the news on Sunday that 19 people were shot at a Mother’s Day parade in New Orleans, and that made me extremely sad to hear, but that’s not actually the something that happened that made me not write about the something else.  Because I felt like plenty of people were going to write about that, right?, a shooting in broad daylight at a large group of people—one that injured 19 … [Read more...]

Roberto Bedoya has asked some amazing questions lately, all designed to interrogate the concept of whiteness in the arts.  He’s asked a few bloggers to think about the questions he has raised and write back (so watch for posts in the coming weeks on Jumper, Createquity, Barry’s Blog, Engaging Matters, Museum 2.0, etc), and this is mine.  Or at least my first attempt. Before going into it though, I think it’s important to say that I feel a little like a lamb in the woods on this … [Read more...]

A small break from all the discussion of diversity.  Adam Thurman from Mission Paradox will be guest-posting later this week on that--in the meantime, some thoughts on the fear that comes with change, and doing it anyway. Last night, my husband, Seth, and I were curled up on the couch binge-watching Downton Abbey.  As it got later, I kept warning Seth that we wouldn't be able to fully catch up before I had to go to sleep, and at the end of each episode, mimicking our daughter, he would … [Read more...]

Over on Facebook, my co-worker Sam Hurwitt reports an audition listing in San Francisco that requests “No obvious ethnicity” for a role.  His friends, when asked, guessed that statement meant everything from “mixed” to “white” to my favorite: “‘whitable’ or ‘passable’ or ‘non-threatening ethnic looking person’.” The Bank of Canada recently released a new $100 bill as part of an overhaul of their currency. Per this article: An earlier, uncirculated version of … [Read more...]

Before I knew her, Tina, one of my best friends growing up, was made to stand in front of a room full of her white elementary school classmates on a Connecticut school day.  In an effort to teach children about race, the teacher instructed the white kids, all sitting behind their desks, to look at Tina, who was Korean, standing in front of them, and to point out the things that made Tina different.  She did not then put a white kid up there and afford Tina the same opportunity. I think … [Read more...]

Over at Museum 2.0, I’ve been sparring with Nina Simon and others about the new guidelines and funding strategy at the James Irvine Foundation, all emerging out of the revelation from Nina Simon that the Irvine folks are having trouble getting great proposals that align with their new “participatory” strategy.  Take a look there for more of the specifics, and if you really have some time read my long and academic dissection of Irvine’s new policy and how it’s problematic over at … [Read more...]