Sarah Ratliff's Blog, page 6
September 23, 2015
Being Biracial + Needing Bone Marrow = Dire Straits
Each year approximately 30,000 Americans are diagnosed with potentially fatal blood diseases like leukemia, lymphoma and sickle cell anemia. Many of these diseases manifest in childhood, adding an extra dimension of tragedy to the misery they cause.
Bone marrow transplants, along with umbilical cord blood transplants, will offer as many as half of those who are fighting these diseases their best chance for recovery. But there's a catch...
Bone marrow transplants, along with umbilical cord blood transplants, will offer as many as half of those who are fighting these diseases their best chance for recovery. But there's a catch...
Shortage of Biracial Bone Marrow Donors Puts Thousands in Dire Straits
Each year approximately 30,000 Americans are diagnosed with potentially fatal blood diseases like leukemia, lymphoma and sickle cell anemia. Many of these diseases manifest in childhood, adding an extra dimension of tragedy to the misery they cause.
Bone marrow transplants, along with umbilical cord blood transplants, will offer as many as half of those who are fighting these diseases their best chance for recovery. But there's a catch...
Bone marrow transplants, along with umbilical cord blood transplants, will offer as many as half of those who are fighting these diseases their best chance for recovery. But there's a catch...
Finding Our Voice
When the dust began to settle after my first conversation with Sarah about publishing a book about being Biracial, we knew we had a challenge ahead of us. We decided almost immediately that we wanted more voices than our own to be heard, and soon the concept for an anthology of essays was born.
Panic stations: So how does one go about finding people who are happy to share their personal take on ethnic heritage with the world at large?
Panic stations: So how does one go about finding people who are happy to share their personal take on ethnic heritage with the world at large?
September 10, 2015
Being Biracial: Where Our Secret Worlds Collide
Sarah Ratliff
Race is a topic I think about constantly. I have to assume it’s because I was raised by parents who, because of their racial and ethnic differences, didn’t shy away from subjects many families have the luxury of glossing over.
As my brothers and I grew up, our parents ensured we saw things from every angle. So much so that now, as an adult, when a discussion gets going, I am incapable of taking a myopic view and of keeping my thoughts to myself.
This is an excerpt from the forthcoming anthology, Being Biracial: Where Our Secret Worlds Collide that I collaborated with Bryony Sutherland to write.
Says our publisher Hanne Moon, owner of Heritage Press Publications of the book, “…It’s edgy, it’s gritty, and it’s definitely not a read for the timid-hearted. My involvement in this project was an eye-opener on so very many levels. Sarah Ratliff and Bryony Sutherland... you ladies are to be commended for starting the discourse we so desperately need. Coming soon…”
What Does it Mean to Be Biracial?
I ponder this frequently. As long as people have had the ability to be mobile, curiosity about other ethnicities, customs, languages, food and culture have led to mixing things up. Most people in the world are raised to believe their culture, their customs, their country, food and language are the best. Call it patriotism, pride or simply a sense of belonging and identifying, it’s perfectly natural to see ourselves as being the best, the smartest, the nicest, the—fill in the blank with the superlative of your choice.
So what happens when a person from race/ethnicity A mixes things up with a person from race/ethnicity B? Where does the patriotism, love for food, culture, language and customs fall? Is it 50/50? Is it 25/75? Is it one ratio one day and another the next? And what happens with looks? If you took basic biology in school, you learned that brown eyes are dominant over blue, that red hair is the least common of all shades and that it’s truly a crapshoot how your kids will look.
Race is a topic I think about constantly. I have to assume it’s because I was raised by parents who, because of their racial and ethnic differences, didn’t shy away from subjects many families have the luxury of glossing over.
As my brothers and I grew up, our parents ensured we saw things from every angle. So much so that now, as an adult, when a discussion gets going, I am incapable of taking a myopic view and of keeping my thoughts to myself.
This is an excerpt from the forthcoming anthology, Being Biracial: Where Our Secret Worlds Collide that I collaborated with Bryony Sutherland to write.
Says our publisher Hanne Moon, owner of Heritage Press Publications of the book, “…It’s edgy, it’s gritty, and it’s definitely not a read for the timid-hearted. My involvement in this project was an eye-opener on so very many levels. Sarah Ratliff and Bryony Sutherland... you ladies are to be commended for starting the discourse we so desperately need. Coming soon…”
What Does it Mean to Be Biracial?
I ponder this frequently. As long as people have had the ability to be mobile, curiosity about other ethnicities, customs, languages, food and culture have led to mixing things up. Most people in the world are raised to believe their culture, their customs, their country, food and language are the best. Call it patriotism, pride or simply a sense of belonging and identifying, it’s perfectly natural to see ourselves as being the best, the smartest, the nicest, the—fill in the blank with the superlative of your choice.
So what happens when a person from race/ethnicity A mixes things up with a person from race/ethnicity B? Where does the patriotism, love for food, culture, language and customs fall? Is it 50/50? Is it 25/75? Is it one ratio one day and another the next? And what happens with looks? If you took basic biology in school, you learned that brown eyes are dominant over blue, that red hair is the least common of all shades and that it’s truly a crapshoot how your kids will look.
September 5, 2015
June 28, 2015
Mixed People Are Trending
Being Biracial is pleased to have one of the contributors for our Being Biracial: Where Our Secret Worlds Collide as a guest blogger. The article below inspired the conversation that ultimately lead to the conception of our book.
Mixed people are trending. I wouldn't say we are viral—yep I'm one of them—but that's the direction we're heading. Mixed people are popping up everywhere. We're saving fathers one Cheerio at a time. We're in movies, the news, and ... shhhh ... your neighborhood.
I grew up in the 1980s, in a large city. I attended schools that were predominately white/black, depending on my address at any given moment. I was almost always the only mixed/biracial—pick one, they both work for me—student in the grade level, if not the school, as was the case for grades 1-5. But now? Now things have changed, mixed people are everywhere.
Mixed people are trending. I wouldn't say we are viral—yep I'm one of them—but that's the direction we're heading. Mixed people are popping up everywhere. We're saving fathers one Cheerio at a time. We're in movies, the news, and ... shhhh ... your neighborhood.
I grew up in the 1980s, in a large city. I attended schools that were predominately white/black, depending on my address at any given moment. I was almost always the only mixed/biracial—pick one, they both work for me—student in the grade level, if not the school, as was the case for grades 1-5. But now? Now things have changed, mixed people are everywhere.
