Welcome Address

Dear Friends,

We hope everyone had a fun and relaxing summer.  4C: Cross Cultural Couples & Children and IRL: InterRacial Life took a summer break as well, but we are back and ready to go for 1998-1999.  We have some new and exciting things planned for your enjoyment and enrichment.  So stay tuned, and we hope to see you at our next meeting.

Sincerely,
Lisa, Kelly, Dave and Willete

Topic: Are we (interracial couples/biracial people) searching for acceptance?  From family,
          friends on the job?

Date: Saturday, September 26, 1998
Place: Plainsboro Public Library
Time: 1:00pm to 3:00pm

Discussion Questions For This Meeting:

• Did you join this support group seeking acceptance among peers?
• Do you think that you are accepted where you live?
• Has your relationship/background made it tougher for you in the job market?
• Have any family members, friends, or acquaintances rejected you upon learning of your relationship/background?
• Have you ever felt alone or isolated because of your relationship/background?

Please bring a dish to share (not mandatory).
Childcare is Available!!!!

4C is seeking non-profit status with the state and federal government, which would make our organization exempt from taxes.  A non-profit organization conducts business for the benefit
of the general public.  Non-profit corporations can not operate for profit based on federal and
state guidelines.  Currently, 4C is operating on donations and membership dues which are taxable.

Members, friends, supporters we need your continued support. We are growing rapidly our mailing list consists of over 100 people.  Until now, the founders and some members have been paying the mailing costs, P.O. Box costs, and activities cost out of pocket.  We can no longer afford to do this and based on last years operating expenses, we have set the following annual dues to cover expenses: $10 for individual/ or $15 for family.  Annual dues/donations entitles you to receive 4C/IRL Happenings newsletter quarterly and to participate in all activities/events sponsored by the groups.  Dues cover the period from July 1st through June 30th of the following year.  Checks or money orders should be made payable to 4C: Cross Cultural Couples & Children.  Mail it to P.O. Box 8, Plainsboro, NJ 08536.  Additional donations are also always welcomed!!!!!!

We would like to thank the following individuals/families for their dues payment and contributions.  Your prompt response, help and support is greatly appreciated!!!!

        Chris and Liz Aranosian
        Willie and Vicky Batiste
        James and Peggy Connolly
        Wendy Emmert
        Sharon Nelson and Richard Kapes
        Ed and Lisa Rasinski

        Allison Crowell - June 18th
        Stephanie Smith - June 30th
        Lisa Rasinski - July  13th
        David Seibel - July 24th
        Sharon Nelson - August 8th
        Willette Seibel - September 25th

If your birthday is in October, November or December tell us so we can include you in our birthday celebration corner in December.

Dorothy West, one of the last living figures of the Harlem Renaissance movement, died Sunday August 16th at the age of 91.  The novelist had been hospitalized for three months with an aneurysm.  A broken hip from a fall while she was in the
hospital led to increasingly deteriorating health.  Her first novel, "The Living Is Easy", about a black middle class in Boston, came out in 1948.  Her second novel, "The Wedding" did not come out until 1995 when she was 88.  West brilliantly portrayed the black aristocracy living on Martha’s Vineyard and their preoccupation with social class and color within families, groups, and generations, in addition to featuring a pair of interracial couples.  Oprah Winfrey presented "The Wedding" in a two part mini-series which aired on ABC Network Television in February 1998. She was a remarkable woman who will truly be missed.

To Anne LaFont and Richard Desormeau on their new bundle of joy Alexis Desormeau born on July 13th.

Interracial couples are needed for a book project.  They will be interviewed and have short biographical sketches written on them. If interested please contact Janet Brenner at [email protected] and/or PO Box 44508, Philadelphia, PA 19144.

Just a reminder if you are interested in a camping trip to High Point State Park, NJ next year please contact Dave Seibel at [email protected]

The Holiday Gathering is just around the corner…..

Remember last years party?  What a blast! Well we want to do it again this year. Volunteers are needed to assist.  If you are interested contact Lisa Edwards (609) 275-9352 or [email protected].

July 1998

Summer Break - No Meeting was held

August 1998

On August 8, 1998, the second annual Statewide Multiracial Picnic was held at Ocean County Park in Lakewood, NJ. It was sponsored by jointly by 4C, IRL, GIFT and the MultiRacial Family Support Group, and was attended by over 200 people. The event was covered by the Asbury Park Press, which featured several photos of 4C members enjoying themselves in the next day's paper. Among the many 4C/IRL members attending was Dave Seibel, who offers this account of the gathering: “Betty Turko and Bridgette Dixon of GIFT arrived early to clean and decorate the picnic area.
The picnic began at 11:00 am and continued on until dusk, with most games and activities taking place in the late afternoon. My family and I arrived about noon, and so got to meet the early risers. All brought or prepared a lunch, and got acquainted as they cooked and ate. It was great to catch up with friends we had not seen since the birth of our son, Jason, in December. The kids spent most of the early afternoon in the nearby playground.  By mid-afternoon we were getting hot, and several of us decided to head over to the swimming area with the kids.  Despite the murky water, we cooled off, practiced swimming, played Marco Polo and sea monster. Upon our return, we found many of the attendees dancing to the Macarena and the Electric Slide, led by Rose Varela and Lisa Rasinski of 4C. Soon, it was time for the organized games to begin. Lisa Edwards of 4C had organized activities and games for all. First was a pie eating contest (for those who still had room for more food). Then we made our way out to the field for the water balloon toss, where after each successful catch, the remaining participants had to back up another step. There were several rounds, and plenty of prizes to calm bruised egos as balloons popped and splashed. Next was the three-legged race, which required complete coordination between runners.  The winners were often pairs where one was tall and the other small - with the tall one literally "carrying the team" to victory. The tug-of-war was my favorite and  the final game. My wife Willette anchored the seemingly overmatched but nonetheless victorious team, telling her team to pull immediately so the other side would not have time to set up.  Indeed we did not know what hit us, and there was no stopping that rope. The re-match was just as fun with new teams.  It's amazing how tight that rope is pulled - it felt like a steel cable.

“Since we were with our infant son, we had to leave before dusk. But, I am sure those who remained or arrived later had just as much fun.  We are already looking forward to next summer's picnic”.

From Black to Biracial: Transforming Racial Identity Among Americans,
by Kathleen Odell Korgen

Is a person with both a white and African American parent black? Thirty years ago in American society the answer would have been yes.  Today, the answer most likely depends on whom you ask.This book describes the transformation and explains why it has occurred and how it has come about. Through extensive research and dozens of interviews, Korgen describes how the transformation has its roots in the historical and cultural transitions in U.S. society since the Civil Rights era. A ground breaking book, From Black to Biracial will help all Americans understand the societal implications of the increasingly multiracial nature of our population.

If You Come Softly,
by Jacqueline Woodwon

A thoughtful interracial love story somewhat overshadowed by a violent, wrenching climax. It involves an appealing pair of teenagers, Jeremiah and Elisha, at a Manhattan prep school. He's the only child of black celebrity parents; she's the youngest by ten years in a large white family. Not only sharply sensitive to the reactions of those around them, they discover depths and complexities in their own intense feelings that connect clearly to their experiences, their social environment, and their own characters. In quiet conversations and encounters, Woodson perceptively explores varieties of love, trust, and friendship, as she develops well-articulated histories for both families.

Half & Half: Writers on Growing up Biracial and Bicultural,
by Claudine C. O'Hearn

A lively collection of essays on the theme of being biracial and bicultural in contemporary American society. Editor O'Hearn, herself born in Hong Kong and raised in Asia and Europe, has assembled a passionate medley of writings by 18 authors who share a bicultural or biracial identity. Despite vast differences in their social, economic, and racial backgrounds, a number of subtopics emerge. Among these is the sense of alienation experienced by them as children. The need to belong was in many cases intensified by prejudice as a pressure all too frequently encountered. Meri Nana-Ama Dunquah, a native of Ghana who grew up in Washington, D.C., faced her cruelest hostility from black American kids who taunted her with shouts of "You-you-you African! Go back to Africa!'' Journalist Danzy Senna, the daughter of a WASP mother and a black-Mexican father, identifies herself as black, but passes for white often enough to hear whites�including well-meaning white liberals--speak in ``smug disdain'' about blacks. Through the lens of personal experience, these essays offer a broader spectrum of meaning for race and culture. And in the process, they map a new ethnic terrain that transcends racial and cultural division.

A new magazine, MAVIN, which bills itself as “the articulate journal of the mixed race experience,” will make its debut in January 1999. The quarterly publication will contain academic essays, personal narratives, poetry, artwork, surveys, short stories, and timelines. Although the editors describe MAVIN as inclusive of everyone in the mixed race community, the magazine will take a special interest in serving as a resource for mixed race advocacy groups on college campuses.  It will co-host the 3rd Pan Collegiate Conference on the Mixed Race experience being held at Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT on February 6/7, 1999. Anyone interested in subscribing to MAVIN should contact them at 1102 Eighth Avenue, Suite 407, Seattle, WA 98101.  Their e-mail address is [email protected]. The cost of a subscription is $20 per year.

“Shades of Community and Conflict: Biracial Adults and African American and Jewish American Heritages” has just been published, and can be ordered through: http://www.dissertation.com/library/1120249a.html.  It can also be ordered through Barnes and Noble, Borders, etc.  Although the dissertation has an academic slant, the qualitative analysis speaks to the experiences of dealing with Black-Jewish relations in America using the personal stories of respondents. Until now, there has been very little information that specifically addresses this topic

The author is hoping that in the next year she will have completed a rewrite of the dissertation infusing her own personal background as the daughter of a Russian/Romanian Jewish “Bebop era” drummer and an African/Native American dancer growing up in both New York City and Reddeckville, PA ; and having to convert to Orthodox Judaism after having been ousted from the Jewish youth organization for being half-Black (but under the pretext of not having been raised according to Jewish law).

Doctoral student is seeking interracial and/or interreligious couples who are either 1) in a serious relationship and thinking about marriage; 2) are engaged to be married; or 3) married less than 18 months for a dissertation. If interested, please contact Carolyn Kohn at [email protected].