Mixed Chicks - A podcast about being racially and culturally mixed
www.mixedchickschat.com is a site run by two mixed chicks (surprise surprise 
I was referred to this site by a friend who thought I might find it interesting. The Mixed Chicks are two women of mixed racial and ethnic heritage who are longtime friends who do a podcast where they talk about what its like to be mixed. One of them is Mixed Jamaican and White, and the other is mixed African American and Dutch.
While this is not the most polished podcast, what I really appreciate is how candidly they talk about their experiences with figuring out their identities, dating, interacting with the different sides of their families and so on. When you listen to the podcast you feel like you could just jump in at any time because they touch in a very real way on many experiences that mixed people have.
Not being a mixed black/white person myself it is also very interesting to hear about the experiences of being light skinned in the black community and living the implications of that. Some of the experiences that I have been most interested in hearing about have been those in which they talk about their experiences with campus black student groups in college. They really highlight how poorly the commonly used models of black student development or monoethnic student development are at addressing the ethnic identity issues that students of mixed heritages go through
While this may not be the most academically structured resource, I think its a really good one because it reflects the experiences of people who are “normal” mixed people.
This could be a good podcast for white parents. It is sometimes hard for them to hear about experiences of being mixed from their own children if they don’t really see them as mixed or have never experienced any of the identity issues that their children have.
The only thing that I wish were better with this podcast is the sound/recording quality. It sounds like they use a service where they record the episode in a phone conference manner. Sometimes the sound quality is not that great which is (for me at least) a bit distracting. On the upside, the service they use allows them to have people call in and comment on the episode as they are recording it, so in that respect it has the potential to be something very interactive where people can really ask their questions or add in their own two cents. I think its great that they are using that service and making it possible for people who listen to their podcast to really get involved should they want to.
Over all I like the podcast, the energy of it, the positive message that we mixed folks are just fine the way we are.
Posted on Sunday, November 25th, 2007 in the following categories: 2007, Blog, Counseling Resources, Students/Family Resources, Web Site
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