Mixis and the Kids Who Had the Hardest Time

I was very happy to discover the Mixis dolls by YNU Group. For one thing, each had a distinct face. For another they were believably shaped. And, you guessed it, they can stand on their own, especially the Limited Edition dolls with the leather zip up boots, wish I could afford boots like that. I know high school girls Do wear skirts that short or shorter, but I hope they don't have to bend over too far, especially in Canada or on the Northeast Coast of the U.S. in Winter. Burrrr! Maybe they wear longer coats.

I was surprised and Glad to find among the Mixis girls a doll, Emerald, who had some First Nations ancestry.

When I lived in Oklahoma among the Cherokee people there were three girls whoo were incredibly good basketball players. They were triplets, which made them even more unusual. But those girls were talked about in unflattering and cruel terms by almost everybody. Why? Because one of their parents was Native American and the other was African American. There are wonderful people in every state in the country. Yet Toni Morrison in her book "Paradise" captures the oppressive feeling I felt when livin in Oklahoma Perfectly.

Oklahoma was promised to Native peoples as a sovereign homeland forever, if they would Just give up their homes, animals, hunting lands, fishing streams, crops and gardens, and the spiritual connection they knew with all of these things. It was also promised to some African Americans, while others came as slaves of a minority of mixed blood Native people and some came because they were both Native and African American and did not wish to be separated from the rest of their families.

To the European-
Americans who claimed no ancestry but European these three girls were a curiosity and otherwise ignored. But some Cherokees referred to them as "colored" in the 1980's, and a very few called them a name not allowed in my house. The African American people assumed that the Native parent had "loose morals" was a "drunk" "lazy", etc. I'm glad they had one another and I'm glad that All three of them were good at the same sport, another bond to share.

The truth is that a lot of lying still goes on about where we come from. There are more Native Americans of mixed blood than of full blood. And the Mixes include people of more than one Native Nation, and people of all Kinds of combinations. For historical reasons many African Americans are also Native Americans. The Cherokee were complaining to the English about the slave raiding done by the English, among Cherokees in the 1700's. Later some Native people (about 20 percent of Cherokees or a bit less) actually owned slaves to work their lands. When the South lost the Civil War, these former slaves were given Native status by the Government, partly because they knew the Former Native owners would hate it and partly so that the slaves could be expelled along with their masters from land rich for farming and where Gold was found in the early 1800's.

Some run away slaves lived with and were integrated into Native Nations. Some intermarried and their children were considered Native. Some African and Native slaves intermarried and some of each group's women were "bred" by masters. For all of these complicated reasons and due to other Government schemes, many full blood Native people don't like mixed blood people with Native blood, regardless of the mix. Many African Americans are denied their Native ancestry by white and Native people alike. Many Latinos, if not most, have some Native heritage. Some call themselves Spanish, to separate themselves from their browner cousins. Due to human nature and the nature of our Government's dealing with one perceived "race" of people against another, places where all of these old grievances and tentions get mixed up, like Oklahoma, can be a MESS, especially for the children who grow up visibly mixed race in them.

Our Government has decided that some tribes, like the Homa or Houma of Louisiana, and the Tunica of that state don't exist. But Homa people couldn't send their children to Louisiana's white schools until the mid-1960's.

It didn't just happen in the South either. There are Shawnee people in Pa. Wampanoag people in Mas., and of course, the Nations of the Irroquoi in New York State. A good book to read, for those interested, is: "Mixed Blood Native Americans Who Are Not Enroled in Federally Recognized Tribes" by David Arv Bragi. He interviews people of African American and Native American ancestry, European and Native ancestry, Latino and Native ancestry. I was read this book by a blonnd haired, blue eyed friend, whose family practiced more Native customs than my own, and who had a higher degree (more) Native blood than me, although my hair and eyes are dark, and my skin is not as light as hers.

People belonging to more than one group which is perceived as undesirable often have a terrible time, especially if belonging to more than one such group is visible. At state blind school the African American blind students were often treated abnormally in their own communities as well as by European people. At blind school we were not ignorant of racial differences, as so many people want to think. But some of us just didn't care about them, we cared about how we were ttreated by all of the other kids and adults. Others of us tried to learn, or had the good fortune of being taught. One of my friends introduced me to a number of books about young girls, our ages, who were African American. One book character went to Italy and was mistaken for Italian, which began her own acceptance of herself as both black and white. Another book character went to help her black counterparts in the South. She was from a Northern city and convinced a boy she fell in love with to Go to a Northern city, while She fell in love with the black families of the rural South.

One of my favorite blues groups is J. J. Gray and Mofro, because they tend to tackle these issues head on in songs like, "Life in a Country Ghetto."

The Mixis dolls all have good faces, for the peoples they represent. I just wish there were enough sales to make More of them with Additional mixes. How do you get onto their website, anyway, I want to find out what adventures they are having and what they are learning.

To any person or tribe, if your name is spelled wrong, I cannot use my spell check while in Blogger. I use a talking computer due to blindness and it doesn't function well here. Please forgive me. I used the term "black" because that is what people chose to call themselves at the time I was hanging out and reading with black friends, and white, at blind school. I do not intend to offend anyoone.

Better Day and Dolls

Kenny Neal in his album "Let Life Flow" wrote in his song by the same title, "One minute you up, next minute you down, Can's stay there, Keep your feet on the ground. It get a little hard to bear sometimes, Things out of nowhere, that blow your mind, But one thing I know for sure, Hey Hey Hey, you gotta let life flow."

Some of the songs on this CD have been of great help to me since Ann died. When we bought it together during the 2009 Blues Festival I never could have Guessed what could happen in th blizzard of 2011. "Life's so unpredictable, that's the way it is." (from the same song)

Today I was given a mostly up day, it ended that way, anyhow, I am Thankful!

Yesterday I stayed up until the wee hours working on a beading project which simply Wasn't working. It's easier than it used to be to despair of my ability to accomplish things, without Ann's suggestions and help.

But I think I'll string each bead on fishing line individually, them sew them in place with a self-threading needle which will hold fishing line. Couldn't find self-threading needle small enough to fit through small bronze bugle beads, though it did fit through the slightly larger and differently shaped ones. Tried a "big eye needle" sharp on both ends, splits in the middle. It worked, but was so thin it bent in all directions when forced through even thin leather, frustrating!

But today was better! Got most beads sorted by color into empty pill and vitamin bottles and marked each with a "Pen Friend" (in speech) and a friend wrote that flat stuff on each. When I have a new idea for redesigning a project, fixing a problem, I'm happy. It's kind of gotten to be my specialty, even when Ann made a mistake (very rarely) I could usually think up some way of salvaging the project. Stringing individual seed beads is something I've had to do for a long time, haven't found a better way to do it and keep the design consistent.

Got some needed work done in other areas and in the evening treated myself to Mango Lassi, (I think that is the right way to spell it) yogurt and mango pulp, thinned, and of course, I ruined the traditional kind by adding veggies.

And a couple of episodes of Deep Space Nine, on the DVD. Player. It's a talky enough show I don't usually need a video describer to tell me what's happening. And I've watched it in years past with Ann, a comfort.

So, this leaves me free to talk about dolls again. I like the Mixis dolls because they have distinct faces, more normal looking bodies, and because they are mixed race, like a lot of us Americans and Canadians and Australians. Does anybody know how to access their website? I am curious to read what is there. I've tried WWW.mixis.com and YNU Group, but all I get are places to buy the dolls. Most Mixis dolls dan stand alone, as the Get Set Club dolls mentioned earlier can, though the Mixis dolls sometimes take a bit more work to bet standing up.

I like the Sunset Edition's bendable elbows, even though the Limited Editions, I have been told, are the better dolls. Does anyone know why? Their dresses seem plainer, but clothes can be changed. Speaking about clothes, if my high school age daughter were going out in a skirt that short and was a fine looking as one of the Mixis dolls, I'd be worried. At least when the Limited Edition dolls bend over their underpants are barely covered.

It is Wrong, but it is also a Fact that girls and women who dress seductively Do get raped and assaulted more often than those who d
o not. If all high school girls these days have skirts that can slip down enough to show their belly buttons and skirts short enough to barely cover their underwear, or shorter, then the Limited Edition Mixis dolls don't look any different than other high school girls. But I would want my daughter wearing Capri pants or something else to make her freedom of movement easier and to make them safer.

I wonder if the Barbie Flying Hero set can stand alone? Their faces are Not unique, but their bodies are more reasonable and constructed somewhat like Disney's Mulan, who Can stand up.

I have an old porcelain statue of Quan Yin, from Taiwan. When I saw the Mulan face for the first time, it looked in shape and proportion, just like the shape of Quan Yin's face, so it would have been very hard Not to like her.

It's interesting, in the differing years of High School Musical, the face of Gabriella changes. Sometimes it's more round with wavy hair, sometimes it looks Native American with braids and a smaller, more pointed face, and sometimes it seems in between. The guy's faces don't seem to change so much. I wonder about the other female dolls in the series. It would be intresting to see if their faces change as well.

I knew a young woman who loved this show but thought Gabriella Montez was a strictly Latina name. When I pointed out that Gabriella could be Italian, she thought they were the same, Italian and Latina. But that's part of S. Mo. Growing up. I have another young friend who has an uncle from Puerto Rico, her family is Native American and German, she has a Jewish uncle, and had a friend from whom she learned to cook Kenyan food. And She grew up in the country on a big farm, so you can't stereotype us all. People learn according to the exposure they have and the understanding they develop for others. If I hadn't gone to the State School for the Blind I would be a Very different person.

I know from her song "Halfbreed" that Cher must have been tormented about her looks at school. But I've always thought she was gorgeous, and didn't Need surgery to change her nose and other things. We humans Are vain about our looks, I want my cousin's Cherokee-Osage nose, and she had it changed to fit in more. I was always teased by Ann who annoyed me by saying I had a "Barbie" nose, from English or Scotish immigrants. Doesn't really fit on my imagined image of my face, but there it is, and There it will stay, as I'm not into pain enough for cosmetic surgery, even if I Could afford it.

You should have heard me whoop when Ann's painter friend described her self-portrait as very accurate, with Ann having a "short nose" I hope she was Listening. She liked to refer to her nose as straight, (which it was) and Classical, like Greek statues. Turkey!

More than enough for tonight, again, Thanks for staying awake, if you managed it.