Breaching Colorism With My Little Girl
Norma Newton
Photo credit: Carolina Adame
I’m so excited to share one of my personal essays about colorism, intergenerational pain and self love. Thank you New York Times for giving these issues a forum!
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Filtering by Tag: Stories
Real American - An Epic Memoir
Norma Newton
(Photo Credit: Hermosa Journal)
When a friend gifted us Julie Lythcott-Haims’ newest book, Real American, we couldn’t wait to sit down and read. The New York Times best selling author does not disappoint with her newest title. Real American is a breathtaking memoir that gorgeously captures the author’s experience of life as a mixed race person in the United States. Lythcott-Haims describes, with so much beauty, her search for acceptance and self love - a journey that resonates with anyone who has ever felt like an other. The book made us cry, ponder life, and laugh. It is a must read!
The Science of Support - Anjelica L. Gonzalez
Norma Newton
Credit: Hartwell Foundation
Support. Everyone needs it, regardless of what you do for a living. When it comes to academia and science there is now a much needed voice that seeks to help others by sharing insight and knowledge. This narrative comes from Anjelica L. Gonzalez who is a scientist and a Yale University professor. She is also an African-American and Mexican-American woman, raised by a single mom who worked as a blackjack dealer in Vegas. Curious to know why she is talking about her journey and how she ended up as a scientist?
Gonzalez is sharing her story in an attempt to answer questions she routinely gets asked: how she got to where she is now and why there aren’t more people like her in the science world. In answering the first question, some of the factors she cites for her achievements in the field are humor, ingenuity, tenacity and wit (skills she learned from her mother). Another important factor has been the presence of advocates who encouraged and endorsed Gonzalez at critical times in her career. As it turns out, support is also key in answering the second question she is commonly asked.
By articulating her experience, Gonzalez also highlights why there is a dearth of women and people of color in the sciences. While established obstacles like cultural norms and implicit biases persist, Gonzalez exposes the lack of institutional support as yet another hurdle in the path to success. One way Gonzalez is trying to change this situation is by suggesting professors and peers be taught how to become better mentors.
Advocacy and mentorship have been vital to Gonzalez’s trajectory. Perhaps reading about her will remind us to lend a helping hand when the time is right, because ultimately, we all rise together.
Model Home
Norma Newton
Photo by: Julian Dufort/Corbis Outline
Few things reveal more about you than your home. In our book, nothing is more chic than a person who collects and curates what they love. Displaying objects that speak to you is a powerful act of fearlessness and style. Case and point, Bethann Hardison’s Gramercy Park prewar apartment. A pioneer African American runway model from the 1970s, a model manager and outspoken advocate for runway diversity, Ms. Hardison’s apartment is filled with fantastic pieces she has collected throughout the years - from her travels in Mexico to her friendship with Warhol. Now, that is truly stylish.
Photo by: Nina Robinson/NYT
Photo by: Nina Robinson/NYT
Photo by: Nina Robinson/NYT
Photo by: Julian Dufort/Corbis Outline