Mixed Roots

Anne Liu Kellor is a mixed-race Chinese American writer, editor, and teacher based in Seattle. Her memoir, Heart Radical: A Search for Language, Love, and Belonging, was a 2021 IPPY Winner and Washington State Book Award finalist. Kellor's essays have appeared in publications such as Memoir Land, Longreads, New England Review, Fourth Genre, and YES! Magazine. She loves supporting other writers through her work as a facilitator of online creative nonfiction classes, workshops for multiracial people, and a yearlong nonfiction manuscript program for women and non-binary writers. You can learn more at: www.anneliukellor.com

Editor’s Note
Introduction: Who Are We? / Anne Liu Kellor

PART 1: NAMING: ABSENCES, LOSSES, QUESTIONS, AND OPENINGS

Error Messages /
Rebecca Delacruz-Gunderson

Please Don’t Ask Me What I Am /
Savala Nolan

The Friendly City /
Grace M. Cho

Lessons in Lack /
Alayna Erhart

Goddess Braids /
Leslie V. Nguyen-Okwu

Learning a Second Language /
Samantha Chagollan

Regeneration of the Tongue /
Donna Miscolta

Con Lai /
Jeannie Messer

PART 2: INTEGRATING: PARTS OF THE WHOLE

The Miracle /
Malaka Gharib

Where My Worlds Collide /
Taressa Stovall

Where Do You Belong: A Standardized Test /
Elizabeth Su

Love, Blood, and Fractions: Finding Forever Under Long-Term Genocidal Policies /
Jordynn L. Paz

Dear Biracial/Multiracial/Mixed Black Girl /
Faith Adiele

Black, White, and Living in the Gray /
Steve Majors

Turkish 101 /
Jeremy O. Simer

Of Tattoos, Exile, and Finding a Home /
Rabha Ashry

Son, Grandfather /
Ben Zaidi

PART 3: RECKONING: ANCESTRAL LEGACIES AND COMMUNITIES

Off-White: Notes from the Border of Race /
Leticia H. Lopez

Like Your Mother /
Dawn Noel Chen

Frida Kahlo’s Bridge /
Jenny Sadre-Orafai

Grandma in Blackface /
Shannon Luders-Manuel

Ghost Kingdoms, Mirrors, and Margins /
Hei Kyong Kim

Other, Together /
Keliko K. M. Adams

Raising Responsibly: Parenting as a Multiracial Person with Light Skin and/or White Passing Privilege /
Joemy Ito-Gates

Dear Parts of the Whole /
Miyo Tubridy

To a Beloved Child /
Elisabeth Vasquez Hein

Belonging in the In-Between: The Dignity of Ambiguity and the Power of Shapeshifting /
Karine Bell and Dr. Leticia Nieto

Time Goes in a Circle /
Terra Trevor

Afterword: Solidarity Across Difference /
Anne Liu Kellor

Appendix: A Brief History of Racialized Ideas, Laws, Segregation, and Mixing in the US /
Anne Liu Kellor

Recommended Resources
Acknowledgments
About the Editor
Contributor Bios
Credits
Notes