While the Have-Nots Look for Work and Housing...

Don't you love off-the-charts contrast? I do. While we have tent cities going up around the U.S., the extravagant offerings of Neiman Marcus' 2009 Christmas Book were unveiled last week. It's their 83rd annual catalog and don't worry, you can get...

Do "AHA" moments really come out of nowhere?

Like other wild minds out there, my creativity is off the charts, as people tell me. I like to draw on quirky instincts to come up with unexpected ideas (that probably comes from my "out of the box" start in...

What are you doing today to transform?

Before I recognized that being multiracial unites me with others, rather than separates, I used to consider myself an outcast. And I've grown beyond thinking of my birth in prison as a stigma. In fact, I'm lucky to have a wider world...

NOODLES OR SUV's?

In 2005, archaeologists unearthed the earliest empirical evidence of noodles ever found, a 4,000-year-old bowl of noodles in China. Scientists reported this as the earliest example of our staple dish ever found.

This bowl of preserved, thin and long yellow noodles was discovered inside an...

Do you know the meaning of your name?

I believe that names tell a story of who we are. I've had two given first names (besides the nicknames I've had along the way.) At birth I was named Madlyn, then re-named Deborah after adoption.

My name is a big...

I always take action with my Attitude Factor, and you can boost yours, too. We each do this in our own way, but no matter what, life is only as good as we believe it to be. As the saying goes: If you hope for rain, don't complain about the...

And how I got from there to here.

As a girl growing up in Seattle, I always sensed something amiss about me and often snooped around the house looking for clues to my differences, especially my racially ambiguous looks -- caramel colored skin more Latina than anything but my eyes...

And How I Got So 'Happy'

Since when did 'happiness' become a life goal, an emotional destiny to achieve?

A Mutt-Ossary for the New World

Have you ever witnessed, known, or even been aware of anyone targeted by negative name calling, discrimination in housing or employment, or another kind of prejudice or bigotry based on skin color, class, gender, religion, or lifestyle? (If not, what planet are you from?)

It's expected that by 2050, the majority of the U.S. population, nearly seventy-five million Americans, will identify with more than one race. This is a powerful new force that cannot go unnoticed. Hey, goldilocks, step aside.

Where We Live

The 2000 U.S. Census Bureau analysis was the nation's first-ever...

My family is everything from secular to Just Jewish to Orthodox, with a handful of Asian Jews, Hispanic, lots of non-Jews, nine adopted Jews, some converted Jews, and much intermarriage. Other branches of the family tree are Christian, Atheist, Greek Orthodox, Buddhist. In other words, mutts galore.

After...

And How to Tell Others What You Are

I'm all about positive thinking and positive attitude. It's what got me here, with my personal story from prison-to-poetry-to product development. You can read more about that in my previous post (and in my bio here.)

While not everyone has my wild...

Since when is race funny, or a topic for humor? Is now really the time to poke fun and play around with race, or with anything else, for that matter? After all, the world economy tanked in 2008. Who can laugh?

I, for one. And you should, too. We...