The Costco Connection

By Hana Medina

FAMILIES HAVE ALWAYS come in all shapes, sizes, colors and backgrounds. But a unique festival in Los Angeles is helping to shi; the cultural view of what it means to have a diverse family. While history and cultural stereotypes have o;en cast the experience of being biracial or multiracial in a contentious light, Mixed Remixed, an annual arts festival, is repositioning it as a source of celebration.

Mixed Remixed showcases “the stories of multiracial Americans and families, the fast-est-growing demographic in the U.S.,” reports the nonpro;t’s recent press release. ;e free one-day event includes panel discussions, workshops, ;lm screenings, readings, and musical and comedic performances. Performers range from emerging artists to professional acts; comedians Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele of Comedy Central’s Key & Peele, actress Erica Gimpel and many notable writers are among past guests.

Best-selling author Heidi Durrow ( The Girl Who Fell from the Sky; Algonquin Books, 2011; not available at Costco) founded the festival in 2013, a;er previously organizing the Mixed Roots Film & Literary Festival. Durrow, who refers to herself as Afro-Viking on account of her African-American and Danish ethnici-ties, spoke with ;e Connection from her Los Angeles home.

“We get to talk about multiracial and

Organization: Mixed Remixed

Founder: Heidi Durrow (above)

Founded: 2013

Headquarters: Los Angeles, California

Website: mixedremixed.org

Email: info@mixedremixed.org

Comments about Costco: “Costco has become a go-to place for me when I have family or friends visiting from overseas.

It’s so big, and the clientele so diverse, it strikes my guests as quintessentially American.”—Heidi Durrow

multicultural mixed identity in, not necessar-
ily a positive light, but we get to talk about it
in a moment of positivity,” she says. “Because
I think, too o;en, when we’re talking about
race and racial identity and experience, it
comes out of these moments of con;ict.”
While there are many academic studies on
the mixed experience, Durrow, a Costco mem-
ber, says it was important for her to focus the
festival on the arts. “We connect through sto-
ries. It’s the writer Barbara Kingsolver who says,
‘It’s when we can connect with a theoretical
stranger through story, that’s when we
have empathy.’ When we can see our-
selves in someone who’s di;erent, then
that’s when we fully understand. ;rough
the arts, I think we just have an easier
entryway [to talk about race],” she says.

“;e festival is also for people who are not mixed race and for people who are not in mixed families,” she notes.

“And isn’t that the most important
thing? We don’t want to have this insu-
lar conversation with [only multiracial
people]; we want to have this conversa-
tion in the mainstream.”
Durrow explains that the festival pur-
posely includes lighthearted elements, such
as comedic workshops. “People didn’t [used
to] think there was anything funny about
being mixed. ;ey wouldn’t talk about being
mixed. ;ere was complete silence around
these issues. What I like to say [is], ‘It’s like
we’re trying to take the tragic out of mulatto,
one joke at a time.’ ”
Last year’s festival brought in nearly 700
attendees from around the country, and
Durrow says there’s something very unifying
about celebrating with others who identify as
“in between.” “A lot of people say, ‘[Attending]
felt like coming home.’ ‘It felt like the home I
never had.’
“People feel a lot of relief when they come,
because, especially for people who are ethni-
cally ambiguous looking, it’s hard to quantify
to someone how much of a tax there is on
how to answer the question, ‘What are you?’ It’s
not meant to be hostile, but there’s a tax on
having to explain your identity every single
day,” she explains. “[At the festival] no one’s
looking at your family, going, ‘Wait a min-
ute—how do these people ;t together?’ ”
Mixed Remixed is always held around
June 12—Loving Day—the anniversary of the
landmark 1967 Supreme Court ruling in
Loving v. Virginia that struck down remaining
anti-miscegenation laws.

;is year’s festival is June 13 at Los Angeles’ Japanese American National Museum. Performers and guests include ;e Daily Show’s Al Madrigal, author Jamie Ford, singer Donn T and more. C

Artists from the 2014 festival: Top left: actresses Erica Gimpel, Whitney Avalon and Khanisha Foster, violist Mya Greene and actress Victoria Tilford; bottom left: comedian Keegan-Michael Key, poet Aaron Samuels and comedian Jordan Peele.