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How can sacoglossan sea slugs perform photosynthesis – a process usually associated with plants?

Kleptoplasty describes a special type of endosymbiosis where a host organism retain photosynthetic organelles from their algal prey. Kleptoplasty is widespread in ciliates and foraminifera; however, within Metazoa animals (animals having the body composed of cells differentiated into tissues and organs, and usually a digestive cavity lined with specialized cells), sacoglossan sea slugs are the only known species to harbour functional plastids. This characteristic gives these sea slugs their very special feature.

The “stolen” chloroplasts are acquired by the ingestion of macro algal tissue and retention of undigested functional chloroplasts in special cells of their gut. These “stolen” chloroplasts (thereafter named kleptoplasts) continue to photosynthesize for varied periods of time, in some cases up to one year.

In our study, we analyzed the pigment profile of Elysia viridis in order to evaluate appropriate measures of photosynthetic activity.

The pigments siphonaxanthin, trans and cis-neoxanthin, violaxanthin, siphonaxanthin dodecenoate, chlorophyll (Chl) a and Chl b, ε,ε- and β,ε-carotenes, and an unidentified carotenoid were observed in all Elysia viridis. With the exception of the unidentified carotenoid, the same pigment profile was recorded for the macro algae C. tomentosum (its algal prey).

In general, carotenoids found in animals are either directly accumulated from food or partially modified through metabolic reactions. Therefore, the unidentified carotenoid was most likely a product modified by the sea slugs since it was not present in their food source.

Pigments characteristic of other macro algae present in the sampling locations were not detected inthe sea slugs. These results suggest that these Elysia viridis retained chloroplasts exclusively from C. tomentosum.

In general, the carotenoids to Chl a ratios were significantly higher in Elysia viridis than in C. tomentosum. Further analysis using starved individuals suggests carotenoid retention over Chlorophylls during the digestion of kleptoplasts. It is important to note that, despite a loss of 80% of Chl a in Elysia viridis starved for two weeks, measurements of maximum capacity of performing photosynthesis indicated a decrease of only 5% of the photosynthetic capacity of kleptoplasts that remain functional.

This result clearly illustrates that measurement of photosynthetic activity using this approach can be misleading when evaluating the importance of kleptoplasts for the overall nutrition of the animal.

Finally, concentrations of violaxanthin were low in C. tomentosum and Elysia viridis and no detectable levels of antheraxanthin or zeaxanthin were observed in either organism. Therefore, the occurrence of a xanthophyll cycle as a photoregulatory mechanism, crucial for most photosynthetic organisms, seems unlikely to occur in C. tomentosum and Elysia viridis but requires further research.

The post Pigment profile in the photosynthetic sea slug Elysia viridis appeared first on OUPblog.

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for Young Ladies & Little Misses of Color. Poems by Elizabeth Alexander & Marilyn Nelson, Illustrated by Floyd Cooper. Wordsong, 2007. In 1832 Prudence Crandall, a Quaker schoolteacher and head of The Canterbury Female Boarding School in Canterbury, Connecticut admitted her first Black student. The town's people, who had been very pleased with her running the school up until then, were

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A Cultural History of the Harlem Renaissance by Laban Carrick Hill. Little, Brown and Company, 2003. If you've been reading African American biographies and histories focusing on slavery and civil rights this month, and are ready to read a little farther, you ought to check out this book. If you've never heard of the Harlem Renaissance you need to read it. In the forward by Nikki Giovanni we

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by Christopher Paul Curtis. Scholastic Press, 2007. 2008 Newbery Honor and Coretta Scott King Award. It took me a couple weeks to finish this book. It starts out kind of slow, with the easy charm of an afternoon fishing on the river. Elijah is a twelve year old boy living in the free Black colony of Buxton, Canada, just across the river from Detroit. It is the mid 1860's and Elijah is the first

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Illustrated by Josee Masse. Barefoot Books, 2007. (review copy) This delightful picture book is a musical poem spoken from a Caucasian mother to her adopted Chinese daughter. It sings of tender love surrounding the child from birth. Mother love supports this child from both her first, biological mother and her second, adoptive mother. It is truly one of the few books I have found about adoption

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I don't know about you but I'm getting excited about February starting next week. Not just because it means winter is half over, but because the Brown Bookshelf blog 28 Days Later is going to be featuring African American authors and illustrators every day of the month. They are covering some of the wonderful folks who are new to the publishing world or have been somewhat overlooked by the top

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Make It a Day ON, Not a Day Off! Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. sought to forge the common ground on which people from all walks of life could join together to address important community issues. On January 21st, 2008, millions of Americans across the country will once again honor his legacy by taking part in a wide range of

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NOTE TO SELF: MUSSELS ARE NOT THE MOST VISUAL MULLOSKS


One thing for sure is that anybody hoping for some exciting viewing on MusselCam will be disappointed, but then that's the way Mother Nature works. Unbelievable as it may seem MusselCam located in Prince Edward Island, Canada, was named amongst the top 25 most interesting webcams in the world. Hey - now that's an accomplishment!

That lone blue mussel is the only one of two Canadian entries to crack EarthCam's list. A webcam tracking the lighthouse at scenic Peggy's Cove in Nova Scotia
(www.peggyscovewebcam.ca/live) is also on the webcam network's list of favourites.

For the uninitiated and according to Wikipedia, "the common name mussel is used for members of several different families of clams or bivalve molluscs, from both saltwater and freshwater habitats."

Visually they aren't anything to look at being round and...round.

The message on the web page says it all: "mussels grow very, very slowly. Please check back often."

Garner Quain, the co-owner of Flex Mussels, which has locations in Charlottetown and Summerside, was surprised to hear his camera made the list.

"I didn't ever think that it would make any kind of Top 10 list, other than the fact that it's so, kind of, notoriously boring," said Quain."There's a few other ones on the internet that are sort of old favourites that have kind of always been running, so it was really kind of an homage to those, so to be included among them is a nice little honour."

Quain said MusselCam gets more than 1,000 hits a day.

Anyway, if you've got a lot of time - and patience - drop by the musselcam site here:

http://www.flexmussels.com/musselcam.html

Let us know if anything exciting happens. Yawn...

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I am looking ahead to celebrating Kwanzaa the week after Christmas with my boys. We have several books about the holiday which explain the symbols and terminology. I enjoy reading them. But it is striking me this year that I don't have any story books. There is no mythology, no poetry for children, no anecdotes, no central cast of characters. Where are the images that hold our hearts; the fantasy

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Native American Poems and Songs of Thanksgiving, told by Joseph Bruchac and pictures by Murv Jacob. This is a joyful collection of praise and thanksgiving songs and prayers from fourteen different Native American cultures. Joseph Bruchac is himself part Native American (Abenaki, from central New York state) and he has made a career of writing and storytelling drawing from a rich heritage. We have

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Have you seen the new blog called The Brown Bookshelf? Here's how they describe their mission: The Brown Bookshelf is a group of 5 authors and illustrators, brought together for the collective goal of showcasing the best and brightest voices in African-American Children’s Literature, with a special emphasis on new authors and books that are “flying under the radar.”Be sure to check out our new

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Walter Dean Myers. Dell Laurel-Leaf, 2000. This is a collection of short stories telling of the lives of the residents of one block in Harlem. Myers' gifted voice spins one tale after another; of Big Joe, who plans his own funeral and participates in it while still living in order to enjoy the party, and Angela, a young girl who begins to dream premonitions of other people's deaths. Here is an

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Today I joined the NAACP. It's open to folks of any color, race, or ethnicity; did you know that? From the web site: For more than ninety five years, the NAACP has been growing on the courageous shoulders of thousands of people. People of all races, nationalities and faiths united on one premise ----that all men and women are created equal. Are you a member?I read on

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By Sue Monk Kidd. Penguin, 2003. Indulge me here. I don’t usually blog about books until I’ve finished them, but I want to know your opinion while I’m still in the middle of this one. People have been telling me for years that I would love this book and it was on my "to read" list. I thought they were recommending it because it was about adoption or orphans or something. No one told me it is

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I made a few phone calls today, to Louisiana Governor Blanco and the Louisiana Department of Tourism. I wanted them to know I was paying attention to the case of the Jena 6, and I expect some positive news about our call for justice.

Some people attended rallies, or wore black and white, or wrote letters and emails. Join us! sign the petition, make a few calls, attend a rally. Every voice counts.

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On Facebook today I joined the Free the Jena 6 group, and went to ColorOfChange.org's page to sign the petition.


Here is how they recap this outrageously troubling story:

"Last fall in Jena, the day after two Black high school students sat beneath the "white tree" on their campus, nooses were hung from the tree. When the superintendent dismissed the nooses as a "prank," more Black students sat under the tree in protest. The District Attorney then came to the school accompanied by the town's police and demanded that the students end their protest, telling them, "I can be your best friend or your worst enemy... I can take away your lives with a stroke of my pen."

A series of white-on-black incidents of violence followed, and the DA did nothing. But when a white student was beaten up in a schoolyard fight, the DA responded by charging six black students with attempted murder and conspiracy to commit murder.

It's a story that reads like one from the Jim Crow era, when judges, lawyers and all-white juries used the justice system to keep blacks in "their place." But it's happening today. The families of these young men are fighting back, but the story has gotten minimal press. Together, we can make sure their story is told and that the Governor of Louisiana intervenes and provides justice for the Jena 6. It starts now. Please join me:

http://www.colorofchange.org/jena/?id=2572-292326

The noose-hanging incident and the DA's visit to the school set the stage for everything that followed. Racial tension escalated over the next couple of months, and on November 30, the main academic building of Jena High School was burned down in an unsolved fire. Later the same weekend, a black student was beaten up by white students at a party. The next day, black students at a convenience store were threatened by a young white man with a shotgun. They wrestled the gun from him and ran away. While no charges were filed against the white man, the students were later arrested for the theft of the gun.

That Monday at school, a white student, who had been a vocal supporter of the students who hung the nooses, taunted the black student who was beaten up at the off-campus party and allegedly called several black students "nigger." After lunch, he was knocked down, punched and kicked by black students. He was taken to the hospital, but was released and was well enough to go to a social event that evening.

Six Black Jena High students, Robert Bailey (17), Theo Shaw (17), Carwin Jones (18), Bryant Purvis (17), Mychal Bell (16) and an unidentified minor, were expelled from school, arrested and charged with second-degree attempted murder. The first trial ended last month, and Mychal Bell, who has been in prison since December, was convicted of aggravated battery and conspiracy to commit aggravated battery (both felonies) by an all-white jury in a trial where his public defender called no witnesses. During his trial, Mychal's parents were ordered not to speak to the media and the court prohibited protests from taking place near the courtroom or where the judge could see them.

Mychal is scheduled to be sentenced on July 31st, and could go to jail for 22 years. Theo Shaw's trial is next. He will finally make bail this week.

The Jena Six are lucky to have parents and loved ones who are fighting tooth and nail to free them. They have been threatened but they are standing strong. We know that if the families have to go it alone, their sons will be a long time coming home. But if we act now, we can make a difference.

Join me in demanding that Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco get involved to make sure that justice is served for Mychal Bell, and that DA Reed Walters drop the charges against the 5 boys who have not yet gone to trial.

http://www.colorofchange.org/jena/?id=2572-292326

Thanks."

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Yesterday I went to see the HP movie The Order of the Phoenix. I don't get to the movies very often but I could hardly go back to school without seeing that, right? It was great. I think it's the best one so far.

I have spent the past couple of weeks borrowing the older movies from the library and watching them again. After I finished reading Deathly Hallows I felt the need to review the history. The first three movies were somewhat boring. I found them childish and trite. Hermione's character really annoyed me. I can't stand when female actors rely completely on expressions of negative emotion to display character. Hermione is always irritated, annoyed, angry or frustrated. She hasn't much depth in the first three movies. Ron is really shallow too - he's just a bumbling fool playing side kick.

But when I watched The Goblet of Fire the other day I was much more impressed. I really liked how Hermione came into herself. She had a far greater range of emotion. At the Yule Ball she showed some delicate blossoming. Ron is still an idiot, but he also showed some depth in subtle facial expression. He realizes his weaknesses and works to overcome them, even taking risks at being rejected in order to restore friendships.

The actors are growing up and getting better at their craft. I really like how the friendship between Hermione and Harry is developed. Their interchanges seem genuine and tender. At times I began to forget it was a movie, which never happened in the first three portrayals. I wonder if I like this movie better than the first three because I am a grown up and a mother; I am interested in the coming-of-age theme more than the magic/wizarding/fantasy elements.

Order of the Phoenix is the best one yet. I was glad they all had better hair cuts (mom speaking here). I felt so sorry for Harry in his loneliness and confusion. I cried several times, particularly in the scenes when he is with Sirius having heart to heart talks. I can see Harry being nurtured by the adults at Hogwarts more than I noticed before. He is clearly loved and cared for as a person and not just a savior/sacrificial lamb/superhero. His sweet personality shines.

As a teacher I was intrigued by the scenes where the professors are arguing or challenging each other. It puts me on red alert when Prof. McGonigall and Dolores Umbridge go head to head on the stairs in front of the students. I wanted to tell them to go in an office or something. It was heartbreaking when Umbridge fired poor Trelawney in front of everyone. I thought Snape did the best job of showing his complexity in this movie. He clearly was on the good side and helped Potter out even though you could see he hated Harry's father because of the way he was bullied in childhood.

Dolores Umbridge takes the cake though. She is my worst nightmare; you know how Harry is afraid he is like Voldemort and turning into him? Well I am sometimes afraid I could turn into Umbridge. She is so evil and clever and hateful. She enjoys a pink frosting of pleasantries on top of her wicked satisfaction with causing pain. She gives me chills. If I ever go to the dark side I will be her student.

I think that David Yates, who directed Order of the Phoenix and is starting to film Half Blood Prince in the fall, did a fantastic job in this movie. I think it is true to the book and far more challenging, thoughtful and poignant than the first three movies. I haven't read through all the books again this summer so I am wondering if this impression is valid. Has anyone else read all the books and seen all the movies this summer? What did you think about how they were done on screen?

Notes about diversity: Watching the movies I paid a lot more attention to racial/ethnic diversity than I did while reading. Perhaps because it is visual? Some of my random thoughts:

• I liked Kingsley's character and I wish he had more of an active role with speaking parts.
• I noticed that at the Yule Ball in Goblet Harry, Ron and Cedric all had Asian women for dates. I never saw an Asian man in any of the movies, did you? I wondered about the stereotypes of Asian women and if that had any influence in the roles.
• I didn't see any blacks at the Yule ball at all. Did you?
• I wish some of the major characters were other than white. None of the heroes or bad guys were anything but Caucasian. I read a review saying HP is multi-culti because of the muggles and half bloods, but I don't think that applies.
  
• What about international students? Was there a presence at Hogwarts of any International student activities or clubs? Wouldn't you expect that?
  
• There were several black students in the background at Hogwarts. I wondered if they have a Black Student Union. Just an odd thought that ran through my mind.
• I wonder if there are any gay/lesbian wizards? Do they have a GLBT group?
  

I don't mean to criticize Rowling for these things, it's just what I was wondering about. I feel a little affinity for Rowling because she's about the same age as me and was a single mother of a baby when she started writing the books. I think we have a lot in common. I don't expect her to put characters in her story just to satisfy some ideal of "diversity". I just notice it when I watching and reading, and wonder about it. I think noticing what I notice says something about me, and about our culture in general. I use these "noticings and wonderings" as a way of examining my own perspectives. What did you notice about race?

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I just found out via Charlotte's Library that Shen's Blog is doing a six week series on Crossing Cultural Borders. Each week between July 16 and August 20 a different theme will be addressed. Looks interesting!

This past week has been about American kids traveling to other lands or moving between two homes in two different countries. Emily is asking for suggestions of children's books where the characters live in two cultures. Anything come to mind?

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Kyra E. Hicks, author of Martha Ann's Quilt for Queen Victoria and Black Threads: An African American Quilting Sourcebook the blog Black Threads in Kid's Lit is collecting a list of all the children's picture books written or illustrated by an African American and copyrighted in 2007. She is compiling monthly lists. She started the project after noticing there were no discussions of mock Coretta Scott King awards, as there are for the Caldecott and the Newbery. She's asking for suggestions of books you would add to her lists. What do you think?

Thanks to Devas T. for the heads up.

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Story and pictures by Niki Daly. Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2006. We found this latest adventure of Jamela in the library this week. Last winter I reviewed Where's Jamela? and found it to be delightful. In Happy Birthday Jamela she is up to her old tricks. She goes shopping with her mother and grandmother Gogo to buy a party dress and shoes for her birthday. She finds the perfect pair of princess shoes but her mother wants her to have strong sensible school shoes. When they get home Jamela "wished that, somehow, when she opened the box, she'd find the Princess Shoes inside. But when she looked, a pair of strong black school shoes lay there like heavy bricks. They smelled nice - but they could never, ever be birthday girl shoes." This is an example of the poetry and charm of Daly's writing. He manages to capture the child's point of view perfectly.

She gets an idea to decorate the shoes with sparkly, glittery treasure bits. She is so excited to show her mother the decorated shoes, but her mother reacts with anger and sends her out of the house. Siting on the curb Jamela talks to the neighbors about her predicament. Fortunately Lily, the artist living down the road happens by and she is delighted with the decorated shoes. She suggests they make more to sell in the market and the next day they do. The shoes are a big hit and they make enough money for Jamela to pay her mother back and then some. She ends up getting both party and school shoes for birthday presents. I really like how Jamela is creative and bubbly and bursting with the joy of life. I adore Daly's illustrations of her. His watercolors perfectly capture the soul and spirit of this charming little girl. Daly is one of those artists you just have to wonder over - how can he make such evocative, expressive paintings of their faces with just a few lines and a wash of color? It's a beautiful mystery to me.

This book was just published last year but it reminds me a bit of what I have read about Daly's older book Jamela's Dress. In that one Jamela was dancing around in some beautiful fabric her mother had purchased to make a special dress. Jamela ruined the fabric, angering her mother. As it happens a photographer took pictures of her dancing and sold them for a good price. Jamela gets part of the profit and is able to pay her mother back. I like the theme of joyful creativity, celebrating beauty with abandon, and ingenious schemes for making money to make up for extravagant mistakes. Jamela is a strong, thoughtful, vibrant girl character who makes a dramatic impact on the world for good. She runs into difficulty but always find a way to salvage the situation, with the help of the loving adults around her.

Another particularly nice thing about these books is that they are so multicultural. Because they are set in modern South Africa they are populated with adults and children of every skin tone and ethnicity. There is no special mention of this diversity, it is just part of normal life. There are a scattering of Xhosa words and phrases in the book, including the Happy Birthday song, which makes it clear that this is a particularly South African story. Buddy likes that about the book and wants me to sing Happy Birthday to him in Xhosa at his birthday coming up. I hope I am up to the task.

I thought it might be possible that Buddy would not be interested in a picture book about a girl shopping for party dresses and shoes, but that was not the case. I think he was willing to roll with that theme because it is so interesting to see how Jamela will deal with her mother's anger and her shoe predicament. He has begun to express desire to have the clothes, shoes and toys of his five year old peers, and is becoming aware of the difference between what I want to buy and what he wants me to buy for him. It is a fascinating dilemma for a child. There is also an illustration of the birthday party where Jamela is trying on her gift party shoes. One of her guests, a boy about five or six, is quietly observing the sparkly shoes with a contemplative look on his face. Buddy and I speculate that this little boy would like to try them on, even if they are girl's shoes. The depth of that conflict is enough to put this book on the golden shelf for us.

Daly is an award winning author of a long list of books and a brilliant career. Take a look at some of his other titles whenever you get a chance. If you would like to see some of the illustrations and text of this particular one go to this link for Google books and see a preview. I am loving this new feature of Google books. Have you explored it yet?

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Carmen Van Kerckhove, of Anti-Racist Parent and New Demographic, passed this on to me:

Did you grow up in a racially/ethnically mixed family?  Did you create
one?  If so, we want to hear from you.  We are collecting memoirs from
individuals of mixed race families.  Your story can be about anything
within this topic.  Positive and negative experiences are welcome, as
long as they speak your truth.  This is a grassroots anti-racism
project, and is first and foremost a way to share the real lives of
interracial families from the inside out.  We are looking for cohesive
stories. If your piece is chosen to be published, you will be
considered a contributing author for publishing and will be paid
accordingly if/when this goes to contract.  This anthology will be a
resource to other interracial individuals/families as well as
outsiders who are looking to learn more about the subject. If you have
a non-fiction memoir or personal you'd like to share, please do! Send
a 3-5 page draft to start and we will work from there... We are
looking for at least 10 pages Times New Roman double-spaced
(approximately 4,000 words). And/or if you prefer to simply share your
story and have us help heavily with the writing, that can happen as
well as we are looking to balance the book with a diversity of
perspectives.  Contact us with your story and/or any questions at:
interracialbookprojectATgmailDOTcom.

The contact's names are Adina Ba and Heather Ellen Miller.

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by Andrea Cheng. Front Street, 2004. 10 year old Sarah and her best friend Victoria share a cozy hideaway under the honeysuckle vines. They play pretend games and share everything. When Victoria suddenly moves away without explanation Sarah is heartbroken and worried about her friend.

In school the teacher introduces a new girl named Tina, who has just arrived from China. Tina has studied English but has little experience communicating with native speakers. Sarah is Chinese-American but can't speak Chinese. She feels completely American and can't understand why the teacher wants to pair her up with Tina. Both girls hate how teachers frequently call them by the other's name, as if they can't tell them apart.

The story is written on about a third grade reading level so the sentences and vocabulary are simple and clear. I am impressed with the depth of the portrayal of the racism the girls encounter. They both struggle with name calling and taunting on the playground as well as adults the dismiss them and have no cultural understanding. On school picture day Sarah forgot to dress up. Her mother came to school to bring her a blouse embroidered by one of her relatives in China. She doesn't like the special attention she receives in the school office when her mother shows it to her, and she doesn't want to change out of her tee shirt.

"Sarah, please," Mom says in a loud whisper. "Why are you making such an issue out of a simple picture?"

Mom is the one making the issue, not me. I don't have any issue at all. The secretary is looking at us. She sees the embroidered blouse. "That's a very pretty blouse," she says. "Is it from Japan?"

"From China," Mom says.

China, Japan, Africa, they're all the same to the secretary. Faraway places with funny-looking people. I fold my arms across my chest. Mom puts the blouse back in the bag and goes toward the door. I want to change my mind and take the Chinese blouse, but Mom is already out the door. I watch her through the glass, small and thin like Sam. I want to run after her and say, Sorry, Mom, I'll change my shirt, but my feet are stuck to the brown-and-white tiles on the floor.

Sarah feels the tension of growing up and finding independence from her parents. Her dad is often away on business trips and she misses him but doesn't know how to talk about it. She is afraid she is a bad Chinese girl because she gets her clothes dirty, causes her mother extra work, and accidentally breaks a vase. She feels guilty when she lies to the teacher by writing what she thinks the teacher wants to hear about celebrating Christmas instead of what she really enjoys about celebrating Chinese New Year.

As time goes on she begins to make friends with Tina in spite of herself. She still misses Victoria but she feels a bit more hopeful that her old friend is doing well in her new life when she receives a few notes from her left in their old honeysuckle house. Communication starts to open up between her and her parents as well.

I like this story very much. I found it a bit too simple and abrupt in the phrasing and sentence structure, but I think that is because it is aimed at young readers. The themes addressed give credit to children's intelligence. I think many children deal with loss and separation of friends and family as well as cross cultural misunderstandings and racism. It's nice to read a book that recognizes children's real experience.

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Real-Life Parents Share Real-Life Tips

There is a new e-book just out, edited and published by Carmen Van Kerckhove of Anti-Racist Parent blog and New Demographic, an anti-racism training company. She has collected great contributions from many of the ARP columnists dedicated to combating racism. It's full of helpful and encouraging tips.

Unfortunately, I hate the piece I contributed. Everyone else shared positive ideas about raising children in healthy ways. I told a humiliating and long-winded story about a time I blurted out a really ignorant, racist comment and Buster called me on it. I am burning with shame right now thinking of the whole world reading about it. Why didn't I share something uplifting and hopeful instead of showing what an idiot I am? My piece is also the longest, with too much back-story. And I'm the only one that didn't use my real name in the credits. An odd mixture; I totally revealed my stupidity while refusing to tell my name. sheesh.

But if you want to read everyone else' great tips, go download it here.

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Vanity Fair is putting out an Africa issue this month. I just watched a music video of the photo shoot they did to take the cover photos:

In this behind-the-scenes footage, which is accompanied by a beautiful track from popular Senegalese singer Youssou N'Dour, Annie Leibovitz and guest editor Bono go about the business of creating the issue's 20 iconic covers. "It's a visual chain letter," says Leibovitz, "spreading the message from person to person to person."

Fascinating stuff! There are also articles on Madonna's Malawi, The Lazarus Effect ,and Africa: An Interactive Map.

Thanks to Chasing Ray for the link. Be sure to check out her Summer Blog Blast Tour of author interviews starting on Sunday.

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June 12 was the 40th anniversary of Loving v. Virginia (1967), the landmark Supreme Court decision that legalized interracial marriage in the United States. The Loving conference is going on now in Chicago.

Thanks to Finding Wonderland for the heads-up and the link to Loving Day. Tadmack tells us: "Ms. Mildred Jeter (an African American lady) and Mr. Richard Perry Loving (a Caucasian gentleman) were residents of Virginia who married in June of 1958 in Washington DC, leaving Virginia to evade a state law banning marriages between any white person and a non-white person. When they returned home, they were charged with violation of the ban, pleaded guilty, and were sentenced to one year in prison, with the sentence suspended for 25 years on condition that the couple leave the state of Virginia. They left... but they decided not to leave it at that, and that is why today we celebrate people's rights to love anyone they choose."

I visited the Loving Day.org site today and I was fascinated by their interactive U.S. map. You can click on the time line of dates in our history and see the states change color as they go from becoming a state, making interracial relationships illegal, and then making them legal. At first it seems tedious to have to keep clicking and wait for something to happen (for many years nothing changes at all). But then you realize - each click is a year. A Year. When it was illegal to marry and live in a family with people you loved. Because their skin was a different shade or their culture was different from that of your family of origin. I kept clicking back and forth through the years. Now we can be together. Now we can't. Can. Can't. I started crying.

If you are gay or lesbian it's still illegal in most places to marry the one you are committed to loving. I wonder what that map is going to look like in 40 years.

Another blog post about Loving Day:
My American Melting Pot

This one's not about Loving Day, but it's not to be missed: Los Angelista

I missed the celebration this year and can't go to the conference, but I am happy to hear about what others are doing. My son Buddy graduates from pre-school today so this tranracial family is celebrating all over the place!

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