multibeautiful

Chinese artist Ai Weiwei with a kitty. What's not to love?

The early termination of last week’s theme was caused by the torpedoing of my intentions by an avalanche of work and illness. I’m taking this week off, as I didn’t have the energy to prepare at the weekend (see: work and illness). My apologies.

I hope, however, that this entry might keep some of you amused for a little while. Remember a few weeks ago when I mentioned the three-part BBC television series called Mixed Race Britannia? It traced the evolution of the profile of mixed race people in modern Britain. I watched all of them and wrote them up. The series put a rather rosy spin on the acceptance of mixed race couples and mixed race people in the UK today that I didn’t think was entirely justified, but it did provide rich historical coverage from the early 1900s to the present, focusing primarily on London and Liverpool.

Mixed Race Britannia: 1 of 3
Mixed Race Britannia: 2 of 3
Mixed Race Britannia: 3 of 3

Paul Robeson was an American singer, actor and early civil rights activist. In 1930, he played Othello opposite actress Peggy Ashcroft (Desdemona), a role which required him to kiss her on stage. It was not a performance he could have made at home. Robeson and Ashcroft took their liaisons off-stage as well - a romance that would flame periodically for decades.



( +6 )

The last laureate of this week, Chilean poet, diplomat and feminist, Gabriela Mistral, was the first Latin American woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1945. Born into poverty, she won recognition for her published poetry while working as a teacher’s aide. As she gained stature, her position in the Chilean education system became more influential and she was able to champion reforms to expand access to those not from the privileged classes. She traveled widely and guarded her personal life closely. She died of pancreatic cancer in 1957.

( Gabriela Mistral on beauty in art (translated into English) )



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And in breaking news, what a wonderful way to round off the week: The 2011 Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to three women of colour. The winners are Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Leymah Gbowee of Liberia and Tawakul Karman of Yemen for 'their non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women's rights to full participation in peace-building work'. Live text-based coverage from the Guardian can be viewed here.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is the Burmese opposition leader opposition leader who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 while under house arrest after the ruling military junta in Burma refused to honour the results of general elections in which her party won majority votes. She was finally released from house arrest on 13 November 2010. She delivered the 2011 Reith Lectures, which were covertly recorded by the BBC and smuggled out of Burma.

“The value systems of those with access to power and of those far removed from such access cannot be the same. The viewpoint of the privileged is unlike that of the underprivileged.”

“It is often in the name of cultural integrity as well as social stability and national security that democratic reforms based on human rights are resisted by authoritarian governments.”



( +5 )

This week’s theme is Female Nobel Laureates. Sadly, there are so few - and correspondingly even fewer of colour - that this really will only fill one week.

Dr Wangari Maathai was the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize for her environmental work in Kenya. I learned of her death last week from ajnabieh’s entry about her, from which I extract this quote from Wangari Maathai’s 2008 Blackwell Award acceptance speech. The Blackwell Award is given by the Hobart and William Smith Colleges in honour of Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell (1821-1910), the first woman in America to receive the Doctor of Medicine degree, to a woman “whose life exemplifies outstanding service to humanity.” The list of awardees can be viewed here.

( Planting trees can be politically dangerous )



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Today’s Trinidadian jazz pianist and singer and absolutely stunning woman comes to us courtesy of aris_tgd’s suggestion.



( +7 because she’s just WHOA )

Hazel Scott plays "Takin’ A Chance" (YouTube, 03:35. Skip to 02:30 if you want to see closeups of some truly astounding fingerwork.)
Hazel Scott plays two grand pianos. And sings. (YouTube, 04:10)

Japanese-American actor and activist, best known for his portrayal of Mr. Sulu on Star Trek. He is so awesome, he even has an asteroid named after him (7307 Takei).



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George Takei dons his Takei apparel and lends his name in support of Takei marriage and Takei pride marches.