2019-12-23
1 小时 9 分钟My guest today, Mira Jacob, is the author and illustrator of a really moving, funny, provocative new graphic memoir called Good Talk, a memoir in Conversations, which is the follow up to her also critically acclaimed novel, the Sleepwalkers Guide to dancing.
Mira's writings and drawings have also appeared everywhere, from the New York Times, Guernica, Vogue, so many others.
Hes even drawn a column on Shondaland.
And while living in Brooklyn now, Mira grew up in New Mexico, the daughter of first generation immigrants from India.
She learned to fly a single engine Cessna with her physician dad as a young child, and also learned at a young age that the color of her skin had a very real effect on the way that people saw and treated her and also the assumptions that people made about her.
This became ever more apparent when years later, as a writer living in New York City, she witnessed the events of 911 up close and found herself not just a New Yorker who was grieving alongside everyone else, but also an instant subject of suspicion.
In her new memoir, Good Talk, Mira drops back into this conversation around race, color of her skin, the assumptions that people make years down the road.
Starting with a question from her son, actually, who wanted to know if some white people hate brown people, and daddy is white, does he hate me?
We dive into not only Mira's powerful answer and her personal story, but also her upbringing, the beautiful relationships with her parents, and also the importance of staying curious and in the conversation in today's culture and how she weaves all of these issues into this really moving new book, even when clear answers are nowhere to be found and mess seems not only inevitable, but perpetual.
So excited to share this important conversation with you.
I'm Jonathan Fields, and this is good life project.
We're both New Yorkers, which is kind of fun.
You grew up in New Mexico, though?
Yeah.
And your parents were first generation from India into New Mexico.
Somewhere along the line.
I also read when you were a little kid, your dad flew planes.
Like, small planes or taught you how to fly?
Yeah, he did.
He did.