About Talia Whyte

Posts by Talia Whyte:

I Tried The Japadog!

Before I went to Vancouver last September, two of my Canadian friends told me that I needed to try Japadog, which is a chain of restaurants in British Columbia that serves hot dogs topped with a variety of Japanese-style foods like okonomiyaki, yakisoba, teriyaki, and tonkatsu.

I love trying new foods, so I went to a Japadog near my hotel in Vancouver on my first day in town.  I eat their signature dog – Terimayo.  It comes with teriyaki sauce, mayo, onions, and seaweed make.  I also tried the “Shaked Fries” with butter and shoyu.

It was amazing!!! I will never look at hot dogs the same way again.

Meeting of Two Great Minds

I stumbled upon this great discussion between two of my favorite writers – Ta-Nehisi Coates and Ibram X. Kendi. Coates was at a book event at DC’s Politics and Prose to discuss his first novel, The Water Dancer.  Kendi is the author of another book I read recently, How To Be Antiracist.

It’s a great conversation with a meeting of two great minds.

What A Literary Diversity Audit Should Look Like

I recently met with the new children’s librarian at my local library, and she said one of the priorities in her position is to do a much-needed diversity audit of all the children’s books stocked in the building.  For those of you who don’t know, a diversity audit is a process of determining how inclusive a book collection and try to fix gaps in diverse representations.

This made me think about doing an audit on my own reading habits.  I believe that everyone should read all types of books with many kinds of topics and characters to get a wide variety of perspectives.

Stacy Whitman of the famed multicultural publisher, Lee and Low Books, has this great list of ways to make reading more inclusive:

  1. Does your book list or collection include books with characters of color? LGBTQ? Differently-abled?
  2. Does it include books with a main character of color? LGBTQ? Differently-abled?
  3. Does it include books written or illustrated by a person of color? Of different nationalities, religions or sexual preferences?
  4. Are there any books with a person of color on the cover? Do the characters in the book covers accurately reflect the characters in the book?
  5. Think about your student population. Does your list provide a mix of “mirror” books and “window” books for your students—books in which they can see themselves reflected and books in which they can learn about others?
  6. Think about the subject matter of your diverse books. Do all your books featuring black characters focus on slavery? Do all your books about Latino characters focus on immigration? Are all your LGBTQ books coming out stories?
  7. Do you have any books featuring diverse characters that are not primarily about race or prejudice?
  8. Consider your classic books, both fiction and nonfiction. Do any contain hurtful racial or ethnic stereotypes, or images (e.g. Little House on the Prairie or The Indian in the Cupboard? If so, how will you address those stereotypes with students? Have you included another book that provides a more accurate depiction of the same culture?

I think this is a great list that all librarians and educators should seriously consider when selecting future books!  I also found this video that is helpful.

On Tyler Perry and Black Excellence

If I can be upfront, I am not a fan of any of Tyler Perry’s TV shows or movies.  None of them make sense to me.  I think they also reinforce some really bad racial stereotypes about black people.

However, with that said, I respect Perry’s hustle!

A couple of weeks ago, he became the first black person to own a major film production studio.  That is a big deal!  It says a lot about his character that he named one of his soundstages after Spike Lee, who has vocally opposed Perry’s work for years.

Perry has already created a legacy that will outlive him.  He did that, and nobody can take that away from him!

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