Sneak Peek – Graphic Noiz Manga

Using Platform to Talk Social Issues

Writing about “Mixed Race”Identity in graphic noiz 3

What are you?

Ever been asked that question? I was asked that question by my boss recently. I answered the question truthfully without hesitation, no problem. Later that week a Diveristy Leader reached out to me and wanted to discuss inclusion stating that I was “Ethnically Ambiguous” which was a term I had not heard before. Now, I have been called many things in my life and people have listed pretty mucjh every country on the planet as my ethnicity, it is always that I am somewhere else, never where I happened to be at the time.

I always want to know why race was immportant and “country of origin.” I got some different reactions from African Americans and varied answers fromm people who lived and were born in Africa whowho said they were “Not Black” but where African from a specific region or country. So the question is based it seems on culture.

But… if you think about it. The question “What Are You” is quite rude. I asked people how they identify and if they would answer the question. Wanted to share some of their answers.

We Asked the Question, “What are you?”

I asked five Mixed people of various backgrounds the question. Here are their answers:

Answers We Received

I’m human.
I am a Research RA studying Public Policy for my PH’D
I am French.
What do you think?
None of your business.

I found these answers interesting. It is a simple question, right? But why so hard…

When my boss asked the question a few months ago I answered . The five people I talked to said they would have refused to answer if asked. And when we asked to try to understand why people asked the question in the first place there was a lot of defending, and explaining. In each case. I figured being asked the question was for education. Some thers refused to answer. As a social experiment, more dscussions are needed to move dialgoue forward..

Sneak Peek Page in graphic noiz 3

Sharing early page from chapter 7 of the graphic noiz 3 manga. The plot of chapter 7 in the soon to be released manga is part of the hero’s journey and character developent for Noiz the 19 year old manga artist who is Mixed Race. He is half Black/Indigenous & half Japanese.

The pages below are partial ARC scans from production on the book, not the full story arc. In this sequence after Julia asks the question about how identifies, Noiz’ responds with a sense of confusion.

The reason I decided on the story about Noiz being Mixed was because we need to further the discourse on minority voices in entertainment and literature as having diverse voices can empower and bring new ideas and creativity. So that’s my pitch, enjoy the free page and stay tuned for release in 2020 of graphic noiz manga 3.

How to graphic noiz manga production coming?

We are adding dialogue on final pages, in the home stretch. Then onto proofread and revisions. Once all pages complete, will work on gallery text and completing the Educator Learning Aids developed for the Educator version of the story. Once that is done we move to book formatting using in InDesign and work on the translations in various languages.

Decision to release the story in multiple languages in the Educator version was due to response from teacers and current partnering with a local counselor who works with teens on the Autism spectrum.

Happy my books can assist others. The main reason I write.

Page 100 from Chapter 7 graphic noiz 3 featuring Noiz – from Act 3.