Got 10 minutes? Watch "The New Boy"

In today's New York Time's movie section they are promoting the short films (animated and live action) that are nominated for this year's Academy Awards. And the still that they used is of Steph Green's The New Boy.

The still looked so familiar...and then I remembered. Somehow, through some google searching I was doing about race, I came across Liberty Mutual's "The Responsibility Project"--a multimedia endeavor designed to stimulate thought about responsibility, in our society and daily lives. There is a section on this site devoted to short films--and Steph Green's The New Boy was one of the ones I watched that stuck with me.

I think when we often think about "race," especially on this blog called "Mixed Race America," we think of it in U.S. terms (and I admit, I generally talk about race in U.S. terms because it's the geographic location and cultural/social site I know best). The New Boy reminds us that conversations about race, and difficult situations that occur between and among mixed-race people, happen around the globe, including Ireland.

If you have ten minutes, watch Steph Green's academy award nominated short film The New Boy (click here). Because it deals with issues of race and immigration and exile and trying to fit in--the pain and poignancy of the schoolyard. And because it's just a great short film, and I'll be rooting for her and for the film this Academy season.

[By the way, the other films on the site are quite good too--so if you have an hour to while away, check out some of the other movies--especially Be Good--it proves that owning a dog can be life changing]