The week of September 10, 2016 was making the decision never to go in a cable car again; declaring our love for Claudia Kishi, again and always; and slurping up pho with hoisin and hot sauce. Pho-gettaboutit!

Mash-Ups in the News:

Miss Japan Won By Priyanka Yoshikawa

For the second year in a row, a mixed race Japanese woman has won the Miss Japan beauty pageant. The internet reliably went dumb, as it does in such situations. But winner Priyanka Yoshikawa shrugged it off like a winner: “Yes, my dad is Indian and I’m proud of it, I’m proud that I have Indian in me. But that doesn’t mean I’m not Japanese.” PREACH.

via BBC

The Textbook That Calls Mexicans Lazy

In Texas, where more than half of the state’s students are Latino — and the majority of those students are Mexican — educators and activists have been battling to establish a Mexican-American studies curriculum. But one of the books the state’s board of education wants to use as a textbook calls Mexicans lazy, anti-American, and separatist. Uh, guys?

 via The Atlantic

16 Surprising Things About Parenting In Zambia

Here’s a taste: Your kids may start to crave nshima, or pounded corn maize, and rooibos tea. There are more than 70 languages spoken in Zambia, but almost everyone speaks English. The pace is slow and pleasant. You also may find out you want to raise your American family there forever.

via Cup of Jo

Meet The Latina Drag Queens Defying North Carolina’s Anti-LGBT Laws

Just watch it. Beautiful humans (in beautiful dresses) living their best lives. Also, the winner of the pageant works in construction by day and is a pageant winner by night.

via The Atlantic

iPhone Owners Can Finally Text In Spanglish Without Switching Keyboards

This is the most bueno of bueno news esta semana, especially sinceSpanglish is our best language. You no longer have to switch keyboards to write in English and Spanish, which means texts will take half as long to write and be at least twice as logical. VIVA LA KEYBOARD.

via Remezcla

The New High School Outsiders: Teen Refugees

Boise, Idaho has been an incredibly welcoming place to refugees from across the world in the last few years. Their high school population is starting to reflect that. This gorgeous photo essay gives you a glimpse into the lives of a few of these refugee teens and their search for acceptance.

via NY Times

How The Chicken Became Our National Bird

Americans each eat over 80 lbs of chicken per year! Who knew it was the work of a random Iowan scientist that changed American protein habits forever? There were ad campaigns, movies starring Natalie Wood and all sorts of other shenanigans to help make chicken our national bird.

via Saveur

The Uncomfortable Truth About Children’s Books

We talk a lot about how important it is to see ourselves reflected in the media we consume, starting from childhood. Media companies and publishers always pretended that the lack of diversity was a matter of economics: Mash-Ups aren’t buying tickets or books! It turns out to be very untrue. Something we do have to push for is avoiding the creation of a “diverse” books or media area and rather pushing all books and media to actually reflect our stories.

via Mother Jones

AirBnb Is Aggressively Trying To Stop Its Users From Being Racist. Will It Work?

As you may know, trying to #AirbnbWhileBlack is really hard because people are (surprise!) pretty racist. The company is now instituting a huge set of new policies to combat discrimination by hosts. Can they also make hosts take more realistic photos of their places while they’re at it?

 via Slate

Soy Yo: An Ode To Little Brown Girls Everywhere

Dance Party Alert! This Bomba Estereo song and video is everything. We’re owning our chubby, glasses-wearing youth with so much confidence. Get it.

via Huffington Post