In his 1995 book, Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance, President Obama wrote movingly about the experience of being the son of an African father and a white mother, and how that experience profoundly shaped his beliefs and values, and his attitudes about the world.

America is a meeting ground, not just for people of different races, but also religions, regions, ages, and even financial backgrounds. Millions of couples have decided to be together despite – or sometimes because of – their differences. Mixed Messages was created to explore, through first-person stories, how those differences – and the reactions of family, friends and even strangers – have shaped and affected couples and their children.

This site was created by Web Lab, an online laboratory designed to use the Web to engage people in new ways on a wide range of public and private issues.

Our goal is to gather stories that might be incorporated into a prototype for a new kind of TV series now in development. We will contact you if your story is published on this site, or if we're thinking about using it for the series. Your stories may also be publicized to other media, as many of our other projects have been.

We welcome comments or questions. Please click on the "Mailing List" tab above and follow the instructions under Feedback.

Marc N. Weiss Executive Producer

Marc spent a lot of time in "old media" before new media came along. Beginning in 1969 – and well into the 90's – Marc was involved in the production, distribution, programming and promotion of independent documentaries. He created P.O.V., the award-winning public TV series, in 1987 and was its executive producer through 1995, when he founded P.O.V. Interactive, one of the first sites to experiment with what's now called Web 2.0 – encouraging user-generated content.

A website Marc produced in 1996, Re: Vietnam: Stories Since the War received wide media coverage and was nominated for several international awards. Twelve years later, the site still comes up high on the list of Google search results for "Vietnam stories." Inspired by the success of that site as a meeting ground for people with widely divergent perspectives on the legacy of the war, Marc founded Web Lab in 1997.

In addition to his responsibilities at Web Lab, Marc is producing several independent documentatries, and is a development consultant to David E. Kelley Productions, originators of popular TV series such as Boston Legal, Allie McBeal, and The Practice.

Maya Milenovic Workman Consultant

A native of Slovenia, Maya came to the U.S. in 1983. She has spent her life working in theater, dance and media as a director, producer and educator. Her independent work connects world art with current socio-economic events.

A graduate of the London School of Contemporary Dance, where she studied Choreography and Modern Dance, Maya was also an award student with the Merce Cunningham Studio. She has collaborated with jazz great Reggie Workman for more than 25 years, including "Where Sound and Movement Meet," a music/dance duet performed internationally. Maya's educational programs in music and dance for young people offer a working platform for critical thinking and creative exchange. She also collaborates with several other artists in Moving Works Productions

Since the birth of her interracial, African-American and white daughter Ayana, Maya has been recording and filming moments, thoughts and experiences of people (mainly teens and adults) with the same background as her daughter's. She is currently finishing Perfect Blend, a feature documentary based on this material.