A researcher, or perhaps a journalist, Kathryn Boyce has recently written an expose, The Child Catchers: Rescue, Trafficking, and the New Gospel of Adoption (published 23 April 2013), on how evangelical Christians are preaching the new gospel of adoption. I haven’t read the book; I’m flagging it down here in case someone wants to. My […]
Author Archives: Snow Leopard
I finished reading Adam Hine’s (2010) Duncan the Wonder Dog (Show One) today, and one of the things it does is not only to have animals to talk but actually to center the “values” of the story from the animal point of view. (I have a longer review of the book here; there are some […]
Over here, I pointed to the inexplicable connections with food, other cultures, etc, we can feel as adoptees. This can be where supposedly scientific research comes in to provide a genetic link or some deep, prelingual connection with the womb where we gestated, or where religion comes in to say something about divine providence or […]
Is it possible I like whiskey because my biological parents were Irish? Do I have a greater propensity to speak Romanian because I overheard it in the womb (or even because my mother was Romanian)? Previously (here and here), I asked what kind of narratives we choose (when we choose) to tell ourselves about our […]
From another post not on TRE, written by an adoptee, I was told: We know that much of who we are today was created in the womb. We know that mother and child are a single entity, profoundly connected physiologically, emotionally and spiritually — even through early infancy. A baby does not understand that he […]
From another site, an adoptee seemed to overgeneralize that adoptees become adept at smiling through pain. I addressed that one way here. And while I make an effort to not merely was autobiographical when I post, I have to say this “smiling through pain” business gets me in a very personal way, and it is […]
In a well-intended, adoptee-written post elsewhere, the author describes some of the characteristic effects on the child who is torn from her or his site of initial gestation. Directing a question to nonadoptees, with an implicit comparison to adoptees, the writer asks: “Did you ever smile and act happy to hide your grief? ¶ Of […]
Recently, I have been editing a book written a couple of years ago by myself and a (non-adopted) co-author (more details here). It features the circumstance of two, otherwise, unrelated adoptees. Written before I was better informed about adoption, the book enthusiastically contrasts a “good” adoptee (the older sister) with a “bad” adoptee (a younger […]
Recently, I have been editing a book written a couple of years ago by myself and a (non-adopted) co-author. The two main characters are a sister and brother non-blood-related pair of adoptees (four years apart in age). The primary arc of the narrative concerns how the older sister arrives finally at the point of weaning […]
The Mason jars are prepped; the pectin’s hot; and orphaned berries plucked from far and wide weep juice in bowls and plates and wait their turn to be preserved—this season’s sweetest thing. Some goes bad before it can be sold, while others never make it to the floor or shelf; a few expire, some just […]
For the sake of brevity, I posted the bulk of what I want to ask here over here. The summary version might be: whether the “worldview” of a child (adopted or not) fundamentally agrees or disagrees with the “worldview” of that child’s parent is a central determinant whether one’s childhood (adopted or not) is deemed […]
Currently, it seems a good idea to branch an aspect of the current ongoing discussion of adoptive origins to another (this) post, but it should distinctly continue to be cross-pollinated with this post and this post and their comments. I’ve maintained: agonizing as it may sometimes turn out to be, our opportunity as adoptees to […]
Lately I’ve been going on lots about the different kinds of stories I’ve entertained about the “truth” of my adoption. As adoptees, I suspect it is particularly common, perhaps even inevitable, to on the one hand adopt a skeptical attitude about what stories we are told and/or to project the stories we’d “prefer” (even if […]
Some time ago (24 August 2011), Daniel posed the question here: One of the key aspects of reframing the discussion and allowing our voice to be heard is to not speak in the defensive. Since this is expected, even in the question-and-answer format, speaking up and out without necessarily answering anyone becomes very important. Beyond […]
Someone recently treated me to the new Wes Anderson movie Moonrise Kingdom, which apparently has been getting all kinds of raves–so that’s a bad sign already. (I’m signalling my take on the movie already; I can’t recommend it too little). And now, I’m going to shamelessly ruin most of the plot for you. Here goes: […]
