This first appeared in Gazillion Voices, November 2014, Issue 16 Recently, after giving a presentation on American Indian Transracial adoption, I was asked a question. “Where do you think you’d be now if you hadn’t been adopted?” Without pausing, the man who asked the question answered for me. “I bet you wouldn’t be giving presentations […]
Being Indian – A Memory
THE AMERICAN WEST is stunningly beautiful. Its images, quilted together, form a landscape that can be brought to mind with the aroma of pine that stings my nostrils, the feel of soil between my fingers, the sound of a waterfall or the taste of chokecherry jelly that Mom used to make in August. To me, everything […]
Adoption Researchers, Take Note…
My response to Daniel Ibn Zayd’s (of Transracialeyes.com blog fame) query regarding recruitment advertising for transracial adoption research. As a researcher who has studied “us”, I would like to weigh in. I, as an American Indian transracial adoptee, wanted to study us because no one was talking about our experiences. As transracial adoptees we […]
The Challenges of Reunion…
A friend of mine asked if I would ever be interested in helping adoptees search for their birth-families, or assist in some way an adoptee’s return home. Or perhaps I could work with them to understand the difficulties and challenges that lie ahead for them once they make that decision. However, how do you tell […]
The Importance of our Experiences
As a researcher, lecturer and writer I’ve been involved in the various ways we, as a society, communicate the experiences of American Indian transracial adoption. For the past several years I’ve participated in formal discussions, panels and presentations. Informally, I’ve communicated this experience all my adult life; I am one of those adoptees. Adoption in […]