Aspects of Life – Thoughts and Conversations
Last September I spoke with author, editor and blogger, Deborah Kalb. It was the first interview I had done regarding the writing of Bitterroot: A Salish Memoir of Transracial Adoption, and it was eye-opening for me. I’d finished writing the book, but I had not spent a lot of time reflecting on it; after three years […]
Last month, Carter Meland, Ph.D., wrote a fabulous review for Bitterroot: A Salish Memoir of Transracial Adoption, noting that there are many ways to be Native. Transracial adoption was one of them. This is an important point to make. Our families and communities have become fragmented due to the atrocities committed by the U.S. government […]
It’s hard to believe that the South Dakota Festival of Books is in two months! I hope you join me as I share my memoir and the reason the topic is so important today! To access my speaking schedule, please click on this link: Susan’s Speaking Schedule To access the schedule for all presenters , please […]
Prior to 2013 I was considered, by some, to be an anti-adoption activist, specifically with regard to American Indian child adoption. And there was good reason: I wrote fiercely about adoption as an aspect of historic trauma. I vehemently questioned the moral role of legislation in determining and defining the legitimacy of a family, a […]
Being a transracial adoptee is to walk a tightrope that connects history to the present, all the while realizing that the time-space compression is colliding with such violent force as to make that crossing dark and perilous and sometimes people die…
I am sitting in Missoula, Montana, at the Doubletree Inn, a beautiful hotel on the banks of the Clark Fork River. It used to be the Red Lion. I remember driving across the bridge to the east, the wooden one whose iron archways hold it in place, I tell the waitress who looks at it […]
The rant. Angry words splashed onto a virtual page. Nonsensical. “Adoption is child trafficking! It should never happen under any circumstance!” Where does this person live that they can make this statement with such venom, with such determined and righteous force? It sounds like privilege. *** My mom lay dying. Is this your ‘real’ mom […]
Yesterday, January 1st, was an overwhelming day. Perhaps it was ‘change’ (a New Year), perhaps it was because I sat and thought of all the possibilities that I could do with this year. And that’s when the breaking down of my spirit happened. Because there are SO many ideas, so many issues that need addressing, […]
Autumn is my favorite season. The chill in the air has once more arrived, almost without notice, taking me by surprise, as if I thought the dog days of August and early September would go on forever. But I have to admit, the surprise is a pleasant one; I can wear my sweaters, make butternut […]
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 […]