Auditions
Jul 27, 2006 Adoption
Matthew, barely noting that it was a girl, sidled past her as quickly as possible without looking at her. Had he looked he could hardly have failed to notice the tense rigidity and expectation of her attitude and expression. She was sitting there waiting for something or somebody and, since sitting there waiting was the only thing to do just then, she sat and waited with all her might and main.
Have you read Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery? Anne is brought over to the Cuthberts from the orphan asylum because they need a boy to help around the farm. Only there’s been a mistake and instead of a boy they get Anne. When I was a little girl and read this book I couldn’t believe that anyone could treat a child like that. Seemed inhumane. I mean, really, bring a kid in on a trial basis (90 days same as cash!) and then send them back?
Then again, older child adoption is hard and sometimes children return to foster care or adoptions are disrupted so it might make more sense to let everyone test the new situation before making a commitment. That’s how our foster care system (sometimes) works and just maybe we could apply it to international adoption — let kids come to the states on a trial basis. Let ‘em give family life in the hectic US of A the old college try and see if they make the cut. Read the rest of this entry »
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Tags: Erica
Tired and uninspired
Jul 26, 2006 Adoption
Restless Madison and a busy week have caught up with me. She’s asleep on the couch and I should be, too, if I knew what was good for me. (Apparently I don’t though.)
Someone just gave me a heads up about an online adoption discussion happening under my nose only I hadn’t noticed and it just depressed me. I have no comments on it thus no link. I just can’t formulate what I think about people who adopt to “save” kids. I just can’t unwrap all my complicated feelings and opinions about it. I need to think on it though.
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Tags: Madison
We are going thrifting
Jul 26, 2006 The Story of My Life
The last Wednesday of the month is 50% all clothes/linens at Ohio Thrift. Pure craziness ensues. We have to get there earlier to get a cart (we still may need to wait around for a cart) but I’m hoping to rake it in for either this fall’s clothes (shirts for Madison, shirts and pants for Noah) or next summer’s clothes. But mostly I’m going because a friend wants to since our needs aren’t urgent.
Anyway, if you’re in Columbus — last Wednesday of the month. Wear your comfortable shoes and get ready to haul in the goods!
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I’m taking this weekend off
Jul 25, 2006 Book work
No internet for Friday, Saturday or Sunday because I’m determined to work on my sample chapter. Problem is, I have no interest in my sample chapter and will have to scare some up. I’m hoping that looking at my notes will get me back in the subject groove.
Sometimes people ask me why I’m not trying to sell a book on adoption but I don’t really think I want to. It’s one thing to write for this blog (when the mood strikes) but what would I say in a book? Besides who would read it? I wouldn’t write a memoir (I’m not interested in writing a memoir). And I wouldn’t want to write a “how-to” adoption book. So no memoir, no “how to adopt,” which leaves … nothing.
If I had scads of time I’d love to explore the idea of doing an “adoption in America” book that would look at the impact our growing ideas about openness is having on adoption. I’d love to look at “old schoolers” who still believe that a child begins the moment he’s placed in his adoptive parents’ arms and examine where this idea comes from and why it’s perpetuated (in the industry, in the hearts of adoptive parents) and I’d like to contrast that with newer research and talk to families — both by birth and adoption — who are challenging that. And I’d like to look at women who placed in the past and women who place today and how both generations challenge and/or fulfill stereotypes. I’d like to look at the transracial abductee activists and the antiadoption activists and see the ways they impact adoption reform. And I’d like to look at how the changing face of American adoption is also impacting international adoptions done by Americans.
Now that I would love to do but it’s really big and it makes me tired to even think that hard about it.
I have another adoption article idea that I dearly want to explore and if I get childcare (got two leads at writing group last night) I think I’m going to sit down and try to hammer out an outline. (It’s not in any way related to our adoption — it’s about international adoption.)
Anyway, those are my thoughts as my small daughter is sleeping and her brother is playing with his robots and I’m ignoring the dishes sitting in the kitchen sink.
Obviously, at this very moment I find adoption more interesting than secondary infertility but I know that earlier this summer I was all hep to secondary infertility so I just have to get there again. I hope I figure out how to get there or this weekend will be very frustrating.
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Tags: adoption reform, anti-adoption, Erica, Infertility, secondary infertility, transracial