Quoted

ETA:  The words I chose to quote below are actually written by Reappropriate blogger Jenn about her own experience, even though her original post was about Chris Chu, Cabinet Secretary. Please click here to read Jenn’s full post and get the original context from which this was excerpted.  I’ll try and remember to elaborate my own thoughts and commentary on this in a separate entry.

Jenn writes (of herself) on her blog Reappropriate:

I took Chinese classes on Saturday mornings for 13 years, and for most of that time, I hated it. It was something my mom made me do, and I couldn’t understand why I had to spend my days at a Chinese cultural center while all my friends got to sleep in and watch Saturday morning cartoons.

Only as I got older did I realize the value of learning about my language and my heritage. When I was fourteen or so, my mother gave my sister and I the choice to quit Chinese classes or to continue taking them until we graduated from high school. I volunteered to continue while my sister quit.

[...]

My mother always used to say that even though we were in North America, our faces looked Chinese; we will always be different and we can’t lose touch with what that means. Now that I am an adult, and living as an Asian person in America, I find myself truly respecting the unique language and culture that is, regardless of time and distance, a part of me.

Click here to read the full post (which is actually about Chris Chu, Cabinet Secretary, and his first trip to China).

The Undecided

I suspect that I am worse at making decisions than other people.  Although in truth I’m probably about average, it feels like I end up regretting more and more…. that I can’t decide anything right.

I regret doing things that I wish I hadn’t, and not doing things that I wish I had.  While other people can shrug their shoulders at their disappointing decisions or focus on the lessons learned for next time, I feel like I am kicking myself so often that

Vote Often and Early… for Dawn!

UPDATE:  Thanks everyone for voting for Dawn; she won the “Best Adoption Blog” prize and I am so happy!  I’d like to give a special thanks to anyone who came here from Resist Racism and clicked just because I said to.

So there’s this little “Best Blog” contest going on at some parenting web site called “The Bump”… you may have heard of it?  Anyway, one of my favorite adoptive parent bloggers Dawn of This Woman’s Work is one of the contenders, and I’d like to encourage anyone who still reads here (yes, all three of you!) to go on over and give her a vote — no registration required.

In her post about why she wants to win this contest, Dawn writes:

• Because I’m tired of the same old cultural ideas about adoption getting play ALL THE DANG TIME.
• Because adoption may be a miracle for the adoptive parents but it’s a whole lot more complicated for our kids, for our kids’ first parents and for the communities/countries that lose those kids.
• Because if I won the $1000 grand prize I’d donate it to Ethica, who “advocates for national and international improvement of adoption practices, offering support, education and advocacy to all persons affected by adoption.” (per their mission statement)

As of this writing, another blog is currently in the lead.  And if that blog wins, the $1000 grand prize will be used to….  fund the blogger’s adoption of a girl from South Korea. Who will be re-named Lily. **sigh**

Obviously folks can make their own choices, but I would rather support the important work of Ethica and a progressive adoptive parent ally than yet another adoption from the world’s 14th largest economy.  If you agree, please go and vote for Dawn!

Jenna writes eloquently on her own blog about why she nominated Dawn and why Dawn deserves to win:

Promoting change is as easy as sharing your story, honestly and openly. Promoting change is as easy as helping people learn about themselves by learning about yourself in a public forum. Promoting change doesn’t have to be big and scary. Promoting change starts here and now.

It is my opinion that Dawn’s blog embodies what the adoption blogosphere should be working toward: honestly accepting the challenges that face us and working toward ethical goals. We’ll all make mistakes along the way but we can do it.

Yes, we can.

p.s. Apparently the contest folks said it’s okay to hit refresh and vote a bunch of times, so please vote often until the contest ends at 11.59 pm Eastern on Monday!

(In case you’re wondering, Jessica, the comments are closed to encourage people to go and vote.)

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Where’s Sang-Shil?

It’s a little like “Where’s Waldo?”, especially with the matching shirts.

And if you are benighted enough to think that Asians all look the same, then it will be even harder.

Intrigued?  Click here to play.

Happy Chuseok!

Even though many things have been changed by Korea’s rapid industrialization, urbanization, and globalization, family remains the bedrock of Korean society. Chusok is a celebration of family—both past and present.

- Eun Mee Kim, “Chusok: The Korean Thanksgiving”

These last few years, I’ve wondered how to celebrate a holiday that is almost universally about “family” when the only family I know never bothered to learn that said holiday even exists.  Descriptions of Chuseok in Korea invariably involve the words “family” and “hometown,”  and frequently describe long sojourns back to one’s hometown in order to visit with family…. but what do you do when you have neither?

All I can say is, thank God for the Korean adoptees I know in real life… and, of course, 소주! ^ ^

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For women, Chuseok usually involves days and days of cooking.  I haven’t been cooking much Korean food lately, but the photos in this e-book from Aeri’s Kitchen are almost inspiring me to start again.  If you haven’t gotten your copy yet, click on over — it’s free!