It has felt like a year and a lifetime since information about my mother was relayed to me. In reality, only a year has passed since her restaurant was discovered. Time has moved quickly and stood still all at once. While this year has presented much more information than I have had access to before,…
As a transracial adoptee, fighting to be seen is an underlying current through many aspects of my existence. Not only fighting to be seen as Korean, but fighting to be seen as the child my mother relinquished decades ago. The news of Kang, Mee-sook’s legal victory has made its way through the US and Korea.…
I’ve recently read quite a few memoirs. One was a Korean adoptee memoir, while the others have been memoirs from Korean-American recounting their family histories. In an attempt to reclaim the cultural losses incurred as a transracial adoptee, reading stories of elders has given me a newfound solace. It’s quite an odd feeling to find…
I finally submitted something I wrote regarding my birth mother this past weekend. I wrote it last November thinking maybe something would change. My return to Korea changed nothing. The COVID-19 pandemic changed nothing. In my mind, I believe nothing will change her from the course of action she’s taken…
My return to Korea was one of introspection, healing, and a newfound understanding and acceptance for who I am. It was a culmination of years of emotional labor, working through the abandonment issues that have plagued me throughout my life. Being adopted by white extroverts, I never “fit” in my adoptive family. Round peg, square…