Aspects of Life – Thoughts and Conversations
What an amazing day in history! The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld a piece of legislation that the Brackeens, a white couple from Texas who felt ‘called’ to adopt American Indian children, fought to overturn. The Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 (ICWA). They weren’t the only foster parents who have fallen prey to becoming […]
The world gets so heavy sometimes, like a four-ton truck being lifted by a baby; the violence, the guns, the brainwashing of young minds not for good but for nefarious benefit, the hatred, the anger, the lies, the winning-at-all-costs belief that a system will pay out just to you; I’ve read Eve Ensler’s book In […]
I am so honored to have been invited to be a presenter at this year’s Speaking of the Children Conference in LaVista, Nebraska. This conference is heavily attended by people in all aspects of child welfare, including social workers, law enforcement, mental health specialists, lawyers and now a cultural anthropologist! Historical events and policies, designed […]
Like last year, autumn will be slow in coming. It will be awhile before we can leave behind the 90+ degree days that we’ve experienced too many times this summer, and last. I look forward to autumn. There is a change in the air that other seasons don’t convey; autumn encompasses all the senses. It […]
I am so honored to be part of James Welch Native Lit Festival, where important conversations of what it means to be Indigenous will be held in Missoula Montana July 28, 29, and 30th. To be amid such notable colleagues as Louise Erdrich, Tommy Orange, Debra Earling, and so many others is definintely heady and […]
In 2019, I was interviewed by Huffpost as part of an article that explores the question Who Should Be Allowed to Adopt American Indian Children? Great question as conservatives and religious communities attempt to remove the Indian Child Welfare Act from Legislation. Read the article; watch the mini–documentary, by journalists Jennifer Bendery,Isaac Himmelman, and Lena […]
Recently, U.S. Supreme Court Judge Amy Coney Barrett suggested that child placement through adoption makes Roe V. Wade a moot point. And there are pleny of myths that point to this seemingly painless transaction. But as Katherine Joyce, a writer for Salon, states, “the suggestion that adoption entails nothing more than several months of inconvenience […]
Join me as I talk with three outstanding adoptee writers who have written memoirs about their experience: I will be speaking with Jan Beatty, author of American Bastard: A Memoir (Red Hen Press, 2021), Megan Culhaine Galbraith, author of The Guild of the Infant Savior (Mad Creek Books–An imprint of Ohio State University Press, Columbus, […]
I am so excited to announce I’ve been invited by Office of Multicultural Student Services at University of Wisconsin-La Crosse to keynote for the Loving Day Celebration. Loving Day ( June 12) commemorates the 1967 Supreme Court decision to remove state bans regarding interracial marriage. As an American Indian transracial adoptee, my research and […]
Katya Cengel, author of From Chernobyl with Love, looks younger than her forty-something years. Maybe it’s her smile, maybe it’s her thoughtful blue eyes, maybe it’s the look of a dreamer that she gets when I ask her questions about her reactions to living in Eastern Europe. Or maybe it’s not about youth, but about […]