“Where are your parents from?” “Oh, my mom’s from Arizona, and my dad’s from Wisconsin, but they met in Dallas…” “He’s from Korea,” my roommate answered, cutting me off. “Oh!” I exclaimed, the meaning of the question finally clicking in my head. “Yeah! I’m adopted.” Like many, college was a time of self-awakening, but, as is the case with me … Read More
Part 2: I Want to Be An American
Read Part 1 here. “시원, help me sound more Korean.” “Ok. Say something where you think you sound most Korean.” “ee-rue-me moy-yo?” Mockingly:”이름이뭐예요?” “What?! That’s what it sounds like to me!” “Don’t have an accent. Just say normal.” “I did say it normally.” “아이씨….” The world I lived in was (and is) generally white and white-Christian. My church and my … Read More
Journey of an Adoptee – Part VI
I recently applied for a DNA testing kit through @official325kamra, and was lucky enough to be approved for one. It will be here soon and with it, another step forward on this journey. I feel both anxiously excited and nervously hesitant about this next step. The results, whatever they may be, represent a shift in my story and will have a … Read More
Journey of an Adoptee – Part V
With holiday season upon us, I thought this was an appropriate picture. I just wanted to say how honored and humbled I am for all the support y’all have shown me as I’ve shared my story publicly for the first time. It might be bits and pieces, but I’ve received both comments and dm’s that have really made me feel … Read More
Journey of an Adoptee – Part IV
This picture is of one of the nurses who cared for me at the clinic in Seoul. I do not know why there is a picture of 2 white kids on the wall, but that’s for another time. In November, National Adoptee Awareness Month changed the way I think about adoption and the traumas associated with it; how history is … Read More
Part 1: I Want to Be in America
No one ever told me what it meant to be Asian American. I did my best to figure it out.
Journey of an Adoptee – Part III
Young P, adoptee and oblivious. I don’t mean to say you’re oblivious in a negative context. As a young child, you’re not readily processing the fact that you’ve been removed from your birth country, birth parents, and birth culture. You aren’t thinking about how people look at you differently or how those differences are already being packed away in the … Read More
Journey of an Adoptee – Part II
#AdoptedTerritory by Eleana J. Kim has had a profound impact on my life. From these pages, two terms really stuck with me: adoptee kinship & contingent essentialism. Adoptee kinship is the unspoken bond that adoptees, transracial and transactional especially so, share with each other. A quote from an unnamed adoptee sums it up best: “It’s a bittersweet thing to know someone … Read More
Journey of an Adoptee – Part I
As another step forward on my journey, I want to briefly share some thoughts and some never before seen photos: These pictures were taken at the “Maternity Delivery Clinic” where I was born in Seoul. According to documents that I’ve been going through, I was named Kim Yung Jin by one of the nurses or social workers after I was … Read More
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