Do your little bit of good where you are;
it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world. – Desmond Tutu

The words of W.B. Yeats, Joan Didion, and Amanda Gorman all stand at the brink of 2022 and implore us to mindfully reckon with our challenges. After an unvarnished reflection, their words encourage me to acknowledge our vulnerabilities, regroup, live embodied in the present and still look at the big picture. Nourish ourselves, our communities, and go hand in hand into 2022.

As an adoptee and adoptive parent, community connections have increasingly been a place of support and growth for me over the last twenty months. There have been wonderful spaces to learn and share at virtual conferences in 2021, Alliance for the Study of Adoption and Cultures, and KAAN, the Korean American Adoptive Families Network. In this, its 20th year, The Adoption Initiative Conference will be held virtually on March 25-26. AIC will address The Evolution of Adoption Practice: Activist and Community Perspectives, and KAAN returns June 24-26 in person!

New media continues to deepen our understandings of the adoptee experience and its multitude of intersectional nuances. To name a few, I am Adoptee’s “Reflections on the Adoptee Journey” conversations, with Glen Morey’s SideXSide films, the Labor of Love: A Podcast for BIPOC Adoptees Navigating Parenthood, and Adopted Feels podcast, 100% real talk with two Aussie-Korean adoptees give voice to varied perspectives.

Affinity groups continue to provide compassionate and safe spaces for different members, and a pandemic silver lining meant that virtual groups could nearly be globally inclusive.… Read the rest “Slouching into 2022 – Can the Center Hold?”