The Hyphenator!

"Oscar the Cat Predicts Patients' Deaths"

NPR is running a four-part series on adoption, including segments on transracial and overseas adoption, this week on the "Morning Edition" program. If you don't catch it on the radio, you can listen to the segments online on NPR.org (the sound files are more extensive than the text on the Web pages).

"Adoption in America: A Series Overview"

"An adopted child changes a family forever.

That's what we'll hear from conversations this week on Morning Edition about adoption in America. Four families and adoptees have learned that it's not just family photos that change -- but entire family trees, family traditions and family stories that are altered by an adopted child's own story. We've asked them to reflect on their experiences with adoption, and share the stories that define who they have become."

"Mother and Son Offer Transracial Adoption Insights"

"Judy Stigger and her husband are white. Almost three decades ago, they adopted two biracial children. Their youngest adopted child, Aaron, is now 26. Judy and Aaron explain how their life together was more about learning inclusiveness as an interracial family than about rooting out prejudice."

I love this part:

"If you're a very private person, this is probably very hard to do because people are curious and do ask how much the baby cost and whether or not that's one of those crack babies," Judy Stigger says. "The questions are amazing that people feel free to ask."

People asked those questions because the Stiggers are white. And in Chicago -- almost three decades ago -- they adopted two children who are biracial.

Judy Stigger had to decide what to say when those questions came up.

"People would say, 'Do you have any real children?'" She would turn to her adopted son, Aaron, and say, 'No, I just have this plastic one,' and Aaron would hold his arms out and say, 'Ta-da!'"

Judy Stigger is director of international adoption at The Cradle, a private, non-profit, Illinois adoption agency. She helped form an affiliated educational group called Adoption Learning Partners, where she created the content for an online workshop called Conspicuous Families: Race, Culture and Adoption.

The NPR pages also include other resources and information (be sure to listen to the sound file for "A Family Tree's Special Roots," which deals more with feeling exposed), as well as links to past segments on adoption.

Nice reunion story ...

"Facebook Helps Mom Reunite With Son"

My husband and I were back in the Midwest for almost a week, but now we're back home in San Francisco. At a family get-together, someone asked my husband if he considered San Francisco or the Midwest his home. I thought about the answer to that myself and realized San Francisco is now home after three years (I also kept saying "soda" instead of "pop" when I was back in the Midwest). The Midwest is where our families live, but California is our home.

After being the only nonwhite person in many situations, it's sooooo nice to be home and not be surrounded by a sea of white people (not to mention religious freaks), people asking where I was from and knowing they probably weren't satisfied when I replied with "San Francisco." I guess my mother-in-law had mentioned our upcoming travel plans to guests, so when they heard we were going to Korea, you could almost see the lightbulbs going off -- "Ah ha!"

This morning I saw the following article on SFGate.com and couldn't help but smile ...

"California: Hispanics expected to be state's majority by 2042; Alameda County to have top proportion of Asian Americans"