Those who follow me here may know that I run a website called Adoptee Reading that catalogs books on adoption either written by or recommended by adopted people. I've had some ideas rolling around in my mind lately for how I might try to expand on the site, which I hope to be able to … Continue reading The Value of the Written Word
I came across a thread on Twitter the other day by a history teacher named Seth Cotlar that I can't stop thinking about. Here's how the thread begins: The conservative freak out about the 1619 Project (of which Cotton is just the latest example) is not about history. It's about memory; about what parts of … Continue reading Re-Creation of History
In bios, we list all the ways we might seem valuable: the places we've studied, degrees we've earned, teachers who've chosen us to mentor; the magazines and journals where people in positions of editorial authority have considered the fruits of our labor worthwhile; the whole books of ours accepted for publication, the new books we're … Continue reading Third Person
As a writer of creative nonfiction, it’s imperative that I think about my own role in anything I write. Am I a participant or an observer? Or am I writing from the “hazy territory between insider and outsider perspectives,” as Gabe Montesanti describes in her essay “Inside, Outside, In Between” (Creative Nonfiction, issue 72). This … Continue reading How Not To Write About Racism
This past month, I finally got around to reading Wake Up Little Susie by Rickie Solinger, a book that has been highly recommended in the adoption community. The book’s focus, though, isn’t adoption, but rather the ways in which unmarried pregnant women and girls were dealt with in the United States between 1945 and 1965. … Continue reading Thoughts on Wake Up Little Susie by Rickie Solinger
Karen Pickell: Between 