HyoSung Bidol-Lee, 50, is on a quest for healing. Bidol-Lee survived unspeakable tragedy before being adopted to the United States with his twin sister at the age of six years. Raised in the Midwest, he thrived academically and athletically, meeting many conventional benchmarks of academic and career success. But true happiness and peace eluded him. He went back to Korea this year to reflect about his life and to seek answers.

Warning: This episode contains topics of suicide and homicide.

Credits:
Jahzzar “Schmaltz”
Blue Dot Sessions “Promesa”
Blue Dot Sessions “An Accummulation”
Blue Dot Sessions “Stilt”
Blue Dot Sessions “Sand Reverie”
Blue Dot Sessions “Qi”
Blue Dot Sessions “When In The West”
Blue Dot Sessions “Downhill Racer”
Blue Dot Sessions “Beast On The Soil”
Blue Dot Sessions “Denzel Sprak”
Blue Dot Sessions “Stipple”
Blue Dot Sessions “Emmit Sprak”
Blue Dot Sessions “Slow Slow Sky”
Blue Dot Sessions “The Telling”
Logo: Rusty Detty

Hojung Audenaerde, 45, has navigated identity and displacement her whole life, starting from her intercountry adoption from Korea to Flemish Belgian parents in Italy at the age of two. The family then relocated to the U.S. where she grew up around Americans, but never became one. Later, she went to India to study a specific practice of yoga which she later taught in Europe. But someone happened in 2012; she met her Korean father, which started her down a path of discovery about her own feelings about separation, Korea and of learning to walk alone.

Credits:
Jahzzar “Schmaltz”
Blue Dot Sessions “Intercept”
Blue Dot Sessions “Take A Tiny Train”
Blue Dot Sessions “Xandre”
Blue Dot Sessions “Chrome And Wax”
Blue Dot Sessions “Unfolding Plot”
Blue Dot Sessions “Reptile Theme”
Blue Dot Sessions “Lull”
Blue Dot Sessions “Bottomless”
Blue Dot Sessions “Tangle”
Blue Dot Sessions “Ballast”
Blue Dot Sessions “Marble Transit”
Blue Dot Sessions “Closing”
Blue Dot Sessions “Lead Shroud”
Blue Dot Sessions “Dorica Theme”
Blue Dot Sessions “A Pleasant Strike”
Blue Dot Sessions “Doghouse”
Rusty Detty Logo

Sanne Mogensen, 32, is a Korean adoptee in Denmark. She is a leader in her country’s Korean adoptee community, and talks about what that has meant to her, what it was like growing up in Denmark, racism, and about her own search for identity. And, being Danish, she sets the record straight about hygge.

Credits:
Jahzzar “Schmaltz”
Blue Dot Sessions “Gullwing Sailor”
Blue Dot Sessions “Kalsted”
Blue Dot Sessions “Exceter Lask”
Blue Dot Sessions “Lathe”
Blue Dot Sessions “Hidden Tiles”
Blue Dot Sessions “Tar and Spackle”
Logo: Rusty Detty

Eric Sharp, 38, is a Korean-American actor and playwright. He was adopted from South Korea at age two. Raised in Des Moines, Sharp talks about finding his professional footing in the Twin Cities within a strong Asian-American acting community, on how being a transracial adoptee influences his politics on casting and auditions; he also shares an evocative account of reuniting with his Korean biological family and what he’s learned about himself and them over time.

Credits:
Jahzzar “Schmaltz”
Blue Dot Sessions “House of Grendel”
Blue Dot Sessions “Dirty Wallpaper”
Blue Dot Sessions “Naptime”
Blue Dot Sessions “Children of Lemuel”
Blue Dot Sessions “Rubber Ball Machine”
Logo: Rusty Detty

Kate Powers, 35, is a Korean adoptee who has been reunited with her Korean biological family for 12 years. Adopted as an infant by a couple in Missouri, Kate talks about navigating her relationship with her Korean family after decades of being apart, and about coming to the decision to make peace with her adoption and of the past.

Music Credits:
Jahzzar “Schmaltz”
Blue Dot Sessions “Dolly and Pad”
Blue Dot Sessions “The Envelope”
Blue Dot Sessions “Heliotrope”
Blue Dot Sessions “Relay”
Blue Dot Sessions “Shade Ways”
Drake Stafford “Small Town”
Drake Stafford “Chi11”
Drake Stafford “In the Lap”
Drake Stafford “Glimpse”
Drake Stafford “Sleep Walker”
Logo: Rusty Detty

Korean adoptee and New York City-based actor Brian McCormick talks about playing the romantic lead in “A Korean Drama Addict’s Guide to Losing Your Virginity,” a play by Hmong-American playwright May Lee-Yang, that recently had a sold-out run in the Twin Cities. Now in his 30s, McCormick’s story includes a circuitous route to acting despite a path in front him all along, how being a transracial adoptee influences how he approaches roles and casting calls, and his take on the current movement towards more Asian-American representation in Hollywood. There’s late-night run-ins with Prince and he reveals how he and his high school friends first learned about dating and women.

Music Credits:
Jahzzar “Schmaltz”
Blue Dot Sessions “Fifteen Street”
Blue Dot Sessions “Inessential”
Blue Dot Sessions “Dolly and Pad”
Blue Dot Sessions “Waltz for Zacaria”
Drake Stafford “Devil Man”
Drake Stafford “Only Love”
Drake Stafford “Her”
Jonathan Cain “Faithfully” (Columbia Records)
Kim André Arnesen “Flight Song” (St. Olaf Choir, 2015)
Logo: Rusty Detty

Joy Alessi, 52, is a Korean adoptee who never received her U.S. citizenship via the adoption process. A resident of Houston, Texas, Alessi is now working with the Adoptee Rights Campaign to advocate for citizenship for intercountry adoptees amidst a tough political climate. She also details her adoption story, which exposes an old loophole in U.S. immigration law, and the resiliency she’s developed to keep moving forward.

Logo Credit: Rusty Detty
Music Credits:
Jahzzar “Schmaltz”
Blue Dot Sessions “Lochley Falls”
Blue Dot Sessions “Cast in Wicker”
Blue Dot Sessions “The Envelope”
Blue Dot Sessions “Celestial Navigation”
Blue Dot Sessions “Surly Bonds”
Blue Dot Sessions “Slow Dial”
Blue Dot Sessions “Come as You Are”
Blue Dot Sessions “Come as You Were”

Kim Thompson, 42, is an adopted Korean who spent eight years living in Korea in her 30s. She talks about that experience including covering topics like white privilege, Western privilege, navigating her queer identity in Korea, tattoos, and on her post-reunion relationship with her biological mother. Raised in South Florida, Thompson also reflects returning to the United States and making sense of the transition to life in Minneapolis, and what lasting effect Korea has had on her.

Music Credits:
Blue Dot Sessions “Sals Piano”
Blue Dot Sessions “La Costilla”
Blue Dot Sessions “El Tajo”
Blue Dot Sessions “August Moon”
Blue Dot Sessions “Slow Lane Lover”
Blue Dot Sessions “Mineral Still”
Blue Dot Sessions “Alum Drum Solo”
Blue Dot Sessions “Lumber Down”
Jahzzar “Schmaltz”

Logo: Rusty Detty

Matt Fetzer, 43, first tasted food of his native country – Korea – less than a year ago. Fetzer is a Korean-American adoptee. To understand why it took four decades for this milestone is to understand what can often be the impact of transracial, transnational adoption; many adoptees experience a disassociation from their biological origins and culture. Fetzer is on a journey to discover and re-connect with his origins and with other adoptees. Listen as he takes you along his recent first trip back to Korea since his adoption and on what he’s discovering about himself in the process.

Credits:
Logo: Rusty Detty

Jahzzar “Schmaltz”
Blue Dot Sessions “Sals Piano Solo”
Blue Dot Sessions “Building the Sled”
Blue Dot Sessions “Purple Light”
Blue Dot Sessions “Low Coal Camper”
Blue Dot Sessions “Closet Interlude”
Blue Dot Sessions “Our Digital Compass”
Blue Dot Sessions “Rate Sheet”
Blue Dot Sessions “The Basket”