Writer, poet, husband and Korean adoptee Nik Nadeau, also known as Im Chang Hoon, 36, talks about how writing has helped him find inner layers of himself and uncover memories. He also shares how he’s unlocking feelings towards his birth mother with the passage of time.
Special thanks to Jacquelyn Wells for original music.
This week, I talk with Rachel Forbes, LCSW, an Korean-American adoptee therapist and educator. We discuss trauma that occurs in the womb and from early parent separation, and emotional disregulation. Forbes, 34, talks about healing techniques and provides a lot of great resources too.
CW: child molestation/incest/sexual abuse
Audio available Feb. 2, 2024.
| Sara Docan-Morgan, PhD, is a Korean adoptee and communications professor in Wisconsin. Docan-Morgan, 47, is also the youngest child in her Korean biological family, with whom she reunited with many years ago. Her research has focussed on experiences of Korean adoptees and their families, and this month she is out with a new book, “In Reunion: Transnational Korean Adoptees and the Communication of Family” (Temple University Press). |
Audio available on Jan. 5, 2024. Patreon supporters receive an early download.
Korean adoptee Matthew Rodriguez, 43, is trying to make sense of his adoption story. For years, it’s been clouded by stories that were told to him and those he told himself, even if they weren’t always accurate. It was a means to survive. But Rodriguez, whose adoptive parents are white and Mexican American, and who grew up in Alaska (a first for the podcast!), was taught that he needed to excel academically to be valued. Now a parent himself and manager of a venture capital fund, he has a different story to tell.
Audio available on Friday, Nov. 10.
Korean adoptee Jenna Antoniewicz, 40, has been on a whirlwind over the past 24 months since beginning to reckon her adoption history and adoptee identity. While mayor of a town in Pennsylvania, she found herself speaking for Asian America during the coronavirus pandemic about anti-Asian hate. But that triggered an imposter syndrome deep within Antoniewicz, who hadn’t previously given much thought about her adoption from Korea or what it meant to be Korean-American. Fast forward two years, and this wife and mother of two is now living on Jeju-do, off of mainland Korea, not far from her biological father, making sense of her experience by connecting to others and blending her past with her future.
Audio available on Friday, Oct. 27, 2023.
Lee Herrick, 52, is a poet, author, educator and adoptee. He was adopted from South Korea to the San Francisco Bay area in 1971. Herrick discusses how he uses his lens as an adoptee to observe and write verse about life. He also reads from his 2019 acclaimed collection of poems, “Scar and Flower.”
Photo Credit: Curtis Messer
Audio available on Friday, Sept. 29, 2023.
Sara Jones isn’t sure whether she’s 48 or 49. That’s because the circumstances surrounding her relinquishment are still a bit unclear. What she does know for certain, is that her father never wanted her to be separated from her family or be adopted overseas. But his worst fears happened anyway, and against most all odds she was able to find her way back. Now, she’s using her voice to help other Korean adoptees whom the system disenfranchised and left vulnerable.
Audio available on Tuesday, May 23 at 7:00 am CST.
“Running” by Jae Jin.
Other music appears under license with Blue Dot Sessions.
Eric Poole, 55, is a transracially adopted Black Korean who has come a long way from his early days as a mixed-race Korean child in a US military camptown in Korea. He’s now a father to three kids, husband, and one of the few Black pilots in the commercial flight industry. But his success story is built on the complicated foundation of being orphaned, outcast, alone and othered. He also shares his experiences being at the Holt orphanage, including being sexually abused by other kids and being groomed for a new life in the US. (Part 1 of 2 part interview).
Audio available on April 25, 2023.
“Running” by JaeJin.
Other music appears under license with Blue Dot Sessions.
Megan Nyberg, 37, was adopted as an infant from South Korea to Minnesota. But ever since her premature birth, she has struggled with medical conditions that have been constant reminders of the mystery surrounding her origins. Now a therapist, Nyberg gives other grace and more recently, has started to give it to herself too.
“Running” by JaeJin.
Other music by Blue Dot Sessions: “Awash,” “Leatherbound,” “Shoreline Piling,” and “The Gerimo.”
Queer Korean adoptee Midnite Townsend, 38, is many things. A large part of her/their past has been as a performer; first training to enter the world of musical theater to realizing her/their real desires were better applied to the art of burlesque and drag king performance. Midnite’s throughline has been a quest for authenticity – and the test of whether loved ones around her/them would see her.
Theme music: JaeJin
Other music appears under license with Blue Dot Sessions.
“Tempo” by Lizzo appears courtesy of fair use as the backing audio to a Tiktok video by @movewithmidnite.
