Tag Archives: adoption

Season 6

Season 6, Episode 17: Karen Lechelt and Shapeshifting

Karen Lechelt, 50, is a mother, wife and a returned East coaster after two decades in the San Francisco bay area and a few years in Amsterdam in between. Their childhood in New Jersey was marked with feeling not quite fitting wherever she was, and having to always adapt themself.
Because of the loss of their first family, Karen says there’s always been a feeling of not being anchored. That changed with the birth of their daughter.

Karen-TranscriptDownload

“Running” by JaeJin.

“Some Nights End,” “The Sermon,” “Feeling Fine,” “Breaking The Chairs,” by Blue Dot Session under license.

Season 6

Season 6, Episode 16: Megan Nyberg – Superheroes Have Feelings Too

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. 

Audio available 3/30/23.
Adapted_Megan_NybergDownload

“Running” by JaeJin.

Other music by Blue Dot Sessions: “Awash,” “Leatherbound,” “Shoreline Piling,” and “The Gerimo.”

Season 6

Season 6, Episode 15: After Midnite — Santa Claus, Birth Parents and Other Myths

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. 

Audio available on March 16, 2023.
Transcript Download

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.

Season 6

Season 6, Episode 13: Michael Jessup and His Inner Game

Michael Jessup of Mountain View, California is a father, coach and adopted Korean. But it’s only been in the last six years that the 46-year old has explored his feelings about his adoption and  faced his pain about being abandoned and given up by presumably his first family at 13 months of age. He opens up about his life, how tennis has carried him through the years, and shares a touching letter to his eomma. 

Audio available Feb. 23, 2023.
Transcript Download

“Running” by JaeJin under license.

“Trajectories,” “Krotoa Hills,” “Helion Ruins,” “Engine Flicker” by Blue Dot Sessions under license.

Season 3

Season 3, Episode 9: Ben Coz

Son of a Korean haenyo, the storied female free divers, and a single mother, adoptee Ben Coz, 30, also plunges depths in adoption activism in Korea. You’ll hear how his politics are inextricably linked to his personal life, and how early trauma and loss has influenced his call to action. 

Blue Dot Sessions music used under license.

“Scandinavian Scandals”, “1.5iterations” and “Hell Joseon” by permission of Ben Coz.

“U, Black Maybe” by Common appears under fair use, courtesy of Geffen Records.

“My Downfall” and “The First Time I Laid Eyes” by Audiobinger.

Season 2

Season 2, Episode 11: Michael Thielmann

Michael Thielmann, 41, is a Korean adoptee who lives in Toronto, Canada. He grew up in Minnesota in a family where his mother, grandparent and siblings were all adopted. It wasn’t until meeting his Korean-Canadian wife that he really understood what being part of a Korean family was like. And as he and his wife made the decision to try to adopt themselves, it also opened a door to his own grief.

Credits:
Jahzzar “Schmaltz”
Blue Dot Sessions “Elmore Heights”
Blue Dot Sessions “Greylock”
Blue Dot Sessions “OneEightFour”
Blue Dot Sessions “Pedalrider”
Blue Dot Sessions “Three Stories”
Blue Dot Sessions “The Yards”
Stillborn Blues “Merci”
Monplaisir “Home’s Church”
Logo: Rusty Detty