Once Upon A Time...In Adopteeland

Jennifer Dyan Ghoston

Through an audio drama, episodes of thought-provoking conversations and bonus recordings, the listening audience can learn some of the issues that the adoption community face from the perspective of the adoptee. read less
Society & CultureSociety & Culture

Episodes

163. Sara Easterly: "Part 1; Adoptees Unfiltered"
Feb 20 2024
163. Sara Easterly: "Part 1; Adoptees Unfiltered"
Sara Easterly is an award-winning author and essayist. Her latest book, Adoption Unfiltered (Rowman & Littlefield, Dec 2023), is a collaboration with birth parent Kelsey Vander Vliet Ranyard and adoptive parent Lori Holden. Her spiritual memoir, Searching for Mom, won a 2020 Illumination Book Award gold medal, among many others. Sara’s adoption-focused articles and essays have been published by Psychology Today, Dear Adoption, Feminine Collective, Her View from Home, Red Letter Christians, and Severance Magazine, to name a few. Sara is Founder of Adoptee Voices and previously led one of the largest chapters of the Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators (SCBWI), where she was recognized as SCBWI Member of the Year. She is a trained facilitator and staff member with the Neufeld Institute.Sara resides outside of Seattle with her husband, two daughters, and a menagerie of rescued fur-babies. As an adoptee, she has a passion for helping others understand the often-misunderstood hearts of adopted children.Find her online at https://saraeasterly.com/ https://adoptee-voices.com/Adoption Unfiltered: Revelations from Adoptees, Birth parents, Adoptive Parents, and Allies available on Amazon.com: https://www.amazon.com/Adoption-Unfiltered-Revelations-Adoptees-Adoptive/dp/1538174693/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3CEMXIV5XIDQL&keywords=adoption+unfiltered&qid=1706624058&sprefix=%2Caps%2C105&sr=8-1Searching For Mom: A Memoir available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Searching-Mom-Memoir-Sara-Easterly/dp/0578601958/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3T8RJV7GXFQAK&keywords=searching+for+mom+sara+easterly&qid=1706624112&sprefix=sara+easter%2Caps%2C113&sr=8-1Music by Corey Quinn
151. Sandria Washington: "Black to the Beginning"
Dec 5 2023
151. Sandria Washington: "Black to the Beginning"
Sandria Washington asks the question: How did I go from writing my first short story in crayon to living inside the biggest plot twist of my life (and trust me, God has written me into some BIG ones these first 40 years of life)? ⁣She knew from an early age that books, words and stories would always be her saving grace. She remembered when her parents separated and the lights got turned off and her father moving out. ⁣⁣Sandria and my mother would walk to the library and she’d let her check out a stack of books. There wasn’t any time for her to be sad; She was too busy reading and making up her own stories.⁣Like many little book lovers of the early 80’s, She was a school spelling bee winning-Chicago Young Authors writing-Scholastic Book Fair anticipating-Book It! Pizza Hut personal pan pizza eating scholar. ⁣⁣By the time Sandria arrived on the campus of U of I, she didn’t know what she wanted to do with her life. She minored in English and received her B.S. in Advertising. Her post-college professional career has been....interesting. ⁣She's been an editor, advertising account executive, freelance writer, blogger, corporate communications AVP, and an entrepreneur.⁣In between all of this, Sandria has been a theater and film actress, award-winning natural hair model, radio personality, event curator, and certified yoga teacher - just to name a few! As her friends often like to remind her, “Sandria is a whole mood!” she can’t argue. ⁣Sandria as a creative liked to taking the scenic route in life and loved a good backstory. She believed everything lived through and the tools she picked up along the way - particularly the sudden death of her mother in 2011, a 20 year practice of journaling and being a student of yoga - helped prepare her for April 2, 2018 and the call that would change her life.⁣On the Monday following Easter Sunday and April Fool’s Day, standing in her kitchen, she finally made the call to her aunt that she'd been putting off for months. “Is it true that I’m adopted?” Her confirmation set in motion a search not only for her backstory, but the untold stories of other Black adoptees.⁣https://www.blacktothebeginning.com/A Year of Black Joy: A Year of Black Voices Share Their Life's Passion https://www.amazon.com/s?k=a+year+of+black+joy&crid=23WEFDYEVB8GO&sprefix=a+year+of+black%2Caps%2C161&ref=nb_sb_ss_ts-doa-p_1_15Music by Corey Quinn
149. Constance Nicole Frierson: "Color of Autumn" and "The House on Union Street"
Nov 21 2023
149. Constance Nicole Frierson: "Color of Autumn" and "The House on Union Street"
Constance Nicole Frierson grew up on the Southside of Chicago after spending the first 5 years of her life in Mobile, Alabama with her grandmother. She was born into a legacy of secrets and has fought to heal her heart and be an agent of truth, change, and art for her children, grandchildren, and community.Throughout her employment history, human services have been at the core. Some of the industries she’s worked in include higher education, financial services, corporate healthcare, and media management.Constance is now a working writer and content creator focused on her autobiographical novel, The House on Union Street.The Mission of the film “Color of Autumn” Our mission is to tell a universal story through the eyes of Black woman writer and storyteller, Constance Nicole Frierson, so that more creatives can be inspired to galvanize a movement for racial education, equanimity, an end to hate speech, hateful acts and the underlying social currents that create environments in which hate flourishes. This film is a collaboration between a change maker and her allies.Narrative of the short film “Color of Autumn” depicts a precocious eight-year-old Black girl who lives with her grandmother in a quaint house on the Southside of Chicago. Nestled in her neighborhood and focused on the comforts and stresses of her family’s hard-won middle class life. Dottie Grimsby has little awareness of racial tension or the isolation of segregation. But she is about to find out.Website: https://www.colorofautumn.com/Instagram: Color of Autumn FilmGmail: Ariesista@gmail.comContact: 773-849-3306Recommended Resource: Rebecca Bloom https://www.whenwomengetsick.com/ Music by Corey Quinn