Category Archives: Adoption

Well, not really, but I started a major project of scanning and downloading lots of picture on my personal Facebook page. I’m working on strictly Bastard Nation pictures this weekend, but geared up with some Bastard Nation activities outside of the organization. Much of what I have is pre-digial camera so it’s a big scan job. I’ll have more pictures soon, but here’s the first patch California Open 2001 party, press conference and hearing for AB 1349, January 2002 Bastard Nation at the AAC 2007 Bastard Nation at the Ethics in Adoption Conference 2007 Bastard Nation at the AAC 2009 You don’t have to have a Facebook account to see this.

From Bastardette’s Mailbox: A reporter is looking for domestic adoptees who have experienced adoption-related discrimination and bias that carried over into adulthood. If anyone fits this description and is interested in talking to the media about it, please contact the reporter directly at: Susan Donaldson JamesReporter/ProducerABCNews.com7 W. 66th St., 2nd FloorNew York, N.Y. 10023212-456-4875 (office)609-529-0268 (cell) This may be related to the report the Evan B. Donaldson released today. When I get around to reading it, I may have something to say. Maybe not. You can find the Executive Summary with a link to the whole report here BEYOND CULTURE CAMP: PROMOTING HEALTHY IDENTITY FORMATION IN ADOPTION Authors: Hollee McGinnis, Susan Livingston Smith, Dr. Scott D. Ryan, and Dr. Jeanne A. HowardPublished: 2009 November. New York NY: Evan B. Donaldson Adoption InstituteDocument Type: Research (112 pages)Availability: PDF Full Report | Web Page | Press Release | Executive Summary This study, released in November, is the broadest, most extensive examination of adult adoptive identity to date, based on input from the primary experts on the subject: adults who were adopted as children. The principal recommendations of the 112 page study include: * Expand parental preparation and post-placement support for those adopting Continue Reading →

The November 12. 2009 London Daily Mail offers us a a glimpse of England’s first-ever “fertility show” with Claudia Connell’s cleverly titled, There’s one born every minute… We know we’re in for a first class tour as soon as Claudia walks through the gate: Stepping into the huge exhibition hall at London Olympia, I haven’t had time to look at my programme guide before I’m approached by a young American woman carrying a clipboard and dressed like an air hostess. ‘Hi, good to see you. Are you ready to discuss your fertility options?’ she asks, dazzling me with her megawatt smile. Before I can say anything, she continues: ‘We’re here today all the way from Connecticut in the U.S. to help people just like you. For the next 8 hours Claudia takes us on a Wonderland trip of high tech repro hardsell for teary women and a handful of embarrassed, sullen men, who’d seem much happier nursing a pint of Taddy Porter that walking the halls of female babydesire. It’s a shame she didn’t have a video camera with her. “Everywhere I look,” she writes, “I can see pictures of cherubic babies, while skilfully manipulative videos, showing pregnant women lovingly Continue Reading →

Gak! Bastardette is OK with Firefox, IE, and Chrome, but Sea Monkey is scrambling the format.

Eleven-Eleven-Eleven On Armistice Day 2009 I want to remember Private Frank Lawrence, 44384, 12th Gloustershire Regiment who died a German POW on October 21, 1918, less than one month before the armistice was signed. Frank was the son of my great grandmother’s brother Walter Lawrence and his wife Sarah. His sisters Beatrice and Winifred and brothers Cebert, Harry, and Walter survived. As did many cousins, including my biological grandfather, Courtnay Granecome. Clevedon Civic Society World War 1 Casualty ListFrank Lawrence, aged 19 of 9 Strode Road, went to France in April 1918, three weeks later he was wounded and captured . He died in the German Hospital, Antwerp as a result of poor medical conditions.St. Andrews Church Honor Roll in Clevedon: 2th (Service) (Bristol) Battalion. Private 44384. Born Clevedon. Enlisted Taunton. Formerly 68185 Devonshire Regiment. Died 21st October 1918.Aged 19. SCHOONSELHOF CEMETERY. Plot IIa, 47. Commonwealth War Graves Commission Certificate: Frank Lawrence

…Don Rickles.

Bastardette accidently posted a rough draft of a blog and only learned about it this morning when a comment was posted it. The blog–about Orphan and Esther–will probably be up later today. I am pretty sure the comment can then go up with it. If not, please post it again.

I’ve been MIA for the last couple weeks tied up with a couple non-adoption projects (imagine!) and some serious laziness. I’ve got a lot to write about and maybe some of it will actually get written. In the meantime, here are some pictures of the demolition of Grandma Liz’s house, destroyed by fire on May 2o. The demo happened Monday and Tuesday of this week. It was sad to watch, but there’s nothing left to mourn but memories. Repairs on the two other houses (#2 and #4) hasn’t started yet outside of clearing away indoor debris. Perhaps the owners are insured by AIG. I haven’t heard anything official on the cause of the fire, but when I wasn’t home, somebody came door-to-door from the fire department telling my neighbors that the investigation indicates the fire was caused by a smoldering cigarette in the living room,. Since nobody was staying in the house at the time, how that cigarette got there is a question. It could have come from a worker in the house earlier that day…or it could have been smoldering for some time and finally reached a flash point and basically exploded the house when the heat reached a Continue Reading →