Searching for Something Denied
They used to sell miniature horoscope scrolls at our grocery store checkout lanes. Every month, I begged for the chance to read my fate spelled out as fact on pastel paper. I’d spend an hour poring over each word, preparing for what to expect.
KEURIUM Trigger Guide
While many readers have reported that KEURIUM has helped them heal, certain content might be triggering for some. This guide is for wannabe readers who are nervous about certain themes and depictions shifting their emotional balance. It contains spoilers.
White Girl in Yellow Face
Not long after I was born, it was decided that I would become someone new. Too young to understand or protest, I was ripe for the taking. At six months old, I boarded a plane in South Korea. My escort reported that I wouldn’t sleep. When I landed in North America, a sea of white faces surrounded me. Hands patted my clothes and skin. New sounds and smells flooded my senses. It was a big day for two strangers and their two daughters because from this day forward, I was to wear their mask of adoption.
The Korean Little Shit
I was about seven years old when it happened. Sitting in the living room, as I liked to after dinner, I gazed out the bay window at the stars in the sky. There was a big etched vase with decorative feathers sweeping out of it. I’d often get lost in my thoughts as my eyes traced the swirls of its surface. My father had come home late from work and was, as usual, upset with the state of the place.
But Why Did They Adopt?
There are too many stories of abuse, neglect, and murder. People wonder, “But why did they adopt?” As an adoptee connected to an ever-growing network of other adoptees, I’m here with some insight into how this happens.
What Nobody Tells You
Little girls are raised to be aware of strange men lurking around schools in vans. They’re taught how to properly cover their bodies so not to appear like they’re asking for ‘it’. And when you’re a kid, ‘it’ equals sex. If you’re lucky, you don’t really understand what rape means beyond unwanted sexual attention until you’re much older, or it happens to you.
There’s a Yearning
When I was a toddler, I envisioned the woman who bore me as a nameless, faceless saint. Her love transcended the physical realm. She was more like a spirit than a person. I thought her akin to the Virgin Mary in our Christmas manger, because there was never any talk of male involvement; just this ethereal figure who loved me so much that she sent me away.