A Work of Artifice – Poem by Marge Piercy. This poem really struck me. Especially the lines,
how lucky, little tree,
to have a pot to grow in.
With living creatures
one must begin very early
to dwarf their growth:
the bound feet
The Story on NPR "Born in Prison": Deborah Jiang Stein grew up knowing that she was adopted. But when she was in her teens, she discovered that she was born in a prison and had lived there during her early life. Her world then began to spin out of control, and she started to run with a tough crowd, breaking the law regularly. After getting into a lot of trouble in her early 20s, she finally decided that it was time to change her life. Deborah reflects on how her adopted family continued to love her throughout all of this, and she talks to Dick Gordon about work she has done recently with mothers who are incarcerated.
Author Kim Sunee’s web page: Kim Sunée is the author of Trail of Crumbs: Hunger, Love, and the Search for Home. (Grand Central Publishing, January 2008). She lived in Europe for more than ten years and is now food editor at Cottage Living magazine
What does it feel like to be Asian in America? By Rosemary Cafasso. Katherine Naftzger, an adult adoptee from Korea and now a mother and clinical social worker, can still recall the sting she felt several years ago, when, as a high school student getting lunch at McDonald’s, one of the restaurant workers looked at her and called her a "China doll.” "I don’t think he meant to be offensive or to hurt me,” Naftzger said. "But the other side of this is it can negate your personality, saying that you are just a doll.” Naftzger is not unusual in describing her feelings of being diminished or marginalized as an Asian living in a predominately non-Asian world. She and other Asian adoptees, as well as parents of Asian adoptees, said they frequently encounter stereotypes that appear positive on the surface, but can be hurtful nonetheless.
Angelina and Brad finalize adoption. It’s official: Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie‘s adoption of 4-year-old Pax Thien Jolie-Pitt was approved Wednesday by an L.A. County Children’s Court judge, her rep confirms to PEOPLE.
Harlow's Monkey 
Thanks for these, Jae Ran. I’ve been enjoying Trail of Crumbs.
Somebody called her a “China doll” on ONE occasion, and she still feels the sting? Oh please. I used to get kids following me home from school throwing rocks at me and screaming racist abuse, and telling me to “go home.” And as an adult, when I finally went “home,” I had to deal with a whole new set of racist abuse (including, for example, landlords refusing to rent to me). You guys in the US have it so easy. You even have the luxury of whining about it. Please.