Red's Wrap
Happiness. It's relative.
Category: Writing
Don’t Be a Wimp: Finding the Courage to Adopt
She’s wondering whether she can ride the pony. Other kids are on ponies and they seem ok. But that doesn’t mean it would work for her. She’s thinking that the pony could bite. Or run away. And that she might have to start crying. Doesn’t matter… Continue Reading “Don’t Be a Wimp: Finding the Courage to Adopt”
Christina
Christina checking names at Father Fabretto’s Home in northern Nicaragua – 1988 She was crazy then and she still is. She’s the reason that a couple dozen orphaned, disabled kids in Nicaragua came to live with families in Milwaukee – kids who otherwise would… Continue Reading “Christina”
Bliss: Thinking about Transracial Adoption
I really like Sandra Bullock and I’m really glad she dumped that jerk-off husband of hers and I was really happy for her when she snatched happiness from the jaws of humiliation by adopting a little boy but I don’t know how I feel… Continue Reading “Bliss: Thinking about Transracial Adoption”
Tell It: Adopted Kids Reunion
The other night, my friend Charlie tacked the Nicaraguan flag to a tree in Lake Park and draped a second one over a picnic table. The people who always show up on the dot, showed up just as the clock struck six, and the… Continue Reading “Tell It: Adopted Kids Reunion”
Castaways: Remember that It Takes a Village
This is a story about four girls, an old canoe, a sunny day, and a south wind on Lake Superior. It’s also a story about happiness and risk, ignorance and gratitude, and the ambivalence we feel as parents, especially adoptive parents, when other people… Continue Reading “Castaways: Remember that It Takes a Village”
Lighten Up, Little Susie
It’s a little disconcerting to realize that several people have found my blog by googling the term kids in jail. I deserve this, I guess, because I wrote a blog post called “Not Dead or in Jail: The Role of Outcomes in Family Life,”… Continue Reading “Lighten Up, Little Susie”
Long Story Short: Getting Investigated by Child Welfare
When the Bureau of Milwaukee Child Welfare comes to your door, they don’t look happy and cheery like they do in the picture. And the people they’re coming to visit aren’t smiling either. Child welfare workers have the legal authority to immediately detain a child… Continue Reading “Long Story Short: Getting Investigated by Child Welfare”
Left Out
My dad made one phone call to me in my entire life and that was to tell me that my mother had died. The call came about a year after I’d reconciled with my parents after a ten-year estrangement. He was 88. His voice… Continue Reading “Left Out”
The Original Nana: The Sweet Influence of Grandmothers
Today, I miss my mother-in-law. It’s Passover and I miss her. She was the only person on earth who ever loved my husband more than me and because of that, she was formidable in all ways. First of all, she was completely, totally, through… Continue Reading “The Original Nana: The Sweet Influence of Grandmothers”
Don’t Read This, Bevan Baker
This is my granddaughter, Alita. And I have reason to believe that she has fallen asleep in someone’s arms every night of her life. Tomorrow she will be 5 years old. I raised four kids. All of them slept in their own beds. In… Continue Reading “Don’t Read This, Bevan Baker”
Snow Door | wisconsinacademy.org
Listen to Jan read her essay “Billy” presented on WUWM’s Lake Effect
Jan’s essay “At the Breakfast Bar” on WUWM Lake Effect
Jan’s essay “The Parish Hall,” on WUWM Lake Effect
“Fury Cannot Touch Me,” Modern Love, NYT, 9/29/11
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