Archive for 'Self-Esteem'

The Beauty of Having African Hair

The Beauty of Having African Hair

These days I’m again going through the paces again with my hair. By that I mean: now that it’s more gray and white than black, I’m trying to figure out what to do with all the gray kinks and curls. I wish I had the nerve to just go “natural” the way younger women are doing. I’m also fascinated by the way African women have for centuries worked their hair. Look at novelist Chimamanda Adichie Ngozi’s many styles! Here she is in my ...

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Are Your Personal / Emotional Boundaries Invaded?

Are Your Personal / Emotional Boundaries Invaded?

Multiracial Family Portrait Children Only Over WhiteDoes it bother you that people ask you the dumbest things? Like “Are you adopted,” or “Where are you from?” when it’s obvious that you are biracial or that the people you call mom and dad were not present at your conception and birth?

In my case, people wanted to know who my birth mother was and why she gave me up. ...

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Misplaced Identity: The Reason to Begin Therapy

Misplaced Identity: The Reason to Begin Therapy

In my recent book, Split at the Root: A Memoir of Love and Lost Identity (Kindle) or Split at the Root: A Memoir of Love and Lost Identity, I tell the story of growing up within a culture and a race that was different to my own. Here’s an excerpt as to why I had to start a therapy program:

I stand motionless atop a rugged cliff, scanning a landscape where a cloudless sky spans the horizon. The jasmine-scented breeze ...

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Want to know a Black child’s thoughts about class & privilege?

Want to know a Black child’s thoughts about class & privilege?

Catana at 7years with doll LuluHere is an excerpt from my memoir Split at the Root: A Memoir of Love and Lost Identity in which I write about having grown up as an exotic child among Whites in Guatemala City.

“On my first day of school, ...

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Love is a Given, but is it Enough in Transracial Adoptions?

Love is a Given, but is it Enough in Transracial Adoptions?

Catana as a toddler in LivingstonLast night I came upon an article recently written by professor Darron T. Smith PhD. in The Huffington Post’s Black Voices. It underlines issues I had to deal with, anguished and alone, way into adulthood. It’s titled Can Love Overcome Race in Transracial Adoption? and adresses ...

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