We knew that there were many ways to adopt kids, although we probably couldn’t have named or defined the methods.  We also didn’t know that the rules of how adoptions happen vary by state and country or that the cost varies considerably and that each method has pros and cons. 
I found the Complete Adoption Book at [...]

Back in the day, A- had a zine called the Buick ate my Planet.  I don’t remember how many issues came out, but I do remember that it included suggestions of car-free trips and resources and told stories of living car-free in the bay area.  Anyways, I only bring it up to steal the great [...]

I recently watched the PBS documentary on Jim Jones and the mass suicide in Jonestown. It is almost incomprehensible how many people died there and the destruction of many families that occurred. It is hard to imagine being in a group that harnesses so many hopes and dreams and ends up paranoid and [...]

Operating Instructions is an amazing chronicle of the first year of Anne Lamott’s life with her baby boy.  It describes the best and worst of mothering a newborn infant and she faces up to feelings that aren’t easy to acknowledge since having a baby is pretty idealized in our world.  She is a single mom, [...]

A Child’s Journey Through Placement
I am almost finished with this book, about 40 pages to go. I love this book. It is the first book that I have read that has really helped me to understand the psychology of kids in the foster-care system without being completely terrifying.
It uses a lot of case studies of [...]

The Kid by Dan Savage at goodreads.com.
I am sooo glad to not be in a relationship with someone as funny and smarmy as Dan Savage.  On the other hand, these qualities make for a great writer.  This was a really great book to get a thoughtful perspective on what an private, open infant adoption [...]

The Complete Book of Adoption at goodreads.com.
This was a great book to get an overview of the different ways to go about adoption. It does a good job of explaining them and helping readers understand the pros and cons of each form, so that they may decide which is best suited for them. It [...]

“I’m not speaking to Pamela,” said Beezus.
“Why not?” Ramona often yelled at people, but never refused to speak. Nothing could happen if you didn’t speak, and she liked things to happen.
-from Ramona Forever by Beverly Cleary

“Addiction can show us what is deeply suspect about nostalgia.  The drive to return to the past isn’t an innocent one.  It’s about stopping your passage to the future, it’s a symptom of fear of death, and the love of predictable experience.
And the love  of predictable experience, not the drug itself, is the major damage [...]