I'm normally not that much of a Chris Hitchens fan, but his latest column (it's at the LA Times among other places) is pretty interesting.

It's about Henry Louis Gates (of whom I am normally a big fan, thanks to The Signifying Monkey) and his discovery, thanks to modern genetic science, that he's Jewish. Or, at least, has a Jewish ancestor on his mother's side.... more

New non-Asian parents!

You read the entries over on my Korean counterpart's blog about Mongolian spots, didn't you? Didn't you?

If not, go and do it now. It could save you from a whole world of trouble later on.

There are two fundamental rules I've adopted (ho ho!) for dealing with the pressures and pleasures of being the Anglo adoptive parent of Chinese children. The interracial thing pops up at surprising times, and when the weird questions come out of the mouths (or eyes) of strangers (or friends), it's good to have some kind of foundation on which to rely.

These are my foundation. My two interracial parenting commandments. I share them with you in the spirit of love and gratitude for my family.

Rule #1:

Ix-nay on the Otic-exay Rient-oyay. It's... more

Back when I was still in the Long, Long Wait for my first Chinese daughter, I sort of refused to read all the parenting books that many of my wait-mates were plowing through. Instead, I absorbed as much Chinese history as I could. At the same time, being vaguely academically inclined, I started paying more attention to discussions that involved race, especially, like, Asians in America, since hey, I was about to be in an Asian-American family. Then, I discovered Jane Jeong Trenka's blog (now just a webpage), tied to her memoir about growing up as a Korean adoptee in lily-white rural Minnesota.

It was on her blog that I... more