dancingadopteethoughts | Entries tagged with monthly.updates

Hello, all! I hope January treated you well. My updates are below.

I have another short fictional essay available, once again narrated by Malia Blu. You can read “Keys” here.

I’ve been getting very into History Hit podcasts, and I love the wide variety of time periods they explore. I do wish they were a bit less British/Western-focused, but I do appreciate that they try to explore different perspectives and places.

Thank you for stopping by! Feel free to share your adoptee-related writing or history podcast recs in the comments. This month, I encourage you to support the LUCE Immigrant Network of MA, which operates an ICE watch and hotline, and the Rohingya Community Partners’ emergency fundraising campaign to support families who lost their shelters in a fire in Bangladesh. I also encourage you to support Reviving Gaza, a mutual aid network providing aid to people in Gaza. For more resources and organizations to support, please look here.

Hello! I hope you are all doing well and enjoying the end of the year! I’m still having trouble believing it’s been a year since I started these updates. My December updates are below.

I published a new fictional essay from the perspective of Wendy Stoneman, an adoptee character I created when I was little. You can read the essay here. I have also been working on a short story that features two adoptee siblings, which has been interesting to explore.

I have been reading an excellent Silmarillion AU fanfic that takes place in 1970s India by timelessutterances called Prayers to the Broken Stone. It’s fairly accessible for readers unfamiliar with The Silmarillion and delves into politics, history, grief, adoption, and identity in very compelling ways.

Thank you for sticking with me this year! Happy New Year, and please feel free to share your adoptee writing in the comments. This month, I encourage you to support the Barana Hanabneiho Organisation, a youth-led Sudanese organization that provides food, shelter, and education in underprivileged areas of Sudan. I also encourage you to support the Uyghur Wellness Initiative, which provides safe spaces for Uyghur communities, and the “We Got This” program, which is a Milwaukee-based community garden. For more resources and organizations to support, please look here.

Hey, everyone! I hope you had a wonderful November! I am posting my updates below.

I worked more on that fictional essay and finished the first draft. I am now working on reviewing and editing it.

I watched some more Al Muqaddimah videos on Islamic history, which were very illuminating, as unfortunately, I only briefly learned about these topics in school.

Thank you for stopping by! Let me know your adoptee writing updates and any cool videos you have been watching in the comments! This month, I am once again encouraging you to donate to Khartoum Kitchen, which is directly running 12 kitchens in the Khartoum area in Sudan, and to follow Saroyah’s Twitter list for updates on the humanitarian crisis. I also encourage you to give to the Western Alaska Disaster Relief Fund, which is supporting Western Alaskan communities following devastating typhoons and storms in October. For more resources and organizations to support, please look here.

Welcome, everyone! I hope you had a great October! My updates are below.

I worked more on that fictional essay I’ve been talking about for a little while now. It’s been fun seeing the turns it’s been taking.

I also read more of Adeeb Khalid’s Central Asia, and it’s been interesting reading about the Russian Revolution from the perspective of Central Asians.

Thank you for stopping by! Please feel welcome to leave your adoptee writing updates and any history book recs in the comments! This month, I encourage you to support The Needle of Hope, which raises money for Omar to tailor clothes for children in Gaza, the Sudan Solidarity Collective, which is raising money to support food distribution in El Fashir, and the Ohketeau Cultural Center, which is a Native-led cultural center that supports Indigenous people in Central and Western Massachusetts. For more resources and organizations to support, please look here.

Welcome back! I hope you had a great September! My updates for this month are below.

I worked more on that piece I mentioned last time that stars adoptee characters. It’s been fun delving into how each character handles their differing situations.

This is going to sound really random, but I’ve recently been very much enjoying blumineck’s shorts on medieval weapons and history. They’re all so entertaining!

That’s all for September! Feel free to share your adoptee writing updates and random YouTube recs in the comments. This month, I encourage you to support AIDESEP, an organization in Peru that supports the rights of Indigenous peoples along the Amazon. It appears that you need a Peruvian identification number to support them financially through their website, but you can follow their social media accounts for more information about their actions. I also encourage you to support On the Rise, a Massachusetts community and Safe Haven for women, transgender, and nonbinary people moving through homelessness, and to follow Refugees in Niger, which brings attention to the Black African refugees protesting the neglect and human rights abuses they are facing in Agadiz. For more resources and organizations to support, please look here.

Welcome, all! My updates for this month are written below.

I worked some more on that fictional essay I’ve been writing, and I’ve also been working on another piece that will dive into an adoptee character. It’s still in its early stages of planning.

I’m pretty sure I mentioned Daughters of Ferrix before, but I’ve been enjoying their most recent episode on the complexities of studying history and writing about history in both fictional and real-world settings.

Thank you for reading my updates! Feel free to let me know what adoptee-related writing you’ve been creating/reading and any cool podcast episodes you’ve been listening to in the comments. This month, I encourage you to check out the National Black Food & Justice Alliance, a coalition supporting Black self-determination and food sovereignty in the US. Additionally, The Okra Project is a mutual aid collective supporting Black Trans folks through food and housing security and mental health support. I also urge you to support the Rohingya Community Partners’ fundraiser to run a training program for Rohingya refugee youth and girls. For more resources and organizations to support, please look here.

Hello! I hope July has been treating you well! My updates for this month are below.

I’ve been working more on my current adoption-related fictional essay. It’s definitely been taking turns that I haven’t been expecting, and it’s been fun wrestling with the complicated feelings and dynamics that being an adoptee brings.

I mentioned on my Darcy Hongyue account months ago that I was reading Emily Wilson’s translation of The Iliad. I finished reading it a little bit ago, but reading it dragged me down a rabbit hole where I listened to a bunch of Wilson’s podcast interviews so I could learn more about her translation process. Now that I've exhausted all the Iliad-focused ones, I’ve been listening to her Odyssey interviews, and I enjoyed hearing what she had to say about translation and ethics in these two episodes. I’ve been learning so much about the complexity of translation and how to grapple with complicated texts from the past.

Thanks for reading! Feel free to share any adoptee-related writing you have been doing or interesting podcasts you’ve been listening to in the comments! This month, I urge you to support USCPR’s Water Is Life Gaza campaign, which is a Palestinian-led project that delivers clean water to families displaced by Israel’s ongoing genocide. I also encourage you to support Refugees in Libya, an organization advocating for refugees throughout North Africa and Europe. Finally, please support the Massachusetts Bail Fund, which is an abolitionist direct service organization that pays bail for those who cannot afford it. For more resources and organizations to support, please look here.

Welcome back! I hope June has treated you well! My updates are below.

I worked more on my current adoption-related essay. I find it interesting how ocean imagery always seems to come to me when I write these fictional essays.

I’ve been listening to more Daughters of Ferrix, a Star Wars podcast, and I’ve been enjoying how they bring together culture, history, and politics in an informative and entertaining way.

Thank you for reading my updates! Please feel free to share any adoptee-related writing or podcast recs in the comments! This month, I encourage you to donate to the Sameer Project, a Palestinian initiative working to provide medical aid, supplies, and food in Gaza. Also, please check out ‘Āina Momona, a community organization working toward environmental health, social justice, and Hawaiian sovereignty. Thirdly, Hope Relief and Rehabilitation is a Sudanese organization supporting people with disabilities, particularly in the Nuba Mountains, where famine has been declared. For more resources and organizations to support, please look here.

Happy May! I hope you are all well this month. I have shared my May updates below.

I worked a bit more on the current fictional, adoption-related essay I’m writing. I’m trying to take on a different perspective than I normally do when I write these essays, and it’s been an interesting time.

I’ve been reading more of Adeeb Khalid’s Central Asia, which has been very illuminating, and I have been learning a lot of history that I unfortunately was ignorant of.

Thank you for reading my updates! Feel free to share any adoptee-related writings or history book recommendations in the comments below. This month, if you live in the US, I encourage you to contact your congresspeople to urge action regarding the ongoing forced famine in Gaza here and to advocate against cutting SNAP here. Please also review Saroyah’s Twitter list here for updated information regarding the continuing humanitarian crisis in Sudan. For more resources and organizations to support, please look here.

I hope you are doing well this April! I have shared my updates for this month below.

My friend shared this interesting video on how to go to hell in five of the world’s major religions with another friend and me. I enjoyed learning about the diversity between and within these belief systems.

I started a new fictional essay from the perspective of character Wendy Stoneman. I also created a Neocities site and a Wix blog that you can find on my Carrd.

Thank you for sticking around this month! Feel welcome to share any interesting videos you’ve watched or adoptee-related writing in the comments. This month, I encourage you to support the Basandja Coalition, which lifts the voices of Indigenous and local communities in the Congo Basin, and FiveforFive, a collective fund for trans women in the UK. Also, please check out AILA’s immigration advocacy resources. For more resources and organizations to support, please look here.

Hello, all! I hope you are having a good March! I have shared my updates below.

I started a new short essay from the perspective of Wendy Stoneman. Wendy is a character I based off of an imaginary friend I had when I was little.

I’m still watching history videos. Xiran Jay Zhao’s video on the first emperor of China was incredibly entertaining and Al Muqaddimah’s video on the first half of the history of Islamic civilization was very informative.

Thank you for checking out my updates! If you have any adoptee writing you would like to share or history video recs, feel free to leave a comment! For this month, I encourage you to check out and support the Darfur Women Action Group which works to support survivors of the Darfur genocide. I also encourage you to support The Sameer Project, which supports families in Gaza, and Black and Pink, an abolitionist organization in the US supporting LGBTQIAS2+ people and people living with HIV/AIDS. For more resources and organizations to support, please look here.

Hello, all! I hope you are doing okay this February! I have posted my updates below.

I have continued editing the Malia Blu essay I am currently working on with an emphasis on structure. I also posted my short story “The Door in the Woods,” which is about two adoptee sisters. You can read the story on my website, my Tumblr, and my Dreamwidth.

I’ve been going down a history podcast/YouTube rabbit hole. I’ve been listening to the TARIK podcast on Ethiopian history and watching the Al Muqaddimah YouTube channel on Islamic history. I also watched Xiran Jay Zhao’s videos (Part 1 | Part 2) on Wu Zeitan, which are very entertaining.

Anyway, thank you for checking out my updates for February! Please feel welcome to share any adoptee-related writing you have been working on or any history podcast/YouTube channel recommendations below! This month, I am encouraging you to support the Abbasiyyah Kitchen in Sudan, an on-the-ground initiative working to provide clean water and food to residents in Umdurman. Their campaign ends in five weeks as of the time I am posting. You can also check out Saroyah’s thread on Twitter for more Sudanese initiatives to support. Additionally, I recommend We Have Rights’s video series for more information on how to defend your rights during encounters with ICE. The videos are translated into multiple languages. For more resources and organizations to support, please look here.

Happy January! I hope the new year opens many possibilities for all of you! I have pasted my updates for this month below!

I continued working on my fictional short essay about Malia Blu. It has been nice to wrestle with my own thoughts about adoption through this familiar character.

I’ve been practicing my Spanish and Mandarin through watching and reading news in each of those languages. I just finished watching a very interesting video about Taiwanese Indigenous languages. Next, I’ll be writing a short essay in Mandarin discussing the video.

Thank you for stopping by! Feel free to share your adoptee-related news below along with any articles you have been reading regarding language, history, and other aspects of culture! This month, I am suggesting you turn your attention to Sudan Coup’s list of verified grassroots fundraisers, AfroPunk’s spreadsheet of gofundmes to support people displaced by the Los Angeles fires, and the Aquinnah Cultural Center in Massachusetts. For more resources and organizations to support, please look here.

Hey, all! I am now planning on sharing monthly updates regarding my adoptee writing and culture/adoptee experiences.

I am finishing up a short essay written from the perspective of adoptee Malia Blu. The essay discusses Malia’s thoughts as she wrestles with the secrets she has in her life. I have written from her perspective several times before and it’s nice to return to her story again.

More explicitly relevant to history than culture (although history and our understandings of it absolutely influence culture), I have also started reading Adeeb Khalid’s Central Asia, which delves into Central Asia’s modern history and relationship with colonialism, revolution, and modernization. Throughout my education, I unfortunately never learned much about this vibrant and diverse region so I am hoping to rectify that.

Thank you for reading these updates! I would love to know if you have been reading/watching anything culture/adoptee-related! Feel free to share recommendations in the comments. See you in the next update! Before you go, I urge you to educate yourself about, donate, and support these organizations who are doing important, although unfortunately needed work in and to support Palestine and the Democratic Republic of Congo: Operation Olive Branch’s mutual aid list, Friends of the Congo, Focus Congo. For more resources and organizations to support, please look here.