Twinsters Movie Review

Twinsters Movie Review

Twinsters, a delightful documentary, co-directed, written and produced by Samantha Futerman, tells the tale of a young, adopted Southern California woman who unexpectedly discovers via social media that she may have a twin sister. Both girls were born in Busan, South Korea on the same date. Samantha was raised in the USA, and her sister grew up in Belgium and France. 

Their story is touching and relatable for all adoptees, especially for those who find siblings and form relationships, no matter which country you’re from. The film shows in detail many of the feelings adoptees process prior to reunion and just after as reality of a whole new family life sinks in. Personally, the moment when they see one another live for the first time brought back exciting memories from my own adoption reunion(s). Also, the scene where they photographed their hands together, struck a chord for me because my sisters and I have done the same thing.

Even though Samantha and Anaîs are identical twins, (proven through DNA testing), their perspectives on being adopted are different, which proves again that as adopted individuals, there isn’t one “correct” way to think about our statuses. This makes explaining our feelings challenging. However, this film masterfully represents a wide range of attitudes regarding the adoptee spectrum.

(If “adoptism” isn’t a word, it ought to be!)

The cinematography in Twisters is spot-on as the viewer travels literally around the world from Los Angeles to London and South Korea, as the saga of the twin sisters’ reunion is captured. It was also interesting to witness the blending of both girls’ adoptive families and foster mothers during their respective visits. Their story is filled with humor, honesty and resilience, and I enjoyed getting to know Anaîs and Samantha better through this film.

REVIEW OF ADOPTEE MEMOIR, WORTHY TO BE FOUND, BY DEANNA DOSS SHRODES:

Deanna Doss Shrodes, a writer, pastor and adoptee in Florida has recently written a memoir about her relationship with her birth family, specifically her birth mother, whom she found in the early 1990s. She shares her account of the search and reunion stages with candor, feeling and humor. The title of her book is: Worthy to be Found.

One, (of many), important points Shrodes makes in her writing is that every adoptee's experience is unique, and what works for one person or family doesn't always work for another. For Deanna, her connection to faith and the support system of her husband and children have kept her grounded and serve as reminders that no matter what happened in the past or what happens in the future, she is loved.

Another significant concept Deanna Shrodes addresses is the notion of worthiness. Many folks representing the adoption constellation, (biological parents, adoptees and even adoptive parents), struggle with feelings of low self-esteem. This is usually due to perceived expectations of society regarding conception, and how we conduct our personal and family life. Adoption may be an option, but it isn't "traditional" for forming a family, and some members of the triad can feel stigmatized and frustrated by unanswered questions, physical limitations and assumptions sometimes made by non-adopted people.  

In Worthy to be Found, everyone involved has value, regardless of past actions, familial status and abilities. There are "good" and "bad" people everywhere, but it has nothing to do with the adoption process. Everyone has worth. This memoir is a great reminder of that.

Adoptee Survival Guide Review:

Adoptee Survival Guide Review:

This book isn’t just about how to survive being adopted and overwhelmed by government policies and archaic traditions and practices.  It’s more than that. This compilation of essays is a collective wisdom of many adopted adults from diverse countries, upbringings and educational experiences. These writers together share their personal views on the positive and not-so-positive aspects of growing up adopted and how they view the world. Many nuggets of advice are applicable to all people from any walk of life. For example:  

"You are not your past.”

“Focus on the issues, not the person, because you can never change the person, but you can deal with the issues.”

“Give up the illusion that someone else will make you happy.”

The Adoptee Survival Guide is appropriately titled because by nature, we adopted folk have mad skills in self preservation and adaptation.  Like a chameleon, we blend in when we need to, move quickly, observe quietly and have delicate hearts with cool dispositions.  However, unlike a tiny lizard, this book shows that Adoptees today are learning to bond together, speak out and educate the modern public on what it's like to grow up as a product of both nature and nurture with conflicting feelings and unanswered questions about our lives, which non-adopted people often take for granted.  

The diverse writings in this book are honest, entertaining and enlightening as they address a subject not often discussed or well-understood in this society.  The Adoptee Survival Guide eliminates the labels adopted people have been assigned, such as "happy", "grateful" and "angry". If anything, it shows that adopted adults today strive to be known as inquisitive, educated, outspoken and reflective.  

I am proud to be a contributing author in this unique anthology, which is fantastic reading for all members of the adoption constellation plus associated family members, professionals in social work, family court systems, education and other areas of child care and development. 

Interviewed by fellow Sisters Born, Sisters Found author, Vicki Batman:

Please follow this link to Vicki's site for the interview:


http://vickibatman.blogspot.com/2015/02/sisters-born-sisters-found-chat-with.html?spref=tw

P.

Introducing Author, Ana Manwaring, from Sisters Born, Sisters Found:

Last winter I came across a call for submissions by Laura McHale Holland for an anthology about sisters.  I am proud and very excited to be a part of this book project.  The anthology can be found here:  http://www.amazon.com/Sisters-Born-Found-Diversity-Sisterhood-ebook/dp/B00QOLD0AQ/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1424092812&sr=1-1&keywords=sisters+born+sisters+found.  Now that the anthology is available, some of the writers have decided to do a blog-tour / X-promotion for one another. Today, I am delighted to present to you, fellow author and contributor to Sisters Born, Sisters Found, Ana Manwaring!

As a teacher myself, I am always interested in other teachers.  Please tell me about what you teach, where and what you enjoy most about your job as an educator?  What are some challenges you face?

                        I teach at Napa Valley College at the Upper Valley Campus in St Helena. I teach Creative Writing as a process workshop (read that an enhanced critique group) in the Life Long Learning division as well as ESL. This semester I'm teaching English and Computers, a course I've developed to teach parents of school kids how to use windows, word, gmail, and the Internet in order to monitor kids and help with homework. The 2nd semester takes them from the rudiments to applications useful in the job market. Often my students only speak Spanish so I've gone back to school to improve my Spanish, especially my written Spanish. My writing class started 9 years ago when the then instructor left. People knew I wrote and said, "You take the class" which I did. Over the years my mostly brilliant retired students have trained me. I'm not allowed to lecture but have to know and recognize craft both well-done and not working from the short reading in class and teach from there in any genre except technical writing. Talk about a challenge! But I've gotten pretty good at it. 

Please tell me about your current writing projects.

                        I write a monthly column (personal essay 1100 words) on the lifestyle of Petaluma for the Petaluma Post. I’m a poet of sorts and am working on submissions to literary journals this year. My memoir, Saints and Skeletons, about my time living in Mexico in the 90s is nearly completed. I have finished the first of a trilogy or series possibly, The Hydra Effect Book 1 Zihuatanejo and am close to the end of Book 2 Coyoacan. Book 3 (possibly Valle de Bravo, especially if this is the end of the series) is still hiding in the pile of ironing (see note below on challenges.) I am also working on a character-driven dysfunctional family saga told in three voices: the matriarch, her natural daughter who is dead and her unwanted adopted daughter.

Please tell me about any other publications/ published works you've had:

                        I’ve published poems, short stories and short memoir in a dozen anthologies including Cry of the Night Bird produced through the YWCA Changing Hurt to Hope project, Wisdom Has a Voice: Every Daughter’s Memories of Mother ed. by Kate Farrell, Times they Were A-Changing: Women Remember the 60’s and 70’s ed. by Kate Farrell, Linda Joy Myers and Amber Lea Starfire, Vintage Voices ed. CWC Redwood Branch. My work has appeared on KRCB Morning Haiku, on Searchlights and Signal Flares on-line, in Women’s Voices newspaper, El Universal Cuernavaca Sunday edition, and the Petaluma Post. Chupacabra won 1st place in the modern western category of the Southwest Writers contest, The Suitcase won first prize in the Words for Dollars contest on-line, I Do won the Cortage Scholarship prize as well as several  2nd and 3rd prizes for short stories and poems. An essay, Mole, was mentioned in the Tiny Lights Essay Contest.

How did you find out about the Sisters Born-Sisters Found project?

                        I heard Laura McHale Holland read at an event in Sonoma and invited her to join our critique group. Although she left our group, we remained friends and she invited me to participate in her Sisters lit readings at Sisters Couture Clothing in Sonoma. I wrote my pieces for these events. Laura asked me to submit when she decided to create the anthology. I helped edit the poetry in the anthology as well.

What do you like to do in your free time?

                        What free time? Between teaching, editing, taking care of my 91-year-old mom’s affairs, acting as CFO of our business and trying to carve out some writing time, I find that I have from 10-12 at night to watch TV or read a book. I love crime fiction, especially when it involves drugs, human trafficking and heists and takes place in foreign countries with strong, flawed female protagonists.

When did you start writing?

                        I’ve been writing something since my “bestselling” short story Me and My Brontosaurus, in third grade—a fictional exploration of what it would be like to live in the time of dinosaurs and tame one to ride. I’ve always wanted a pet to ride: a seal, a zebra, a hippo. I got serious about poetry when I was 15 and first read A Coney Island of the Mind. I’ve continued to write poetry throughout my life, mostly as part of my journaling practice. I committed to creating a writing life in 1991 when I went to live in Mexico to research a novel I never wrote.

What is a challenge you deal with in the writing process?  

                        When it’s time to sit down and write, I find that many other tasks clamor to be completed: ironing, floor washing, grout scrubbing as examples. Sometimes these menial tasks actually pan out into inspired writing when I finally get to my computer—usually right on deadline. I call that menial work/thinking time “composting.” My husband is also a “creative” and does the same thing. We bump into each other around the house—our heads stuck in the clouds.

LOL, I've experienced the same thing doing yard work!  

What is a great joy / pleasure / easy part?

                        I love hanging around with writers and talking about what we’re all doing, experiencing and perhaps suffering in relation to our work. I love craft. I love grammar. I love putting together literary readings and panel discussions and workshops and participating in events that light writers (me!) on fire. And when I land in “the zone” I love to write, but usually I prefer revision.

How can readers connect with you via social media, blogs, etc? 

                        I have a website, www.anamanwaring.com

                        Several blogs:  http://anaelectures.wordpress.com Building a Better Story

                        www.saintsandskeletons.com a memoir of my 3 years in Mexico

                        http://intheshadowofsonomamountain.blogspot.com my Petaluma Post                                     columns

                        I’m on Facebook, Twitter, LinkdIn, Google+ and my favorite, Pinterest I                                     use my name Ana M

Additional blog-hop-tour dates are:

Monday, Feb. 16: Ana Manwaring interviewed by Paige Adams Strickland http://akintothetruth.squarespace.com/journal/

Wednesday, Feb. 18: Tanya Savko interviewed by Maria de Lourdes Victoria http://www.mariadelourdesvictoria.com/english-blog and https://www.mariadelourdesvictoria.com/blog-espanol

Friday, Feb. 20: Maria de Lourdes Victoria interviewed by Ana Manwaring http://www.anamanwaring.com/blog.html and anaelectures@wordpress.com

Monday, Feb. 23: Paige Adams Strickland interviewed by Vicki Batman http://vickibatman.blogspot.com

Wednesday, Feb. 25: Catharine Bramkamp interviewed by Tanya Savko http://tanyasavko.com/blog/

Friday, Feb. 27: Vicki Batman interviewed by Catharine Bramkamp http://www.newbiewriters.com

The Story-of-self Matures in the Memoir Revolution

The Story-of-self Matures in the Memoir Revolution

https://akintothetruth.squarespace.com/config#collectionId=52068316e4b0bdc26006462d

In case the above link does not work for you, here it is:

Not too long ago, I entered a little quickie contest.  I was one of the winners! The theme was: Why do I Write, and this is what resulted:

Why I Write:

Link to contest source...http://campaign.r20.constantcontact.com/render?ca=9bc1b46f-7a83-4523-b22a-acdd5a44b0b2&c=a3117040-c400-11e3-b6e8-d4ae529a824a&ch=a3f78a80-c400-11e3-b851-d4ae529a824a

I write by day, I write by dark

It's not just for play or a foolish lark.

I write in the car and my job at my desk,

On my iPad, computer, my phone, no less.

I pen my thoughts which are stuck in my head, 

Which keep me awake as I lay in my bed.

I write to relax, to earn money or win

I write to release my feelings within.

I blog to promote the memoir I've written

With hopes that one day the public is smitten.

I love what I do and and I write what I wish

In the end I love having goals accomplished!

I've made a couple of mini-edits since the version posted at Awoedwithyoupress.com.  Also recently, fellow writer / colleague, Lori Schafer, http://lorilschafer.blogspot.com/, has launched a Why do I Write theme at her blog, and she honored me with an invitation to participate.  I am sharing my poem with her and all of you and asking any other writers to embrace this opportunity to do the same.  I will link you to my site, as i am linked to Lori's.  so it's sort of a writing chain for fun, exposure and networking.  Who's in?