An Island Unto Myself

An Autoethnographic Memoir of Adoption, Place, and Belonging

Originally posted on my Tumblr blog in 2020

My story begins in two places.

One is pictured on the map below. Clover Lane, Champion Twp., Trumbull County, OH. Landlocked. Midwest. Nearest large body of water was Lake Erie, an hour’s drive north. I don’t remember the house number (we moved away when I was 3), but this is where my parents were waiting when the caseworker drove up with me on January 25, 1966. Their names were Jim and Jacki.

Here's the approximate area of Champion Township where my parents lived.

But my story also begins in another country, with a young girl of 18 who had already had one child (who had been taken from her—more on that story later) and became pregnant with me under less-than-ideal circumstances. Her name is Roberta. And the unwitting sperm donor, his name was Jerry.

My genetic code had its “big bang,” if you’ll pardon an awful pun, in a town called Stephenville, Newfoundland. Western side of the isle of Newfoundland. On the bay. Water everywhere. And fish. So many fish.

This is a map of Stephenville, Newfoundland, and the surrounding area.

But their story began even further north. Roberta, barely legal, met Jerry, already divorced and with at least three kids by then, at the Air Force base in Goose Bay, where she had grown up (she was born in Newfoundland but moved to Labrador as an infant). Jerry was handsome: he had reddish-brown hair, and he sang and played guitar. Roberta was smitten.

Goose AFB in Labrador, Canada.

What is this blog going to be about?

The posts in this blog will serve as an accompaniment to my literature review for this project. As I read in the various subjects, stories come to mind that help illustrate things I read. That's when posts are born.

Visit anytime.

You're welcome to read any or all of these posts if you so choose. This is both a personal and a cultural project for me, one that I hope will help me discover more not only about myself, but also about the culture that produced me. In the process, I will explore topics such as epigenetics and generational trauma, so fasten your seat belt; these won't all be fun and happy stories.

Always feel free to write me if you have any questions. I'm a new scholar in some of these fields, so I'm definitely not claiming to be an expert. But I'll do my best to clarify anything.