Just Say No to Immigration Raids?

Apparently the city council of Des Moines, Iowa is considering issuing an order to the city's police force that will allow them to not cooperate with federal immigrations authorities during raids the latter might stage in the city to snare illegals. An interesting approach that ultimately does nothing to solve the current dilemma being caused by people who are, and in some cases have been for a long while, living in the United States without the proper Visa or permanent residency papers. Obstructing justice will not bring any sanity to an already insane issue.

Justice, you ask? Where is the justice in rounding up people, many of whom are hard-working citizens, good neighbors and family members and shipping them back to their countries of legal origin? Well, simply put, they broke the rules and when that happens, and you are caught, consequences ensue. It's not about fair, but if that is the going to be the argument on which leniency or even clemency is going to be granted then think about it another way. What about all those people who are patiently waiting for entrance to this country, spouses and children, who filled out the mountain of paperwork, paid the fees, submitted to the police checks and medical exams, essentially did everything the rules asked? What about them? How is it fair that they did the right thing and have to wait their turn but those who did it illegally are now the recipients of calls for rule changes?

I will not argue in favor of the current system. The wait times are ridiculous and it does not take into account that the U.S. does need unskilled labor (though some would argue that this is the current job of our education system). I do think that the solutions have to be applied farther up the food chain then the current hunting down and deporting of illegals and can only conclude that the current system continues in its broken state because it benefits someone.

My First Public Reading as a Writer

The Fort Saskatchewan writing group I belong to, the Paragraffers, held a public reading for it’s members Sunday at Shell Theatre located at the Dow Centennial Center. Any member who wished to was able to participate and our leader, Kathie, even invited the nearby Strathcona group to participate if they were inclined. I decided early on that I would be reading from the novel I am working on and chose a shorter chapter that I shared not only with the Fort group but with my writing group, WOW back in Des Moines. It was one of the first scenes I wrote for the novel and it might not survive to the final draft, but I like the flow and the way it advances character and plot and I love the dialogue.

I admit to a little bit of nervousness when I was introduced by Dick Easton, one of the Fort members who is also the editor of the group’s newsletter, but as soon as I began speaking, and then reading, I felt right at home. It was a feeling almost akin to the one I had when I did my practicum for teaching, which is the first class they have prospective education majors take to give them a bit of a taste of what it is like in a real classroom with real kids. The first time I stepped foot in a seventh grade language arts class, I knew I was right where I belonged. That I could do this. Teach. Manage large groups of kids. And that I could do it really well. Reading my piece today in front of an audience, that was small - between 15 and 20 - I knew I could do this part of the writing. The author thing. I love writing, and oddly, for me, I love reading my stuff to people and talking about the process. I say oddly because I am a very shy person. I don’t like the spotlight. But, when it comes to writing, as with teaching, that shy part of me evaporates as though it was never there.

Rob and Katy came to hear me and the others. Rob shot a digital video of my segment and took pictures of the other participants as there was no one else there taking photos. I am going to write up a short piece for the local paper and send it along with a few of Rob’s photos (he is kinda thrilled about the prospect of having one of his photos in the paper with a credit).

All in all, a perfectly lovely afternoon. I still feel wonderful about how it went and my performance. Another step on the road to writing for a living.

Beowulf

I neglected blogging yesterday in favor of working out, a writing workshop with a local author at the public library and a date with my husband. We discovered a charming Greek place for dinner complete with belly dancer and smashing plates and then took in the late showing in the new Beowulf movie at what passes for a movie theater in the Fort. And I guess you could call it a movie though the characters and setting were completely CGI it wasn't exactly Shrek or any of the animated DVD selections that my daughter watches. The characters were not only voiced by real actors but their characters were created to look like the actor in question as well - with enhancements, of course.

I had to read an old English version of Beowulf during my senior year of high school back at Walhert High School in Dubuque, Iowa. The teacher was young. A wrestling coach with a Neandrathal forehead and a really thick neck and a surprising passion for English literature. I can't recall anything about that particular foray into Beowulf beyond an LP (yes, I am that old) Mr.Wojan played for us of some reading a passage from the story in an even older version of what would someday be the language my friends and I slaughtered on a daily basis. The first time I really looked at the story of Beowulf was when I discovered a set of the Robert Nye version. I was teaching 7th grade and Nye's version was visually stimulating with all sorts of gruesome and quite disgusting images that I was certain 12 and 13 year olds would love. It was a monster story in poem form, and my students plowed through it with gusto. As an added bonus I threw in some Norse Mythology and a bit of Viking history. Beowulf ranks right up there with Greek Mythology, folk tales and Hamlet as my most successful teaching units. So, I was curious to see the Robert Zemeckis version, and I was disappointed. The story is well-told if not exactly the way I remember it.

Beowulf is the story of a hero by that same name who travels from Geat to the kingdom of Hrothgar to kill a monster who is plaguing the King and his people. The monster, Grendel, is suitably grotesque and a somewhat sympathetic character. When Beowulf finally dispatches it by pounding a hole in its head and ripping and arm from its body so that it slowly bleeds to death as it makes its way back to the lair of its mother, you almost feel sorry for it. Grendel's mother is a sea demon who it turns out had seduced King Hrothgar because she wanted a son, Grendel, and in return gave Hrothgar power, riches and personal invincibility. When Beowulf goes to the lair to kill her, after she has attacked Beowulf's men seeking justice, she offers Beowulf the same deal and he takes it. A bit of a twist on the "selling your soul to the devil" and "doing the right thing" message that is interesting because the film makes it clear that Christianity was still in its infancy in the part of the world where the story is set. I like the old epics and myths that remind us that the world was not just a pagan free-for-all until Christianity came along to save us.

Visually, the CGI is faintly reminiscent of a video game, albeit a really good one, but that doesn't detract from action or the story though I wonder a bit how much more interesting it might have been to watch had the actors been live.

Sealed Adoption Records from an Adoptee's View

Recently there was an editorial piece about the need for open records for all adoptees in the state of Iowa. The piece went on to describe the current system that is in place for adult adoptees who wish to access their original birth certificates or medical information and pronounced it a hit and miss hodgepodge that really doesn't allow people easy access to the same information that the non-adopted have unfettered access. Interestingly here in Canada, the provincial government of Ontario was forced by the courts to rework a law that would have opened up adoption records for all adoptees, past and present. The law in its original form was retroactive to sealed adoptions even and caused quite an uproar among those who believe that birth parents have rights that supersede those of the now adult children they relinquished.

I find the debate interesting from a personal standpoint as I was adopted as an infant almost 44 years ago now in Dubuque county. The agency that handled my adoption, Catholic Charities, had long had a policy of supplying non-identifying information and medical histories, if that information exists, to adult adoptees. As I result, I know quite a bit about my birth parents who were in there later teens when I was born. I know I am of Swedish/Irish extraction and my birth mother was a classic blue-eyed, strawberry blond Irish Catholic girl. I know that both my parents came from broken homes, hardly the norm in 1963. According to the information in my file, there were no known medical conditions that I need to worry about but since we are talking about an era when medical histories were not really deemed as important as they are today, I am not certain I trust this particular revelation. I can tell you the height and weight of both my birth parents. There religions of record. The number of siblings each had and that my birth father worked at a gas station and my birth mother was anxious that I should be in a home before Christmas. Still, for all I do know, I don't know who these two people are and if it is from them I inherited my athletic ability or my gift for writing? Is it her or him that I look like or like my own daughter, am I an even mix? 
People who grew up in biological families can't know how it is to be related to no one. To look in the mirror and not see anyone but yourself. Until the birth of my own child, there wasn't a soul on the planet who I shared genetic ties with that I personally knew. I am not an advocate of the red-neck position that is prevalent these days that biological ties trump all. I can recall far too many conversations with my students in various Des Moines schools about how awful people must be to give away their flesh and blood. Perhaps this new, if it is really, attitude accounts for the decreasing numbers of babies available for adoption these days and the increasing number of unprepared teens raising babies who will likely fare no better in life than their own parents did.

Do I have a right to my original birth certificate? Yes, I do. I am an adult and I should have the same right to that piece of paper as any other adult in the state of Iowa or elsewhere. The contract (because that is what an adoption is) that was brokered (because that is what adoption agencies and lawyers do) between my birth parents and my parents was between them. As an infant, my opinion and rights weren't an issue, but I am not an infant now.
Birth parents and some adoptees will tout privacy issues as the main reason for keeping records, especially older ones, sealed. That's not a good enough reason. There are consequences and responsibilities that go along with bringing a life into this world, signing and sealing adoption papers doesn't relieve birth parents of that no matter what they were told or still believe. They have an obligation to the children they created and this includes providing information to their birth children about who they are, where they came from and, of course, medical information which can change drastically from one's teens to one's middle age or later. As an example, my first husband died as a result of an inherited metabolic disease that no one in his family even knew they carried the effected gene for until he got sick. A medical history is on-going and not the finite thing that adoption agencies would have us believe.

One of my younger sisters searched out her birth parents and found a mother who she is still in touch with though her birth father rejected her utterly. Her search was time consuming and in the end turned out to be a mixed bag though she did discover some health information that was not included in her original adoption files.  
Personally, I have no interest in knowing my birth parents on anything other than paper. I am curious to know the circumstances surrounding my conception naturally and what they might look like. I would like to know that they are in continued good health and that no illnesses that I should worry about cropped up as they aged. I would like to know how I got the awful name of Yvette. Was I named for the actress? Or was it a family thing? But beyond that, I have a family who might not be perfect but are broken in and comfortable to me.