Category Archives: Jenni Fang Lee

Aselefech and Fang: The Conversation on YouTube

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Many thanks to Aselefech Evans and Jenni Fang Lee for an amazing conversation tonight on our Google+ Hangout.

You can watch the YouTube video here of the conversation, in which they discussed identity, adoption agencies, race, family preservation, Gazillion Voices, ways to create a common narrative among adoptees, adoption fatigue, “angry adoptees,” and more.

My thanks to Cindy Rasicot of Talking Heart to Heart, for organizing and hosting the conversation.

And special deep thanks to Aselefech and Fang for sharing their stories, their insights, and their realities. Wow.

As Fang says in the conversation, this was groundbreaking: an Asian adoptee and an African adoptee, talking about what they have (and don’t have) in common, what’s been ok and what needs to change in adoption, while 2 white, older adoptive moms (mostly) listen.

Aselefech Evans and Jenni Fang Lee
Aselefech Evans and Jenni Fang Lee

Additional information about Aselefech and Fang is available here from a previous post.

Hangout with Jenni Fang Lee and Aselefech Evans

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Here’s the Youtube link for the conversation:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDC3NlSI60I&feature=share

 

Hope you saved the date (tonight!) for this conversation between Jenni Fang Lee, a Chinese adoptee who was featured in the acclaimed documentary Somewhere Between, and Aselefech Evans, an Ethiopian adoptee who is a columnist with Gazillion Voices.

The Google+ Hangout is Monday, December 9, at 6pm pacific, 9pm eastern. More info about Aselefech and Fang is available here.

I am honored to be co-hosting this conversation with my dear friend and colleague Cindy Rasicot.

For the Hangout, you’ll need a Gmail address, and your computer/Mac needs to be Google+ ready.  For information on Google+ Hangouts, click here.

Once you have the address and any needed plug-ins for your computer/Mac, you can click on this link, and that will give you the link to tonight’s conversation.

If you aren’t able to join us, we are recording the conversation and will upload it to YouTube. I’ll post the YouTube link as soon as it is available.

Many thanks to Cindy Rasicot for all her work, energy, and insights! Can’t wait to hear from Aselefech and Fang! Huge thanks to them as well!

Aselefech Evans and Jenni Fang Lee

Aselefech Evans and Jenni Fang Lee

A Conversation Between Jenni Fang Lee and Aselefech Evans

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Update: Here’s the YouTube link for the conversation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDC3NlSI60I&feature=share

Save the Date–December 9, 9pm edt

Google+ Hangout

An Adoptee Conversation

Join Cindy Rasicot, MFT,  of the wonderful blog Talking Heart to Heart, and me on Monday, December 9, at 9pm eastern (6pm pacific) for a conversation between Jenni Fang Lee and Aselefech Evans.

Aselefech Evans and Jenni Fang Lee

Aselefech Evans and Jenni Fang Lee

Jenni Fang Lee was adopted from China when she was 5 years old, and raised in Berkeley, California. She is one of the young women featured in the acclaimed documentary Somewhere Between, and is now studying sociology and economics at Mt. Holyoke College in Massachusetts. She returns to China each summer to volunteer at an orphanage, and has created a start-up designed to teach Mandarin and Chinese culture to Chinese adoptees and their families. According to her blog fangtopia.wordpress.com, Jenni’s passions lie in both entrepreneurship and non-profit work, specifically directed towards women and children.

Aselefech Evans was adopted from Ethiopia, along with her twin sister Adanech, when she was 6 years old. Like Jenni, she is a columnist for Gazillion Voices. Aselefech has presented numerous workshops and webinars about transracial adoption, racial identity,  hair care for adopted African-American children, her search for and reunion with her Ethiopian family, and more. She is a candidate for a BSW at Bowie State University in Maryland, and plans to go on for her master’s in social work, potentially working in post-adoption services.

Aselefech and Jenni met recently in person at the adoptee-led, adoptee-centric conference “Reframing the Adoption Discourse” held in Minnesota. Both young women share much in common, and also have had distinct differences growing up as transracial adoptees in the US. This will be a fascinating discussion.

Cindy and I are looking forward very much to hosting this conversation. Please plan to join us.

I’ll be posting more details soon as to how to join the Hangout. In the meantime, please save the date.

We will be recording the conversation and posting it on YouTube as well!