Since the posting of this, I've written several posts on the search for my birth family- You can find them in chronological order below.
Happy 2018 Beauties!! Here’s wishing you all splendor, joy, inspiration, love and the excellent health with which to enjoy it all.
We rang in the new year by gigging, er duh, and it was so much fun to do so with NoteSpeak violinist superstar Laura Masotto and Hippie Tendencies drummer Cesare Valbusa.
With, of course, Maestro Marco- looking particularly dapper despite his hatred of photos.
I’ve hit the ground running, there is so much going on, and we are only on day 6!
But before I get into all my news I've got to address two things.
1.) Oh hurrah we ARE still alive and WWIII has not yet begun. Can we please work hard to keep it so? Samantha Bee how I love thee for holding no bars and having no fear and also the best sense of humor.
2.) Why are so many so critical of women coming out against sexual predators? Though women's rights have a long way to go yet in Italia, Women started being something fierce here in the sixties. The Sicilian badass Franca Viola changed the mindset of thousands of women in 1966 when she refused to "save her honour" and marry her rapist. Yes, it's real- that was the practice- if you lost your virginity, no matter how , you better marry them. She was a light and lead so many to realize that women could be heard. It doesn't matter how many years later some of these accusers are taking a stand, or rather it does because that's also a sign of women's repression; the absolute knowledge we've held that a woman would most likely only harm herself by speaking out.... #MeToo stories are so so so prevalent. They are literally in every society- in every profession. Standing ovation to Hollywood for addressing it, let's hope the trickle-down benefits of this revolution to the common woman happens faster than we might expect.
So now back to me me me :D
Regarding the birth parent search. I sent out a snail mail to a candidate for my birth mom. She seemed a likely possible match, same name and living just four streets from the address on my original birth certificate. No email for her so I sent her a good old fashioned letter...
Finding the birth mom and siblings is going to prove very difficult- so many things may have changed including the mom's surname. The avenue for my birth father, if indeed the name on the birth certificate reflects the reality ( he never signed it, his name was just penciled in ), would seem to be an easier path as his name is very unusual.
I’ve found only one Isell Denson out there but, nonetheless repeated attempts at contact through Facebook, emails, phone calls and snail mails have brought no response. Truly I’m more interested in finding out about my birth mother and siblings as the connection can be more easily proven.
I think the next step will be to proceed with DNA testing. Unfortunately, I can only do that from the States so it will have to wait for April when I’m in Colorado for the Conference on World Affairs.
In the meantime, I’ve joined all kinds of search groups online. It is amazing how vast the network of searching adoptees is. In particular, my Facebook buddy Eleana messaged me an article about a Facebook group called Search Squad. They are doing amazing things for a lot of people but so far my “Search Angel” has unearthed the same information I have already found, though I remain hopeful that with DNA they may help me to dig further!
Let’s see… we’ve also submitted to the Independent music awards and hope you will support us. Please please go by and vote for us as well as clicking play on our track Every Generation's War. Both are counted so please do click listen, vote and play. (You can find the lyrics here on my site by clicking on NoteSpeak.)
We are up in two categories. Best Spoken Word Album With Music and Best Spoken Word Song With Music. The first is judged by an incredible panel of professionals but the song is decided by YOU. This may be our chance at getting a foot in the door with a label so do please vote!
In bloggy news ...
I've just completed an interview with Debbie Burke, nominated one of the top 50 jazz bloggers worldwide, you can read that here. She's passionate about jazz, asks intriguing questions and is a great author. I do recommend you check her out.
In addition, I’ve been invited via LinkedIn to answer your questions for Ask Me Anything- So go ahead ask me anything about songwriting and performance, or about making lemonade!
Click on the link to join in- You can ask me any question about my life and work before the event! AMAfeed is rad- “They crawl the entire Internet looking for good sources of AMA's and each of the AMA Event channels encourages open, authentic, candid discussions that empower their community to gain a better understanding of their chosen topics of interest via the AMA Event format.”
I really love the premise and have found some innovative exciting projects through them. One of which I’m going to participate in which brings me to the next big news. I’ll be writing for the project 1000 Ripple Effects created by an Australian woman called Stacey Huish who is collecting 1000 stories to answer life’s mysteries for teens. You can find out more about her project here. I’ll be doing an interview shortly for her as well as perhaps guest blogging for her. Stay tuned for all things ripple effect. So very cool.
Also, I’ve challenged myself to write a poem a day. Here’s day one.
Quirky
She blew her nose, he held her hand.
She shook her head while he let go,
her eyes fixed on the narrow band,
Gold on tanned fingers… all aglow.
His thumb traced a path a slow tear
took, meandering… A teeny tiny brook.
Her eyebrows raised, their meaning clear.
He took heart from that look.
His lips were bitten as smitten,
he was that day like those now fled and those ahead.
His teeth then making a tentative appearance,
silently asking for clearance.
He knew her mind, he knew her quirks.
She in kind and with twin smirks.
Behind they left this last fight
Knowing that they both
were right.
Forgive me if this read more as a newsletter than blog- This year has just begun with a bang! I’ll be back to my usual self with the next...
In the meantime blowing a kiss through your screens from my writing cave.
Posts on the search for my birth family in chronological order here:
womanly love, birth family search, & #AME
ta da! meet my birth mom shirley and my birth siblings
everything that came before - everything that is to come
sedaris you wish back from a deep deep dive part-3
first times - back from a deep deep dive part-4\
For non birth family related musical meanderings and other essays
