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Taylor Tipping
Ms. Franklin
ENC 1101
04 August 2015

To my Biological Mother,
I decided to write this letter because I feel the need for a real
connection in my life. Not that I dont love my family, but I still feel as if I just
dont belong. I know adoption was the best thing for me because otherwise I
would be living in the streets of a third world country living off nothing. I
mean I do have a great life now, but I just feel sort of lost. I have no relations
to my Guatemalan culture so Ive started to do some research and try to find
others like me. This is helping me feel a little bit better. Ever since I was little
I get weird stares when Im with my adoptive mom. I remember being in
grocery stores and people giving us funny looks, and I never understood till I
was older. I thought I was just born with darker skin until she told me I was
adopted. When I was little, classmates and friends would always innocently
ask why I didnt look the same as my mom. I wouldnt really know how to
respond because I wasnt really sure I knew the answer to their question. Ive
met some other kids who were adopted, and a lot of them have had their fair
share of problems. Some of them turned to drugs or would just be really
depressed. I am happy to say that this hasnt happened to me. For me, the
struggle has been the loneliness and emptiness I feel inside. You probably

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dont care that much about me since we have never communicated or seen
each other before, but I am just reaching out to you for some advice
maybeor just to know you are out there. As I grow older, Im starting to feel
more connected with the world. I still dont feel all that connected to my
family or myself, but I am starting to learn that they love me unconditionally
just as much as I love them. It was hard at first to understand that I was in a
family that wasnt actually related to me. I felt so different at family
functions, but they always treated me as one of their own. It took me awhile
to realize that I do belong there, and this was Gods path for me. I feel as if
by reaching out to you and my culture, I can get that connectedness I still
desire. I feel like once I achieve that, I will have finally found myself. Not
going to lie, I did have tough internal conflicts all throughout my childhood. I
almost felt embarrassed that I was adopted, but there was nothing I could do
about it. I am so thankful for the true friends I made and my family because
they are the ones that helped me through these tough times. I plan on
practicing more of my culture, and maybe even teaching my family about it
one day. Eventually, when I have kids of my own, I will tell them about my
struggle and make sure that they have connections to their Guatemalan
culture. You dont have to respond to this, but I just wanted you to know that
I am doing pretty well, and I still think about you. You will always be my
family and mother even if you have not been there for me.
Love, Jake

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Process
For my radical revisions, I will be revising my first paper. Our first paper
was about your personal racial experiences, or who has impacted your views
on race. My paper mainly focused on my family. My family has heavily
influenced my view on race because I am around them all the time, and they
raised me so its only normal for me to kind of follow their ideas. They
personally believe in not judging someone based on their race, and dont
think race should be an issue. I agree with them completely, and have very
similar opinions to them. However, even though I talk about my parents, my
main focus was talking about the experiences of having adopted cousins. My
aunt has three adopted children; one is from Guatemala and the other two
are black from South Florida. The Guatemalan is my cousin Jake who is
seven. The other two, Maggie and Kyran, are two years old. They have
drastically affected me-in positive ways- on my views on race in this country.
I love them to death, but I see where problems come into play when children
of race are being raised by a different race. In my radical revisions, I will be
writing a letter from the point of view of Jake. However, in this letter, he will

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be about 18-20. It will be written to his biological mom talking about his life
and how adoption has affected it. Now obviously since this is in future tense,
I am making this up; but this is my opinion on what he will be thinking when
hes older. I am taking into consideration problems he is already facing, and
problems he will face in the future.
Reflection
After writing this, I really see the struggles of being judged based on
your race. Not that Jake was judged specifically for his race, but he is more
judged for having a mom and a brother and sister of different races. I already
see some of these issues presenting themselves in him today, and I can only
hope when he grows older he will not face major issues that some other
adopted children face. He should know he is loved unconditionally by my
whole entire family, and know that he is one spoiled little boy. Even if he
doesnt look like the rest of my family, he fits in with us perfectly. No one in
my family is there to judge him or criticize him; we are only there to love
him. He may have his internal conflicts, but we will always be there for him
because we are his family, no matter what his race is.