“Sometimes the adoption – the abandonment, as I could not help but think of it when I was very young – upset me more; sometimes my differences did but mostly, it was both at once, race and adoption, linked parts of my identity that set me apart from everyone else in my orbit. I could neither change nor deny these facts, so I worked to reconcile myself to them. To tamp down the stirring anger or confusion when that proved impossible, time and time again.”
