Congratulations on another successful academic year! No doubt you are all very excited to get on with your summer vacations, but before you do, please take a moment to read about the most recent updates and events happening for us.

AKA as a Non-Profit Organization
For the coming 2008-2009 academic year, AKA will no longer be maintaining its status as a University of Michigan student organization. Instead we will be actively moving in the direction of a full-fledged non-profit organization. By doing so, it will allow our general membership to expand beyond the bounds of a student/faculty-only group. Therefore, we will be able to reach out to other members of the adoption community in the greater Ann Arbor/Detroit area. In order to uphold our mission statement (view it here) to the fullest, we feel that it is necessary for us to push for an organization in which Adoptees are the ones who dictate the direction, rather than a larger organization. This does NOT mean that we with no longer be a presence on campus. We greatly appreciate the support that the university has provided for us over the years and we intend to maintain the strong relationships we have forged with other campus and off-campus organizations.

AKA Online!
The process of becoming a non-profit takes a lot of time, planning, and patience. Therefore, the majority of this year's summer activities will be web-based. We would like to invite everyone to join us both on our UMich blog, at this address, and also on our newly created online resource/networking page: http://akaonline.ning.com/ . Discussion topics and AKA news will be posted regularly-- we hope to see you all there!

How You Can Help
For those of you who are interested in participating in the development of this non-profit we are eagerly seeking your ideas and enthusiasm! Please feel free to send a message to hyerim.shin@gmail.com to let us know of your interest! We would like to schedule a meeting in the near future to discuss a time-line and the future goals of the non-profit.

We thank you all for your support and patience as we make this important transition-- please be sure to stay in touch! The future of AKA is going to be a great one, and we cannot wait to see where it takes us!

Best Regards,

Rachel Sisco
The Adopted Koreans Association

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My name is Stephanie Day. I am a doctoral candidate in the Clinical Psychology Program at the University of Massachusetts Boston and a Korean adoptee.

I am working on a research study exploring the experiences of Korean adopted women who are making or have already made the decision to become first-time biological mothers. I am interested in interviewing women at least once, and possibly twice about their understanding of themselves and others. The first interview will be in person and should take about 90-120 minutes. To participate in the interview you must be a Korean adopted woman, between 25 and 40 years of age, in a romantic relationship with a White man for at least 8 months, and have made the decision to have a child or already have only one child who has not started kindergarten yet.

Your voice and experiences could contribute greatly to an understanding of the identity development of adult Korean adoptees. In addition, you will have the opportunity to share your personal experiences and may even learn something new about yourself in the process. If you are interested in participating in an interview or would like more information, please feel free to contact me. I look forward to hearing from you.

Thank you,
Stephanie Day

e-mail: adoptee.research@gmail.com
TEL: 410-703-0046

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ADOPTumentary

Passing Through: A Personal Diary
film screening and panel discussion

Friday March 28, 7-9p
Michigan League, Room D
***Admission FREE***

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In line with one of our missions - to raise awareness of the adopted Korean population on campus and in the community - we will be presenting the film "Passing Through," a documentary made by an American adopted Korean. The screening will be followed by a panel discussion, featuring members of the Adopted Koreans Association, about the film and about what it's like to be adopted.

Admission is *free* and all are welcome, so tell your friends, family, and anyone else who may be interested!

We are back and aiming high for 2008. What this translates to for you is a full round of AKA goodness almost every week! Let's see...

First and foremost is next week's Noraebang Night - Friday the 18th, 7p @ Seoul Garden for dinner, then 9p @ Blue Karaoke. You are welcome to attend both, or either one, but please send me (justin) an RSVP by next Tuesday, notifying me if you're going to one or both and if you will need a ride. I will make reservations next Wednesday and work out transportation.

For those who haven't yet attended an AKA event, this is a great time to start! Asian Karaoke is always fun and I hear there is going to be some juicy Rick Astley action...

Then Winterfest will be on Thursday, the 24th in the Union. Come support our table!

And to cap off the month, our Mass Meeting for winter 2008 will be on Wednesday, the 30th in the School of Social Work, room 3816.

For those who are willing to bring desserts, please let me know in your RSVP's. Homemade desserts only please. Also, I hate to do this, but if I get too many people offering desserts, I'm going to have to cut it off at the first two or three people offering.

Hope everyone's looking forward to it!

see photos
watch videos

A quick recap of October - an impromptu adoption free-discussion around the middle of the month inspired us to make themed-discussion Coffee Nights a regular feature of the AKA event smorgasbord. So we had our first such Night at Amer's on the last Monday in October, paying tribute (accidentally? not so accidentally?) to the very first AKA get-together, which was at Amer's long before AKA was official or even an actual group. The topic was identity and we had a good turnout with seven people, including some enthusiastic new members.

Entering into November, which, incidentally, is National Adoption Month, we had our second Mass Meeting on November 5. We discussed fundraising opportunities, board positions, and brainstormed future events. Among these is a "big" event that will become the target of our fundraising. Stay tuned, we might be flying someone in from the other side of the ocean...

On Saturday we will be having our first Noraebang Night of the semester. It has been far too long since I've been to karoake, myself... don't know about everyone else but I imagine it's been about the same. We'll be meeting at 7 at Seoul Garden and then 9 at Friends Karaoke.

Then on November 16, I'll be hosting the first of a series of Korean cooking classes. Dish #1: Kimchi jjigae. I'll be sending out an email soon regarding RSVPs, but if you are interested, please email the board.

Stay warm!
-justin

Also, we will be having our first Mass Meeting at Trotter House on Friday the 28th to open up the new semester. We are planning games and a party, so come out and join us for a good time!

FESTIFALL - Thursday, September 6, 10a-4p @ the Diag
MASS MEETING - Friday, September 28, 9:30p-1:30a @ basement, Trotter House

A few weeks ago Rachel and Amy helped Dr. Sook Wilkinson out with her annual Tok Guk Party in Southfield. This was an opportunity for families with children adopted from Korea to get together and enjoy some facets of Korean culture. Rachel and Amy played yoot, a traditional game, with some of the kids, who seemed to enjoy a more liberal interpretation of the rules. The food was excellent as well.

Another opportunity for public outreach came soon after, thanks to a member of our group, Stephanie More, who is currently interning at Catholic Social Services. She asked if any of us were willing to participate in a Q&A session with adoptive and prospective adoptive parents. In the end, only Amy and I were both willing and able to go, but we were easily able to fill up the time. (I always joke about the narcissistic trait among adoptees - we love to talk about ourselves, don't we?) The questions from the audience were interesting and focused mostly on childhood adaptation.

Then we had our third Noraebang Night, this time without dinner. Board attendance was low but there were no shortage of singers. Actually, it seems some people had a little too much time on the mic, which became a little of an issue. But all in all, it was fun - can Noraebang be anything else?

And votes are in on designs for the official AKA shirts!

I meant to post this week's events last week along with the e-mail I sent out:

1. Tuesday, 2/13 7-9p - Coffee Night @ Amer's on State (directions)

For those who didn't get a chance to come to the meeting, come drop in any time between 7 and 9 and say hi! This is a chance for us to get to know each other in a less formal atmosphere than that office-like classroom in the School of Social Work. And there's food, too!

2. Saturday, 2/17 7p~ - Noraebang Night (that is, karaoke) (directions below)

We'll meet for dinner at a Mexican restaurant called Sabor Latino (directions) at 7PM. Then after we're done (probably 9-9:30) we'll head to Blue Noraebang (directions to sing the night away! Bring your own beverages, but if it's alcoholic make sure to hide it, since Blue is not licensed for that. Even if you can't make dinner, at least come to sing with us!

and for anyone who missed the e-mail -- please e-mail us and RSVP for Saturday so we can estimate numbers for dinner and karaoke. Also, let us know if you need a ride or can supply one, so we can work out transportation. Sabor Latino is downtown, but Blue is too far for walking, especially in this weather.

Hope to see you there!

Have a wonderful holiday season and New Years. We will see you in January!

The following synopsis is from the KBS website:

“Mr. Good-Bye” is a story about the last love of a dying man, Hyeon-seo, who had to live in loneliness after losing his both foster parents but eventually succeeded as a hotelier. He finally finds happiness when he returns to Korea, where he learns that he has a son from a woman who loves him and finally meets his biological mother. The series also sarcastically portrays good and evil of the human world with a hotel as the background. The series also depicts how hotel concierges help hotel customers heal their spiritual wounds. The upbeat and outgoing Young-in, one of the concierges, teaches Hyeon-seo the meaning of love and fights for his love with Su-jin, a doctor.

Episodes available in parts on YouTube, starting with this one. Enjoy!

We will meet at Seoul Garden (map) around 8PM. I will make a reservation at Blue Karaoke (map) for 10PM (for 8 to 10 people - please let me know if you're inviting more than a couple people so I can adjust the reservation). They're open until 4AM on weekends, so we'll have plenty of time to sing our hearts out!

Hope to see you there!