Dear Also-Known-As Members and Friends,

We hope you all had a wonderful holiday season, filled with family, fun, and plenty of warmth. Also-Known-As is now in our 12th year and we would like to thank you all for your faithful support over the years, which has enabled us to continue and develop our programming!

We have been busy since the last Newsletter was sent out. In addition to the regular monthly events of our Youth and Teen Mentorship Programs, we held our Annual Holiday Dinner in December 2007, which garnered an impressive attendance considering there was a storm!

Our Adoption Forums started up this year with a huge splash! Susan Becker did a fabulous job of organizing “Growing Up Adopted” and we are all looking forward to the rest of the series, to be held once a month throughout the spring.

We are also pleased to announce that Also-Known-As’ first event featuring Korean adoptee artists was an enormous success! Hosted by standup comedian and long-time Also-Known-As member, Tom Hudson, the event featured Korean adoptee poets and authors, Sun Yung Shin (Minnesota), Jennifer Kwon Dobbs (New York), and Lee Herrick (California) and visual artist, Jane Jin Kaisen (Denmark). We were fortunate that the artists were available to share their work and thank them for their time and efforts, not just for the event, but also for their contributions to the broader cultural production of adult adoptees!

Also-Known-As continues to develop and grow as an organization, working hard to bring new success to the programming we currently offer and to introduce new and diversified events that appeal to an even greater number of members within our community. As individuals on the Board of Directors, we too must explore new possibilities for growth and with the onset of a more organized and cohesive global adoptee community, we hope these experiences will serve as catalysts for new ideas and visions that will better serve our members.

In January, Susan Becker, Marissa Martin and David Scott represented the leadership of Also-Known-As at the IKAA International Mini-Gathering in Las Vegas, participating in a variety of leadership meetings and workshops and meeting other Korean adoptees from around the world. We will continue to strengthen our organization by reflecting on their, and our own, personal experiences and sharing in the adoption journey with our members.

We are excited to be here with you, in the midst of both a successful and fun year, ringing in the Year of the Rat, and hope you will continue to join us on our journey through the coming years.

Warm regards,

Mee Hyun Gerstein
President, Also-Known-As, Inc.
mgerstein@alsoknownas.org