022 – I’m Still On This Journey, Using My Experience to Help Others - a podcast by Damon L. Davis

Marni grew up in Madison, WI in a transracial family that lived a predominantly white community. Everywhere they went, they were stared at for the heterogeneity they brought to the community. The attention their family received was a constant reminder of their own racial diversity, but Marni’s father seemed to have wise and crafty ways to turn the tables to make his own children feel more comfortable. Still, Marni’s family had some internal dysfunction that fed her desire to search for her biological family always wanted to find her biological family.

Initially, she thought things with her biological mother were going to be great, but it turned out that her biological father was the one she had the deepest connection to. Marni makes her living supporting foster youth in the Washington, DC area, pulling from her own experiences as an adoptee to uplift others.Read Full TranscriptMarni:                          https://www.temi.com/editor/t/bTCf0yIB3mZz5IOFJIca6LvVBnLDfTMyvgCyN9WEVKlGCsWk6rhy-RSF_B9nr8HwCy5geLWxhhcJP9-aFjuwS0q3SKI?loadFrom=DocumentDeeplink&ts=6.13 (00:06)                Maybe, just maybe all of this has led to a place where I am stable emotionally. I’m okay with talking about everything as it relates to my journey and why not use that as a backbone of strength to give back and help others.

Voices:                         https://www.temi.com/editor/t/bTCf0yIB3mZz5IOFJIca6LvVBnLDfTMyvgCyN9WEVKlGCsWk6rhy-RSF_B9nr8HwCy5geLWxhhcJP9-aFjuwS0q3SKI?loadFrom=DocumentDeeplink&ts=27.22 (00:27)                Who am I? Who am I? Who am I? Who am I? Who am I? Who am I? Who am I?

Damon:                        https://www.temi.com/editor/t/bTCf0yIB3mZz5IOFJIca6LvVBnLDfTMyvgCyN9WEVKlGCsWk6rhy-RSF_B9nr8HwCy5geLWxhhcJP9-aFjuwS0q3SKI?loadFrom=DocumentDeeplink&ts=38.71 (00:38)                This is who am I really a podcast about adoptees that have located and connected with their biological family members. I’m Damon Davis and today my guest is Marni. She grew up in Madison, Wisconsin, in a transracial family that lived in a predominantly white community, but everywhere they went, they were stared at, the attention their family received was a constant reminder of their racial diversity, but her father seemed to have wise and crafty ways to turn the tables to make his own children feel more comfortable. Still Marni always wanted to find her biological family, so on her 21st birthday, that’s exactly what she began to do. Initially, she thought things with her biological mother, were going to be great. But it turned out that her biological father was the one that she truly had a connection with. I asked Marni to tell me what life was like as an adoptee in her family and in her community. Marni recalls her childhood as one challenged by racial identity. Her family was racially diverse in, in Madison, Wisconsin in the 1970s, the kind of racial diversity and integration that her family showed was far from the norm and their families stood out in their community.

Marni:                          https://www.temi.com/editor/t/bTCf0yIB3mZz5IOFJIca6LvVBnLDfTMyvgCyN9WEVKlGCsWk6rhy-RSF_B9nr8HwCy5geLWxhhcJP9-aFjuwS0q3SKI?loadFrom=DocumentDeeplink&ts=113.56 (01:53)                We had a rainbow coalition, if you will, of a family in the early seventies in Madison, Wisconsin, which wasn’t exactly popular. And although my parents did, I think, everything they could to normalize something that really was not normal by society standards, it was still rough because we would go places and people’s jaws would drop. My family is, um, pretty into outdoor sporting. Um, for example, camping, canoeing, and in Wisconsin there’s lovely lakes and forests and such to hike through in the northern part of the state and in the northern part of the state, there’s no diversity of any kind. And so because that’s something that our family did recreationally, we spent a lot...

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