From: "Inch, Diana" <DInch@csbsju.edu>
To: best@lakenet.org
Subject: RE: BEST: MN NARD and NARD and the Future (& "Bastard Wrath")
Date: Sun, 5 Dec 1999 19:06:58 -0600
Here's my tardy NARDy report.
The morning of NARD I had a dream for a name change to HARD for Honor Adoptee Rights Day (this would broaden the scope to include everyone). Although I was exhausted from my 11 p.m. Thursday night hockey paractice, it was my firm belief that, IF there was NO SNOW in Minneapolis on December 3rd, I should get my tired butt down to the MN Dept. of Health. So I did. Even if the weather wasn't like last year's 70 degrees and we only had half the people show up (i.e. one/me), I had company in my two Friends of Max, supporters "Z" and "LC." Found a parking spot right in front of the Dept. of Health (30 minutes for a quarter, jealous?) and went to finally get my handouts copied (there's a Kinko's on the same block). I printed the NARD blurb very small 3x on a side, landscape view, with RESOURCES (ISRR, TIES, Search Series, MN Dept. Health address) on the back, put it on spermburst, I mean sunburst yellow card stock and had Kinkos cut them in thirds. I also printed the Open Records: Why It's An Issue and Model Legislation, double-sided on regular green paper. I set up the large Measure 58 sign I got for the BN archives and staked the dogs out with water and a dog bed.
The MN Dept. of Health is a few blocks from the University of Minnesota so there was some foot traffic. Most folks were very supportive and willing to take a flyer or two, even the workers from the Birth Records office. After I'd been there a half an hour, the security guard came out and told me that I'd have to leave because I was on state property and was asking people to vote for something (the M58 sign). I told him that Measure 58 was an Oregon initiative that already passed last year and that I was there stictly to increase public awareness and education on adoptee rights and records access. I also told him that I'd be leaving soon. He asked for copies of my handouts and said he'd go talk to his boss. He went back inside and I continued to hand out flyers.
One group of women came on of the building to exercise during their lunch break. I tried to give them flyers but they said that they'd get them on the way back. I told them that the cop might boot me, so one lady with pockets took a flyer and bladed off with the rest of the group. Officer J. returned from his talk with his boss and said that I could stay. He said since it was just me, I wasn't blocking the sidewalk or harassing folks, was handing out educational materials, "They" said it was a matter of free speech and I could stay. He then chatted with me for 5-10 minutes about his wife, an adoptee, and how she was adopted by friends of the family.
One man took handouts and asked me about finding information in NY on his (deceased) father. His father was put on the Orphan Train and taken in by a couple in Minnesota but never adopted, only a foster placement. They got some of the records from NY but the man/son wanted the agency file to see if it would confirm the identity of his bgrandma listed on the birth certificate. One young man took some information but then said, "Oh, no, I know people who have adopted kids." So I told him to save it for when the kids grow up ;) -- hopefully records will be opened by then.
After an hour in front of the MNDofH, I went over closer to the UofM campus and handed out more flyers (remembering to put in a couple more quarters). Unfortunately, I left before distributing all of them (didn't want to get caught in rush hour traffic).
Later that night during my hockey game, my stick broke, splintered really, in our 1-0 loss to the Rockets. Saturday afternoon I bought a new hockey stick, a very flexible Muskoka, and put the red-and-white BN bumper sticker on it. I christened the stick "Bastard Wrath" and put the black-and-yellow "Adoptees Have Rights/Adoptees Have Roots" bumpersticker on my helmet. Needlesstosay, my teammates were quite fascinated by new stick and stickers and our team's motto for the evening was "Bastard Wrath." Bastard Wrath helped me get my first goal of the season and we won the game, 7-3.
BTW, Nov. 3rd or the weekday close to it would be good, like the tarp and red tape (hopefully I'll get someone to tie me up in it next year), dual activities (leafletting and performance/demos), etc. I also thought we could ask Bobbie if it would be okay to have a blurb "In Memory of Curtis Endicott" and a bit about his fight for open records. It's one way to blend a personal story with the rights issues.
Promote HARD!
Diana
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