Secret Son Mike Trupiano

Dave Brown has his own Tales of the City. 

Join us for episode #11 of Secret Son as we discuss coming out in the 70s, implicit memory and meeting inebriated relatives for the first time. 

Thanks for listening!
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I  am a domestic adoptee born in Virginia, raised in San Diego, CA, and have lived in the San Francisco Bay Area most of my adult life. I have a Bachelor's in Business Management and am a retiree from the University of California.
Three and a half years ago, I decided to take a DNA to find answers to shake off the shroud of secrecy. I found what I was looking for, but I was also unprepared for the upheaval in my life.


I created My Refocused Life to document my journey, never anticipated how much I would change. https://www.facebook.com/myrefocusedlife
I wrote this three years ago when I first saw my birth parents' pictures.
A Mirror Man is someone with mirrored-self mis-identification, i.e., unable to recognize themself in a mirror. 

As a teen, I would spend much time looking at myself in the bathroom mirror, not because I was a budding narcissist, but because I didn't recognize myself. 
I realize it is because I didn't see my parents in me. 

It was the same for my adoptive brother; we both felt like we had Martian DNA, although he fits in more than I did. I was the dorky kid who was merely tolerated.
I didn't have kids, so I didn't experience the sensations and wonders of adoptee friends who had kids. I hadn't thought about it until I heard other adoptees talk about how huge that was to see themselves reflected in their children.

Seeing the pictures of my birth parents for the first time made an emotional and physiological impact. Seeing myself reflected in them and vice versa hit me like a tsunami. 

I looked just like my father and had a resemblance to my mother. They were both beautiful. 

I noticed the facial features, the mouth, the shape, and the color of the eyes. But what got me is that my birth father and I stand the same way, his head tilted to the right as mine. I had always hated that aspect of myself. Now I think it's cool.
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Music by Cassis Birgit Staudt: http://www.cassisb.com/

If you want to tell your tale on the show or just say hi, email me here: secretsonpod@gmail.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/themiketrupiano/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/heartlandrefuge

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mike.trupiano.7

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/miketrupiano1/

Rate & write a review: https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1659085017

Please tell a friend about the show, rate it, write a review and visit our Patreon page:

https://www.patreon.com/secret_son

Thanks for listening!

#topsecret ...

Hey! Yeah, you! Why not join us for episode #10?

Pamela Karanova is a force to be reckoned with in the adoptee community and has a new Substack you should definitely check out!

Pamela and I discuss angelic librarians, going on the wagon and wild dogs deep in the Iowa countryside.

And, of course, secrecy!
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Pamela A. Karanova is an adult adoptee from Iowa residing in Lexington, KY.

She's the founder of Adoptees Connect, Inc, Adoptee Remembrance Day - October 30th, and Adoptee Merch.

Pamela is a freelance writer at The Real Adoptea Moxie, addressing the challenging issues in adoption.

She's navigated her search and reunion, experiencing double rejection from both biological parents, and considers adoptee healing to be a lifelong journey. She spends much of her time creating adoptee-centric resources.

She's an avid hiker, mountain climber, and waterfall chaser all over the great state of Kentucky.

 She has three adult children, two dogs, and one cat, and she loves the simple things in life, hot tea, bonfires, sunrises, sunsets, and solitude.

Adoptees Connect, Inc. www.adopteesconnect.com

Pamela A. Karanova Website www.pamelakaranova.com
The Real Adoptea Moxie https://therealadopteamoxie.substack.com/
Adoptee Remembrance Day - October 30th www.adopteeremembranceday.com
Music by Cassis Birgit Staudt: http://www.cassisb.com/

If you want to tell your tale on the show or just say hi, email me here: secretsonpod@gmail.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/themiketrupiano/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/heartlandrefuge

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mike.trupiano.7

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/miketrupiano1/

Rate & write a review: https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1659085017

Please tell a friend about the show, rate it, write a review and visit our Patreon page:

https://www.patreon.com/secret_son

Thanks for listening!

#topsecret ...

Join me for episode 9 with Shawn Sigler.

We cover the usual stuff - KKK relatives, Cold War Berlin and seeing ourselves in photos of our deceased fathers. 

Shawn has had an incredible journey of persistence, bravery and self-discovery. Somehow he seems to have emerged from it without bitterness. A very inspiring story and episode!
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"I was born in 1963 in Indiana. I was adopted by a white couple from a small town. The public identified me as black, so I spent much time struggling with that identity.

 My adoptive mom had always insisted that I never search for my biological mother until she was dead. She had refused to share what she knew about my birth mom for fifty years.

She must have known that she was near the end of her life because she finally showed me my complete adoption paperwork. I met my birth mother and her wife a few months later. Eventually, my birth mother shared the identity of my birth father.

I wrote a book about my experiences entitled Born Without A Race." 
Music by Cassis Birgit Staudt: http://www.cassisb.com/

If you want to tell your tale on the show or just say hi, email me here: secretsonpod@gmail.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/themiketrupiano/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/heartlandrefuge

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mike.trupiano.7

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/miketrupiano1/

Rate & write a review: https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1659085017

Please tell a friend about the show, rate it, write a review and visit our Patreon page:

https://www.patreon.com/secret_son

Thanks for listening!

#topsecret ...

Oi mate, how you going? 

Join us for episode 8 as I chat with West Coast gal Vicky Graham in her new home in Oz.  

We investigate the Usual Suspects - romcom-ish reunions, local marsupials and surviving the Land of Misfit Toys. 
_________________________________________________ ____________________________________ “Mom and Dad adopted me when I was eight months old.  


Before then, I lived in the Crippled Children’s Home with the other unwanted babies, our own Island of Misfit Toys. But I was lucky, I got out. 


I would’ve never searched for her -  the woman who threw me away. In reunion, it took decades to untangle how I really felt.” - Vicky Graham, Adoptee   


Barbara Bazett and Vicky Graham, a mother and daughter in reunion for nearly 30 years, share their healing journey to inspire and help others on their own podcast, Strong(er) in the Broken Places. 


“What’s our secret? We were both too stubborn to give up.” - Barbara Bazett, Birth Mother. 


https://www.freeyourselfthrough.com 


On Facebook and Instagram: @freeyourselfthrough 

 



Music by Cassis Birgit Staudt: http://www.cassisb.com/

If you want to tell your tale on the show or just say hi, email me here: secretsonpod@gmail.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/themiketrupiano/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/heartlandrefuge

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mike.trupiano.7

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/miketrupiano1/

Rate & write a review: https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1659085017

Please tell a friend about the show, rate it, write a review and visit our Patreon page:

https://www.patreon.com/secret_son

Thanks for listening!

#topsecret ...

Sweet home Chicago! 

The Windy City plays a big part in Cammie Smith’s story. 

Join us for episode 7 as we get into how best to sneak into nursing homes, problematic Radio Shack ad campaigns and walking that fine line of being either too black or not black enough.

And, as always - secrets!
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"I'm a 33 years old TRA (transracial adoptee) and I was adopted at the age of five when my birth mother passed away from breast cancer in July of 95, 

I wanted to tell my story and will continue to tell my story for anyone struggling with being a TRA adoptee so they can understand their feelings and experiences are valid and that they are not alone and for anyone thinking to adopt that it takes a lot more than love to raise a child an adoptee."
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Music by Cassis Birgit Staudt: http://www.cassisb.com/

If you want to tell your tale on the show or just say hi, email me here: secretsonpod@gmail.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/themiketrupiano/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/heartlandrefuge

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mike.trupiano.7

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/miketrupiano1/

Rate & write a review: https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1659085017

Please tell a friend about the show, rate it, write a review and visit our Patreon page:

https://www.patreon.com/secret_son

Thanks for listening!

#topsecret ...

Hey y'all - between us, some days I just wanna be sedated. 

This is not one of those days. 
In episode 6 of Secret Son, I head to the Deep South, set on the porch for a spell and have a leisurely tête-à-tête with Alicia Bratton. 


And, honey, let me tell you, we cover some stuff – progressive Alabama politics (no joke), bayou existentialism  and the freedom that fifty brings. 

And, it goes without saying - secrets! 


Hey, ho, let’s go!
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Alicia Bratton is a 1972 Baby Scoop Era adoptee in a closed adoption. Reunited with/re-abandoned by her mother and in reunion with her father. She went to college in Alabama on a performing arts scholarship for Trombone Performance and Vocal Performance, yet became a nurse (her mother of origin is also a nurse). 

Classically trained in piano and voice, she lives in rural Alabama and, in her words,  "I'm just trying to find my voice in the adoptee world." She's been a registered nurse since 1995, working primarily in labor/delivery and psychiatric nursing. 
 

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Music by Cassis Birgit Staudt: http://www.cassisb.com/

If you want to tell your tale on the show or just say hi, email me here: secretsonpod@gmail.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/themiketrupiano/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/heartlandrefuge

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mike.trupiano.7

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/miketrupiano1/

Rate & write a review: https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1659085017

Please tell a friend about the show, rate it, write a review and visit our Patreon page:

https://www.patreon.com/secret_son

Thanks for listening!

#topsecret ...