One last Adoption Spotlight, in keeping with the season: Kris Kringle!

November is National Adoption Month! For this last Spotlight, we focus on a holiday icon!

Culled mostly from Wikipedia:

In the gloomy city of Sombertown, ruled by the ill-tempered Burgermeister Meisterburger (voiced by Paul Frees), a baby arrives on his doorstep, with a name tag reading "Claus" and note requesting that the Burgermeister raise the child as his own, despite the Burgermeister's objections. He then orders his right-hand man and lawkeeper Grimsley (also voiced by Paul Frees) to take the baby to the "Orphan Asylum." On the way there, a gust of wind blows both sled and baby far away, to the mountain of the Whispering Winds. There, the animals hide him from the Winter Warlock (voiced by Keenan Wynn), a powerful wizard who dislikes anyone trespassing his land. The animals then bring the baby to the other side of the mountain to an elf family by the name of Kringle. Led by Tanta Kringle (voiced by Joan Gardner), the elf queen, they adopt the baby and name him “Kris”.  

The rest of a holiday classic! So put one foot in front of the other to get the DVD today!

 

In “serious” literature, L Frank Baum (does the name sound familiar – he wrote books about a certain land that lies somewhere over the rainbow) wrote in “The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus” that the foundling waif was instead adopted by the fairy/nymph Necile. It’s a great book and I read it every Christmas season (along with :A Christmas Carol”, too.)

Be sure to visit Abby’s Road on Facebook for more Spotlights including Lance Armstrong, Nancy Reagan, Steve Jobs and Gary Coleman (never thought you’d see those people in the same sentence, did you?)!

This is the last blog spotlighting famous adoptees for National Adoption Month! Next month I’ll have more news on Abby’s Road and my new books! Also lots of comic book reviews, a review of the last Hobbit movie and other nerdly goodness!

“Abby’s Road, the Long and Winding Road to Adoption and how Facebook, Aquaman and Theodore Roosevelt Helped” leads a couple through their days of infertility treatments and adoption. It is told with gentle (and sometimes not-so-gentle) humor from the perspective of a nerdy father and his loving and understanding wife.

Join Mike and Esther as they go through IUIs and IFVs, as they search for an adoption agency, are selected by a birth mother, prepare their house, prepare their family, prepare themselves and wait for their daughter to be born a thousand miles from home.

Winner, Honorable Mention, 2014, Great Midwest Book Festival

Abby’s Road is available at Amazon here: http://www.amazon.com/Abbys-Road-Long-Winding-Adoption/product-reviews/0692221530/ref=cm_cr_pr_top_recent?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=0&sortBy=bySubmissionDateDescending

at Barnes and Noble here: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/abbys-road-the-long-and-winding-road-to-adoption-and-how-facebook-aquaman-and-theodore-roosevelt-helped-michael-curry/1119971924?ean=9780692221532

and at Smashwords here: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/457270

Copyright 2014 Michael Curry

National Adoption Month Spotlight: Soon-yi Previn

November is National Adoption Month! Throughout the month I’ll feature famous folk who have been adopted!

 Culled mostly from IMBD:

 

Soon-Yi Previn was born on October 8, 1973 in Korea and at age 8 was adopted by Mia Farrow and André Previn.

She is an actress and married Woody Allen on December 22, 1997. Their union caused a controversy, as he started their love affair while still being “a couple” with Farrow in 1992.

They have two children. They adopted two daughters, Bechet Dumaine Allen, and Manzie Tio Allen.

Be sure to visit Abby’s Road on Facebook for more Spotlights including Kelly Preston, Newt Gingrich and Gary Coleman (never thought you’d see those people in the same sentence, did you?)!

  

“Abby’s Road, the Long and Winding Road to Adoption and how Facebook, Aquaman and Theodore Roosevelt Helped” leads a couple through their days of infertility treatments and adoption. It is told with gentle (and sometimes not-so-gentle) humor from the perspective of a nerdy father and his loving and understanding wife.

Join Mike and Esther as they go through IUIs and IFVs, as they search for an adoption agency, are selected by a birth mother, prepare their house, prepare their family, prepare themselves and wait for their daughter to be born a thousand miles from home.

Winner, Honorable Mention, 2014, Great Midwest Book Festival

Abby’s Road is available at Amazon here: http://www.amazon.com/Abbys-Road-Long-Winding-Adoption/product-reviews/0692221530/ref=cm_cr_pr_top_recent?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=0&sortBy=bySubmissionDateDescending

at Barnes and Noble here: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/abbys-road-the-long-and-winding-road-to-adoption-and-how-facebook-aquaman-and-theodore-roosevelt-helped-michael-curry/1119971924?ean=9780692221532

and at Smashwords here: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/457270

Copyright 2014 Michael Curry

Think you can name some famous adoptees? You don't know Diddley!

November is National Adoption Month! Throughout the month I’ll feature famous folk who have been adopted! 

 

Culled mostly from Wikipedia:

 Ellas Otha Bates (December 30, 1928 – June 2, 2008), known by his stage name Bo Diddley. Bo Diddley is best known as … well, if you don’t know you are reading the WRONG blog… let’s just say anyone who has picked up a guitar since 1955 was influenced by his style and playing.

Born in McComb, Mississippi, as Elias Otha Bates, he was adopted and raised by his mother’s cousin, Gussie McDaniel, whose surname he assumed, becoming Elias McDaniel.

Be sure to visit Abby’s Road on Facebook for more Spotlights!

 

The cover of Abby’s Road

 “Abby’s Road, the Long and Winding Road to Adoption and how Facebook, Aquaman and Theodore Roosevelt Helped” leads a couple through their days of infertility treatments and adoption. It is told with gentle (and sometimes not-so-gentle) humor from the perspective of a nerdy father and his loving and understanding wife.

Join Mike and Esther as they go through IUIs and IFVs, as they search for an adoption agency, are selected by a birth mother, prepare their house, prepare their family, prepare themselves and wait for their daughter to be born a thousand miles from home.

Winner, Honorable Mention, 2014, Great Midwest Book Festival

Abby’s Road is available at Amazon here: http://www.amazon.com/Abbys-Road-Long-Winding-Adoption/product-reviews/0692221530/ref=cm_cr_pr_top_recent?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=0&sortBy=bySubmissionDateDescending

at Barnes and Noble here: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/abbys-road-the-long-and-winding-road-to-adoption-and-how-facebook-aquaman-and-theodore-roosevelt-helped-michael-curry/1119971924?ean=9780692221532

and at Smashwords here: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/457270

Copyright 2014 Michael Curry

The (skating) circle is complete! Scott Hamilton National Adoption Month Spotlight!

I have more National Adoption Month Spotlights on the Abby's Road Facebook Page (please friend me!) and relatively few blogs. One of the posts was Scott Hamilton. Just after my Spotlight post he made headlines for a wonderful thing. He adopted two children from Haiti! You can read about it here: http://www.today.com/parents/scott-hamilton-opens-about-adopting-two-kids-haiti-1D80310020

For THAT, he deserves a blog post!

National Adoption Month Spotlight on Olympic Gold Medalist Scott Hamilton: born August 28, 1958 in Toledo, Ohio.He was adopted at the age of six weeks by Dorothy McIntosh and Ernest S. Hamilton and raised in Bowling Green, Ohio.

Be sure to visit Abby’s Road on Facebook for more Spotlights, including Nancy Reagan, Gary Coleman and Steve Jobs!

  

“Abby’s Road, the Long and Winding Road to Adoption and how Facebook, Aquaman and Theodore Roosevelt Helped” leads a couple through their days of infertility treatments and adoption. It is told with gentle (and sometimes not-so-gentle) humor from the perspective of a nerdy father and his loving and understanding wife.

Join Mike and Esther as they go through IUIs and IFVs, as they search for an adoption agency, are selected by a birth mother, prepare their house, prepare their family, prepare themselves and wait for their daughter to be born a thousand miles from home.

 

Winner, Honorable Mention, 2014, Great Midwest Book Festival

Abby’s Road is available at Amazon here: http://www.amazon.com/Abbys-Road-Long-Winding-Adoption/product-reviews/0692221530/ref=cm_cr_pr_top_recent?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=0&sortBy=bySubmissionDateDescending

at Barnes and Noble here: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/abbys-road-the-long-and-winding-road-to-adoption-and-how-facebook-aquaman-and-theodore-roosevelt-helped-michael-curry/1119971924?ean=9780692221532

and at Smashwords here: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/457270

Copyright 2014 Michael Curry

To Be the Man ... You have to Adopt the Man!!!

November is National Adoption Month! Throughout the month I’ll feature famous folk who have been adopted!

 

Culled mostly from IMBD:

Ric Flair, or Richard Morgan Fliehr, was born February 25, 1949 in Memphis, Tennessee. In the opening chapter of his autobiography To Be the Man, he notes that his birth name is given on different documents as Fred. His adoption was arranged by the notorious Tennessee Children’s Home Society(from which Christina Crawford was also adopted), later shut down for adoption fraud. The opening chapter of his autobiography is titled “Black Market Baby”). After his father completed his residency, the family settled in Edina, Minnesota, where Rick lived throughout his childhood. Wooooooo!

Be sure to visit Abby’s Road on Facebook for more Spotlights including Scott Hamilton, Nancy Reagan, Steve Jobs and Gary Coleman (never thought you’d see those people in the same sentence, did you?)!

The cover of Abby’s Road

“Abby’s Road, the Long and Winding Road to Adoption and how Facebook, Aquaman and Theodore Roosevelt Helped” leads a couple through their days of infertility treatments and adoption. It is told with gentle (and sometimes not-so-gentle) humor from the perspective of a nerdy father and his loving and understanding wife.

Join Mike and Esther as they go through IUIs and IFVs, as they search for an adoption agency, are selected by a birth mother, prepare their house, prepare their family, prepare themselves and wait for their daughter to be born a thousand miles from home.

 Winner, Honorable Mention, 2014, Great Midwest Book Festival

Abby’s Road is available at Amazon here: http://www.amazon.com/Abbys-Road-Long-Winding-Adoption/product-reviews/0692221530/ref=cm_cr_pr_top_recent?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=0&sortBy=bySubmissionDateDescending

at Barnes and Noble here: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/abbys-road-the-long-and-winding-road-to-adoption-and-how-facebook-aquaman-and-theodore-roosevelt-helped-michael-curry/1119971924?ean=9780692221532

and at Smashwords here: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/457270

Copyright 2014 Michael Curry

Perhaps the most (in)famous adoption ever!

My sister Kathryn asked if I was going to include Christina Crawford. I said I was and would move her up the schedule a little …

November is National Adoption Month! Throughout the month I'll feature famous folk who have been adopted! And now a view from the dark side...

Culled mostly from Wikipedia:

Christina Crawford (born June 11, 1939) is a writer and actress, best known as the author of Mommie Dearest, an autobiographical account of alleged child abuse by mother, actress Joan Crawford.

She was born in Los Angeles, California to unmarried teen parents.

According to Christina; her father, Larry King (yes, THAT Larry King), supposedly in the Navy, was married to another woman while her mother was unmarried. Christina Crawford was adopted from a baby broker in the state of Nevada because Joan Crawford was formerly denied an adoption by Social Services for being an unfit candidate in California in 1940. Subsequent documentation showed that the adoption was handled by Georgia Tann through Tann's infamous Tennessee Children's Home Society. Christina was one of five children adopted by Joan Crawford.

Be sure to visit Abby’s Road on Facebook for more Spotlights!

  

“Abby’s Road, the Long and Winding Road to Adoption and how Facebook, Aquaman and Theodore Roosevelt Helped” leads a couple through their days of infertility treatments and adoption. It is told with gentle (and sometimes not-so-gentle) humor from the perspective of a nerdy father and his loving and understanding wife.

Join Mike and Esther as they go through IUIs and IFVs, as they search for an adoption agency, are selected by a birth mother, prepare their house, prepare their family, prepare themselves and wait for their daughter to be born a thousand miles from home.

Winner, Honorable Mention, 2014, Great Midwest Book Festival

Abby’s Road is available at Amazon here: http://www.amazon.com/Abbys-Road-Long-Winding-Adoption/product-reviews/0692221530/ref=cm_cr_pr_top_recent?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=0&sortBy=bySubmissionDateDescending

at Barnes and Noble here: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/abbys-road-the-long-and-winding-road-to-adoption-and-how-facebook-aquaman-and-theodore-roosevelt-helped-michael-curry/1119971924?ean=9780692221532

and at Smashwords here: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/457270

Copyright 2014 Michael Curry

Dean Cain: National Adoption Month Spotlight!

November is National Adoption Month! Throughout the month I'll feature famous folk who have been adopted!  

Today’s Spotlight: Dean Cain. Wait, didn’t you already do Superman? Shut up...

Culled mostly from Wikipedia:

Dean Cain was born on July 31, 1966 as Dean George Tanaka in Mount Clemens, Michigan, the son of 

Sharon Thomas, an actress, and Roger Tanaka. In 1969, Cain's mother married film directorChristopher Cain, who adopted Dean and his brother (musician Roger Cain); they became his sons and the family moved to Malibu, California.

Be sure to visit Abby’s Road on Facebook for more Spotlights!

“Abby’s Road, the Long and Winding Road to Adoption and how Facebook, Aquaman and Theodore Roosevelt Helped” leads a couple through their days of infertility treatments and adoption. It is told with gentle (and sometimes not-so-gentle) humor from the perspective of a nerdy father and his loving and understanding wife.

Join Mike and Esther as they go through IUIs and IFVs, as they search for an adoption agency, are selected by a birth mother, prepare their house, prepare their family, prepare themselves and wait for their daughter to be born a thousand miles from home.

Winner, Honorable Mention, 2014, Great Midwest Book Festival

Abby’s Road is available at Amazon here: http://www.amazon.com/Abbys-Road-Long-Winding-Adoption/product-reviews/0692221530/ref=cm_cr_pr_top_recent?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=0&sortBy=bySubmissionDateDescending

at Barnes and Noble here: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/abbys-road-the-long-and-winding-road-to-adoption-and-how-facebook-aquaman-and-theodore-roosevelt-helped-michael-curry/1119971924?ean=9780692221532

and at Smashwords here: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/457270

Copyright 2014 Michael Curry

National Adoption Month (dark) Spotlight: The Son of Sam

November is National Adoption Month! Throughout the month I'll feature famous folk who have been adopted!

Sometimes the Spotlight shines darkly…

Culled mostly from Wikipedia:

David Richard Berkowitz (born Richard David Falco, June 1, 1953), also known as the Son of Sam and the .44 Caliber Killer, is an American serial killer convicted of a series of shooting attacks that began in the summer of 1976. With a .44 caliber Bulldog revolver, he killed six victims and wounded seven others by July 1977. As the toll mounted, Berkowitz eluded a massive police manhunt while leaving brazen letters which promised further murders. Highly publicized in the press, he terrorized New York City and achieved worldwide notoriety.

After his arrest by New York City police in August 1977, Berkowitz was indicted for eight shooting incidents. He confessed to all of them and claimed a demon that possessed his neighbor's dog had commanded him to kill. In the course of the police investigation, he was also implicated in many unsolved arsons in the city.

David Berkowitz was born Richard David Falco on June 1, 1953, in Brooklyn, New York. His mother, Betty Broder, grew up in an impoverished Jewish family and later married Tony Falco, an Italian-American Catholic. The couple ran a fish market together. They separated before Berkowitz's birth: Falco left for another woman, and Broder later had an affair with a married real estate agent, Joseph Kleinman. When she became pregnant, Kleinman threatened to abandon her if she kept the baby, so she put the child up for adoption and listed Falco as the father.  Within a few days of his birth, the infant boy was adopted by Pearl and Nathan Berkowitz of the Bronx. The Jewish-American couple were hardware store retailers of modest means, and childless in middle age. They reversed the order of the boy's first and middle names and gave him their own surname, raising young David Richard Berkowitz as their only son.

Be sure to visit Abby’s Road on Facebook for more Spotlights!

“Abby’s Road, the Long and Winding Road to Adoption and how Facebook, Aquaman and Theodore Roosevelt Helped” leads a couple through their days of infertility treatments and adoption. It is told with gentle (and sometimes not-so-gentle) humor from the perspective of a nerdy father and his loving and understanding wife.

Join Mike and Esther as they go through IUIs and IFVs, as they search for an adoption agency, are selected by a birth mother, prepare their house, prepare their family, prepare themselves and wait for their daughter to be born a thousand miles from home.

Winner, Honorable Mention, 2014, Great Midwest Book Festival

Abby’s Road is available at Amazon here: http://www.amazon.com/Abbys-Road-Long-Winding-Adoption/product-reviews/0692221530/ref=cm_cr_pr_top_recent?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=0&sortBy=bySubmissionDateDescending

at Barnes and Noble here: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/abbys-road-the-long-and-winding-road-to-adoption-and-how-facebook-aquaman-and-theodore-roosevelt-helped-michael-curry/1119971924?ean=9780692221532

and at Smashwords here: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/457270

Copyright 2014 Michael Curry

My new ebook is now available! Toddler TV ...

It's official! My new ebook is out!
One of the problems of becoming a father in his late forties that he DIDN’T expect was watching television with his pre-schooler: “Daddy, can we watch Barney?” “Sure! The Andy Griffith Show is on in a few minutes!” “No Daddy, the purple dinosaur.” “Dino? I LOVE The Flinstones...”
In this sequel – kind of – to his memoir Abby’s Road, the Long and Winding Road to Adoption and How Facebook, Aquaman and Theodore Roosevelt Helped, Michael Curry reviews the television shows his now-preschool daughter has available. It has been forty years since Michael watched children’s television and much has changed … and much has stayed the same.
Told with gentle (and sometimes not so gentle, humor) Michael reviews and comments on over 100 children’s shows aimed at ages 0-5 from the 1960s to the present!
Meet some familiar friends – from Oscar the Grouch to Thomas the Tank Engine – and meet some new ones whose adventures you might be missing!
Whether you are in your 20s or in your 50s or anywhere in between, you may find yourself saying, “I remember that show when I was that age!” or “If I was a toddler I would love this!”
Let’s see what the kids are watching!

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/toddler-tv-mich…/1120696982…

The Six Million Dollar Adoptee!

November is National Adoption Month! Throughout the month I'll feature famous folk who have been adopted!  

Today’s Spotlight: Lee Majors

Culled mostly from Wikipedia:

Lee Majors was born born Harvey Lee Yeary on April 23, 1939 and is best known for his roles as Heath Barkley in the TV series The Big Valley, as Colonel Steve Austin in The Six Million Dollar Man and as Colt Seavers in The Fall Guy.

His parents, Carl and Alice Yeary, were both killed in separate accidents (prior to his birth and when he was one year old, respectively). At age two, Majors was adopted by an uncle and aunt and moved with them to Middlesboro, Kentucky.

Be sure to visit Abby’s Road on Facebook for more Spotlights!

“Abby’s Road, the Long and Winding Road to Adoption and how Facebook, Aquaman and Theodore Roosevelt Helped” leads a couple through their days of infertility treatments and adoption. It is told with gentle (and sometimes not-so-gentle) humor from the perspective of a nerdy father and his loving and understanding wife.

Join Mike and Esther as they go through IUIs and IFVs, as they search for an adoption agency, are selected by a birth mother, prepare their house, prepare their family, prepare themselves and wait for their daughter to be born a thousand miles from home.

Winner, Honorable Mention, 2014, Great Midwest Book Festival

Abby’s Road is available at Amazon here: http://www.amazon.com/Abbys-Road-Long-Winding-Adoption/product-reviews/0692221530/ref=cm_cr_pr_top_recent?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=0&sortBy=bySubmissionDateDescending

at Barnes and Noble here: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/abbys-road-the-long-and-winding-road-to-adoption-and-how-facebook-aquaman-and-theodore-roosevelt-helped-michael-curry/1119971924?ean=9780692221532

and at Smashwords here: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/457270

Copyright 2014 Michael Curry