{"id":59602,"date":"2020-03-06T20:47:12","date_gmt":"2020-03-06T20:47:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mixedracestudies.org\/?p=59602"},"modified":"2020-03-06T20:47:12","modified_gmt":"2020-03-06T20:47:12","slug":"creole-son-an-adoptive-mother-untangles-nature-and-nurture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/?p=59602","title":{"rendered":"Creole Son: An Adoptive Mother Untangles Nature and Nurture"},"content":{"rendered":"

Creole Son: An Adoptive Mother Untangles Nature and Nurture<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

LSU Press<\/a>
\nMarch 2020
\n216 pages
\n5.50 x 8.50 inches \/ 6 halftones
\nPaperback ISBN: 9780807173107<\/p>\n

E. Kay Trimberger<\/strong><\/a>, Professor Emerita of Women\u2019s and Gender Studies
\nSonoma State University, Rohnert Park, California<\/em><\/p>\n

Introduction by:<\/p>\n

Andrew Solomon<\/strong><\/a>, Professor of Clinical Psychology
\nColumbia University Medical Center, New York, New York<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Creole Son<\/em> is the compelling memoir of a single white mother searching to understand why her adopted biracial son grew from a happy child into a troubled young adult who struggled with addiction for decades. The answers, E. Kay Trimberger finds, lie in both nature and nurture.<\/p>\n

When five-\u00adday-\u00adold Marco is flown from Louisiana<\/a> to California<\/a> and placed in Trimberger\u2019s arms, she assumes her values and example will be the determining influences upon her new son\u2019s life. Twenty-\u00adsix years later, when she helps him make contact with his Cajun<\/a> and Creole<\/a> biological relatives, she discovers that many of his cognitive and psychological strengths and difficulties mirror theirs. Using her training as a sociologist, Trimberger explores behavioral genetics research on adoptive families. To her relief as well as distress, she learns that both biological heritage and the environment\u2014and their interaction\u2014shape adult outcomes.<\/p>\n

Trimberger shares deeply personal reflections about raising Marco in Berkeley<\/a> in the 1980s and 1990s, with its easy access to drugs and a culture that condoned their use. She examines her own ignorance about substance abuse, and also a failed experiment in an alternative family lifestyle. In an afterword, Marc Trimberger contributes his perspective, noting a better understanding of his life journey gained through his mother\u2019s research.<\/p>\n

By telling her story, Trimberger provides knowledge and support to all parents\u2014biological and adoptive\u2014with troubled offspring. She ends by suggesting a new adoption model, one that creates an extended, integrated family of both biological and adoptive kin.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Creole Son” is the compelling memoir of a single white mother searching to understand why her adopted biracial son grew from a happy child into a troubled young adult who struggled with addiction for decades. The answers, E. Kay Trimberger finds, lie in both nature and nurture.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[395,1245,11,414,125,369,8,17,394,20],"tags":[687,30350,455,30813,1051,885,30812],"class_list":["post-59602","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-autobiography","category-biography","category-books","category-family","category-identitydevelopment","category-louisiana","category-media-archive","category-monographs","category-socialscience","category-usa","tag-adoption","tag-andrew-solomon","tag-california","tag-e-kay-trimberger","tag-louisiana-state-university-press","tag-lsu-press","tag-marc-trimberger"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59602","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=59602"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59602\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":59603,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59602\/revisions\/59603"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=59602"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=59602"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=59602"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}