How America used to be....
Warning: This is a politically charged post. Let me just say that upfront. This isn't meant to be partisan, but I know some will take it that way. That’s not my intention. What I’m trying to do here is remind myself of who I am as an American—and what that’s supposed to mean. So much is changing, and it’s happening fast. The lines blur. This is me trying to hold onto what I know to be true, or at least what I thought was true. I was born in Seattle to parents who were also born in Seattle. I was adopted and raised by a Washington-born father and a Minnesota-born mother—both white. I say that up front because I want to shut down any “anchor baby” or “they must’ve been immigrants” assumptions. My birth parents were third-generation Irish-American. My adoptive father was a third-generation Englishman. My mother was third-generation German-Norwegian-American. I grew up in a Lutheran home, taught that Jesus Christ was the Son of God and that the Ten Commandments were a guide to l...