Events

Join us on November 7th for an evening of healing and connection. Amanda Sparso, Chinese adoptee and certified Reiki practitioner, will lead an intimate adoptee-only group Reiki circle. This special event is all about clearing out what no longer serves us and grounding ourselves before the hustle and bustle of the holiday season.

🧘‍♀️ Come in comfy clothes and get ready for introductions, mindfulness practices, a soothing group Reiki session, and a heartfelt closing circle where we can share and reflect together.

For more information about Amanda Sparso, please visit her website at www.amandasparso.com.

Discover the powerful narrative of identity and belonging at our upcoming reading and discussion featuring Sarah Myer, the acclaimed author of Monstrous: A Transracial Adoption Story. This event promises an engaging exploration into Sarah's personal journey through transracial adoption.

Sarah will share excerpts from their Eisner-nominated graphic memoir, lending insight into the creation and themes of the novel, which has earned accolades such as the ILA Young Adult NonFiction Winner and Kirkus Best Teen & YA Graphic Literature of 2023.

A Q&A session will give attendees the opportunity to learn more about Sarah's experiences and artistic process and discuss directly with the author. Afterward, meet fellow attendees and have your copy of Monstrous signed by Sarah. (Copies will be available for purchase.)

About the Title

Monstrous: A Transracial Adoption Story vividly captures Sarah Myer's experience as a Korean-American adoptee in a predominantly white community. The memoir portrays the loneliness and identity struggles Sarah faces due to racism and bullying, which are exacerbated by their lack of connection to their birth parents23. Through art, anime, and cosplay, Sarah finds a means of self-expression and escape, though they still grapple with feelings of being an outsider.

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Let’s kick off October with a Brooklyn Happy Hour!

📍 Join us on Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024 from 6:00pm-8:00pm at Spritzenhaus 33 (33 Nassau Av, New York, NY 11222)

😁 No RSVP is required! We welcome all new and returning faces.

Recent news about adoption has gotten a lot of media attention, including: China ending its international adoption program, South Korea’s Truth and Reconciliation Commision disclosing the government’s role in forced adoptions, and the Frontline documentary about Korea’s adoption reckoning.
All of these revelations can be a lot to process. This forum—led by Andrew McFarland, PhD (Also-Known-As Board of Directors), and Alisha Bennett, LCSW (Integrative Therapy NYC)—will provide a space to talk about these media stories with other adoptees. Informal dinner/drinks to follow immediately afterwards; optional and pay your own way.

🍹🎉 Get ready to kick off the season with a bang! Join us for the first Happy Hour of the season at Counter & Bodega as we gear up for Hispanic Heritage Month! 🎊

This event is for our community members 21+ — let’s raise a glass to good times and great company! 🍷💃🎶 See you there!

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🧺 Mark your Calendars! Join Also-Known-As at Annual Friends and Family Picnic on Sunday, June 9th from 11am-3pm! It's our biggest event of the year. We will have delicious food, drinks, and fun raffle prizes. Come one, come all as we kick off Summer 2024!

The Queens Night Market is a large, family-friendly open-air night market in Queens, featuring independently owned vendors selling merchandise, art, and food and featuring small-scale cultural performances, all celebrating the rich cultural diversity and heritage of NYC. Join us on Saturday, May 18th as we explore all that the Queens Night Market has to offer. Bring your friends, family, appetite, and cash (as some vendors may not take cards)!

Join us during Mental Health Awareness Month for a writing workshop focused on addressing multi-faceted layers of grief as an adoptee, in partnership with Chinese Adoptee Alliance. Together in a safe space (in person and virtually), we will self-reflect on how grief has shown up in our own journeys.

Facilitated by Heather Schultz Gittens—founder and owner of Huh Healing Hub LLC, Certified Usui Reiki Master, and lecturer—some topics we’ll explore include:

• Defining and acknowledging grief (loss and ambiguous loss) and how it may show up and impact adoptees differently than non-adoptees
• Grieving 'another life'
• Grieving loss of birth country, language, culture & heritage through adoption
• Grieving family (adoptive or biological) who have passed away or may not be present

Also-Known-As and the Asian American Writers’ Workshop are thrilled to welcome back Nicole Chung, in conversation with Crystal Hana Kim, to celebrate the paperback release of her critically acclaimed memoir A Living Remedy. 

From the bestselling author of All You Can Ever Know comes a searing memoir of family, class, and grief—a daughter’s search to understand the lives her adoptive parents led, the life she forged as an adult, and the lives she’s lost. Exploring the enduring strength of family bonds in the face of hardship and tragedy, Nicole Chung examines what it takes to reconcile the distance between one life, one home, and another—and sheds needed light on some of the most persistent and grievous inequalities in American society.

Books will be available for purchase from our friends at Yu & Me Books. 

This in-person event will also be live-streamed for folks who are outside of the NYC area. RSVPs are required for all attendees, and masks are required for all in-person attendees. 

RSVP Here or using the button above: https://forms.gle/aT9xVzP6mFwY68uH9 [60 in-person max capacity]

Praise for A Living Remedy

“A Living Remedy is a profoundly moving account of one daughter’s love for her white adoptive parents and a damning indictment of the healthcare system that failed them. Nicole Chung writes with nuance and empathy about what it means to be ill and economically insecure in America today. She transforms her rage and anguish into luminous prose on the page, and the result is one of the most devastating portraits of a daughter’s grief I have ever read.” —Julie Otsuka, author of The Swimmers

“Like the best memoirs, Nicole Chung’s A Living Remedy is both an excavation of the self and the people who sustain it—but also, at its core, a work of art undergirded by a tender, forgiving, and awe-filled gaze at what it means to live and hurt in the human world. The result is a bone-deep enactment of love in all its valences.” —Ocean Vuong, author of On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous

*RSVP by Friday, April 19*

🥟 Did you know that there are over 160+ notable types of dumplings around the world? These yummy pieces of dough heaven wrapped around unique cultural fillings make anyone abundantly happy and full. Join us as we learn to fold jiǎozi (饺子), or Chinese dumplings with the one and only, 👩🏻🍳 Hope Johnson and sip at TapHaus33!

You probably know 👩🏻‍🍳 Hope from her time serving on the Board of Directors, her delicious food you may have tried before, or trying to catch her on the sports field.