Opinion | The family history I never knew: How being adopted hid a life-saving clue
Opinion, Personal Essay Shara Cooper Opinion, Personal Essay Shara Cooper

Opinion | The family history I never knew: How being adopted hid a life-saving clue

Whenever a doctor asked about my family medical history, I waved it off with a flippant hand. As an adoptee from a closed adoption, I couldn’t answer. I would shrug and say, “I don’t know — I’m adopted.” I didn’t have any control over it, so I tried to let it go. How do you explain that your life began with a mystery?

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The Green
Creative Nonfiction, Writing Shara Cooper Creative Nonfiction, Writing Shara Cooper

The Green

I’m running through the woods, lost in the forest around me. My sister is counting, “Five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten — ready or not — Here. I. Come!” Her footsteps are crashing, but she’s not close enough to see me. I press myself down onto the ground, flattening the previously untouched grass around me. It’s tall and thick enough to enclose me back into its cocoon.

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The Japanese Squatty Toilet
Creative Nonfiction, Writing Shara Cooper Creative Nonfiction, Writing Shara Cooper

The Japanese Squatty Toilet

This was originally written in 2003, after I spent over a year in Japan. My apologies if the information is outdated or culturally insensitive. I was in my early 20s at the time and this piece is meant to be light hearted and warm. Japan holds a special place in my heart …

Toilets were not the first thing that came to my mind when I planned my trip to Japan. But I would soon learn that broadening my horizons would include re-learning how to pee.

In Tokyo the pressing issue is so complex that how-to posters are posted at the airport to instruct confused tourists and other uninitiated.

More than one terrified traveller has attempted avoidance instead of voiding.

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