Secret Son

A Bigger Boat (a non-adoptee interview episode about the film Jaws)

Fri, 02 Jan 2026 06:00:00 -0500

My interview with actor, writer & director Peter Marino about a very traumatic event we share - seeing the 1975 film Jaws in the cinema at much too young of an age.

What followed for us has been a sneaking suspicion that every body of water may very well contain a shark or two.

Please join us for a lighthearted look at what it was like seeing this Steven Spielberg summer blockbuster upon its initial release and the long wake of PTSD that has followed.

Come in the water! It's fun!

Here's Peter's bio:

Peter Michael Marino is a NYC-based writer, producer, performer, and educator whose work has been seen on five continents. He’s created several edutainment videos and live stage shows for Washington National Opera and The Kennedy Center. Pete's long-running, critically acclaimed, interactive family comedy “Show Up, Kids!” continues to run in NYC after six years. He's the creator of SOLOCOM which has launched over 500 original solo comedy shows, and has performed his own solo shows everywhere from NYC to Hollywood to Australia. Pete is the co-host of the popular podcast “Arts and Craft,” where artists talk to artists from all disciplines about their art. He’s currently adapting his acclaimed digital lock-down hit, “Planet of the Grapes” for the stage with frequent collaborator & director Michole Biancosino. More info at www.petermmarino.com

This podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only. Nothing stated on it, either by its hosts or any guests, is to be construed as psychological, medical or legal advice.

To make a one-time donation or become an ongoing patron:

https://www.patreon.com/secret_son

Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1659085017

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/secret_son

Mike Personal Site: www.miketrupiano.com

Break On Through to the Mother Side

Fri, 02 Jan 2026 06:00:00 -0500

Hey all, did you know that the day destroys the night and night divides the day?

Tune into episode 5 to hear author/writing coach Anne Heffron and I get psychedelic.

We talk rocky reunions, wrestling with our demons and the psychological efficacy of binge eating.

And, of course, breaking on through.

Anne Heffron is the author of You Don’t Look Adopted, Truth and Agency: Writing Ideas for Adopted People, and co-writer of the movie Sleep No More.

You can find her blog and read more about her writing classes at anneheffron.com.

She had a super time being a guest on Mike’s podcast and believes he is headed for great success in podcast land with that voice of his.

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/secret_son

Mike Personal Site: www.miketrupiano.com

Southern Nights

Tue, 23 Sep 2025 16:00:00 -0400

On today's episode, Patricia Knight Meyer and I talk black market babies, the power of genetic mirroring and the magic of Glen Campbell.

Join us!

A baby-scoop era black-market "adoptee," Patricia was sold along a curb outside a Texas hospital and grew up with no legal identity, date of birth, legal adoption, or court appointed guardian. Thus, despite one shady attorney’s best laid plans, at 18 she set out to unravel her mystery and obtain a legal birth certificate. At 40, she reunited with both biological parents, and she is currently seeking representation for her memoir, in which she shares how she uncovered the dirty deal that drove a life of deception, fueled her "adoptive" parents' life-long addictions and stole her true identity.

Born with a love of writing, she earned a Journalism degree from the University of Texas, has been published in numerous newspapers and magazines, and dedicates her life to inspiring creativity in others. Active in adoption and writing communities, she blogs about her reunion experience at MyAdoptedLife.com and administers the Adoption Constellation Search and Reunion Facebook support group. She is a member of the National Association of Memoir Writers, the Adoption Knowledge Affiliates, and The Writers’ League of Texas. Bouncing between the Texas Hill Country and New Orleans, she works as a book publicist and content strategist, and attends an annual writing retreat in Costa Rica. A video of her reunion with her birth father has almost 300,000 views on YouTube.

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/secret_son

Mike Personal Site: www.miketrupiano.com

Beds Are Burning

Tue, 23 Sep 2025 15:00:00 -0400

Join Shane Bouel and I as we delve into searching, societal resistance to our search and piecing together our new identity.

Shane Bouel, an Australian adoptee, is a compelling voice shedding light on the intricate journey of adoption.

In his thought-provoking piece Understanding the Unseen Journey of Adoptees, he explores the three half-lives of adoption, delving into the complexities faced by adoptees as they navigate identity, family, and community.

Shane's work serves as a poignant call for societal understanding, empathy, and a reevaluation of adoption narratives.

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/secret_son

Mike Personal Site: www.miketrupiano.com

Love Is All Around

Tue, 23 Sep 2025 15:00:00 -0400

Amy Lokken and I delve into the challenges of being a transracial Minnesota adoptee, the openness of 1970s hippies and the fiery spirit of Betty Jean Lifton.

Join us!

Amy Lokken is a biracial, transracial adoptee, born in the Upper Midwest in the mid-sixties. She currently lives in San Francisco.

Amy is the author of two memoirs. The first, beloved i am, chronicles her life as an adoptee, growing up in various parts of the U.S.A. as her family moved several times due to her adoptive father’s job. The book takes the reader through her search and reunion with her biological mother and her mother’s three other children.

Amy's second book, Finding Richard, focuses on the search for her biological father, learning and processing the devastating truth—that racism stole her entire family of origin.

Both books are available on Amazon

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/secret_son

Mike Personal Site: www.miketrupiano.com

Take The Money And Run

Tue, 23 Sep 2025 15:00:00 -0400

Emma Stevens and I discuss being the adoptee chameleon, secondary rejection and scanning strangers' faces wondering if they might be family.

Join us!

Emma Stevens is a U.S. domestic adoptee from birth and has survived layers of trauma that have put her on multiple journeys. She developed the inner strength and courage to surmount the many struggles she faced. Her traumas were born from first being relinquished and then becoming an adoptee who struggled with being forced to wear an impossible mask of playing the part of the “good adopted child.”

Her childhood upbringing of an authoritative, cult-like family, predisposed Emma to several more struggles. One of them was falling prey to an exploitative therapist where she unknowingly entered a cultic, one-on-one relationship with her psychologist. Someone who was to help, support, and provide healing – instead, held Emma captive in a psychological nightmare.

Because of these past traumas, it’s Emma’s desire to be part of the movement that is dedicated to help bring forth change to the way our world views the needs and support of adopted individuals, as well as bring awareness of the exploitation that can occur by the hands of counselors, therapists, and other healthcare professionals. By sharing her experience of being exploited by her abusive psychologist/social worker, Emma feels strongly to expose and bring light to what an unethical, boundary-less, professional therapy situation may look like.

This memoir is Emma Stevens’ second book. Her first was The Gathering Place: An Adoptee’s Story. She has an undergraduate degree in journalism and has completed Master’s level course work in psychology, specializing in Marriage, Family, and Child counseling. She has two adult children and two cat children who she adores.

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/secret_son

Mike Personal Site: www.miketrupiano.com

Please Mr. Postman

Tue, 23 Sep 2025 13:00:00 -0400

Anna Fienbork was adopted as an infant after five days at the hospital. The fact of being adopted was part of her life from early on. The emotional wounds of this early trauma of separation eventually lead her to doing emotional and spiritual work to face what felt like a black whole inside of her – the sense of having no roots, of somehow being utterly flawed. Her personal path has brought Anna to working with people, helping them to integrate their inner wounds, their lost inner children.

"Reconnect - Come home to yourself" could be described as the motto of Anna's work with people. She is also interested in exploring where we are not connected to ourselves, where doubt is quietly - or not so quietly - gnawing at us and we cannot feel that we have earned our place in the world. Reconnect means reconnecting - to yourself. This can happen in small, everyday moments and then slowly grow. It is about becoming more aware of our needs, feelings and sensations and integrating them - entering into a deep connection with ourselves, because you are the most important person in your life.

Having felt the utter sense of helplessness of having been given away, Anna learned about the importance of self-empowerment. To her this is primarily about accepting ourselves as we are now, because this helps us to better perceive our own value. We can then be clearer about ourselves, know what our needs are, set better boundaries, have relationships at eye level and learn to regulate ourselves in challenging situations. And this in turn leads to a feeling of inner freedom and joy - even in difficult situations.

https://www.annafienbork.de/

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Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/secret_son

Mike Personal Site: www.miketrupiano.com

Paint It Black

Tue, 23 Sep 2025 13:00:00 -0400

Join Emily and I as we discuss Paris, embracing the sublimity of a neurodivergent mind and fearfully admitting to others what they actually already know about us.

Emily is a 40-year old domestic infant adoptee, born outside of Chicago, Illinois.

Her roots are planted in Bismarck, North Dakota and other neighboring Badlands communities.

Emily is an artist, writer and musician much like various members of her biological family.

She is currently focused on trauma healing and substance abuse recovery, issues commonly faced among members of the adoptee community.

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/secret_son

Mike Personal Site: www.miketrupiano.com

Being There

Tue, 23 Sep 2025 13:00:00 -0400

Searching and finding disrupts long-standing family dynamics.

Jack Dermody and I delve into how newly arrived adoptees are like bombs thrown into a family and how the knowledge gained by searching offers us an invaluable new perspective on ourselves.

Letting go of what could have been, Billie Eilish and even Lawrence Welk make an appearance.

Wunnerful!

Born in 1945, Jack Dermody is one of the original Baby Scoop adoptees.

He is a facilitator, trainer, national public speaker and linguist with 28 years of experience in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the U.S. working with instructors and teaching adults and college students from many walks of life.

Specialty: Language Acquisition, especially English Language Learning

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/secret_son

Mike Personal Site: www.miketrupiano.com

Wild at Heart

Tue, 23 Sep 2025 11:00:00 -0400

David Lynch's story and mine run rather parallel.

BPD adoptive mother? Check. False leads in our father searches? Also check. Our Lady of Corporal Punishment primary school? Oh, yeah.

Join David and I as we delve into these topics, Barbara De Angelis and much more!

David Lynch is an adoptee who searched and found his birth mother in 1992-93. He is a writer, graphic designer, and musician who lives in a rustic cabin in Western North Carolina.

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/secret_son

Mike Personal Site: www.miketrupiano.com

She's Been Around the World

Tue, 23 Sep 2025 11:00:00 -0400

From rural Chile to urban Sweden, Maria Diemar started life with a huge journey.

Join Maria and I as we discuss kidnapping investigations, maddening bureaucratic red tape and '90s Nordic Neo-Nazis.

Los Secretos are everywhere!

My name is Maria Diemar. I’m 47 years old, adopted, a teacher and mother of 3 boys. I was born in Chile then adopted in Sweden where I grew up but I currently live in Dallas/USA. In the last 12 years I have lived in Japan, Australia, and the US. I’m Mapuche, the largest group of indigenous people in Chile.

I was sent to the airport in Stockholm when I was 10 weeks old where I met my white Swedish foster parents. After living with them for 6 months, they adopted me in the court of Stockholm. Many years later, I learned that my mother never actually gave me up for adoption; I was stolen from her in the delivery room.

As a young adult, I searched for my Chilean family for 7 years and was reunited 20 years ago. Despite that, I didn’t meet my mom in person until last fall; I wasn’t ready until then. I have 4 siblings in Chile and travel to Chile frequently to be with them.

I’m part of a Swedish organization called chileadoption.se and we help reunite Chilean families with their children that were taken and adopted abroad. I also have a Instagram and Facebook page where I share my experiences as an adoptee @I_own_my_story_maria_diemar

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/secret_son

Mike Personal Site: www.miketrupiano.com

If You're Going to San Francisco

Tue, 23 Sep 2025 10:00:00 -0400

Dave Brown has his own Tales of the City.

Join us for episode #11 of Secret Son as we discuss coming out in the 70s, implicit memory and meeting inebriated relatives for the first time.

Thanks for listening!

I am a domestic adoptee born in Virginia, raised in San Diego, CA, and have lived in the San Francisco Bay Area most of my adult life. I have a Bachelor's in Business Management and am a retiree from the University of California.

Three and a half years ago, I decided to take a DNA to find answers to shake off the shroud of secrecy. I found what I was looking for, but I was also unprepared for the upheaval in my life.

I created My Refocused Life to document my journey, never anticipated how much I would change. https://www.facebook.com/myrefocusedlife

I wrote this three years ago when I first saw my birth parents' pictures.
A Mirror Man is someone with mirrored-self mis-identification, i.e., unable to recognize themself in a mirror.

As a teen, I would spend much time looking at myself in the bathroom mirror, not because I was a budding narcissist, but because I didn't recognize myself.
I realize it is because I didn't see my parents in me.

It was the same for my adoptive brother; we both felt like we had Martian DNA, although he fits in more than I did. I was the dorky kid who was merely tolerated.
I didn't have kids, so I didn't experience the sensations and wonders of adoptee friends who had kids. I hadn't thought about it until I heard other adoptees talk about how huge that was to see themselves reflected in their children.

Seeing the pictures of my birth parents for the first time made an emotional and physiological impact. Seeing myself reflected in them and vice versa hit me like a tsunami.

I looked just like my father and had a resemblance to my mother. They were both beautiful.

I noticed the facial features, the mouth, the shape, and the color of the eyes. But what got me is that my birth father and I stand the same way, his head tilted to the right as mine. I had always hated that aspect of myself. Now I think it's cool.

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/secret_son

Mike Personal Site: www.miketrupiano.com

Can't Get You Out of my Head

Thu, 11 Sep 2025 07:00:00 -0400

Hey! Yeah, you! Why not join us for episode #10?

Pamela Karanova is a force to be reckoned with in the adoptee community and has a new Substack you should definitely check out!

Pamela and I discuss angelic librarians, going on the wagon and wild dogs deep in the Iowa countryside.

And, of course, secrecy!

Pamela A. Karanova is an adult adoptee from Iowa residing in Lexington, KY.

She's the founder of Adoptees Connect, Inc, Adoptee Remembrance Day - October 30th, and Adoptee Merch.

Pamela is a freelance writer at The Real Adoptea Moxie, addressing the challenging issues in adoption.

She's navigated her search and reunion, experiencing double rejection from both biological parents, and considers adoptee healing to be a lifelong journey. She spends much of her time creating adoptee-centric resources.

She's an avid hiker, mountain climber, and waterfall chaser all over the great state of Kentucky.

She has three adult children, two dogs, and one cat, and she loves the simple things in life, hot tea, bonfires, sunrises, sunsets, and solitude.

Adoptees Connect, Inc. www.adopteesconnect.com

Pamela A. Karanova Website www.pamelakaranova.com

The Real Adoptea Moxie https://therealadopteamoxie.substack.com/

Adoptee Remembrance Day - October 30th www.adopteeremembranceday.com

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/secret_son

Mike Personal Site: www.miketrupiano.com

He Can See Clearly Now

Thu, 11 Sep 2025 07:00:00 -0400

Join me for episode 9 with Shawn Sigler.

We cover the usual stuff - KKK relatives, Cold War Berlin and seeing ourselves in photos of our deceased fathers.

Shawn has had an incredible journey of persistence, bravery and self-discovery. Somehow he seems to have emerged from it without bitterness. A very inspiring story and episode!

"I was born in 1963 in Indiana. I was adopted by a white couple from a small town. The public identified me as black, so I spent much time struggling with that identity.

My adoptive mom had always insisted that I never search for my biological mother until she was dead. She had refused to share what she knew about my birth mom for fifty years.

She must have known that she was near the end of her life because she finally showed me my complete adoption paperwork. I met my birth mother and her wife a few months later. Eventually, my birth mother shared the identity of my birth father.

I wrote a book about my experiences entitled Born Without A Race."

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/secret_son

Mike Personal Site: www.miketrupiano.com

She Went to a Land Down Under

Wed, 10 Sep 2025 17:00:00 -0400

Oi mate, how you going?

Join us for episode 8 as I chat with West Coast gal Vicky Graham in her new home in Oz.

We investigate the Usual Suspects - romcom-ish reunions, local marsupials and surviving the Land of Misfit Toys.

“Mom and Dad adopted me when I was eight months old.

Before then, I lived in the Crippled Children’s Home with the other unwanted babies, our own Island of Misfit Toys. But I was lucky, I got out.

I would’ve never searched for her - the woman who threw me away. In reunion, it took decades to untangle how I really felt.” - Vicky Graham, Adoptee

Barbara Bazett and Vicky Graham, a mother and daughter in reunion for nearly 30 years, share their healing journey to inspire and help others on their own podcast, Strong(er) in the Broken Places.

“What’s our secret? We were both too stubborn to give up.” - Barbara Bazett, Birth Mother.

https://www.freeyourselfthrough.com

On Facebook and Instagram: @freeyourselfthrough

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/secret_son

Mike Personal Site: www.miketrupiano.com

Cammie Chameleon

Wed, 10 Sep 2025 17:00:00 -0400

Sweet home Chicago!

The Windy City plays a big part in Cammie Smith’s story.

Join us for episode 7 as we get into how best to sneak into nursing homes, problematic Radio Shack ad campaigns and walking that fine line of being either too black or not black enough.

And, as always - secrets!

"I'm a 33 years old TRA (transracial adoptee) and I was adopted at the age of five when my birth mother passed away from breast cancer in July of 95,

I wanted to tell my story and will continue to tell my story for anyone struggling with being a TRA adoptee so they can understand their feelings and experiences are valid and that they are not alone and for anyone thinking to adopt that it takes a lot more than love to raise a child an adoptee."

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/secret_son

Mike Personal Site: www.miketrupiano.com

Alicia is a Punk Rocker

Wed, 10 Sep 2025 17:00:00 -0400

Hey y'all - between us, some days I just wanna be sedated.

This is not one of those days.

In episode 6 of Secret Son, I head to the Deep South, set on the porch for a spell and have a leisurely tête-à-tête with Alicia Bratton.

And, honey, let me tell you, we cover some stuff – progressive Alabama politics (no joke), bayou existentialism and the freedom that fifty brings.

And, it goes without saying - secrets!

Hey, ho, let’s go!

Alicia Bratton is a 1972 Baby Scoop Era adoptee in a closed adoption. Reunited with/re-abandoned by her mother and in reunion with her father. She went to college in Alabama on a performing arts scholarship for Trombone Performance and Vocal Performance, yet became a nurse (her mother of origin is also a nurse).

Classically trained in piano and voice, she lives in rural Alabama and, in her words, "I'm just trying to find my voice in the adoptee world." She's been a registered nurse since 1995, working primarily in labor/delivery and psychiatric nursing.

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/secret_son

Mike Personal Site: www.miketrupiano.com

The Birds, the Bees & Me

Wed, 10 Sep 2025 14:00:00 -0400

Join Secret Son this week as we journey back to a time when it was morning in America.

Reagan was president, the Eurythmics were tearing up the charts and the nation was falling in love with a precocious teenager named Michael J. Fox.

Meanwhile, today’s guest and I were sitting next to each other in high school mulling over our own Family Ties.

Liam Nitka and I were in the same high school class and had no idea the other was harboring their own shameful, dark secret – they were adopted. Good Lord, the humanity.

Today, Liam I will discuss the demon rum, latter day saints, problems with authority and the thread weaving through it all – secrecy.

Have a listen and, if you like the show, please tell a friend about it!

Music, as always, by the inimitable Cassis Birgit Staudt.

Liam was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri.

From an early age, he knew he was adopted. Liam's adoption was a big family and neighborhood secret. From the moment he found out he was adopted, he was determined to find his biological parents and learn why he was adopted.

Since the State of Missouri, is a "closed-record" state, he was not able to legally search for his biological family until he turned 21. For years, he struggled to make sense of it all. He felt that finding his biological parents would be the be-all, end-all in learning the circumstances behind his adoption.

Liam found his biological parents at age twenty-one, and it was a good occurrence. He was finally able to piece together certain facts that were blurry to him growing up.

Liam now lives in Boynton Beach, Florida and had been married to his wife, Susan, for seventeen years. They don't have any kids, but have a dog and a cat. Liam works a stable job with the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/secret_son

Mike Personal Site: www.miketrupiano.com

Haley of La Crête

Wed, 10 Sep 2025 14:00:00 -0400

Folks, they threw her to the wolves and she’s come back to lead the pack.

Superstar podcaster and adoptee activist Haley Radke joins me this week to regale us with tales of being a secret, stalking and the Great White North.

So, while you’re (soberly, of course) shooting off those fireworks on New Years Eve, why not multitask?

Put on your headphones, crank up the volume on episode three and ring in the new year with another top secret tale!

Music, as always, by the inimitable Cassis Birgit Staudt.

_

Haley Radke is an adoptee advocate and the creator and host of the popular podcast, Adoptees On, where adoptees share their adoption experiences. She believes that sharing these intimately personal stories will help expand the societal perception of adoption.

Haley has a Bachelor of Arts in psychology and is passionate about de-stigmatizing mental health issues and normalizing therapy.

She is a sought-after podcast coach and has been featured on Dear Adoption, How To Be Adopted, and Severance Magazine. Adoptees On has been downloaded over one million times in 150+ countries worldwide.

https://www.adopteeson.com

Instagram: https://instagram.com/adopteeson

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/adopteeson

Podcasting: https://www.haleyradke.com

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/secret_son

Mike Personal Site: www.miketrupiano.com

A Braverman Than I

Wed, 10 Sep 2025 14:00:00 -0400

I met therapist/adoptee advocate Joe Soll in the mid-90s in New York City.

We'll discuss decades-long family searches, "spaciness" and getting fed up with living in secrecy.

As we all slowly beat back the darkness and embrace much-needed longer days (I'm looking at you especially, Berlin), this is the perfect episode to shine some light on the adoptee perspective.

Druids and pagans and normies - together, onward into the light!

Music, as always, by the inimitable Cassis Birgit Staudt.

Joe Soll is a NY State Licensed Psychotherapist: 845-268-0283

Approved Adoption Counselor: United Kingdom Dept. of Health
Member: International Association of Trauma Professionals
Certified Clinical Trauma Professional
Diplomate: American Psychotherapy Association (retired)
Fellow: American Orthopsychiatric Association (retired)

Joe Soll 조 살, the author of "Adoption Healing... a path to recovery" (4 versions plus one in German and one in Chinese and one in Korean), Perilous Passage, co-author of "Evil Exchange" and "Fatal Flight", is a reunited adoptee, psychotherapist and lecturer internationally recognized as an expert in adoption related issues. He is director and co-founder of Adoption Crossroads, an international, non-profit organization consisting of over 470 adoption agencies, mental health institutions and adoption search and support groups in 8 countries, representing over 500,000 individuals whose lives have been affected by adoption. Adoption Crossroads is dedicated to educating the public about adoption issues and reforming current adoption practices.

The director and founder of the Adoption Counseling Center in New York City, Mr. Soll is also co-organizer and co-chair of the NY State Adoption Agency Task Force; a member of Matilda Cuomo's 1993 Advisory Council on the "Adoption Option"; past exec. board member of the Amer. Adoption Congress and a former trustee of the International Soundex Reunion Registry

He played himself in the HBO Special "Reno Finds Her Mom", was featured in the 2000 Global Japan award winning documentary, "Adoption Therapist: Joe Soll" and in the MediaStorm 2011 documentary "Broken Lines" as well as profiled in the International Museum of Women.

His latest book is his autobiography, Braverman

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/secret_son

Mike Personal Site: www.miketrupiano.com

Send Me An Angel

Wed, 10 Sep 2025 13:00:00 -0400

Who better to launch with than the woman who helped me track down my father?

Adoptee rights advocate and search angel extraordinaire Annette O' Connell and I talk family searches, secondary rejection and the ecstasy of experiencing genetic mirroring.

Somehow I called her by her maiden name of Daly. Apologies!

Music by the inimitable Cassis Birgit Staudt.

Annette Daly-O’Connell (she/her) is a domestic adopted person born in NYC during the Baby Scoop Era.

Having been born Pre-Roe; she feels it is vital that the US not go back to a forced birth society.

She has been active in adoptee rights since 2014.

Annette is the spokesperson for the New York Adoptee Rights Coalition and is on the boards of Adoptees United, Inc. and Bastard Nation.

She works part-time for The Adoptive and Foster Family Coalition of New York on the Communications Team and volunteers as a search angel

NYAdopteeRights.org • AdopteesUnited.org • AFFCNY.org • Bastards.org

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/secret_son

Mike Personal Site: www.miketrupiano.com

Stranger in a Strange Land

Mon, 10 Mar 2025 19:00:00 -0400

Parichard Holm – Healing Through Movement

Born in Thailand and raised in Germany, Parichard Holm struggled with identity and belonging. Feelings of disconnection, anxiety, and panic shaped her early years as she searched for a sense of home within herself.

At 18, on the search of her birth mother, a healing Tui Na massage in Thailand transformed her life. This powerful experience awakened her passion for Qigong, Tai Chi, and Qi Healing as a way to restore balance and reconnect with her true self.

Now, she helps others overcome emotional and energetic blockages, guiding them toward inner wholeness, vitality, and a deeper connection to their true self, the source of awarness and self-love.

Instagram: @parichard_holm

www.taichimatrix.com

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/secret_son

Mike Personal Site: www.miketrupiano.com

From Russia With Love

Fri, 06 Dec 2024 16:00:00 -0500

Falsified birthdays, smuggled DNA tests, women’s prisons!

George Barbakadze and I discuss that uneasy floating feeling of pre-search life, the joys of a successful DNA result and anticipating a future of wrestling with identity issues.

I loved speaking with George. He story demonstrates persistence despite many obstacles. Somehow he has remained through it all a very nice guy. Inspiring!

George was born in Saint Petersburg, Russia, in 1974.

In 1976, he was adopted from a Saint Petersburg orphanage by a Georgian family and raised in Georgia (the country) as the only child of his adoptive parents. When George was nine years old, his father passed away. Despite the secrecy and the “don’t ask, don’t tell” family policy surrounding his adoption, George’s relationship with his mother remains the most sacred to him.

In the 1990s, George earned his MFA from the Georgian State Academy of Arts and worked as a producer for state television. In 2000, George was forced to leave Georgia and immigrated to Australia, where he was granted gay refugee status. While in Australia, he studied filmmaking and wrote and directed his first short films. Since 2006, George’s films have been showcased at film festivals worldwide, earning numerous awards. Since 2015, George has lived and worked in Los Angeles, California.

While traveling the world and living in different countries, George hoped to find a place where he truly belonged. Yet, everywhere he went—including the country where he grew up - he was constantly asked, “Where is your accent from?”

A 25-year-long, frustrating search for his birth history and biological family eventually led him to confront two important questions: “What if this is it? What if this is as good as it gets?” Answering these questions helped George redefine his sense of identity and belonging, change the narrative and allowing him to move forward with acceptance.

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/secret_son

Mike Personal Site: www.miketrupiano.com

Granite State of Mind

Sun, 17 Mar 2024 19:00:00 -0400

When I asked New Hampshire-ite Greg Gentry how he was doing, he simply put down his musket, looked in the camera and said, "live free or die!"

Listen in on our conversation as we take a deep dive into that tenuous thing called identity and how searching for family impacts it.

Along the way, we touch on Nietzsche, Alfred North Whitehead and taking long drives when discussions at home get a little too triggering.

Greg Gentry is a US domestic baby scoop era adoptee, born in California in 1969.

He has been in reunion with maternal family members since 2006, and in 2021 also connected with his paternal side.

Greg is a facilitator and interviewer for Fireside Adoptees, a private Facebook group founded in 2021, which is committed to additional outreach through its public Facebook page and through the Fireside Adoptees Constellation private Facebook group.

Greg is also co-host of Adoptees Connect out of Derry, New Hampshire. He enjoys connecting with others in the online and in-person adoptee communities, and has found these interactions to be richly rewarding and supportive.

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/secret_son

Mike Personal Site: www.miketrupiano.com

Papa Was A Rolling Stone

Wed, 06 Mar 2024 18:00:00 -0500

Season 2 of Secret Son keeps rolling along and, based on last week's number, people like hearing about identity!

Secrecy is so last season. But not really. It's all a jumble, as we know.

Join show patron and fellow Midwesterner Bruce Porth and I as we discuss our young selves discovering Ayn Rand, the challenge for adoptees of the edict "just be yourself" and how searching for family altered our sense of identity.

How to fuse the pre and post-search self? Tune in!

Bruce Porth was born in Chicago in April of 1967 near the end of the baby scoop era and adopted at 10 days old into a family that was well-intentioned but lacked critical knowledge and insight in how to raise an adopted child.

After many years of feeling lost and disoriented he started coming out of the fog in the late 90's and eventually reunited with his birth family in 1998 and maintains a relationship that continues to expand and grow.

It was in 2020 when Bruce found the broader adoptee community and a deeper level of awareness and healing became available. He discovered how essential the support of the adoptee community is in moving through the stages of healing from adoption grief and loss.

He is an avid student of trauma recovery and exploring creative approaches to deep healing such as expanded states work including holotropic breathwork and psychedelics. Bruce is passionate about promoting truth and transparency in adoption and raising awareness within the adoption constellation of the complex challenges that come with relinquishment.

He works as an engineer in the semiconductor industry, is married with two daughters and lives in Vermont.

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/secret_son

Mike Personal Site: www.miketrupiano.com

Life On Mars

Sun, 25 Feb 2024 16:00:00 -0500

After a winter hiatus, lots of St. John's Wort and extensive retooling, Secret Son returns for Season 2.

Join Ruth Monnig and I as we discuss growing up in the same Midwesterner town, searching for family and how searching altered our sense of identity.

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/secret_son

Mike Personal Site: www.miketrupiano.com

Trailer

Mon, 28 Nov 2022 09:00:00 -0500

Adoptees family searches, identity, women's rights, secrecy - Secret Son covers this and more.

Every week a new interview, every week a new tale of searching, finding and secrecy.

Secret Son launches on Friday, December 16, 2022

www.secretsonpod.com

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/secret_son

Mike Personal Site: www.miketrupiano.com