(This feature appeared in the Summer 1999 issue of the Bastard Quarterly.)

Shea Grimm: Bastard Goddess in Paradise

There has been a lot of activity in Bastard Nation leadership lately. Most striking is the departure of BN Co-founder and intellectual leader Shea Grimm, who moved to Hawaii with her family this summer. Shea was the impetus and the powerhouse behind getting Bastard Nation incorporated as a 501c4 nonprofit, thereby taking what for so many of us was just a dream and making it reality. Through her relentless hard work, her brilliant legal and interpretive mind, her unquenchable thirst for justice and her profound dedication to the cause of adoptee rights, Shea has made a permanent imprint on the history of the adoptee rights movement. After many years of providing incomparable leadership to adoptees through education, inspiration and action Shea has decided to step down from Bastard Nation leadership. She remains dedicated to adoptee rights and her expert advice will continue to be available to the movement. We thank her from the bottom of our Bastard hearts for all she has done for us. For her sage, ubiquitous presence online and off, for her fearless leadership and candor, for her willingness to patiently explain time and time again why we as adoptees really do have the same rights as all other citizens, and that it is time those rights were acknowledged; for all that and for so much more we thank her. If not for Shea, many of us would still be in the dark, thinking we did not deserve the same dignity as all others. Thank Goodness for Shea Grimm. We will miss her and we wish her and her family all the best.

Legislative Committee Formed

With the departure of Shea Grimm, a new Legislative Committee has been formed. Julie Dennis, Shea's chosen successor for the LegCom and BN's Northwest Regional Director, will be helping the team transition to an integrated approach to monitoring, interpreting and acting on legislative matters. The legislative commitee will include adoptee/adoptive father/attorney Martin Brandfon and adoptee/political consultant Tom Clement.

Membership Committee Moves Forward

Membership Chair Joanne Nichols is working with Kevin McCarty, Damsel Plum and Denise Castellucci to implement an improved membership development and maintenance plan. This will include improved feedback on membership applications, renewals, and general membership services. Expect more soon!

Canadian Regional Leaders Named

Bastard Nation is pleased to announce the appointment of Eastern and Western Canadian Regional Leaders. Natalie Proctor, our new Eastern Canadian Regional Leader, is an unreunited adoptee, an engineer, a student in pursuit of a Classical Studies degree, and now an activist for adoptee rights. She resides in Ottawa, Canada and can be reached at nsprocto@magma.ca. Lori Pringle, our Western Canadian Regional Leader, is a longtime advocate for adoptee rights and a Founding Foundling of Bastard Nation who lives in Calgary, Alberta. She can be reached at computer-goddess@home.com.

Financial Committee Brainstorms for Future

Donna Martz, BN's Treasurer, is working with Albert S. Wei and others in the Financial Committee on developing more focused fundraising opportunities for upcoming legislative and public relations campaigns. Your contributions count, so please donate to Bastard Nation and the Who's Next? Adoptee Rights fund. Who's Next? information can be found at http://www.plumsite.com/whosnext/

Education Committee Births Basic Bastard

The Education Committee, headed by Cynthia Bertrand Holub is currently at work on an educational booklet on adoptee rights. This booklet, The Basic Bastard, will include short, easily-digested articles on adoptee-rights issues and activism, including definitions and sample position papers. The Basic Bastard will be available at the Bastards on the Boardwalk conference in Atlantic City, New Jersey this October and soon from the Bastard Nation Bookstore online.

(This feature appeared in the Summer 1999 issue of the Bastard Quarterly.)

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