~Reading Response (In place of writers notebook)~

Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan (Warning- this book is so complicated to try and explain because of the two authors and strange plot. I tried my best.)

                      I stand up then say, "Um, I'm Will Grayson."

                      "W-I-L-L G-R-A-Y-S-O-N?" he says, spelling impossibly fast.

                      "Uh, yeah," I say. "Why do you ask?"

                      The kid looks at me for a second, his head turned like he thinks I might be putting him                         on, and then finally he says, "Because I am also Will Grayson."

          
(This is where the two Will Graysons run in to each other and discover that they have the same name. At this point in the book, the plot picks up and the story really begins to develop.)

In this novel two very different teenage boys meet under unlikely circumstances.. they share the same name. Every other chapter is written by John Green's version of Will Grayson and the chapters in between are written by David Levithan's version of Will Grayson. I am going to refer to them as "John's" and "David's" that way the same name doesn't get confusing.

John's version of Will is a boy with not many friends who sticks to two major rules... 1.) Don't care too much and 2.) Shut up. He keeps his opinions to himself and only really has a couple of friends.

David's version of Will is a boy that I picture to still be in the "emo" phase. He doesn't like anyone but Isaac. Isaac is a boy he met online and has been talking to for about a year. He finally gets up the courage to meet Isaac in public and when Isaac never shows up, Will realizes that one of his friends made Isaac up as a prank.

This point in the book is where the two Will's accidentally meet and then their lives change forever. (Stereotypical, I know.) This is also where I am in the book so I will finish the summary on the next response.

My picture for the response is in honor of John Green because I have now read every book by him so far and I really appreciate him as an author.

The project that I have wanted to do my whole life is trace my family history and learn more about who I am. Every time the topic of heritage comes up in class most people can just say where their families came from but I have never had any idea. I would LOVE to be able to do this for my research project. The only problem is... that I can't.

I talked to my grandma this weekend to ask how impossible it would be for me to do the research and she blatantly said, "Impossible." I knew it would be hard and I would be fighting legal issues, but I didn't know that it would be impossible.

Here's why:
My mom is adopted. She was part of a closed adoption and the only thing we know is that the mother was very strictly catholic and got pregnant during her time at MSU. She decided to have the baby and participate in an adoption before her parents could find out because she knew she would be in a lot of trouble. That is the farthest back that I can trace my history on my mother's side of the family. No matter how many times I call the hospitals or DFS, I am not allowed to know anything unless the original mother agrees to it. Unfortunately, I cannot get her to agree if I don't know her name or where she is.

A picture of my birth grandmother.

I started to do this research and was shut down so quickly that I didn't learn anything new. I had a plan as well. I was going to talk to the hospital and POSSIBLY try and contact my birth grandmother. I just want to know what she is like. Would she be able to see herself through my behavior? Do I look like her? Is she the reason I have this weird button nose? I just wanted to know. But I'll never know most likely. Unless one day she decides to try and contact us and tell us about who we actually are.

I guess it doesn't really matter because my adoptive grandmother is my grandmother. I wouldn't be who I am without her and how she has raised me. Especially since I live with her now, it doesn't matter to me that we aren't technically related because our blood and DNA are different. To me, we are related because she is the only one that has always been there for me and helped me deal with my crazy parents. She immediately took me in without question when I had nowhere to go and that is what matters. I love her and she loves me and that is how it was meant to be. Without her, I would be a completely different story, and I am so glad she is in my life.

The only way I can continue this project is if I only look into my dad's side of the family which would be kind of difficult since all of his relatives are out of town and don't see me very often. At this point, I have changed my topic. This was sort of the intro into why I picked my research topic.

I am going to research the effect of closed adoption on the adopted person/child. My mother and grandmother have agreed to be my primary sources and I could even be one myself. According to most research, a lot of the time children that have been adopted acquire attachment disorders that can lead to other behavioral problems. I'm interested in how that applies to my mother and other people that have gone through the adoption process.