Fern Schumer Chapman's Blog, page 13
August 13, 2022
A Reader Says Thanks!
I am 73 pages {also my age!) from finishing your book – “Brothers, Sisters: Strangers” and had to stop and say “thank you”…. I’m spending a month in Maine, my home state, in the fall and am planning on reaching out to my oldest niece. She left me a message last spring and I just wasn’t ready to respond. Your book is giving me the insight I need to be courageous. At my mother’s deathbed, my brother told me in no uncertain terms to not have any contact with him, his wife, or their five children. Despite the pain of losing Mom and Craig and his family all at the same time, there was a measure of relief – i knew I could not take any more of the abuse I had been subjected to on and off over the years. I had to take care of myself. And I have…. Now, more than a decade later, I’m hopeful that I’ve grown enough, that I’m strong enough, to reach out with an open mind and a loving heart and see if “reconnection” and “reconciliation” are possible. Your book has put in print before my eyes so many of the things I have learned about myself and my family of origin – and has added so many more clear, concise points of reference – and has actually given me lists of advice for taking action, for being aware of minefields along the way. I have discovered hope reading you words – at the same time gaining a grounded realization of what is possible and what may never be. So, please add my name and thoughts to the many you most surely have who are indebted to your story telling and your research and your shared compilation of both. Maureen Lee
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August 8, 2022
Remarkable find in my mother’s old photo album!
Last week, my 97-year-old mother found a remarkable photograph in an old album! It captures the group of unaccompanied minors she traveled with from Germany to America in March, 1938. Taken on the ship, my mother is in the bottom row, hands on her head to stop the sharp winds from blowing her hair in her face. Right next to her is her best friend on the ship, Gerda Katz. The two lost touch with each other after their arrival.When 8th-grade students read IS IT NIGHT OR DAY? — the story of the girls’ immigration journey and friendship at 12 — they were inspired to do a class project to research their immigration experience, locate Gerda, and reunite the two women. The students were successful! In 2011, 72 years after this picture was taken, the two old friends finally saw each other again in a remarkable reunion in Seattle, Washington..
Link to book on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Night-Day-Fern-Schumer-Chapman/dp/B0B4BFML97/ref=sr_1_2?crid=2EAAF06EB4M7P&keywords=is%20it%20night%20or%20day%20by%20fern%20schumer%20chapman&qid=1659961430&sprefix=is%20it%20night%20or%20day%2Caps%2C180&sr=8-2L&fbclid=IwAR2MbpAnbzKUeqq0QExtZfziKfmdg3doPpjuWtxDUtKf2uTvPh_yHsRJqDcThe post Remarkable find in my mother’s old photo album! appeared first on Fern Schumer Chapman.
August 6, 2022
Five ways Estrangement Does Lifelong Damage
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July 25, 2022
The Stigma of Sibling Estrangement
The estranged feel judged by a culture that expects family cohesion. Many view a cutoff as a personal failing.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/bl...
The post The Stigma of Sibling Estrangement appeared first on Fern Schumer Chapman.
The stigma of sibling estrangement
The estranged feel judged by a culture that expects family cohesion. Many view a cutoff as a personal failing.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/bl...
The post The stigma of sibling estrangement appeared first on Fern Schumer Chapman.
July 19, 2022
Driven by Books: Adventures on the Bookmobile – So this happened last night!
ILast night, I had the great thrill of checking out one of my own books to a bookmobile patron!
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July 13, 2022
New edition of IS IT NIGHT OR DAY with new cover and new Author’s Note
New edition of IS IT NIGHT OR DAY? with new cover and new Author’s note. My mother’s story of childhood immigration is more relevant than ever, as parents in our war-torn world are forced to rip their families apart and send their children away to safety.
In the 1930s and 40s, Lutherans, Quakers, and Jewish groups organized a program that used cruise ships to rescue Jewish children in Nazi-occupied countries. This effort saved about 1,400 youngsters —mostly unaccompanied minors — who are now known as the “One Thousand Children.” My mother was among those saved. The Nazis murdered 1.5 million children in concentration camps.
The cover photo captures some of the One Thousand Children as they approached the Statue of Liberty.
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July 10, 2022
How the Pandemic has altered the definition of the “family”
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/brothers-sisters-strangers/202207/how-the-pandemic-has-altered-the-definition-familyThe post How the Pandemic has altered the definition of the “family” appeared first on Fern Schumer Chapman.
How the Pandemic has Altered the definition of the “Family”
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/brothers-sisters-strangers/202207/how-the-pandemic-has-altered-the-definition-familyThe post How the Pandemic has Altered the definition of the “Family” appeared first on Fern Schumer Chapman.
June 30, 2022
How estrangement can echo through generations
Latest psychologytoday.com post:
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