Susan Kent was born in Jacksonville, FL, but at age 6 after her parents’ divorce, was moved by her mother to a tiny town in Deep South Georgia and consequently stripped of her big-city-life birthrights. She never quite got over it.
During her Fitzgerald, GA adolescence, Susan used mail order catalogs and an Utne Reader subscription as a way to connect to the outside world, and writing as a way to muddle through life in a place where she just didn’t fit in. She also used many of her relatives’ names as a way to get loads of free cassettes from Columbia House. For that, she’s mostly sorry.
After an extended gap year after high school, she began her crawl out of the south. First stop: Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College (ABAC), just 30 miles down the road in Tifton.
There she met aspiring professional bull riders, watched cowboys practice cattle roping in the parking lot, lived in a dorm decorated with deer heads, earned an A in country line dancing … and finally fulfilled her dream of once again living in a town with a mall.
Many twists and turns, and a couple of decades later, Susan is now a freelance writer and storyteller living in Brooklyn, NY. She spends her days writing articles and web copy for a variety of clients from animal mystics to professional chefs, and her evenings airing her dirty laundry at shows such as The Moth, Yum’s the Word, RISK!, Mara Wilson’s What Are You Afraid Of, and her own show, Tell It: Brooklyn.
You can also hear Susan on a variety of podcasts including The Moth, Risk! and Snap Judgment.
I just heard your Moth story on your pregnancy and giving birth and giving the baby up for adoption, etc.
I’m not trying to insult you, but I hope you’ve gotten into therapy or will do so. I can tell your childhood left you with a lot of issues. I’ve been there. If you get the right person and the right modality, therapy is very worthwhile. Good luck.
Hey Sharon,
I’ve totally been in plenty of therapy, and have learned a lot through that process. I’m not insulted in the least. I’ve also learned and grown a lot through storytelling. Thanks for listening.
xo/S
Susan, I heard your Moth story and hope you will consider connecting with Concerned United Birthparents for support. I know you say yoy are speaking for yourself, but you are doing it from a public platform and when you make a statement about not having a right to contact your adult child, that hurtst birthparents who have been working for decades to cange this archaic, secret and shaming business we call adoption.
Hi Kim,
Thanks so much for reaching out. My feeling that I don’t have a right to contact my child is a self-imposed restriction. I certainly wasn’t saying that it should be (or was because of) a law or sanctioned by any agency. I also said that I am open to her finding me if she chooses, and that I asked to leave my records public.
I don’t know about the plight of all birthparents, I just know my own story. And for me, I believe that whether I end up reconnecting with my daughter should be her choice.
xo/S