POV | Off and Running | Interview with Avery Klein-Cloud | PBS

http://www.pbs.org/pov/offandrunning/ Avery Klein-Cloud, the subject of the P.O.V. documentary Off and Running gives us an insight into her life -- and the film. Airing on September 7, 2010 at 10pm, POV on PBS (Check your local listings).
Watch online: September 8 through December 7, 2010 Off and Running tells the story of Brooklyn teenager Avery, a track star with a bright future. She is the adopted African-American child of white Jewish lesbians. Her older brother is black and Puerto Rican and her younger brother is Korean. Though it may not look typical, Avery's household is like most American homes — until Avery writes to her birth mother and the response throws her into crisis. She struggles over her "true" identity, the circumstances of her adoption and her estrangement from black culture. Just when it seems as if her life is unraveling, Avery decides to pick up the pieces and make sense of her identity, with inspiring results. A co-production of ITVS in association with the National Black Programming Consortium and American Documentary/POV and the Diverse Voices Project, with major funding provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• adoption
• Avery
• Nicole
• Opper
• PBS
• POV
• AMDOC
• American
• Documentary
• Off
• and
• Running
• African-American
• multi-racial
• race
• identity
• cultural

[asian897]

@fight2Bfree Oh my bad. Maybe I misunderstood. The thing that's hard with comments on youtube is that when you can't see the person your replying to, often times there's a lot of misunderstanding. Sometimes I misread comments.

[fight2Bfree]

@asian897 Ofcourse i understand the need to seek your cultural identity. But you cant take my comments out of context and apply them to everyone. I would never tell all adopted children to never seek their birth parents or try to connect with the original culture. My comments were directed at Avery and her reaction to being rejected by her birth parent. She has more love and support from her adoptive parents than most kids get from their birth parents. Thats all i was saying...

[asian897]

@fight2Bfree I'm a transracial(Asian) adoptee and my adoptive parents are white. By just forgetting my original parents, I would be not acknowledging this huge part of my identity. Being Asian. My original parents are the reason that I'm Asian. When I look into a mirror, I don't see a Caucasian face, I see an Asian one. And I always become aware of being adopted and that I have a set of parents out there who are Asian as well.

Hope I'm making sense...

[asian897]

@fight2Bfree I didn't miss that part.

Of course I know that there are many birth parents that really suck and are failures as parents. I'm not that unaware. I'm just responding to your view that adoptees should just forget about their original parents completely. I guess some adoptees are able to do that, but many just can't. It's like trying to deny a part of their identity. It's not just something one can just dismiss.

[fight2Bfree]

@asian897 maybe you missed the part in the full episode where Avery found her biological mother, exchanged some letters, and was making plans to meet in person when her birth mother stopped communicating with her. Did you miss that part? I dont know of anything more cruel that a birth parent could do to a child than refuse to meet them just to say hello. Yes, not all birth parents are "worthless scum' but some ARE!!!

[ColdGripHandle]

@asian897 With her life wrong is as good as right so thats fucked up

[eschiff]

Great documentary. And she is so hot!

[asian897]

@fight2Bfree Are you adopted yourself? If you're not, I can see how you may not quite understand her intentions with wanting to meet her birth mother. Not all biological parents are "worthless scum." For many adoptees, just "forgetting about" our birth parents is like trying to deny a part of ourselves. We're constantly reminded of our biological parents whenever we look into a mirror. It's not just something you can just dismiss. I hope you understand.

[asian897]

@ColdGripHandle How is it fucked up. Yeah her life has many complications, but I don't think it's fucked up.

[chsn09]

Puerto Rican is NOT a race