When I saw the topic for the Friday morning plenary I had to get up early and make the session. “Born Across Borders: How Adoption is Reshaping the Asian American Community” hit home for me.

You see, my husband and I have two children who were adopted from Korea. Zachary, 19, was the product of a Korean birthmother and, although his paternity is not clear, we think his birthfather was an American soldier of black and Indian descent. Kelly, 16, was born to a young Korean girl and is full Korean.

The panel offered a variety of panelists:  a filmmaker who documented the adoption of a child from China; a past AAJA executive board member who adopted her son from China; a Korean adoptee; and a sister and brother (one from Taiwan and one from Korea) who were adopted into the same family.

The Taiwanese adoptee even wrote a book about her perspective of being adopted and shared revelations she later encountered.

I won’t expound too much on the topic because I am afraid I may not be able to stop myself. I could go on and on because I am very versed about international adoptions.

Needless to say, I really enjoyed the seminar and plan to try and watch the entire documentary done by the filmmaker and I already have the book written by the Taiwanese adoptee on reserve at the library.

I attended both the Social Media I and Social Media II workshops hoping to pick up some tips to sharpen my skills.

Part I was a bit too rudimentary for me but I sat through it anyway. Part II was very informative with panelists from Facebook and LinkedIn. I especially learned a lot of neat new things about LinkedIn and plan to update my account when I get home.

Like facing a buffet table, I couldn’t decide on which seminar to attend at the 3 p.m. time slot. So I tried to do two.

I caught the first half of “Creating a Business Called YOU’’ and got information from some entrepreneurs who took their journalistic skills and retooled and reshaped their careers. The most important thing I learned was that you have to be brave, energetic and persistent.

“Is Hyperlocal the Future or Just Hype’’ had an interesting panel and a lot of interaction with the audience. While the genre is still spreading like wildfire whether or not it takes hold and saves journalism remains to be seen.

— Carol Reynolds-Srot