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Mary Bowers

@eatbemary.bsky.social
409 followers 493 following 335 posts

I built the infrastructure. Now I advocate for the people crossing through it. 🎬 Directing my first documentary. 🇰🇷🇺🇸 Competitive Eater, Alumni. 🦑 Squid Game: The Challenge. marybowers.carrd.co

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Mary Bowers @eatbemary.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
I arrived in the US at 5 mo old, with a piece of fabric as my only possession. Decades later, I carried that flag with me at the Nathan's Famous Hotdog Eating Contest on the 4th of July. Through heartache and hotdogs, I'm finally living my American Dream 🇰🇷🌭🇺🇸 www.eatbemary.com/journal/nath...
eatbemary.com
Nathan's Famous, July 4th, and the Three Wishes That Changed My Life — Eat Be Mary
Former competitive eater Mary Bowers carried the Korean flag at the Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest in 2023 — and found her brother through a DNA test one month later. A story about adoption, i...
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Mary Bowers @eatbemary.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
Have we learned nothing from SpongeBob? Don't provoke the Plankton!
static.klipy.com
Plankton from Spongebob Sitting
ALT: Plankton from Spongebob Sitting
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Mary Bowers @eatbemary.bsky.social · 18/05/2026
Climate change is the spirits of angry ghost dinosaurs seeking revenge on humans for disrespecting their graves.
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Mary Bowers @eatbemary.bsky.social · 18/05/2026
I hear EDM in my brain when I watch this.
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Mary Bowers @eatbemary.bsky.social · 18/05/2026
Human babies should not be separated from their mothers at birth. Do first mothers even know this is happening to them when their baby is immediately taken? 🥚 pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Breastfeeding or nipple stimulation for reducing postpartum haemorrhage in the third stage of labour
Oxytocin and prostaglandin are hormones responsible for uterine contraction during the third stage of labour. Receptors in the uterine muscles are stimulated by exogenous or endogenous oxytocin leadin...
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Mary Bowers @eatbemary.bsky.social · 29/04/2026
I often wonder about the loss of living that results from plenary adoption. What would adoptees and original families be doing if their love, time, and money didn't have to be spent chasing documents, locating lost family members, or filing court cases? It’s a tragic loss for the world.
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Dr. Sandra Steingraber 🏳️‍🌈 @ssteingraber1.bsky.social · 29/04/2026
🥚 Framed as happy, this story has details that speak to the inherent cruelty of plenary adoption. No one told her she was adopted until age 7. When her adoptive parents died their bio kids rejected her. Her bio dad has to adopt her to get his name on her birth certificate apple.news/A3a0qYtJHSf-...
apple.news
For years, he didn’t know he had a daughter. At 66, he adopted her. — The Washington Post
Jennifer Skiles said hearing her father’s voice for the first time “felt like home.” Four years later, their emotional bond is now a legal one.
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Mary Bowers @eatbemary.bsky.social · 28/04/2026
Adoptees have been telling you. Forced confinement is not a "forever home." Telling the truth does not make one mentally ill. It exposes systemic sickness that needs to be treated. 🥚
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Mary Bowers @eatbemary.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
Should we really expect reasonable arguments for an unreasonable case?
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Mary Bowers @eatbemary.bsky.social · 27/03/2026
apnews.com/article/sout...
apnews.com
South Korea relaunches truth commission with focus on adoption fraud
South Korea has relaunched a fact-finding commission into its past human rights violations, with a key focus on the extensive fraud and malfeasance that corrupted the nation’s historic foreign adoptio...
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Mary Bowers @eatbemary.bsky.social · 27/03/2026
My brother is living proof that I come from somewhere, and we are not alone in this world. #adoption 🥚 www.channelnewsasia.com/cna-insider/...
channelnewsasia.com
Lies were told about who they were. Now these South Korean ‘orphans’ are reclaiming their truth
A system built on demand and stigma sent more than 200,000 Korean children overseas. CNA’s One “Orphan” Every Hour follows adoptees as they retrace fragmented pasts, find lost siblings and uncover lon...
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Mary Bowers @eatbemary.bsky.social · 14/03/2026
Adult adoptees understand the difference between privacy and secrecy. I don't post my adoptive parents' social security numbers, IDs, or passwords. Why do people assume I would treat my original family’s sensitive information with less care?
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Mary Bowers @eatbemary.bsky.social · 09/03/2026
I'm proud of him for tryin' to clean up his life after breaking into the liquor store. Looking forward to seeing him graduate!
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Bony 🦴 Skeletino 💀 @notalegalrecord.net · 07/03/2026
if you don’t like the idea that #adoptees are treated as other people’s property—despite there being a $34 billion market in children—then maybe we can agree that adoptees’ legal identities are other people’s property. “I want a child to call my own.” OK, here’s a piece of paper that proves it
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Anxious Rage @anxiousrage.blacksky.app · 03/03/2026
🚨URGENT THING: If you live in VA, please send an email TODAY to senators who voted yes today. We hopefully just need one more push to get this done. It will be heard again tomorrow Template and contacts below HB 301 will give VA-born adopted people the right to access their original birth certs.
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Mary Bowers @eatbemary.bsky.social · 27/02/2026
I'm apparently old enough to be collecting dust and something else... Sorry, I'm drawing a blank.
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Mary Bowers @eatbemary.bsky.social · 27/02/2026
And the martial law guy was sentenced to life in prison for insurrection. www.bbc.com/news/article...
bbc.com
Yoon Suk Yeol: How South Korea's democracy rallied after martial law order
Yoon Suk Yeol's life sentence for insurrection "offers a rare example of democratic resilience", experts say.
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Mary Bowers @eatbemary.bsky.social · 27/02/2026
Commission's mandate renewed. More bureaucracy. Some logistics. TRC is now continuing investigation and accepting new cases. Link to submission guides here: linktr.ee/earsonncrc
linktr.ee
earsonncrc | Instagram, Facebook | Linktree
EARS is an adoptee-run group watching out for the records transfer from adoption agencies to the NCRC.
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Mary Bowers @eatbemary.bsky.social · 27/02/2026
First TRC report released. Only a few cases resolved; majority delayed indefinitely. Commission's mandate expires. New administration takes office. Policy and budget debates at the National Assembly. Opposition party filibuster. TRC renewal finally moves from committee to floor vote.
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Mary Bowers @eatbemary.bsky.social · 27/02/2026
Martial law delayed the first report. A new Truth and Reconciliation Commission Chair was appointed by the former President a few days after declaring martial law. There were massive protests over the martial law declaration itself. President impeached. Citizens vote.
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Mary Bowers @eatbemary.bsky.social · 27/02/2026
Will do the best I can, but the world timeline is nuttier than squirrels right now 🐿.
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Mary Bowers @eatbemary.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
My adoptive parents read me an adoption storybook with illustrations of children in a pet store window and a gumball machine. Let's play a game! Guess who has more legal protections. Is it: A. a human baby? B. a puppy? or C. Bubble Yum?
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Mary Bowers @eatbemary.bsky.social · 21/02/2026
After three generations of pew pew drills (millennial, Z, alpha), she's right. We've normalized it.
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Mary Bowers @eatbemary.bsky.social · 19/02/2026
Looking forward to watching movies and wearing my favorite shoes in peace 🇰🇷
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Mary Bowers @eatbemary.bsky.social · 19/02/2026
Sweetest baby, Nayoung 🌸. You will grow up to be so proud of the woman you'll become one day. She will seek truth and justice. She will be the protector you always needed. I promise, she will return for you. And she loves you very, very much 💔
One of the few known pre-adoption baby photos of Nayoung Jung (aka. Mary Bowers). Estimated age 4 monthsPhotos of 16 Korean born adoptees as babies and children, prior to being sent overseas - many with falsified identity records. Published by Hankyoreh
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Mary Bowers @eatbemary.bsky.social · 19/02/2026
“입양이라는 인신매매, 수령국 자료 확인하면 입체적 조사될 것” "Human trafficking through adoption will be investigated in detail if data from the recipient country is verified." n.news.naver.com/mnews/articl...
n.news.naver.com
“입양이라는 인신매매, 수령국 자료 확인하면 입체적 조사될 것” [안녕 진화위⑱]
‘안녕’은 작별이자 환영의 인사다. 5년간 과거사 조사기구로 활동해온 2기 진실·화해를위한과거사정리위원회(진실화해위 또는 진화위)가 지난해 11월26일 역사 속으로 사라지고, 오는 2월26일 제3기 진실화해위가 출범
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Mary Bowers @eatbemary.bsky.social · 17/02/2026
I feel more like a tumbleweed than part of a tree 🥚
media.tenor.com
a blurred image of a desert landscape with trees and bushes
Alt: A lone tumbleweed is blown across the desert without a destination
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Mary Bowers @eatbemary.bsky.social · 13/02/2026
Archivists around the world are invited to join ongoing advocacy efforts to preserve historical adoption records in Korea. Your expertise, integrity, and care help safeguard truth and inspire future generations. earsonncrc.org
earsonncrc.org
Ears on NCRC - Support for Adoptees
Professional information and post-adoption care on behalf of Ears on NCRC.
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Mary Bowers @eatbemary.bsky.social · 13/02/2026
I just wanted my adoption records 🥚. Now I guess I'm becoming the Hulk? Archival science is wild. naver.me/GntZxp4e
naver.me
입양기록물 방사선 소독 적절?…권익위 들여다본다
보건복지부 산하 공공기관인 아동권리보장원이 국가 중요 기록물인 입양기록물을 소독하는 과정에서 부적절한 자문 및 위법방식을 강행하려 했다는 의혹과 관련해 국민권익위원회와 한국원자력연구원이 정식 조사에 착수했다. 서울
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Mary Bowers @eatbemary.bsky.social · 07/02/2026
Adoptees are mirrors that reflect the emotions of our adoptive parents. In it, many parents see their own suppressed anger around infertility. Society hails adopters as heroes, though some honestly feel like they failed at making a family. Why would they feel grateful for that?
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Mary Bowers @eatbemary.bsky.social · 07/02/2026
Dehumanization in a make believe world makes people more tolerant of mistreatment IRL.
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Bony 🦴 Skeletino 💀 @notalegalrecord.net · 07/02/2026
The National Council for Adoption has millions of dollars, reflecting the lopsided “demand side” of the industry: affluent hopeful adopters. Birthmothers, by contrast, repeatedly tell us that if they had even a little more financial stability, they could have chosen to keep their children. +
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Mary Bowers @eatbemary.bsky.social · 31/01/2026
Whether from war, trafficking, immigration policy, or plenary adoption, involuntary family separation is a wound that lasts a lifetime. Sending courage to parents searching and hope to children missing them. May you find strength to keep moving toward reunion and safety. youtu.be/bqFGN0FE3lA?...
youtu.be
Labeled an "Orphan", She Discovers a Biological Brother 23 Years Younger. Is It Too Late?
YouTube video by CNA Insider
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Mary Bowers @eatbemary.bsky.social · 29/01/2026
If you or an adoptee you care about has questions about vital records or proof of citizenship, this guide may help. While written with Korean adoptees in mind, Appendices D and E are useful for all internationally adopted Americans. auskrg.com/resources
auskrg.com
Resources
Guidebook on Korean Citizenship Status for Adopted Koreans Adoptee Mental Health Guide
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Michigan Adoptee Rights Coalition @michiganadoptees.bsky.social · 28/01/2026
To Adoptive Parents and Policymakers: International adoption cannot be separated from our immigration policy. 🥚
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Anxious Rage @anxiousrage.blacksky.app · 27/01/2026
California SB381 just passed the Senate (CA-born adult adoptee access to their original birth certificates) On to the House next LFG!!!
caallianceforadopteerights.org
California Adoption Legislation - California Alliance
Join us to secure California adoptees' rights to original birth certificates. Advocate for equal access now!
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Mary Bowers @eatbemary.bsky.social · 28/01/2026
Though Australia has apologized for indigenous adoptions, human rights abuses related to international and other forms of domestic adoption have not yet been acknowledged. Please continue to listen to Australian adoptees and amplify their voices.
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Anxious Rage @anxiousrage.blacksky.app · 25/01/2026
🚨🚨VA RESIDENTS: Want to do some advocacy from home this weekend? HB301 will give VA-born adopted people the right to access their original birth certificates and will be heard by the full VA House **before Fri 1/30**. More details and email templates below
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Mary Bowers @eatbemary.bsky.social · 26/01/2026
Is "did he have a permit?" the new "what was she wearing?"
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Bony 🦴 Skeletino 💀 @notalegalrecord.net · 25/01/2026
i’m a librarian and i really love archivists and their mission. we librarians serve the people of the present. archivists serve posterity.
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Mary Bowers @eatbemary.bsky.social · 24/01/2026
I use the education from my Better Life Adoptee Starter Pack every day! I learned all about racism, classism, and eugenics. I even received a Proximity to Privilege Membership Card! (Silver status. Have to perform gratitude to earn Gold or Platinum level.) I especially love the unseasoned snacks!
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Anxious Rage @anxiousrage.blacksky.app · 23/01/2026
These are the horrors I want adoptive parents to sit with when they allow themselves to believe that the reason why contact stops from the mothers who lost their children is because the adoptee they're raising "wasn't wanted"
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Mary Bowers @eatbemary.bsky.social · 23/01/2026
It's likely she intentionally chooses her audience whenever she tells this story. Honest people seek truth. Those who are dishonest or in denial seek validation.
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Mary Bowers @eatbemary.bsky.social · 23/01/2026
If this is how she speaks to toddlers, then yeah. She's a DITCH. You deserve to be heard and loved, no matter what age you are ❤️
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Bony 🦴 Skeletino 💀 @notalegalrecord.net · 22/01/2026
another piece about the adoption industry’s model state of Utah just came out. If you think using coercion and deception to speedily strip a person of their child forever raises ethical problems, maybe take a look at Utah. 🥚
sltrib.com
Pregnant, alone and bused to Utah: How the state became a hub for out-of-state adoptions
She was pregnant, alone and searching for help. An adoption agency told her to come to Utah — where birth mothers can sign away parental rights just 24 hours after delivery. Critics say Utah’s laws ha...
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Mary Bowers @eatbemary.bsky.social · 23/01/2026
I am entitled to my human and Constitutional rights, regardless of my emotions around adoption. That's why I feel so strongly about it 🥚
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Mary Bowers @eatbemary.bsky.social · 22/01/2026
It's distressing to think of how many adults are willing to sacrifice the rights of others in exchange for personal gain. Still, I know there are many more adults who are courageous enough to speak out against injustice. On my worst days, I am inspired by them. On my best days, I am one of them ✊️
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Mary Bowers @eatbemary.bsky.social · 22/01/2026
After years of being called "ungrateful," being told I "should have been aborted," or "thrown in a dumpster," I started to believe that there was something wrong with me. Seeing my human rights in writing, ratified by every country (except for 🇺🇸) helped me understand that I was never the problem
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Bony 🦴 Skeletino 💀 @notalegalrecord.net · 21/01/2026
another heartwrenching part of the story of the Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo is the resistance they encountered from adopters over returning the children to their original families. And the Abuelas tended only to press these claims against adopters who had reason to believe the children had been stolen.
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Mary Bowers @eatbemary.bsky.social · 20/01/2026
She is underestimating the emotional and psychological toll of systemic harm to herself as a witness. Taking care of neighbors and friends IS taking care of ourselves.
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