All About Inky

Hello everyone! My name is Inky and this is my blog. I'm 10 years old and I live in New York City with my Mom and Mama. I'm unschooled, which means I don't attend traditional school. My learning is self-guided! My family travels a lot; we really value learning about other cultures and ways of life.

My family spends a lot of time in Ukraine, a country in Eastern Europe that is part of the former Soviet Union/USSR. My Mama lived there when she was a kid and my family goes back often to visit our family there. Due to Mama's connection to eastern Ukraine, she speaks Russian! In fact, her connection to Russian culture led her and Mom to adopt me when I was a toddler. I am from an ethnic group in Far East Russia called the Nanai. I was born in a city called Khabarovsk and adopted by my parents. Mom is white and was raised on the East Coast. Mama is Indigenous and is from New Mexico. One of the most important things I brought with me from Russia is my name. My full name is Marina, but I like to be called Inky.

I love living in New York City. Even when my family is not traveling, we can experience many different cultures around our city. My neighborhood is known for being very diverse; I have friends nearby from all over the world! When we first moved to New York City, I studied ballet very seriously. I even performed with a famous ballet company in some of their children's roles! After a few years, I decided that I wasn't finding joy in dancing so seriously. I decided to stop taking lessons and performing, but I still LOVE ballet! I love watching my friends perform and going to theatres in Lincoln Center to see ballets.

One of my favorite types of adventure is visiting National Park Service (NPS) sites, the public lands of the United States. The National Park Service has a program where kids can become Junior Rangers by doing workbooks about the different sites and and attending ranger programs. Kids are rewarded for their work with badges, patches, and certificates. I love National Park Service sites and I am proud to be a Junior Ranger at many, many different NPS sites. In fact, I am determined to become an interpretive park ranger when I grow up!

I'm lucky in life to have many friends, but my best friend in the whole world is Violet. She lives in Utah, so we don't see one another very often- but when we do, it's as if we have never been apart. We even travel together, all over the world!

My family is atheist, which means we are not religious. We celebrate some holidays, like Easter, in a cultural way, but we do not believe in a higher power like a God or Goddess. During the winter holiday period, we celebrate secular New Year! Since our family has a strong Russian/ Soviet influence, we decorate a tree with ornaments for New Year and eat holiday foods at that time instead of celebrating a different holiday, like Christmas or Hanukkah.

I'm proud to be from a family with two moms. Mom and Mama are raising me to be respectful of all people, aware of my privilege, and kind to everyone. Sometimes it's hard to have two moms because people make rude comments. I always remember that their rudeness is a reflection of their ignorance and not a reflection of me or my family.

I'm proud to have many intersecting identities. I'm Asian, I'm an adoptee, I'm part of the LGBTQ community, I'm unschooled, and I'm a New Yorker. Most importantly? I'm me, Inky!