I am famously clueless about soap operas. When I went to college, I had so little understanding of their stars that, when I heard the girls in my dorms talking about "Nancy", "Kimberly" and "Jennifer", I thought they were talking about members of their families. I can remember telling my parents what terrible lives and families these girls had until I figured it out.

But I learned enough about the basic plot lines that semester to know that there is almost always one big love, and a character who sacrifices everything for it. So I was not at all surprised to read a story in Saturday's Los Angeles Times about a soap opera writer who was making big sacrifices for a daughter adopted from Russia.

Not just the basic sacrifices we all have made of hard-earned savings to make our adoption dreams a reality or make room in a home for a new family member. Marla Kanelos, a 38-year-old writer for "All My Children", did those to be sure. According to the story, this single mom spent more than $35,000 to adopt her now 19-month-old daughter. Then she bought a small house to create a new home for the two of them. It pretty well sapped her savings, but that was manageable with her writing paychecks coming in.

Except now they aren't. Television and film writers belonging to the Writers Guild of America went on strike last week, and Marla Kanelos went with them. The reason behind the strike is the same communication tool that lets me get this column to you every day: the Internet. As the technology surrounding TV and the movies have changed--syndication, videos, DVDs--writers have won extra royalties. But the studios aren't being as gracious with the Internet.

Kanelos went on strike because she feels it is the only way to give her daughter the life she feels the aptly named Stella deserves. A life different perhaps from a little girl who was left on the doorstep of Kanelos' family's house many years ago. Here's what the LA Times writes about that:

… On a weekday morning an unfamiliar man brought a 2-year-old girl dressed in "footsie pajamas" to their family's door. The man said he'd found the child on the street and that he had to get work, but asked if they could call the police.

"I remember asking my mom if we could just keep her," recalled Kanelos, who grew up in Sacramento. "It hit my heart so hard that this little girl was so unwanted."

No, I'm not naïve enough to think the studios will be softened by one compelling story. But if you're an adoptive parent and an "AMC" fan, maybe you'll want to let them know what you think of it.

Image credit: Morguefile.com