Girl in the Yellow Poncho

Kristal Brent Zook is Professor of Journalism at Hofstra University and author of Color by Fox: The Fox Network and the Revolution in Black Television, Black Women’s Lives: Stories of Pain and Power, and I See Black People: The Rise and Fall of African American-Owned Television and Radio. Zook’s entertainment, cultural, and social justice journalism has appeared in Vanity Fair, the New Yorker, Life, Entertainment Weekly, the New York Times Book Review, Essence, the Washington Post, and elsewhere. She lives in Miami and New York.

• Preface  ixAcknowledgments xi1. Kansas Avenue  12. Uncle Mervin  73. Noches  134. Laurel Canyon  175. Dra  236. Hollywood Boulevard  277. Rockin’ Out  338. College Bound  419. Activist  4710. Light-Skinned  5511. Taking a Chance  6312. Dad  6913. ABD  7914. Detour  8715. Writer  9516. Pain  10517. Australia  11118. Hiding  11919. An Adventure  12720. Alfonso  13321. A New Life  14122. Multiracial  14923. Forgiving  15524. Memories  15925. Vashon Island  16326. Thanksgiving  17127. Lisa  17728. Rekindled  18329. Rage  18930. A Birthday  19531. Mothers  19932. Transformation  207

“After thirty years of reporting, Kristal Brent Zook has turned inward to write a deeply personal, frank, and inspirational story about race and class.” - Ada Calhoun, author of (Why We Can't Sleep: Women's New Midlife Crisis) “Kristal Brent Zook’s coming-of-age memoir is a thought-provoking tale of triumph outdistancing pain, of never giving up on love and hope despite childhood traumas and a broken family. Kristal writes so beautifully and urgently. The Girl in the Yellow Poncho will absolutely absorb you.” - Kevin Merida, coauthor of (Obama: The Historic Campaign in Photographs) “Brilliantly capturing the complexities of contemporary Black women’s experiences, The Girl in the Yellow Poncho is the most riveting, compelling memoir I have read.” - Beverly Guy-Sheftall, Anna Julia Cooper Professor of Women's Studies, Spelman College “Kristal’s story touched me deeply. It will touch everyone who has struggled with feeling the ‘in-betweenness’ that propels her riveting heroine’s journey to define herself and create the family for which she yearned. The writing is as powerful as the message: love ultimately triumphs.” - Gloria Feldt, author of (Intentioning: Sex, Power, Pandemics, and How Women Will Take the Lead for (Everyone's) Good) “Kristal Brent Zook’s memoir is a wrenching, riveting and luminous coming-of-age story about what it means to grow up biracial. Her journey reads like a multigenerational tale woven by strong biracial and Black women-in this case, the daughters, mothers and grandmothers of Zook’s family. With grace and generosity, Zook offers a universal testament to the power of forgiveness and healing-and the strength found through discovering one’s authentic identity. At a time when we often feel lost, this memoir reveals what it means to be found.” - Katrina vanden Heuvel, Publisher, (The Nation) “Kristal Brent Zook has written an honest, illuminating look at her life, loves and culture.” - Nelson George, author of (City Kid: A Writer's Memoir of Ghetto Life and Post-Soul Success) "A powerful memoir about a woman’s odyssey for connection, self-identity, and love." (Kirkus Reviews) "In this intimate and generous memoir, Kristal Brent Zook explores the complexities of her past and the consummation of her present as a biracial daughter of a white father who left and the Black mother and grandmother who raised her." - Karla J. Srand (Ms. Magazine) “Zook recalls a childhood haunted by her missing father-and complicated by his return. A brave, heart-stirring memoir.” (People)