Book Review – Mixed – My life in black and white

“I hate undercover racism. I always hated to guess if someone is being mean / rude / nervous because they hate my race or because they are having a bad day. As I got older, I noticed that undercover racism is like depression: you know it when You feel, but it’s hard to explain it to someone who has never experienced it. It’s like a sixth sense that God has given to people of color that white people don’t believe in. We just know. “

In her 2006 memoir “Mixed: My Life in Black and White”, Angela Nissel writes about the struggles she faced while growing up biracial. Nissel’s name may be familiar to fans of the NBC comedy series “Scrubs.” She has been a staff writer for the show for four years and is now a consulting producer. As a hungry artist (also known as a freelance writer), Nissel sold a few products on eBay for extra money. The winning bidder for one of those articles was a television executive who had read her first book “The Broke Diaries” (2001), which was about her days as a bankrupt college student. The eBay winner introduced Nissel to a television literary agent who sent copies of “The Broke Diaries” to shows that hired comedy writers. Nissel had numerous job offers, but chose “Scrubs.”

His knack for the sarcastic and witty humor that is a driving force in “Scrubs” is what makes “Mixed” a must-read. When Nissel is in fourth grade, two of her classmates, Jimmy and Michael, call her a zebra. (That’s not the funny part). Nissel’s father finds out and goes to the children’s houses with Angela. Jimmy’s parents scold their son. However, Michael’s father closes the door in the face of Angela’s father. That father’s dog has been using the Nissel’s garden as a bathroom, so Angela’s father comes up with a hilarious plan involving an Ex-Lax pill. Angela asks her father if the Ex-Lax will hurt the dog. “‘No, just the rugs from Michael’s father,'” his father replies.

Later, however, Angela discovers that her father has been cheating on her mother, but even this situation is full of humor. “I already knew my parents were having problems and she suspected my father was cheating on them. (Note to parents: trying to have cryptic conversations by spelling out words no longer works once your child is reading). Then later,” Since the first discussion about my father cheating with whores, my mother had started working hard … “

The thing about this book is that comic moments are sad too. And this is Nissel’s strength: it makes you laugh, but it also makes you think. People’s comments about his appearance teach him that there is “good” hair and an “ugly” nose. The characteristics that people consider beautiful are of his white father.

He attended all-black schools, all-white schools, public, private, schools associated with different religions, but he never fit in. She was never white enough or black enough, which is why she was ruthlessly teased. “Being a mixed child, you get used to people looking at you,” he writes. She immediately follows with humor: “I learned that rolling my eyes or sticking my tongue out was the fastest way to get people to look away.” Learn that being biracial is not easier in the dating world. She notes that of six black co-workers at a production company, “five had white wives and one was dating an Asian girl.”

The book is full of Nissel’s struggles, but she doesn’t want you to feel sorry for her; she is explaining how her experiences (good or bad) made her who she is. She makes you worry about the people in her life, particularly her mother, who let her daughter change schools and religion almost as often as she changed her clothes, in an attempt to find herself. Nissel doesn’t censor herself, or anyone else, which makes for brilliant dialogue and unapologetic honesty.