“Unreality & the Yellow Blouse” — Apostrophe and Ampersand, Issue One: Firsts
Yentli’s essay Unreality & the Yellow Blouse was published in Apostrophe and Ampersand, Issue One: Firsts — a literary journal of creative nonfiction. The piece was originally written anonymously. After Yentli went public as a C9orf72 genetic carrier, she chose to attach her name to it.
“Remember that on the day my dad was diagnosed, I wore a yellow shirt to accompany him to appointments? I thought no matter the results, somehow everything would be OK if I wore a happy yellow. He died a year later.”
433 words. Creative nonfiction. Built around Ball Park Music’s “Surrender” — a song Yentli had on repeat as she accompanied her father through his final year and began to reckon with her own genetic fate. The essay moves between memory and present, between grief and resolve, ending on the fragile but real power of a yellow blouse to buffer the worst days.
Illustration by danaexgloria.