It Is The Calm And

When You Write ,it's Like Braiding Your Hair. Taking A Handful Of Coarse Unruly Strands And Attempting To Bring Then Unity.

Language Is Such A Powerful Thing. After The Earthquake, I Went To Haiti And People Were Talking About How [they] Described This Feeling Of Going Through An Earthquake. People Really Didn't Have The Vocabulary - Before We Had Hurricanes. I'd Talk With People And They'd Say, "we Have To Name It; It Has To Have A Name."

I See The Sharp Inequality Between How Haitian And Cuban Refugees Are Treated In Florida. Both Groups Come Here Because Their Lives Are Equally Desperate. But On Arrival, The Haitians Are Incarcerated, And Some Are Immediately Repatriated, Whereas Cubans Get To Stay And Are Eligible For Citizenship.

I Think Haiti Is A Place That Suffers So Much From Neglect That People Only Want To Hear About It When It’s At Its Extreme. And That’s What They End Up Knowing About It.

I Think It Is Important To Reach People Through Arts And Literature, Because Then You Establish A Connection That's Not An Instant Crisis.