In Haiti You Had The Duvaliers For

People Are Just Too Hopeful, And Sometimes Hope Is The Biggest Weapon Of All To Use Against Us. People Will Believe Anything.

Misery Won't Touch You Gentle. It Always Leaves Its Thumbprints On You; Sometimes It Leaves Them For Others To See, Sometimes For Nobody But You To Know Of.

People Aren't Really Aware Of What's Happening In Other Places.

After The Dance Was My First Attempt At Nonfiction. I'd Never Really Participated In Carnival, And I Really Wanted To Go. It Sounded Like A Wonderfully Fun Thing To Do. And I Wanted To Write Something Happy About Haiti, Something Celebratory. And Going To Carnival Gave Me A Chance To Do That, Because It Is One Of The Instances In Haiti When People Shed Their Class Separation And Come Together.

I Come From A Place Where Breath, Eyes, And Memory Are One, A Place From Which You Carry Your Past Like A Hair On Your Head. Where Women Return To Their Children As Butterflies Or As Tears In The Eyes Of The Statues That Their Daughters Pray To