The More Practice You Have, The Less

The Whole History Between Haiti And The Dominican Republic Is Complicated. We Share The Island Of Hispaniola, And Haiti Occupied The Dominican Republic For Twenty-two Years After 1804 For Fear That The French And Spanish Would Come Back And Reinstitute Slavery. So We Have This Unique Situation Of Being Two Independent Nations On The Same Island, But With Each Community Having Its Own Grievance.

Sometimes We Mask Ourselves To Further Reveal Ourselves, And It's Always Been Connected To Me With Being A Writer: We Tell Lies To Tell A Greater Truth. The Story Is A Mask; The Characters You Create Are Masks. That Appeals To Me. Aside From That, Too, In The Carnival The Masks Were Beautiful, And Offered A Vision Of Haitian Creativity.

Often When You're An Immigrant Writing In English, People Think It's Primarily A Commercial Choice. But For Many Of Us, It's A Choice That Rises Out Of The Circumstances Of Our Lives. These Are The Tools I Have At My Disposal, Based On My Experiences. It's A Constant Debate, Not Just In My Community But In Other Communities As Well. Where Do You Belong? You're Kind Of One Of Us, But You Now Write In A Different Language.

I Hope To Be A Good Role Model For My Daughters.

All Anyone Can Hope For Is Just A Tiny Bit Of Love, Like A Drop In A Cup If You Can Get It, Or A Waterfall, A Flood, If You Can Get That Too.