The Past Is Like The Hair On

There Is This Split Between The Haiti Of Before The Earthquake And The Haiti Of After The Earthquake. So When I'm Writing Anything Set In Haiti Now, Whether Fiction Or Nonfiction, Always In The Back Of My Mind Is How People, Including Some Of My Own Family Members, Have Been Affected Not Just By History And By The Present But Also By The Earthquake.

More And More People Are Able To Access Information - Thank Goodness We Have The Internet And If You Are Interested You Can Find Things. Which Is Different Than Even 20 Years Ago.

To Start With, For Example This Year, 2004, Is The Bicentennial Of Haitian Independence.

I Am Very Timid About Speaking For The Collective. I Can Say What I See, I Can Say What I've Heard, I Can Say What I Feel, But I Can't Speak For - No One Can Speak For - 10 Million People, And It Takes Away Something From Them If You Make Yourself Their Voice.

When You Write, It’s Like Braiding Your Hair. Taking A Handful Of Coarse Unruly Strands And Attempting To Bring Them Unity. Your Fingers Have Still Not Perfected The Task. Some Of The Braids Are Long, Others Are Short. Some Are Thick, Others Are Thin. Some Are Heavy. Others Are Light. Like The Diverse Women Of Your Family. Those Whose Fables And Metaphors, Whose Similes And Soliloquies, Whose Diction And Je Ne Sais Quoi Daily Slip Into Your Survival Soup, By Way Of Their Fingers.