I Think It's Hard For An Outsider

I'm Not Saying Cubans Don't Deserve Asylum, But If It Is A National Security Issue, There Are People Who Are Coming From Cuba On Hijacked Airplanes. Why Isn't That A National Security Issue?

I Also Know There Are Timeless Waters, Endless Seas, And Lots Of People In This World Whose Names Don't Matter To Anyone But Themselves. I Look Up At The Sky And I See You There.

When I Meet People For The First Time, I Always Put On My Glasses Because I Feel Like That's A Little Something Extra Between Me And Them. It's Like The Laurence Dunbar Poem "we Wear The Mask."

I'm Happy To Be Part Of This Chorus Of People Who Are Trying To Tell More Complex Stories About Haiti.

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.