People Are Just Too Hopeful, And Sometimes

The Past Is Like The Hair On Our Head. I Moved To New York When I Was Twelve, But You Always Have This Feeling That Wherever You Come From, You Physically Leave It, But It Doesn't Leave You.

I Was Neither Doing These People Nor Myself A Favor By Showing Up When My Heart Wasn't In It. There Were Not Getting The Real Me, The Whole Me, The True Me.

I Love The Process Of Cracking The Spine For The First Time And Slowly Sinking Into A Book. That Will Soon Seem Old-fashioned, I'm Sure, Like The Time Of Illuminated Manuscripts.

The People Did Not Elect Me. I Speak With One Voice That May Echo Other People, But I Am Part Of A Group Of People. That's Not Distancing Yourself From A Community, That's Also Allowing The Space For Others To Speak For Themselves.

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.