People Aren't Really Aware Of What's Happening

We Live Now In A Global Culture Where Anything That Happens In A Place That's 90 Minutes From Your Shores Really Affects You.

Aids Was Something That Was Put Upon Us [as Haitians], And We Were Immediately Identified With It. That Is Unfair. That Is Unjust. I Always Say, "we Are All People Living With Aids." It's Not Like You Can Avoid It. It's Part Of Our World.

Language Is Such A Powerful Thing. After The Earthquake, I Went To Haiti And People Were Talking About How [they] Described This Feeling Of Going Through An Earthquake. People Really Didn't Have The Vocabulary - Before We Had Hurricanes. I'd Talk With People And They'd Say, "we Have To Name It; It Has To Have A Name."

Even When I Think Of Writing Fiction, It's Being Kind Of A Liar, A Storyteller, A Weaver, And There's That Sense Of How Much Of This Is Your Life. The Story Is A Way You Unravel Your Life From Behind A Mask.

People Think That There Is A Country There That These People Are Only Around When They Are On Cnn. I Don't Think That's Limited To Haiti.