We try to keep the beautiful memories, but other things from the past creep up on us.

In terms of the idea of long-term occupation - I have been reading a little bit more about this period - and you can see in that occupation are many lessons for the current occupation of Iraq. So we have these connections that go way back that people aren't aware of.

People often think of Haiti as a place where you're not supposed to have any joy. I wanted to show that this is a place with joy.

Pretend that this is a time of miracles and we believe in them.

People aren't really aware of what's happening in other places.

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.

To start with, for example this year, 2004, is the bicentennial of Haitian independence.