The way the media cycle works, the way the news works, and the way people's attention span works, is that we only learn that people exist when there is crisis.

Vodou is one of the religions practiced in Haiti, a rich religion for the people.

And the fact that Haiti was occupied for 19 years by the United States, from 1915 to 1934.

I come from a place where breath, eyes, and memory are one, a place from which you carry your past like a hair on your head. Where women return to their children as butterflies or as tears in the eyes of the statues that their daughters pray to

They say behind mountains are more mountains.

America's relationship with Haiti has always been very complicated. I often say to people, "Before we came to America, America came to us in the form of the American occupation from 1915 to 1934."

It's not a matter of whether the reviews of your books are good or bad, it's about being taken seriously, both as a woman writer and as a writer of color. Also, it worries me when people point to a couple of women writers or writers of color who get some attention - and I am sometimes pulled into that category - to prove that others are getting a fair shot. It's like those people who keep saying that racism no longer exists in this country because Barack Obama was a President of the United States.