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 think it is important to reach people through arts and literature, because then you establish a connection that's not an instant crisis.

They say behind mountains are more mountains.

I was able to not fold and go in a corner because I had my writing as therapy, but also as my tool for struggle.

It is the calm and silent waters that drown you.

In the 1980s, when people were just beginning to talk about AIDS, there were just a few categories of those who were at high risk: homosexuals, hemophiliacs, heroin addicts, and Haitians. We were the only ones identified by nationality.

I'm happy to be part of this chorus of people who are trying to tell more complex stories about Haiti.