As for my slowness as a writer - that's been a struggle, no question. We live in a culture that values and rewards machine-speed productivity. Even the arts are expected to conform to the Taylor model of productivity.

I can't imagine anybody who ends up being an artist who didn't pass through a time of geekiness.

People can say what they want, but historically, feminism in the Dominican Republic has been extremely strong.

If you're a status quo writer, you're considered to not be political but that's as political as if you're a progressive writer. Some politics are asked to show their passports and others aren't. In the Dominican Republique, if you're slightly progressive, people have a lot of suspicions that you're up to some sort of conspiracy, that this is some sort of plot. On the other hand, if you're conservative and mainstream, people tend to take that as a given and don't notice the politics.

The half-life of love is forever.

The world should always be concerned whenever a vast human rights violation occurs anywhere on the planet.

Run a hand through your hair, like the white boys do, even though the only thing that runs easily through your hair is Africa.