All anyone can hope for is just a tiny bit of love, like a drop in a cup if you can get it, or a waterfall, a flood, if you can get that too. Edwidge Danticat More Quotes by Edwidge Danticat More Quotes From Edwidge Danticat My models were oral, were storytellers. Like my grandmothers and my aunts. It's true, a lot of people in my life were not literate in a formal sense, but they were storytellers. So I had this experience of just watching somebody spin a tale off the top of her head. I loved that. Edwidge Danticat aunt grandmother people We try to keep the beautiful memories, but other things from the past creep up on us. Edwidge Danticat beautiful memories past Once you're involved in the work, it's really just you and the characters and the words. Edwidge Danticat involved working-it character The Attorney General made another astonishing claim, that there were Pakistani terrorists possibly coming on these boats from Haiti. No one has ever seen a Pakistani coming on a boat from Haiti yet. Edwidge Danticat haiti boat claims This was a "bad" example for U.S. slaves. Haiti was subjected to an embargo from the United States, which, along with many other countries, refused to recognize this new republic. Edwidge Danticat united-states example country There [Haiti] were also leaders like Jean-Jacques Dessalines, whose motto was, "Cut their heads off, burn their houses." Edwidge Danticat cutting leader house I think we all wear some kind of mask. There are masks that shield us from others, but there are masks that embolden us, and you see that in carnival. The shiest child puts on a mask and can do anything and be anybody. Edwidge Danticat shields children thinking Vodou is one of the religions practiced in Haiti, a rich religion for the people. Edwidge Danticat haiti rich people 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. Edwidge Danticat heroin risk people It seemed from the media that we were being told that all Haitians had AIDS. At the time, I had just come from Haiti. I was twelve years old, and the building I was living in had primarily Haitians. A lot of people got fired from their jobs. At school, sometimes in gym class, we'd be separated because teachers were worried about what would happen if we bled. So there was really this intense discrimination. Edwidge Danticat teacher jobs school 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. Edwidge Danticat liars writing thinking After the Dance was my first attempt at nonfiction. I'd never really participated in carnival, and I really wanted to go. It sounded like a wonderfully fun thing to do. And I wanted to write something happy about Haiti, something celebratory. And going to carnival gave me a chance to do that, because it is one of the instances in Haiti when people shed their class separation and come together. Edwidge Danticat writing class fun Whole interaction between the storyteller and the listeners had a very powerful influence on me. Edwidge Danticat storyteller influence powerful We live now in a global culture where anything that happens in a place that's 90 minutes from your shores really affects you. Edwidge Danticat shore minutes culture The greatest gift anyone can give to a writer is time. Edwidge Danticat greatest-gifts giving I am very timid about speaking for the collective. I can say what I see, I can say what I've heard, I can say what I feel, but I can't speak for - no one can speak for - 10 million people, and it takes away something from them if you make yourself their voice. Edwidge Danticat voice speak people I think all artists are looking for a subject or are sometimes unsure of their subject, but immigrant artists bring another culture to that and they bring also the place where the original culture meets the new culture. Edwidge Danticat artist culture thinking 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." Edwidge Danticat glasses littles people 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. Edwidge Danticat joy people thinking I remember reading an interview with a writer who said that in nonfiction if you have one lie it sort of messes it up. But in fiction the real details give you so much more credibility, because people do so much research just to write fiction. In fiction you're trying to recreate something lifelike. Edwidge Danticat real reading lying
