Haiti

Who is allowed to have a revolution? Who is allowed to have peace and prosperity? And why do my first thoughts about Haiti go to these deep questions instead of to the beautiful island with interesting castles? Maybe because of my Haitian friend Sabine who first pointed out to me that if Americans can have a revolution and the French can have a revolution, why would we think Haitians can’t have a revolution? Maybe because of a Haitian Lyft driver who told me the reason Haiti hasn't flourished is because no one would work with them after their revolution. Having questions about the Haitian revolution, I turned to the Khan Academy and it is quite a story! The first part is here and the second video follows: https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/world-history/1600s-1800s/haitian-revolution/v/haitian-revolution-part-1.

Trying further to get my head around Haiti, I’ve read books from Edwidge Danticat, Ibi Zoboi, and Roxanne Gay, who each contribute to the Haitian body of work in a different way. Edwidge Danticat was recommended to me by Nerni, a friend who has regular work trips to Haiti. I chose to read The Dew Breaker about a man who had worked for a previous Haitian government as a torturer. It’s not like Finding Eichman where justice is served in the end. It’s more like The Reader where the feelings of the people around the torturer are complex. And even more, it’s a uniquely Haitian story, painful and hard to read, and facing their past in their own way. Besides writing many novels, Edwidge Danticat is a frequent contributor to The New Yorker with a link to her contributions here: https://www.newyorker.com/contributors/edwidge-danticat

The other two books I read from Haitian Americans are:

· Punching the Air in which Ibi Zoboi worked with Yusef Salaam to write a novel in verse about his experience being wrongly incarcerated.

· Hunger by Roxanne Gay about some of the reasons that people forget you are a person. Sabine had recommended that I read Ayita, also by Roxanne Gay, but I couldn’t track it down. Andrea recommended that I read Bad Feminist, and it is now on my list of books to read. I appreciated her "Confessions of a Bad Feminist" TED Talk: https://www.ted.com/talks/roxane_gay_confessions_of_a_bad_feminist?language=en

Further readings from Haiti can be found here: https://www.wordswithoutborders.org/find/countries/tag/haiti

Streaming videos on Haiti that I found interesting include:

· “Haiti & Dominican Republic: An Island Divided,” an episode of Black in Latin America with Henry Louis Gates Jr on Amazon Prime.

· Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations Collection 7, Episode 1 “Haiti” which I checked out from the library and is also available on Hulu.

· Undiscovered Haiti with Jose Andres: I watched it on Kanopy, and it is also available for purchase on Amazon and with a membership on PBS.

· Bending the Arc introduces Paul Farmer’s medical work in Haiti, Peru, and Rwanda. It is available on Netflix. Books by and about Paul Farmer are easy to find. My book group read Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder a few years ago.

· Geography Now! Haiti: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0G9a2Kn6-Q

This week, feeling like I really needed more to experience Haiti from home, I called in an order for Haitian food then Dad (who is finally vaccinated!) and I drove almost an hour out and another hour back to pick up Creole snapper and legumes (a vegan, slightly bitter mix of eggplant, chayote, spinach, carrot, cabbage, and cauliflower). The back yard picnic with my parents, sisters, and nephew Austin included the fish, legumes, salad, fried green and fried ripe plantains, rice, and sauce, so we ate well! If you get a chance to support Caribbean Spices in San Rafael, please do! They had just barely opened their restaurant when the pandemic started! http://caribbeanspicessanrafael.com/

If San Rafael is too far, see here http://haitiancooking.com/ for more on Haitian cooking. Especially look for Akasan, the corn flour shake shown on Jose Andres’ video noted above.

While you cook and eat, there is plenty of Haitian music to enjoy.

· I’m currently listening to a mix of Haitian music on YouTube, starting here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xps0kdhpD2c&list=RDQMlUg4QlJ_Lcc&start_radio=1

· There is a recording of a Kennedy Center program of Haitian music here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fY10kf3_138

· This tutorial on Rhythms of Haiti with Jeff Pierre will start you drumming: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wayoZY-BMhw

I would love to visit Haiti and see the places recommended on TheCrazyTourist, especially the castles! https://www.thecrazytourist.com/15-best-things-haiti/#more-16598. Your local travel advisor will be able to advise you on making your trip fun and memorable. Shout out to my favorite travel advisor, Kaitlin Darnell at Laura's Travel in Redlands. May the travel industry survive and thrive. May we all survive, thrive, recognize our mutual humanity, learn to deal with our conflicts, and allow peace and health to flourish in Haiti and throughout the world.

Photo credit: Claudia Altamimi https://unsplash.com/photos/RwnjVzerqtI