who i am digging...

two weeks ago i sat in a forum listening to the gifted edwidge danticat, author of krik? krak!, a book of beautiful short stories detailing a war-torn haiti... when i first read krik? krak! 13 years ago, i was introduced to a haiti i never knew... a beautiful, lush, green island with a history deep and soulful... people with resilience and triumph etched in their bones... and i fell in love with her poetic style of writing.
i am hooked on edwidge and though some find her work to be a little dark... i find her to be riveting... engraved in her writings is perpetual empathy... i don't see "those haitian people" but a story of us... she has found a way of capturing and revealing the human spirit and connecting us all...
a fellow in the audience asked her to write about the beauty of haiti, to flip her stories into something more colorful and lifting... and her response was "that is not my story to tell but it seems like it's yours. you write about a colorful and lifting haiti. write the stories you want to read".
she is a strong advocate for issues surrounding haiti... much like wyclef jean, she loves and cherishes her island... her pride is estimable...

last night... i sat in that same forum listening to zadie smith... now i have to admit right here that i have not read through a zadie smith novel. i have picked up, borrowed white teeth, on beauty and autograph man from the library but can't seem to get past page 100... but i dig her and my email is set to track her so i receive updates and read her book reviews and articles... i used to have her picture on my desk at work... one day my co-worker/cut buddy asks me if i was crushing her and i had to admit that i was...  see zadie is october born, just like me... we were born in the same year... and she published her first novel the same year i graduated with my bachelor's degree... something about her seems so cool... so yeah, she's my girl-crush...
i thought i would have a problem listening to her interview because she has a british accent and when they get to talking freely it could very well sound as if she's speaking a foreign language but i did all right and her interview was perfect. she spoke eloquently and read that crafty feeling, an article she wrote on her writing process.
in her interview she said that writers are always reading. they don't mind waiting for a friend they are meeting because they will always have time to read. they measure time by how much they will be allowed to read... she was funny and sarcastic... a lover of english literature and america's hip-hop and that just made me like her all the more...