I am unequivocally a citizen
         of the world. Pieces of me are everywhere

and somewhere – unfortunately, there is
         always war. Consequently, my

 writing is informed and consumed
         by this bleak fact. As an artist, who 

had until quite recently lived
         abroad and returned home to the States

 as a result of a civil war
         in my adopted country of Cote d'Ivoire, I am 

overwhelmed by a sense of urgency
         to share, with people who are

 privileged and protected from
         the realities of war, what those realities

 are. I am as equally besieged
         by a need to push to center stage the

 victims of war and affirm
         and give dimensions to their experiences.

     My work also addresses such
         realities as rape as a weapon of

 war, environmental
         exploitation, self-immolation, obstetric 

fistula,  the challenges of immigration, etc.