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writing the journey

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  • #WakingUpWhite
  • Events
  • Comment Policy
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact Me
  • Books and Other Works

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  • Food,  kreyòl ayisyen

    Food Is Family

    May 7, 2023 /

    You just can’t get into Haitian culture if you don’t try pikliz. It’s colorful, flavorful, with a kick of spice, & epitomizes Haitian cuisine and culture.

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    My First Foray into the Field

    November 16, 2023

    Seeing with a New Tongue

    August 27, 2023
  • Several Haitian schoolchildren line up for a picture.
    American Exceptionalism,  challenges,  education,  kreyòl ayisyen,  language

    Sometimes our brains tell the truth while our emotions lie

    May 3, 2023 /

    I felt so slow and ignorant. I’m not that advanced, not at all, and I am a slow learner who is just not going to get much further along than I am. I’m feeling so discouraged.

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    Sliding Away from Relevancy

    September 24, 2019
    A montage of human faces overlaid by various color filters.

    What makes someone a human?

    March 2, 2023
    man in yellow and black plaid shirt sits on bed looking at camera

    History as Cassandra

    August 30, 2022
  • An ocean shore in the tropics. A line of palms stretches from the lower left to the middle right.
    American Exceptionalism,  history,  justice

    When you think you want to help

    April 28, 2023 /

    If you see Haiti and you have the urge to “help,” I would suggest that Haitians don’t really need you to come help them. Haitians, like all humans, have great intelligence, drive, creativity, and their own sense of self-worth. If you want to help, find and support Haitians who are doing that work. It doesn’t give you a place to be centered and it won’t provide photo opportunities of you “helping” Haitians. But it will help Haitians by letting them do for themselves.

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    News and Updates

    April 13, 2019
    Two men having a conversation

    #WakingUpWhite Chapter 31: Courageous Conversations

    October 6, 2019
    Man staring out window

    #WakingUpWhite Chapter 32: Getting Over Myself

    October 14, 2019
  • American Exceptionalism,  Black Lives Matter,  faith,  history,  justice,  racism,  violence

    When it is too much to bear but must be borne

    April 18, 2023 /

    How do I make my faith work anymore (and maybe it never did) when such a very Christian nation seems incapable of seeing the violence we are initiating, celebrating, and dismissing, often while claiming the name of Jesus?

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    Two men having a conversation

    #WakingUpWhite Chapter 31: Courageous Conversations

    October 6, 2019

    The Barley Soup Recipe

    January 2, 2019
    A white man in a hat smiles at a white woman who smiles back.

    REVIEW: Good White Racist?

    May 24, 2021
  • protest march with a sign that says "No Justice No Peace."
    American Exceptionalism,  Black Lives Matter,  faith,  history,  justice,  racism,  violence

    When we resist, we resist completely

    April 8, 2023 /

    You want to terrify politicians? Take away their signs of power which are "respect" and obedience and decorum and complacency. Trip them up, make a point to oppose them at every turn, continuously point out their failures, and continuously refuse to accord them the power to silence you.

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    #WakingUpWhite Chapter 15: The Whole Story

    March 14, 2019
    Brass key sitting on fallen leaves

    Hard Questions, Hard Answers

    June 20, 2021

    Words and Deeds

    March 3, 2019
  • A street scene in Jakmèl, Ayiti. (also known as Jacmel, Haiti) A colonnade with several open bays.
    education,  humor,  kreyòl ayisyen,  language

    Maurice Sixto and His Stories

    March 27, 2023 /

    There is a lot to unpack here, and while the story is interesting, it’s difficult for me because I don’t understand some of the references to the local customs.

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    M toujou ap aprann – I’m still learning

    January 20, 2025
    A book cover. A young boy holding his bicycle is kissed by a young girl.

    Mwen damou pou Vava – a story

    March 17, 2023

    To Study Portuguese

    February 20, 2019
  • A book cover. A young boy holding his bicycle is kissed by a young girl.
    Books,  education,  humor,  kreyòl ayisyen,  language,  reviews

    Mwen damou pou Vava – a story

    March 17, 2023 /

    I could hear this young kid narrating this story. “My friends, you know me, and you know I wouldn’t tell you stories. But one day I met a girl—or maybe I just saw a girl—and I’ve not been able to remember what life was like before she existed.”

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    REVIEW: Subversive Witness: Scripture’s Call to Leverage Privilege

    December 12, 2021
    A white man in a hat smiles at a white woman who smiles back.

    REVIEW: Good White Racist?

    May 24, 2021

    Review: When They Call You a Terrorist

    February 9, 2019
  • A montage of human faces overlaid by various color filters.
    American Exceptionalism,  faith,  family,  history,  justice,  kreyòl ayisyen,  language

    What makes someone a human?

    March 2, 2023 /

    Rather than seek to deny the humanity of gay people and trans people, what about using your religion to help you decide to know more about them so that you can love them better?

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    #WakingUpWhite Chapter 7: The GI Bill

    February 11, 2019
    A child stands at the bottom of stone steps, considering how to overcome a seemingly impossible challenge.

    #WakingUpWhite Chapter 41: From Bystander to Ally

    February 21, 2020
    man in yellow and black plaid shirt sits on bed looking at camera

    History as Cassandra

    August 30, 2022
  • An inflated semi-circle arching over a racetrack. It is labeled FINISH
    history,  kreyòl ayisyen,  language

    It’s Been a Minute…

    February 23, 2023 /

    It was 365 days ago I first started using #Duolingo to begin my journey learning Haitian Creole (#kreyol #ayisyen). Why?

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    To Wrestle with the Angel

    February 25, 2019

    Moral Switzerlands

    July 15, 2019

    #WakingUpWhite Chapter 11: Headwinds and Tailwinds

    February 26, 2019
  • A person climbs a sheer cliff.
    kreyòl ayisyen,  language

    Day 360 : Se Papa Li, Se Pa Pa Li

    February 18, 2023 /

    There are times when I feel pretty good about my abilities, and then there are other times when I think I am the most ignorant and ill-taught student ever.

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    A book cover for "Chita Pa Bay". An outline of a man With one hand he is holding a conch shell to his lips to sound an alarm, and with his other he holds a machete.

    I begin “Chita Pa Bay”

    December 31, 2022

    2-3-5 are prime days for learning

    October 24, 2022

    Short stories and lengthy processes

    January 16, 2023
  • A spider web, close up, illuminated by the morning sun. Behind it is a forest.
    kreyòl ayisyen,  language

    The Subtle Traps for the Unwary Learner

    February 8, 2023 /

    But then you start constructing your more complicated sentences and paragraphs, and it seems that every phrase has another chance to pick the not-quite-right grammatical construction or phrase or word

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    An inflated semi-circle arching over a racetrack. It is labeled FINISH

    It’s Been a Minute…

    February 23, 2023

    Day 270 of the Infinite Journey

    November 19, 2022

    Seeing with a New Tongue

    August 27, 2023
  • kreyòl ayisyen,  language

    Bogs and marshes and slogs oh my!

    January 31, 2023 /

    Yesterday in class I read two pages of text, out loud, and then translated them on the fly, to the point where I was laughing out loud at some of the more ridiculous events in the story.

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    One thing more

    November 20, 2022

    The Real 300

    December 19, 2022

    My First Foray into the Field

    November 16, 2023
  • A blue police light shining in a dark background.
    American Exceptionalism,  Black Lives Matter,  history,  justice,  racism,  violence

    Safety monitors

    January 28, 2023 /

    That Good Samaritan did a good thing to someone in distress, and if the story stops there, then we have learned a good lesson, right? But what the story doesn’t tell us in the background, and doesn’t tell us “the rest of the story.”

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    #WakingUpWhite Chapter 9: White Superiority

    February 19, 2019
    A stramd of barbed wire running horizontally

    When Our Bibles Get It Wrong

    February 27, 2022

    When it is too much to bear but must be borne

    April 18, 2023
  • Two matching windows, side by side, with matching shutters. There is a flowerpot in each window.
    faith,  history,  justice,  kreyòl ayisyen,  language

    De Kestyon, Reponn (Two Questions, Answered)

    January 26, 2023 /

    This kreyòl version is blunt: “Lè Josèf leve nan dòmi an, li fè sa anj Senyè a te di l la. Li marye ak Mari. Malgre sa, li te tann jouktan pitit la fèt anvan l te antre nan zafè sèks ak mari. Li rele pitit ki te fèt la Jezi.”—“When Joseph woke up from his sleep, he did what the angel of the Lord told him. He got married to Mary. Despite this, he waited until the child was born before entering into sex with Mary. He called the child that was born Jesus.”

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    Review: When They Call You a Terrorist

    February 9, 2019

    Fieldnotes on Allyship: Now in Print

    October 10, 2020
    church building in an empty field. The sky is gloomy. A fence runs down the right side of the picture.

    Can This Racial Division Be Healed?

    February 11, 2021
  • kreyòl ayisyen,  language,  short story

    Short stories and lengthy processes

    January 16, 2023 /

    This week’s follow-up assignment was to write my own story, in Haitian Creole, using the grammatical constructions, and build out a similar example of dialog, interaction, and choices. Then, after writing it, I had to read the story and record it, and send the recording to my instructor.

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    Photo by Justin Heap on Unsplash

    Looking back 300 days

    December 16, 2022
    White cat stretching on a brown wooden plank

    Two Things

    June 29, 2024
    A book cover. A young boy holding his bicycle is kissed by a young girl.

    Mwen damou pou Vava – a story

    March 17, 2023
  • education,  kreyòl ayisyen,  language

    Binary confidence (Binè konfyans)

    January 11, 2023 /

    I have two states of feeling when it comes to learning a language–I am either exhilarated or I am in the pit of despair. This week my instructor gave me praise on my reading of a short story in kreyòl as well as on my answers in kreyòl, and as this came from an instructor who has very high standards, I was elated. Perhaps I am not as slow as I thought I am! And he gave me some very simple instructions for this week: write a short story that has a similar situation (two people in a discussion trying to make several decisions in order to use some of…

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    #WakingUpWhite Chapter 20: My Robin Hood Syndrome

    April 9, 2019
    A Haitian man wearing a plaid tan shirt stands on a hillside looking over the valleys and hills below him.

    Ayiti se yon lide—Haiti is an idea

    January 3, 2023

    Eighteen Months In

    September 19, 2023
  • A Haitian man wearing a plaid tan shirt stands on a hillside looking over the valleys and hills below him.
    education,  history,  kreyòl ayisyen,  language

    Ayiti se yon lide—Haiti is an idea

    January 3, 2023 /

    It’s hard to overestimate the effects of that quake upon Haiti and Haitians. Twelve years later and so much has not yet been repaired. It was an earthquake that traumatized people—some who today cannot even handle being in a parking garage when a large truck drives by because the floors begin to vibrate and shake.

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    Binary confidence (Binè konfyans)

    January 11, 2023

    #WakingUpWhite Chapter 10: The Melting Pot

    February 22, 2019
    Several Haitian schoolchildren line up for a picture.

    Sometimes our brains tell the truth while our emotions lie

    May 3, 2023
  • A book cover for "Chita Pa Bay". An outline of a man With one hand he is holding a conch shell to his lips to sound an alarm, and with his other he holds a machete.
    education,  humor,  kreyòl ayisyen,  language

    I begin “Chita Pa Bay”

    December 31, 2022 /

    So I’m really loving this book because I have to read it and understand it to know what’s going on – but even better than that is that the story is engaging and challenging and funny. I can just see the interactions between the valiant Mannwèl, who’s curious and active in solving problems, Jèvilen, who carries the anger of his family towards Mannwèl and his family, and Anayiz, who’s seen as someone who “belongs” to Jèvilen but who will make her own choices!

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    stephen matlock 2 Comments

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    Binary confidence (Binè konfyans)

    January 11, 2023

    #WakingUpWhite Chapter 20: My Robin Hood Syndrome

    April 9, 2019

    #WakingUpWhite Chapter 24: Everyone Is Different; Everyone Belongs

    May 6, 2019
  • kreyòl ayisyen,  language

    The Real 300

    December 19, 2022 /

    Haiti is called the first Black republic in the New World, and what is unusual about it is that it was not a nation established by colonizers (England, Sweden, France, the Netherlands, Spain, and so on) but a nation established by the kidnapped and stolen population. Those who were treated as cheap and expendable labor found themselves and created their own nation, throwing France—their oppressors and enslavers—out of their own lands, setting up their own nation, a Black republic, differing in origin from all the other nations in the New World at that time.

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    A montage of human faces overlaid by various color filters.

    What makes someone a human?

    March 2, 2023
    Mixed Scrabble tiles

    Language and Memory

    February 10, 2025
    A book cover for "Chita Pa Bay". An outline of a man With one hand he is holding a conch shell to his lips to sound an alarm, and with his other he holds a machete.

    I begin “Chita Pa Bay”

    December 31, 2022
  • Photo by Justin Heap on Unsplash
    kreyòl ayisyen,  language

    Looking back 300 days

    December 16, 2022 /

    I feel really good that I’ve gotten this far. I’m still quite incompetent, but there are moments when it clicks.

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    avocado, split in half. The bottom half is the entire avocado, and the top half shows the top part of the seed.

    My Year So Far

    June 1, 2024

    Food Is Family

    May 7, 2023
    A street scene in Jakmèl, Ayiti. (also known as Jacmel, Haiti) A colonnade with several open bays.

    Maurice Sixto and His Stories

    March 27, 2023
  • kreyòl ayisyen,  language

    The Enchantment of Creole

    December 12, 2022 /

    I spent two hours transcribing what I heard, trying so very hard to get the meaning. It was good practice, and I think I got about 30% of the meaning. I just had moments when I heard a set of phonemes and syllables and thought “I have no idea what this is—it’s just a jumble of sounds.”

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    Food Is Family

    May 7, 2023
    A book cover for "Chita Pa Bay". An outline of a man With one hand he is holding a conch shell to his lips to sound an alarm, and with his other he holds a machete.

    I begin “Chita Pa Bay”

    December 31, 2022

    Connections

    June 28, 2022
  • kreyòl ayisyen,  language

    Liv kreyòl ayisyen fini!

    December 8, 2022 /

    So tonight I finished my first-year kreyòl book. I've been in it since April 2022*, and it has been a source of instruction and frustration as every single time in my lessons I discovered yet another perplexing element of Haitian Creole.

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    Food Is Family

    May 7, 2023
    avocado, split in half. The bottom half is the entire avocado, and the top half shows the top part of the seed.

    My Year So Far

    June 1, 2024

    Eighteen Months In

    September 19, 2023
  • kreyòl ayisyen,  language

    Duolingo fini!

    November 27, 2022 /

    I thought that perhaps learning Haitian Creole would be interesting. I did not imagine that it would be a transforming experience.

    read more
    stephen matlock 0 Comments

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    Connections

    June 28, 2022
    A person climbs a sheer cliff.

    Day 360 : Se Papa Li, Se Pa Pa Li

    February 18, 2023
    Several Haitian schoolchildren line up for a picture.

    Sometimes our brains tell the truth while our emotions lie

    May 3, 2023
  • American Exceptionalism,  education,  history,  kreyòl ayisyen,  language

    One thing more

    November 20, 2022 /

    There is a glass bubble around white people in America and elsewhere, a bubble that lets us see through to the lives of others, but that protects us from questioning the wisdom laid down in our schoolrooms and homes and churches about what events “really mean.”

    read more
    stephen matlock 0 Comments

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    A montage of human faces overlaid by various color filters.

    What makes someone a human?

    March 2, 2023
    man in yellow and black plaid shirt sits on bed looking at camera

    History as Cassandra

    August 30, 2022
    A footbridge in the fog. The bridge is held up by a concrete hand.

    Be Like Betty White

    January 2, 2022
  • education,  history,  justice,  kreyòl ayisyen,  language

    Day 270 of the Infinite Journey

    November 19, 2022 /

    What better way to find connecting with people than to learn their language well enough to listen to them, understand, and reply in their own language with the full context of their culture?

    read more
    stephen matlock 0 Comments

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    A street scene in Jakmèl, Ayiti. (also known as Jacmel, Haiti) A colonnade with several open bays.

    Maurice Sixto and His Stories

    March 27, 2023

    The Purpose-Driven Lie

    October 23, 2019
    A book cover. A young boy holding his bicycle is kissed by a young girl.

    Mwen damou pou Vava – a story

    March 17, 2023
  • kreyòl ayisyen,  language

    2-3-5 are prime days for learning

    October 24, 2022 /

    So much of what I'm reading now in my materials assumes a deep knowledge of Haitian culture and history, so that a simple phrase like "tèt kale" turns into a discussion about Haitian leaders and how the phrase is used not just to identify them but to make a pèsonifikasyon

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    stephen matlock 0 Comments

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    The Real 300

    December 19, 2022

    Ki kote m ye?

    July 23, 2023
    Mixed Scrabble tiles

    Language and Memory

    February 10, 2025
  • kreyòl ayisyen,  language

    M kontinye aprann kreyòl ayisyen

    October 14, 2022 /

    It’s just weird how the cycle works. I reach a point where I just cannot absorb another thing in kreyòl. I am tired. My head is full of mush. It is all just sounds, and sounds that all seem the same. Then in a few days—sometimes almost overnight—it just clicks. Again. Last time I posted (a week ago) I was unable to do anything more. I canceled my tutorial lesson, did the minimum each day in Duolingo, did almost nothing the entire week in my homework (the printed book we’re using for my lessons), and in general mostly just checked out. I hadn’t given up. But I was just .…

    read more
    stephen matlock 0 Comments

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    The Enchantment of Creole

    December 12, 2022
    A street scene in Jakmèl, Ayiti. (also known as Jacmel, Haiti) A colonnade with several open bays.

    Maurice Sixto and His Stories

    March 27, 2023
    A Haitian man wearing a plaid tan shirt stands on a hillside looking over the valleys and hills below him.

    Ayiti se yon lide—Haiti is an idea

    January 3, 2023
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