“America has never been united by blood or birth or soil. We are bound by ideals that move us beyond our backgrounds, lift us above interests, and teach us what it means to be citizens. Every child must be taught these principles. Every citizen must uphold them. And every immigrant, by embracing these ideals, makes our country more, not less, American.”

MONDAY, JANUARY 22

Mr. Casimir discussed President Bush’s speech in class. I was pleased he chose to talk about the same part of the speech that had stood out for me.

This led to a discussion about what Haitians have contributed to this country.

I was surprised to learn that a man who was born in Saint-Marc, Haiti, Jean Baptiste Point du Sable, was the first settler in an American city called Chicago. I also learned that a great naturalist, John James Audubon, was born in Les Cayes, Haiti, on April 26, 1785.

As a French colony, Haiti did a lot of commercial trade with the United States. Haitian volunteers fought along with Americans in the Siege of Savannah during the American Revolutionary War. One of the volunteers was Henri Christophe, who later became king of Haiti.

In 1803, after the French grew tired of fighting the Haitians, who were eager for their independence, the French sold 828,000 square miles of land to the United States, from the western banks of the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains, nearly doubling the size of this country. Mr. Casimir said that Alexander Hamilton, one of the founding fathers of America, declared that the Louisiana Purchase would have never happened were it not for the courage and resistance of us Haitians.

TUESDAY, JANUARY 23

I went to the library and made a copy of one of Mr. Audubon’s drawings for Moy. It is a painting of a beautiful bright-red flamingo. Perched on the edge of a sea cliff, Mr. Audubon’s flamingo looked as though it could have been painted on a tap tap.

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 24

As we waited for the bus together this afternoon, Immacula and Faidherbe tried to outdo one another with scary stories about the school, which they wanted to share with me, they said, as cautionary tales.

This was another version of Mr. Marius’s welcome presentation, they said, the real thing.

Immacula told me how some of the kids at school were in gangs, which were differentiated by colors.

Faidherbe told me that it was best to avoid wearing either red or blue so I would not be mistaken for a member of either the Bloods or the Crips gangs.

Immacula told me how two years ago, after a night basketball game, a student from our school had stabbed a player from another team who died on the way to the hospital. Faidherbe said that was why his family did not let him take part in any after-school activities.