Indulge me for a moment, if you don't mind

I'm super sad about the earthquake in Haiti. I've haven't said much about it via Twitter or whatever, largely because I don't know what to write that doesn't sound trite. Haiti has captured my imagination for years - I wrote my senior thesis on it, I sponsor a Compassion kid there...I might also stalk Creole interpreters for information when I have Haitian projects. I've never been, but that's not for lack of desire, it's just never been a place I could visit without a reasonable expectation of being kidnapped.

I'm also going to vent here for a minute:

Pat Robertson, you are a moron. What the hell 'pact with the devil' are you referring to, exactly? I will give you a freakin' earful about why Haiti has had such a hard time of things following the revolution, and a great big chunk of that fault lies with U.S. foreign policy. There are so many problems with this story that I can't even begin to address, but I'm angry. And you sir, should shut up.

News people: stop saying the 'island of Haiti.' Haiti is only a third of the island, the rest is the Dominican Republic. Why aren't we hearing anything about the DR? Surely there were some affected regions there, yes?

The whole thing is so tragic - as if Haiti weren't already one of the saddest places on earth. And yet, everyone I've met from there has been hopeful and well-educated and just wonderful. I hope they're all okay.