Kiini
Ibura
Salaam
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Kiini Ibura Salaam is a writer, painter, and traveler from New Orleans, Louisiana. The middle child of five, she grew up in a hardscrabble neighborhood with oak and fig trees, locusts and mosquitoes, cousins and neighbors. Kiini's work delves into spheres of human liberation, human connection, and evolution. She employs speculative fiction and creative nonfiction to take readers through mind-bending journeys into the transcendent, the mystical, and the fantastic.
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Vol. 112, The Discipline of Surrender
Posted on 14 April 2020
In this season, we are—worldwide—being called to surrender. We have been forced to surrender the freedom to gather, the freedom to move around, and for some of us, the freedom to work. As the death toll continues to rise, and the stories of those who have lost their lives to this virus have been circulating,… »
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Vol. 111, Like Water
Posted on 19 September 2019
I went to the Met for the unveiling of Wangechi Mutu’s sculptures, which are now sitting proudly installed in four alcoves across the Met’s façade. These sculptures were created as the inaugural Facade Commission. These newly established project will commission an artist to develop sculptures to be displayed outside of the museum for a year…. »
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Vol. 110, Is This It?
Posted on 27 June 2019
Life is full of contradictions. Or, the way we view life is full of contradictions. We spend a lot of time labeling and deciding who we are and what we are going to achieve. However, the irony is that we rarely know exactly what those labels mean and what those achievements will require. When you… »
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Vol. 109: What Are You Privileging?
Posted on 30 March 2019
I’m hesitant to write this post because I don’t want to be a dream killer. For anyone who is still waking up full of creative energy and possibility, who skips over to the page or the canvas full of ideas and fascination, thrilled to spend hours playing with your new visions, this post is not… »
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Vol. 108: Embracing Vulnerability
Posted on 28 February 2019
Collage by K. Ibura featuring porcelain art by Sandra Byers Last month, I wrote about a panel on vulnerability and how the conversation made me reflect on the power of community as a healing force. There’s another valuable bit of information I got from the panel. In discussing how people behave when vulnerable and why… »
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Vol. 107: The Power of Community
Posted on 28 January 2019
This month I attended a panel on vulnerability at HealHaus yoga studio and healing center. The conversation was multi-layered and wide-ranging. On the topic of why we aren’t more vulnerable, panelist Liana Naima talked about the patriarchal orientation of our society, and how it influences how we communicate and connect with others. She went on… »
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Vol. 106: Hair in the Gate
Posted on 22 December 2018
Some time ago I saw a documentary called “Everything Which Is… Yes.” In 2008, David Hoffman suffered a catastrophic fire that burned down his home. He discusses it in this Ted talk. Hoffman is a collector—of documents, photographs, research files, magazines, and his own films. The master for a Cannes-winning film was destroyed. Through the… »
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Vol. 105: On Fearing the Answers
Posted on 22 May 2018
One of my favorite scenes in the recent film A Wrinkle in Time, was in the cave of the Happy Medium. The visuals were stunning and the idea of a place with constantly shifting ground, where your state of mind could keep you in balance is a great metaphor for life. Especially for me right… »
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Vol. 104: Surprising Measures of Growth
Posted on 28 January 2017
Much of the growth that really matters most is infinitesimal in degree. Change is happening but we can’t see it or measure it because it’s happening in such small increments. All writers have their challenges. One of mine has been giving the main character forward action. My unexamined and undeveloped instinct is to talk more… »
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Vol. 103, When Ease Goes
Posted on 7 September 2015
Climber in Red Rocks, Las Vegas, Nevada. Photo: Robert Baker. Most of my self coaching around writing these days is about staying engaged. Stories may take time to come to fruition, and when they do, that doesn’t mean they’re bad stories, or that you’re lacking something as a writer because you can’t connect, it just… »