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.
travel
Interviewaudio // home ownership // interview // travel // writing
Ask a Solutionista, Volume 1 - Kiini Ibura Salaam
Posted on 9 May 2013
Meet Kiini Ibura Salaam, Solutionista: artist mother world traveler speculative fiction writer homeowner Kiini shares her inspiring story, tosses us some pearls, and reads a story from her new collection, Ancient, Ancient.
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BlogKIS.listdrinks // food // Juchitan // life in Mexico // markets // Mexico // Mole // Teotitlan // travel // zocalo
Vol. 52, In Mexico: Sounds and Food in Oaxaca
Posted on 19 October 2005
Oaxaca, Mexico I have friends here in Oaxaca who are constantly hosting friends from the States. One of the things they end up doing for their guests is interpreting the sounds of Oaxaca. It is interesting how we become so deeply accustomed to every facet of our lives—visual, rhythmic, verbal, sonic—that sometimes we don’t realize… »
BlogKIS.listAmazon fish // Aquarium // Cubans in Mexico // Culture // Mexico // pinatas // Race // rejections // ruins // travel
Vol. 47, In Mexico: Vera Cruz
Posted on 10 March 2005
Vera Cruz, Mexico I am on my first writing trip ever since my daughter’s birth two years ago. I am proud to say I have been able to maintain my “schedule” of leaving NYC for the winter every other year even as a mom. I will be in Mexico for three months, but I am… »
BlogKIS.listboat ride // Brazil // Cachoeira // culture conflict // fellowships // grants // gringa // gringo // Ilha dos Frados // language // Race // rejections // tourism // tourist // travel
Vol. 23, In Brazil: Being a Tourist
Posted on 9 April 2002
Salvador, Bahia Brazil There are elements of being a tourist that—assuming you feel comfortable with the country and the language—can be fun. I don’t mind being ignorant, asking questions, getting lost. But there’s a certain type of tourist I’m not. I don’t like prepackaged tours. I’m not that deep into seeing the sights. After while,… »
BlogKIS.listApo Funja // Bahia // Brazil // Candomble // Cuba // Dance Africa // Fulbright // Kikuya // orisha // orixa // Oxum // Pagador de Promesas // pagode // Palo Monte // Salvador // Solar do Unhao // travel // Ugandan dance // visual art // Yoruba
Vol. 21, In Brazil: Candomble and Visual Arts
Posted on 6 March 2002
Salvador, Bahia Brazil My latest discovery in the hand-washing clothes saga is, despite Salvador’s heat, anything I want to dry properly must be hung directly in the sunshine. During my second go-round with clothes washing, I hung all my clothing at one time. Since line space was limited, I hung half my clothes in the… »
BlogKIS.listafoxe // angola // Bahia // beauty // blackness // capoeira // cultural conflict // Culture // filhos de ghandy // Fort Santo Antonio // gender // gilberto gil // hiking // Ile Aiye // Lencois // life in the tropics // nature // regional // roda // Salvador // sexual tourism // tourism // travel
Vol. 20, In Brazil: Ilê Aiyê and Tourist-Native Relationships
Posted on 22 February 2002
Salvador, Bahia Brazil I’m not a person who “keeps house,” but here, as in many warm places, the necessities for cleaning are multiplied. With so many openings to the homes—balconies, wall openings for ventilation, windows without screens—dirt easily comes in and settles on the floor. Floors need to be swept almost daily. With the presence… »
BlogKIS.listafoxe // Bahia // beach food // blackness // bloco // body image // Brazil // bus travel // carnival // Cidade Baixa // crowds // cultural conflict // Culture // Ile Aiye // images of beauty // immigration // international // Ladeira // Mercado Modelo // Olodum // Pelourinho // prostitution // Race // Santo Antonio // self hatred // sexual tourism // street children // tourism // travel // trucks // violence
Vol. 19, In Brazil: Carnival Time
Posted on 14 February 2002
Salvador, Bahia Brazil [The doorbell just rang. Went to the balcony and a woman was below with her child. She asked about the woman—the rasta, as she calls her—who used to live here. The rasta used to give her food for her and her family. I told her she wasn’t here, she asked me for… »
BlogKIS.list9-to-5 // artist // H.G. Wells quote // Kiini Ibura Salaam // KIS.list // learning to write // paying the bills // structure // surviving // Thomas J. Watson // travel // work // writing life // writing struggles // writing trips
Vol. 15, 9-to-5
Posted on 23 December 2001
An ongoing conversation about j-o-b-s New York, NY Before I went away on the Thomas J. Watson fellowship (and before I’d worked an actual 9-to-5), I thought I had to work to feel settled in my life. These words from my student lips: “I can’t live without working. I’d go crazy.” Then I went away… »
BlogKIS.listCaribbean // carnival // Culture // Eastern Parkway // j'ouvert // Kiini Ibura Salaam // KIS.list // Labor Day // Manhattan Beach // Sheepshead Bay // soca // travel
Vol. 5, The Science of Carnival
Posted on 10 September 2001
Carnival/Labor Day Celebrations Brooklyn, NY My girlfriend Vanessa Richards and I have done Carnival together in three countries: Notting Hill Carnival in London, Brooklyn’s Labor Day festivities and, of course, Trinidad’s Carnival. What amazes me about Carnival, besides the freedom and lawlessness of it, is the Science of it. There’s so many elements to the… »