Where I’m From

A while back, I joined a Zoom session with a writer I once met in Key West entitled “Wild Wisdom Writing.” (I had been rereading Women Who Run with the Wolves, by Clarissa Pinkola Estés, and it seemed apropos.) Most of the participants were about my age, white, female, and anxious to express the fact

Remembering to be Fearless

We have an expression here in Dominica, ‘Old is to throw.’ Nah. I don’t believe it. As women turn older and hopefully wiser, we finally have a chance to gather our thoughts and express them in whatever creative form we choose. While aging can be a physically challenging time, it is also liberating—a time when

Better Here Than There

Hi friends. Here is a personal narrative that was posted on the for the Women Who Live on Rocks website  https://womenwholiveonrocks.com/better-here-than-there/ on February 12, 2021. It’s a fun site to visit, especially when experiencing the winter blues way up north. Better Here Than There (But we knew that already.) Before I was aware of the

Peace and Love

Forever the optimist, I’m looking forward to positive transformation in the years to come. Like what, you might ask? How about exchanging global war for world peace? Overconsumption for sustainability? Sickness for health? Ungodliness for spirituality? Separateness for community? Throwaway culture for organic living? Loss of biodiversity for letting being be? Lack of perception for

Take a Deep Breath

If I were to choreograph the year 2020, the dance would go something like this: Step up, step back, and take a deep breath. I think we’d all agree this past year was extraordinary for all the wrong reasons: unprecedented drought, hurricanes, wildfires, and of course the pandemic. Though we barely feel the pain health

No Thanks

Before Hurricane Maria, I was an uncomplicated woman. Imagine. I hadn’t had a TV for 25 years. Sure, I’d installed a dozen costly poles for phone and internet service, but I only used my laptop as a typewriter and for research. I had a boom box for music, and a portable DVD player to watch

Beyond the First Draft: Rise Up, Sista

Hi Everyone, No. I haven’t forgotten you. Lightning struck, and I’ve been tied up with the intricacies of working with a REAL publisher, TouchPoint Press, on my upcoming novel Rise Up, Sista. That’s right! After years of doubt, and soul searching, I finally landed a traditional publisher. Not that figuring out River Ridge Press, Dominica

Still We Survive

© Kristine Simelda Europeans called us Caribs, but we call ourselves Kalinago. Famous for our fierce resistance to foreign invasion, we used to be the dominant Amerindian tribe in the Caribbean. Now just a smattering of us remain. My father, Maxroy, who is our chief, says it’s important for us to maintain our cultural integrity.

The New Normal

  The world as we know it today is ripe with unrest. Why? Because we face the global health crisis of COVID-19 along with social and racial injustice, climate change, loss of biodiversity, economic instability, and political polarization. Whew! What a chilling list. Although I try not to be a pessimist, I fear all these

Dignity, Power, and Place

Long before Europeans arrived in the Caribbean, indigenous people inhabited the islands. Over the centuries that followed, millions of Taino, Arawak, and Kalinago Indians, who were erroneously christened Caribs by the invaders, suffered ruthless genocide. Today, only the Kalinago survive, and Dominica, Waitukubuli, has the largest settlement of indigenous people in the region. Yet what