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MŨ THONI KIARIE 48, WRITER OAKLAND, CA Mũthoni Kiarie was raised in Nairobi where she originally discovered her penchant for spinning dark tales about life around her. She has since been published in The Porter House Review, Narrative Magazine, Dismantle - An Anthology, The Weeklings, Generations Literature Magazine, among others. Mũthoni is a Mills College MFA graduate and an alumna of the Voices of Our Nations Arts Foundation and the Las Dos Brujas Writers’ Workshops. She lives and loves her adopted home in Oakland, CA while constantly pining for her original home, Kenya.
F I R S T R E C O R D / C D Y O U B O U G H T W IT H Y O U R O W N M O N E Y . D O YOU STILL HAVE IT? K a r y n W h i t e ’ s d e b u t a l b u m , “ K a r y n W h i t e ” . I w a s i n b o ar d i n g s c h o o l i n K e n y a i n t h e e a r l y 9 0 s a n d a l l m y g i r l f r i e n d s w e r e c r az y f o r t h i s a l b u m . W e ’ d g a t h e r a r o u n d e a c h o t h e r ’ s r o o m s af te r l i g h ts o u t t r y i n g t o s o f t l y s i n g t h e l y r i c s t o t h e s o n g s o n t h e al b u m , h o p i n g n o o n e w o u l d h e a r u s . I w a s s o o b s e s s e d , I s c rap e d t o g e t h e r a l l m y a l l o w a n c e t o g e t t h i s c a s s e t t e . M y f av o r i te so n g w a s “ S u p e r w o m a n ” w h i c h s p o k e o f t h e p a i n o f a w o m an i n a l o v e l e s s m a r r i a g e a n d i n a l l m y t e e n a g e w i s d o m , I f e lt I r e al l y u n d e r s t o o d . I d o n ’ t h a v e t h e c a s s e t t e a n y l o n g e r , I m e an w h o e v e n h a s t h o s e a n y l o n g e r . B u t I d o l i s t e n t o t h i s a l b u m q u i te a b i t sti l l i n m y m u s i c s t r e a m i n g a p p . It t r a n s p o r t s m e b a c k a n d I sti l l th i n k it’s a work of high art.
