iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Amal El-Mohtar @amalelmohtar.com · 25/09/2026

So happy to have picked up @blackforager.bsky.social’s beautiful new book this week! Obviously had to take it outside & frolic with it immediately

A photo of me inside Perfect Books in Ottawa, standing in front of bookshelves while grinning and holding up a copy of HAPPY SNACKING DON’T DIE by Alexis Nikole Nelson.

A photo of my left hand holding the book open to a spread about crabapples against a background of crabapple tree in a local park.

A goofy photo of me holding the book open to the crabapple spread while standing under the crabapple tree and holding a perfect ripe crabapple between my teeth. I snacked on it happily and did not die.

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Amal El-Mohtar @amalelmohtar.com · 24/09/2026

I feel actually sick from this, the sheer fucking audacity of the grift claiming to be "a tool that will help professional journalists" while not citing a single journalist, stealing the photos from the Guardian article & stripping them of any info re: contents or photographer.

Screenshot from London Daily that shows four images at the top of a headline: three of a ship from different angles and one of Pia Klemp, an activist, holding a pair of binoculars. Beneath that the text reads as follows:
Banksy funds refugee rescue boat operating in Mediterranean

Exclusive: UK artist finances bright pink motor yacht that set sail in secrecy to avoid being intercepted by authorities

The British street artist Banksy has financed a boat to rescue refugees attempting to reach Europe from north Africa, the Guardian can reveal.

Screenshot of the top part of the 27 August 2020 Guardian article which London Daily scraped. The journalists listed in the byline are Lorenzo Tondo in Palermo and Maurice Stierl in Berlin, and a helpful yellow tag at the top of the page notes "This article is more than 6 years old."

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Amal El-Mohtar @amalelmohtar.com · 24/09/2026

Pals I see you sharing links to London Daily & need you to know it's AI bullshit. The Louise Michel is real, Banksy really funded it, but that started in 2020 & the LD link people are sharing is timestamped to today but written as if it's 2020 & elides all the actual journalism about it.

Screenshot reads as follows:

Welcome to London Daily, an innovative and unique news experiment driven by advanced artificial intelligence (AI) technology.

Our AI system conducts extensive research and fact-checking, presenting a non-biased and diverse perspective on each topic. It meticulously filters out biased or manipulated content, offering you factual summaries essential for your knowledge as an informed citizen.

Our aim is not to replace mainstream media but to provide you with succinct summaries of key headlines, encouraging you to explore these stories in greater depth through your favorite mainstream news sources.

As a privately funded, non-profit initiative, our mission is to provide a concise and comprehensive overview of current events as part of a broader project to enhance fact-checking and AI journalism for journalists and publishers worldwide.

We are building a tool that will help professional journalists and traditional mainstream news outlets enhance their news delivery, boost their readership, ease their workload, and lower their costs while increasing their productivity—all aimed at improving content reliability and readability.

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Amal El-Mohtar @amalelmohtar.com · 17/09/2026

Just want to document a really good gym day where I got under the bar & did low-bar squats to a frankly preposterous depth & everything worked as it should & I feel good in my body. I needed this so bad.

Locker room mirror selfie in which I’m wearing a black muscle tank from Left Bank Books that reads “Literacy and Justice for All” and my nails, which are lacquered shiny teal and black in a combo of Bee’s Knees “Entirely Bewitching But So Odd” and Mooncat’s “Emo for Life,” match the teal streak in my short dark hair.

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Amal El-Mohtar @amalelmohtar.com · 16/09/2026

A delightful item in the post today! So glad to be reunited!

A photo of me grinning while sitting cross-legged on a couch wearing black trousers and a black tank top while holding the 2026 Hugo Award for Best Novella in my lap. The base is designed by Scott Lefton and features the pockmarked surface of a starry dark blue planet encased in a pale wooden box; the chrome-plated Hugo rocket ship sits atop the planet’s dome.

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Amal El-Mohtar @amalelmohtar.com · 13/09/2026

Stu just introduced me to Zippy of Rainbow (1972) & I just need to know if rationing in Britain extended to children’s television

A yellow felt puppet that’s like if a coin purse grew a pair of very round flat eyes and plausibly deniable limbs. Imagine if a muppet were sheared of charm and staring into its zipper mouth slowly leached the soul from your body.

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Amal El-Mohtar @amalelmohtar.com · 11/09/2026

About to watch DRACULA (1958), aka HORROR OF DRACULA, excited to see whether it is as scary as an 8 year old Stu found its sequel to be

Title card reads “A restoration by the BFI National Archive with the generous support of Simon Hessel”

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Amal El-Mohtar @amalelmohtar.com · 10/09/2026

Genuinely amused that out of 3 cookies, I got this & Stu got one telling him to smile more

Close-up on my palm holding half a cracked-open fortune cookie shell with the fortune revealed. It reads, “Others will be impressed with your artistic side.”

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Amal El-Mohtar @amalelmohtar.com · 08/09/2026

I fucking love working out & I especially love what working out does to my hair, I am publicly renewing my commitment to investigating salt sprays that aren’t my own sweat

Gym mirror selfie in which my short hair, side-parted and longer in the front, falls over my brow and cheekbone in tousled teal waves.

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Amal El-Mohtar @amalelmohtar.com · 06/09/2026

I am so covetous of this outfit Sally Phillips wears in studio in the penultimate ep of Taskmaster S5, if anyone happens to have thoughts on sourcing such a thing I’m very interested.

Sally Phillips wearing what appears to be a dark green silk jumpsuit with wide legs elbow-length sleeves and a surplice neckline.

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Amal El-Mohtar @amalelmohtar.com · 06/09/2026

get you some friends who upon finishing one escape room will enthusiastically consent to doing another one nigh immediately

A photo of four pals in a pirate-themed escape room they’ve successfully completed, grinning and brandishing toy swords in the company of a couple of clothed plastic skeletons.

The same four pals framed in a popcorn stand with the word Carnival and a pair of porcelain headed clown dolls atop it, having successfully concluded a horror-carnival-themed escape room. One of the four is holding a popcorn container with severed fingers sticking out of it.

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Amal El-Mohtar @amalelmohtar.com · 05/09/2026

I bought these flowers yesterday while thinking of @csecooney.bsky.social’s commitment to buying herself bouquets whenever she wants & then came home to a beautiful card from her that felt like its own matching arrangement & from thence ambition grew

The same bouquet of dahlias next to a card that reads “Do you suppose she’s a wildflower?” from Alice in Wonderland, in colourful block lettering on a white background. The photo is not very intentionally composed or staged — other cards and candles are around it with the haphazardness of a millennial’s mantle — but the colour palettes of bouquet and lettering play off each other in a pleasing way.

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Amal El-Mohtar @amalelmohtar.com · 05/09/2026

Nothing like coming across a bouquet that perfectly matches your book cover to make you spend some quality time discovering how little you know about prop styling

A hardcover copy of THE RIVER HAS ROOTS, my novella, standing below a beautiful bouquet of garden dahlias, tutsan and African marigold. I’ve nestled it among houseplants, candles and pottery that share the colour palette of the cover.

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Amal El-Mohtar @amalelmohtar.com · 04/09/2026

Been looking forward to this for months

Photo of an advance reading copy of OUR CUT OF SALT by Deena Helm, next to a small glass vase containing two small white carnations.

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Amal El-Mohtar @amalelmohtar.com · 31/08/2026

In other news hello from my breakfast Hugo, I may be going full F Murray Abraham with it before committing it to safer shipping hands

Photo of a very tired, rumpled, tousled me, barely dressed in a cropped Nine Inch Nails muscle tank and black trousers, having breakfast on a Marriott patio with the 2026 Hugo Award for best novella next to me.

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Amal El-Mohtar @amalelmohtar.com · 31/08/2026

Hugest congratulations especially to @alixeharrow.bsky.social, whose win for THE EVERLASTING I got to celebrate from stage after sprinting back to it in 4-inch heels to accept on her behalf because I’d left the printout of her beautiful speech on my seat!

Selfie of me crouched down & hiding behind Alix E. harrow’s Hugo trophy for THE EVERLASTING, which won Best Novel.

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Amal El-Mohtar @amalelmohtar.com · 31/08/2026

Last night was extraordinary & I’m still dazed from it. THE RIVER HAS ROOTS won a Hugo award! Huge congratulations to all the finalists & winners—it was such an honour & a joy to get to celebrate with you!

Backstage selfie of me in a black dress with blue and gold sequin-embroidered flowers, holding a Hugo Award for Best Novella, beaming and overwhelmed.

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Amal El-Mohtar @amalelmohtar.com · 23/08/2026

For two years in a row I’ve been invited to big author events on the anniversary of our wedding, & each time Stu has been so enthusiastically game to make those events an adventure we share together. Yesterday marked 11 years, & I’m so grateful to have such a kind & brilliant & supportive spouse.

Hotel mirror selfie in which Stu and I are dressed up to attend a party at the Library of Congress for the National Book Festival, him in a grey suit and white shirt and me in an orange-pink floral print jumpsuit and long fringed shimmery grey cardigan. We’re beaming at each other in fond amused affection.

Hotel room mirror selfie after a very intense non-stop day of work at the festival, home from a fancy dinner & extremely tired, with Stu smushing his face into my hair while I lean against his chest and we both smile at the camera exhausted but replete.

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Amal El-Mohtar @amalelmohtar.com · 22/08/2026

I only wore one of these outfits to a party at the Library of Congress this evening but spiritually I inhabited both of them

Hotel mirror selfie in which I’m wearing black trousers and a black muscle tank with the words LITERACY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL in black block lettering on a white background. The overall look is edgy and dykey.

Hotel room mirror selfie in which I’m wearinf a long shimmery cardigan with metallic accents over a bright orange-pink jumpsuit with contrasting blue forals printed on it, pale gold metallic shows with a very tall heel, ans jewelry with pearl and gold accents. The overall look is chic and elegant (but still dykey tbh)

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Amal El-Mohtar @amalelmohtar.com · 21/08/2026

Off to DC for the National Book Festival! Hope to see folks there!

Airplane selfie with my husband in which we're both wearing masks

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Amal El-Mohtar @amalelmohtar.com · 20/08/2026

An odd feature of having short hair is that I never seem to love it stepping out of the hairdresser’s but always love it once I’ve slept on it & been to the gym

Locker room mirror selfie. My short dark brown hair has freshly touched up dark turquoise colour blended into the longer front locks, parted to the side so that it wave-curls down on the left to just below eye level. I’m wearing glasses and a dark blue tank top featuring an art piece by Emerald Barkley depicting snakes tangled with California poppies reaching up to a series of moons in different phases, and there are cupping marks on my shoulders.

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Amal El-Mohtar @amalelmohtar.com · 18/08/2026

Was delighted to see some cedar waxwings by the river today. 🪶

Two cedar waxwings in a willow tree, partially hidden behind leaves, a soft grey evening sky behind them.

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Amal El-Mohtar @amalelmohtar.com · 16/08/2026

I’ve been reading Tillie Walden’s CHARITY & SYLVIA & it’s so achingly beautiful & halfway through just gives me pang after pang

Photo of page 100 in the book. There are 8 panels on the page: a header, a footer, and six squares in the middle. Those six squares show two columns of text in the middle flanked by two full figure silhouettes bisected by the gutter.

The header reads as follows: A Comprehensive List, Formed At The Time By Which Charity Bryant and Sylvia Drake Have Been Together some
9 Years, Of All The Qualities They Love and Appreciate In One Another

The first box reads:

Charity loves in Sylvia:
1. Her singing voice
2. How easily she blushes
3. How she makes tea (it always tastes better, how?)
4. How her feet look in woolen socks
5. Her patience
6. Her pumpkin pye
7. Her excitement at receiving a present
8. Her beauty, oh her beauty

The second box reads:

Sylvia loves in Charity

1. Her spirit
2. Her mole
3. Her moods (for in her sadness she holds her tighter)
4. How she awakes every single morn (a breath, a stretch, a question: "Sylvia?”)
5. Her notes left about the house (We are out of thread! Lord save us!")
6. Her hair when wet
7. The crook of her arm
8. Her handwriting

The footer containe a variety of flowers and a pine cone.

A photo of page 101, facing the previous and organized the same way, but with the middle text encased in the image of a thatch-roofed cottage.

The header reads as follows:

A Comprehensive List, Formed At The Time By Which Charity Bryant and Sylvia Drake Have Been Together some
9 Years, Of All The Qualities They Find ABSOLUTELY MADDENING In One Another

The first box reads:

Charity cannot stand that Sylvia
1. Eats so extremely slowly.
2. Clicks her tongue when frustrated
3. Uses salt to an overwhelming degree
4. Insists the house be in a constant state of cleanliness
5. Continues to harbor shame over their love

The second box reads:

Sylvia cannot stand that Charity:
1. Often misses church
2. Rarely does the washing up
3. Rarely does the laundry
4. Rarely Sweeps
5. Rarely tends the fire
6. Rarely makes the bed
7. Rarely dusts the Shelves
8. Rarely clears the candle wax

The footer contains drawings of household objects: a plate, a candlestick, tongs, a feather duster, etc.

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Amal El-Mohtar @amalelmohtar.com · 15/08/2026

God this show is so fucking funny

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Amal El-Mohtar @amalelmohtar.com · 02/08/2026

I love Vancouver & I love Vancouver’s public transit & I love that the skytrain is full of happy queers heading to Pride

View of the Fraser River as seen from a Skytrain stop beneath a blue cloud-dappled sky.

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Amal El-Mohtar @amalelmohtar.com · 30/07/2026

Got *very* shiny in the gym today & a friend said “you look like you belong in kpop demon hunters, like you just kicked a demon’s ass” & I don’t know if I’ve ever received a nicer compliment for being sweaty

Selfie in which I’m wearing a black tank top over a grey sports bra and my collarbone is glistening with sweat. My hair is cut short and some pieces at the front that reach down to my eyes are dyed a turquoise-teal.

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Amal El-Mohtar @amalelmohtar.com · 27/07/2026

wanted to contribute to Odyssey discourse but unfortunately nothing I could say is better commentary than bsky's post settings

screenshot of bluesky's Post interaction settings showing two radio buttons you can toggle to change who can reply: on the left, "Anyone," and on the right, "Nobody."

I've selected "Nobody" for the screenshot.

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Amal El-Mohtar @amalelmohtar.com · 21/07/2026

Too many news items are happening at once & I cannot keep up but if you’re in the path of this (Vars / Bourget / Fournier / Hammond / Plantagenet / Alfred) pls take cover

Screenshot of emergency alert on mobile reads as follows in English and French:

EMERGENCY ALERT /
now
ALERTE D'URGENCE
Environment Canada: TORNADO in this mobile coverage area.
Take immediate cover in a basement or interior room if weather threat approaches.
Shelter from flying debris if outside.
Tornado Warning, 4:11 p.m. EDT Tuesday 21 July ||/ Environnement Canada: TORNADE dans votre zone actuelle de couverture cellulaire.
Réfugiez-vous sans tarder au sous-sol ou dans une pièce sans fenêtre en cas de temps menaçant. À l'extérieur, protégez-vous des débris projetés.
Alerte de tornade, 16h11 HAE le mardi 21 juillet

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Amal El-Mohtar @amalelmohtar.com · 19/07/2026

tfw you’re unfortunately better at scraping dough from a bowl than you are at planning ahead

Three trays with chocolate chip cookies on them: one with 12, one with 9, and one with … 2

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Amal El-Mohtar @amalelmohtar.com · 16/07/2026

On a scale of 1-10 how insufferably gym bro is it to sincerely think that sweat is my most effective hairstyling product

Locker room mirror selfie in which I’m wearing a black tank top that reads “Bless Us Hell Rules” in white capital letters (merch from the hit actual play podcast RUDE TALES OF MAGIC), my dark hair cut short with a wavy teal section styled asymmetrically to the left that hits roughly at eye level.

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Amal El-Mohtar @amalelmohtar.com · 13/07/2026

There’s so much stuff in CP that I think it deserves credit for engaging with even as the surrounding narrative choices are … At best, demonstrative of where the mainstream commonplaces were at

Screenshot from Wikipedia’s summary of the Captain Planet episode “A Formula for Hate” reads as follows:

When a high school basketball player named Todd Andrews finds out he has HIV/AIDS, Verminous Skumm and one of his Rat Pack minions start rumors about the disease that turn Todd's schoolmates against him, hoping to spread the disease further. With help from the Planeteers and Todd's coach, Captain Planet exposes the truth about AIDS. Then Captain Planet stops Verminous Skumm and his minion from fleeing and hands them over to the approaching police officers.

Note: This was one of the first times that an American animated series dealt with the issue of AIDS education.

Special Guest Stars: Neil Patrick Harris as Todd Andrews, Danica McKellar as Lisa, and Elizabeth Taylor as Mrs. Andrews.

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Amal El-Mohtar @amalelmohtar.com · 13/07/2026

…truly cannot believe how hard I played myself rn

Screenshot of wikipedia’s summary of this episode which reads as follows. I’ve highlighted the last two lines.

The Planeteers go on separate missions across the world to prevent the detonation of three separate nuclear bombs in three major conflict zones between warring factions.

Verminous Skumm and Duke Nukem are behind the plot of inciting hatred to get people into nuking each other as they challenge the Planeteers into trying to stop the factions before they destroy each other.

The main story sees Wheeler arrive in Northern Ireland where the conflict is between the Protestants and the Catholics.
Gi and Ma-Ti travel to Israel where tensions are high between Palestinians and Jews.

Kwame and Linka travel to South Africa where the blacks and whites are raging battles.

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Amal El-Mohtar @amalelmohtar.com · 13/07/2026

Finding these tangled up with the absolute jungle of raspberries I spent 20 minutes picking fruit from without making a dent is such an unlooked for & bountiful gift

A tangle of slender golden currant branches carrying fruit in various stages of ripeness against a background of pale siding.

A stainless steel bowl full of ripe raspberries and a single green leaf, held up against a background of raspberry canes heavily laden with fruit.

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Amal El-Mohtar @amalelmohtar.com · 13/07/2026

I first encountered golden currant around 2021 and was enchanted by how much the gorgeous yellow flowers smelled like cloves; when we moved to our current place I was thrilled to find some growing in our yard. But I’d never seen it fruit til just now?? & apparently the fruit is edible???

A large dark red berry centred against a background of golden current leaves (three-lobed and serrated). To the left is an unripe green one.

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Amal El-Mohtar @amalelmohtar.com · 08/07/2026

Did not expect today’s cafe outing to gearshift into rescuing a disoriented (maybe dehydrated?) little brown bat that kept flying up against the windows & then going v still. Gloved up as best I could & caught it without touching it & drove it to the OHS—hopeful they’ll get it to a better org.

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Amal El-Mohtar @amalelmohtar.com · 04/07/2026

Seems like a good day to finally tuck into this

My hand holding up a copy of Isabel J. Kim’s debut novel SUBLIMATION. A tagline reads “the border cuts you in two.”

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Amal El-Mohtar @amalelmohtar.com · 03/07/2026

Saw BACKROOMS this evening & thought it was utterly amazing, was subsequently inspired to make this 6-second adaptation of what I consider to be its thematic core using the toothpick of a chain restaurant established in the 1990s

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Amal El-Mohtar @amalelmohtar.com · 01/07/2026

I really like this photo I took of musk mallows yesterday

A tangle of rain-swept musk mallows, flowers with five pale notched papery petals in a cool pink gradient, laden with water droplets against a background of their own vivid green stems.

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Amal El-Mohtar @amalelmohtar.com · 26/06/2026

ever think about how sometimes a sleeping cat has a paw under her chin

Close up on Millie, a cat that is mostly black with white socks, chin, neck and belly, asleep on a couch with one forepaw very securely tucked beneath her chin and pressed against one of her back paws curving forward, radiating the kind of thoughtful peace it is not our portion to know

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Amal El-Mohtar @amalelmohtar.com · 17/06/2026

She’s especially great at working with neurodivergence & is a profoundly calming & soothing body-double even while working remotely, & I just can’t praise her enough. I’ve taken no before photos but here is a photorealistic artistic rendering of before/after.

Photo of a room with white walls, hardwood floors, and a yoga mat. At the far end is a closet with the door partially shut, a black jacket hanging over its top edge; to the left of the door is a rack of hooks deom which hang an assortment of objects: a silk dice bag, a garland of dried citrus skices, an empty hanging planter, and a 17th century rapier. The floor is digitally marked up with maroon scribbles depicting the clutter I didn’t photograph before clearing it.

The same photo, without the digital scribbles. Just a peaceful expanse of warm wooden floor and mostly bare walls, a blank slate for whatever I want to do next.

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Amal El-Mohtar @amalelmohtar.com · 07/06/2026

It’s VERY pretty, a nebula & planets encased in lucite! Variations on this

A Nebula Award trophy: a rectangular cube of lucite in which planets and a swirl of sparkling nebula are suspended, on a black base engraved with the recipient’s name and award category.

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Amal El-Mohtar @amalelmohtar.com · 02/06/2026

Home from France to lovely weather & birdsong & so, so much work to catch up on but part of that work has got to be documenting what a magical time it was, so here is the tiniest glimpse.

A photo of green canopy aglow with sunlight in the park behind Sacré-Coeur in Paris.

A plate of food at a restaurant called Au Moulin à Vent, full of perfect bits of starter: tiny gherkins, a corner of pâté en croûte, pickled red cabbage, carpaccio, and egg mayonnaise.

An open book from the unicorn exhibit at the Musée de Cluny, showing a unicorn on the left and medieval sheet music on the right.

A selfie taken from a friend’s balcony at sunset, with a beautiful view on to the Val de Grace hospital and Paris skyline. I’m smiling with my dark hair tied back while wearing glasses, a black tank top and silver pendant.

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Amal El-Mohtar @amalelmohtar.com · 01/06/2026

Occurred to me I hadn’t shared the video of this wiggly little guy dipping in and out of the water! Truly delightful to watch a bird not at all shaped like waterfowl tumble about in the river like this. 🪶

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Amal El-Mohtar @amalelmohtar.com · 31/05/2026

Having the kind of lovely time at Imaginales that resists documentation but every single person I’ve spoken with has been an absolute delight & I want to dwell among these (currently finally cool & breezy) pines for several more weeks & am truly so sad to be leaving today

A river bordered by green plants and trees that winds into hilly forests in Epinal. On the left in the distance are white tents for the festival and on the right are apartment buildings.

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Amal El-Mohtar @amalelmohtar.com · 31/05/2026

I saw a white-throated dipper for the first time today 😭 “Unlikely in Epinal Today” per Merlin! 🪶

Far away photo of a white-throated dipper standing on a rock amid the rippling waves of a small river in Epinal, France.

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Amal El-Mohtar @amalelmohtar.com · 26/05/2026

I have so much Paris wandering I intend to do today but all contingent on first finding: a hat also shout-out to the passing weirdo who took loud, sustained, baffled exception to me wearing all black, “même tes cheveux,” as if I don’t have a prominent teal streak in it turning brassier by the day

Mirror selfie in a very pretty sunny bathroom with marbled walls, showing me wearing my long dark hair down over my shoulders, a black tank top, and black distressed denim shorts from Disturbia with a snake embroidered in gold on one side.

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Amal El-Mohtar @amalelmohtar.com · 24/05/2026

Imagine writing this, making this connection, & glossing over the fact that the “unity” inspired by Pearl Harbor forced 120000 Japanese-Americans into US concentration camps. “Horrific as it was,” jfc

Screenshot from article reads as follows:

Horrific as it was, 9/11 unified Americans as nothing else had since the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 that brought the U.S. into World War II. President George W. Bush saw his approval rating in the Gallup Poll soar from the mid-40s to more than 90 percent (still the record high in the Gallup).

It was all about the country coming together to protect itself in its moment of
unaccustomed vulnerability. In the first hours of the aftermath on Sept. 11, 2001 scores of members of Congress stood together on the steps of the Capitol and sang "God Bless America." That spirit was widely expected to inspire public support and new laws addressing the vulnerabilities the attack had exposed.

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