iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Erika Thorkelson

Lester Borgqueen @burgerquest.bsky.social · 18/07/2026

I Watch the Trailer for I Play Rocky and I Basically See the Whole Movie About the Making of Rocky Which Is a Movie I Have Seen: The Movie

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Erika Thorkelson @ethorkel.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

Got one of those AI bot marketing emails about my memoir Clumsy (which isn’t even due out until 2028) and it includes this “quotation” from the book:

"The clumsy child is poor child is child who is not coordinated but is also not understood, who lacks the social and physical vocabulary that makes navigating the world look easy." That line lands because it

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Erika Thorkelson @ethorkel.bsky.social · 06/04/2026

I’ve been meaning to tell you, my essay collection How to Look at a Volcano will be released by Book*hug in 2027. The book explores instability through personal, cultural and geological lenses. The title essay comes from a trip I took in 2024 to visit an eruption near Grindavik in southern Iceland

The top of a contract that reads
Book*hug Press
*Adventures in literary publishing since 2004.
401 Richmond Street West
Suite 251
Toronto ON Canada M5V 3A8
+1 416 994 5804
BOOK*HUG PRESS CONTRACT
AGREEMENT made this 19th day of February 2026, between:
Erika Thorkelson
hereinafter referred to as the AUTHOR,
and
Book*hug Press
401 Richmond Street West, Suite 251, Toronto Ontario Canada MSV 3A8
hereinafter referred to as the PUBLISHER, with respect to the work entitled
How to Look at a Volcano hereinafter referred to as the WORK.

A signpost covered in stickers from many visitors sits in a field of rocks. In the background, black cooled lava emits steam

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Erika Thorkelson @ethorkel.bsky.social · 05/04/2026

Letter from an Occupant by the New Pornographers! I heard it on my university radio station and it set my brain on fire. Tried to ask my friends about it but they’d never heard of it. So I tracked it down on Limewire and played it on repeat until everyone understood its greatness. Still love it!

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Erika Thorkelson @ethorkel.bsky.social · 04/04/2026

This is the perfect conversation piece for guests. I will not be taking questions. Except maybe I will

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Reposted by Erika Thorkelson

Event Magazine @eventmags.bsky.social · 26/03/2026

Announcing the winners of our 2025 Non-Fiction Contest, judged by Vinh Nguyen! 🥇 “Metaphors We Die By,” Jennifer Manuel 🥈 “Waiting for the Bus: a memoir of dementia,” Meredith Quartermain 🥉 “The Shrine,” Hannah Roh Find the winning essays + judge’s essay in EVENT 55/1 (Spring/Summer 2026).

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Erika Thorkelson @ethorkel.bsky.social · 26/03/2026

It’s finally happened to me: a student handed in an essay with three imaginary sources. Shocked it took this long tbh

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Erika Thorkelson @ethorkel.bsky.social · 25/03/2026

I just got a press release claiming “peptides are having a moment” which I can only assume refers to the growing popularity of cellular peptide cake with mint frosting

A woman’s head perched above a cake shaped like a woman’s body in a blue uniform. They are laid out on a table

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Erika Thorkelson @ethorkel.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

So I’m reading all of that Margaret Atwood memoir for *reasons* and my main thought is, dear god this book needed a proper editor

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Erika Thorkelson @ethorkel.bsky.social · 24/11/2025

It’s Dump Decorative Gourds on the Street Season, Motherfuckers

Some decorative gourds dumped on the grass surrounded by fallen leaves

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Erika Thorkelson @ethorkel.bsky.social · 08/11/2025

Happy birthday my dearest @betarayben.bsky.social! It’s gross that we don’t live in the same city so we can share Ukrainian food and I can tell you drunken stories

A man (Ben) and a woman (me) lean together over a heaping paper plate of Ukranian food

A woman (me) with long earrings and a sort of drunk expression touches a man (Ben) on the arm as if she’s telling him something important

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Erika Thorkelson @ethorkel.bsky.social · 24/10/2025

It’s Oct 23 and I was just in a restaurant with full Christmas decorations and a load of garland waiting to be added. What is happening???!

A restaurant with a light mint colours bar with dark chairs. In the foreground, a fake Christmas tree

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Erika Thorkelson @ethorkel.bsky.social · 08/10/2025

Explaining the complexities of 90s anime fandom is both frustrating and kind of my kink

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Erika Thorkelson @ethorkel.bsky.social · 07/10/2025

I don’t know what this little guy did, but I forgive him anything

In a leaf covered entry way, behind a dusty black gate, sits a small pumpkin with the words “I’m sorry” written across it in black letters

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Erika Thorkelson @ethorkel.bsky.social · 07/10/2025

Last night I went to a VIFF screening of the doc Are We Good? About comedian and venerable podcaster Marc Maron followed by a Q&A with the director and subject. The doc was touching and funny, mostly focussed on the sudden loss of his partner and how he processed grief on stage and on his podcast

Three men sit on stage in front of a screen that reads An Evening With Marc Maroon
VIFF Talks
In conversation with Steven Feinartz, director of Are We Good?

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Erika Thorkelson @ethorkel.bsky.social · 27/09/2025

My partner and I will be putting together an ikea dresser today. Please keep us in your thoughts

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Erika Thorkelson @ethorkel.bsky.social · 27/09/2025

I saw One Battle After Another last night and it was brilliant and I feel like I need to see it again today just to put it all together in my head

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Erika Thorkelson @ethorkel.bsky.social · 23/09/2025

Kids these days have it so easy with AI chatbots. I remember when you had to find real people on the internet to project your romantic feelings onto

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Erika Thorkelson @ethorkel.bsky.social · 23/09/2025

So the news today is that if you take Tylenol while pregnant you can’t get raptured, right?

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Erika Thorkelson @ethorkel.bsky.social · 20/09/2025

Influencer hell is where you made a joke one time and it really worked and then you have to keep making new permutations of that same joke for the next 5-10 years because now it’s your *brand*

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Erika Thorkelson @ethorkel.bsky.social · 19/09/2025

Like Star Trek? Like lying? You might also like this even I’m doing next week! www.eventbrite.ca/e/liars-of-o...

Poster for Liars of Orpheus: Fantasy Planets featuring all the speakers. Doors at 6:30, show at 7. 2434 Main St. the Pleasant.

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Erika Thorkelson @ethorkel.bsky.social · 18/09/2025

The best thing Roy said last night was about failure, how she considers both herself and Klein to be failures because they lose almost every fight they enter, and she’s proud of that. She considers failures to be more interesting and more powerful than successes that have given up on their ideals

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Erika Thorkelson @ethorkel.bsky.social · 18/09/2025

Even from the very back row, I could feel the heat of these two brilliant minds in conversation

A photo taken from far back of two women on a stage. Both are seated. One, Roy, wears a yellow shirt dress over light slacks. The other, Klein, wears a red blazer and black skirt. Above, a screen reads Arundhati Roy in conversation with Naomi Klein

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Erika Thorkelson @ethorkel.bsky.social · 17/09/2025

Occasionally I come up with a lesson plan idea so good that I look around expecting applause, but I know there won’t be any from anyone ever

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Erika Thorkelson @ethorkel.bsky.social · 16/09/2025

I found this season of Strange New Worlds kind of pitchy and disappointing. I think the problem is that Star Trek used to be about something—philosophy or science or baseball or whatever. Now it’s just about Star Trek.

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Erika Thorkelson @ethorkel.bsky.social · 16/09/2025

More and more I think that the purpose of contemporary debate as a kind of cage match between thinkers (often of wildly varying quality and understanding) is a waste of time at best and tool of aggression and obfuscation at worst. A meaningful conversation shouldn’t have a winner and loser.

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Erika Thorkelson @ethorkel.bsky.social · 15/09/2025

No Canada Council grant this round, but I’ve got this sticky note on my laptop with a quote from a song by Austra to keep me going.

My work is valid. I can’t prove it, but I know.

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Erika Thorkelson @ethorkel.bsky.social · 12/09/2025

I was so tired after teaching yesterday that I dreamed about taking a nap in the middle of a stress dream

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Erika Thorkelson @ethorkel.bsky.social · 11/09/2025

It never ceases to amaze me how many pundits are willing to call American conservatism “counterculture” when republicans hold power over literally every branch of government

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Erika Thorkelson @ethorkel.bsky.social · 11/09/2025

I gasped with such force when this appeared in my inbox that it made my partner jump. Turned out it was just alerting me that the results will arrive within the next 10 days 🤣

An email from Canada Council for the Arts with a subject that reads:
“Your Canada Council application results...” and
“Find out when and how to view your res...”

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Erika Thorkelson @ethorkel.bsky.social · 10/09/2025

Being a parentified eldest daughter means occasionally seeing a problem you could EASILY FIX, but you know everyone will hate you for pointing it out, so then you have to fight with the very core of your nature to stay quiet about it

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Erika Thorkelson @ethorkel.bsky.social · 10/09/2025

I’m just a girl, standing before the Canada Council, asking you to open that damned portal already

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Erika Thorkelson @ethorkel.bsky.social · 09/09/2025

It’s so rude that email occasionally brings you fun news but then the rest of the time it’s literally just bla bla bla bla

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Erika Thorkelson @ethorkel.bsky.social · 09/09/2025

Grab an issue of Prairie Fire and read the tragicomic tale of my first cigarette

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Erika Thorkelson @ethorkel.bsky.social · 13/08/2025

Visiting writing friends like @betarayben.bsky.social is the best because they will let you leave their home with a book by the very specific author you’ve been looking for even though they haven’t read it yet. This is true writerly love

The cover of Covert Joy, a short story collection by Clarice Lispector, held in a woman’s hand with a hotel room in the background.

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Erika Thorkelson @ethorkel.bsky.social · 05/08/2025

*Wrong answers only* I need someone to explain to me why I would pay $400 for salmon DNA injections (?) in my face.

A green sign reads:
NEW LONGEVITY TREATMENT
Microneedling + Salmon DNA
Special intro offer: $400 ($550 VALUE)

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Erika Thorkelson @ethorkel.bsky.social · 31/07/2025

Listen, Costco connector, you’re great and everything, but this is a crime against watermelon and maybe food in general

Two pieces of watermelon cut into squares with cheese and meat and pickles in between on a plate. Inexplicably

Inexplicable recipe for
Watermelon Sandwich
1 seedless watermelon
3 (10-g/0.35-oz) pieces sliced prosciutto
1 (113-g/4-oz) ball burrata or mozzarella
2 dill pickles or cornichons, sliced
1 small handful fresh basil
5 mL (1 tsp) olive oil
5 mL (1 tsp) balsamic glaze
Slice the watermelon in half crosswise and remove the rind, leaving a cube of water-melon. Slice the watermelon into 2 10 x 10-cm (4 x 4-inch) pieces, approximately 2.5-cm
(1-inch) thick. Lay the watermelon slices on a cutting board. Reserve remaining watermelon for later use.
Top 1 watermelon slice with the slices of prosciutto, layering and folding as necessary to fit on top of the watermelon. Place the burrata on top of the prosciutto, followed by the pickles and basil.
Drizzle the olive oil and balsamic glaze on top. Top with the remaining slice of watermelon. Makes 1 serving.
Recipe and photo courtesy of Nicole Modic (kalejunki.com)

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Erika Thorkelson @ethorkel.bsky.social · 16/07/2025

I love a random stop and chat with an acquaintance but lately I fear I’ve been overdoing it and now my neighbours are avoiding me: a poem

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Erika Thorkelson @ethorkel.bsky.social · 09/07/2025

I wrote a little newsletter about reading Clarice Lispector and the comfort of making space for confusion in the digital age

open.substack.com

Issue 22: The Anti-Beach Read

Taking Clarice Lispector's The Apple in the Dark on vacation

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Erika Thorkelson @ethorkel.bsky.social · 02/07/2025

I have questions for whoever wrote Mission: Impossible—The Final Reckoning. Many many questions

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Erika Thorkelson @ethorkel.bsky.social · 01/07/2025

This Canada Day has a real first birthday party after friend breakup vibe

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Erika Thorkelson @ethorkel.bsky.social · 25/06/2025

The building manager has gotten his revenge by decreeing that we are only allowed to do one load of laundry at a time from now on. One washer shall always remain empty

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Erika Thorkelson @ethorkel.bsky.social · 24/06/2025

One of my favourite Japanese expressions is otsukare or otsukaresama. It’s used at the end of a work day or just at the end of a conversation to mean something like, “thanks for your hard work,” but literally means “you must be very tired.” It’s the perfect ending because often, yes, I am very tired

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Erika Thorkelson @ethorkel.bsky.social · 23/06/2025

Ok, done! Generally a positive outcome (although I’d worked pretty hard to manage my expectations). Agreement achieved. Likelihood of being evicted is basically 0. What an adrenaline rush though. I feel like I’ve run a marathon

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Erika Thorkelson @ethorkel.bsky.social · 22/06/2025

Tomorrow is my Residential Tentancy Board facilitation hearing with my landlord to contest a year’s worth of unreasonable noise complaints. Any advice?

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Erika Thorkelson @ethorkel.bsky.social · 17/06/2025

This is not a one bedroom, sir. This is a bachelor suite doing bad cosplay

An apartment with a corner marked with sliding doors that are meant to make it a bedroom

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Erika Thorkelson @ethorkel.bsky.social · 16/06/2025

In better news, I finally have a rough draft of this volcano essay I’ve been working on for ages. Despite everything! A rough draft!

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Erika Thorkelson @ethorkel.bsky.social · 16/06/2025

I mostly come to Bluesky to complain about stuff I don’t want certain people to see and I fear it’s creating an odd persona for me in this place. Like, who is this woman that’s just mad at her landlord and her family all the time?

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