iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Leslie Hickman @ginsengamericano.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

I don’t pray for the strength to stand in a picket line or earn enough credentials to make policy change. I pray for the strength to ask a stranger if they’re okay when I hear them yelp, or give a homeless woman a few dollars without obsessing about utility or my own moral state.

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Leslie Hickman @ginsengamericano.bsky.social · 28/06/2026

Believe in fantasy before it’s too late.

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Leslie Hickman @ginsengamericano.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

In the grand scheme of things, keeping your clothes clean is not as important as the joy of jumping in puddles.

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Leslie Hickman @ginsengamericano.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

Simply existing lends myself to countless statistics. I am wielded for causes of which I know nothing. Please listen, our lives are not the result of poorly laid plans. If something should ever happen to me, forgive forgive forgive.

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Leslie Hickman @ginsengamericano.bsky.social · 09/06/2026

I want my life to be like the artist who painted the same tree every day and every season. I want that to be my life.

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Leslie Hickman @ginsengamericano.bsky.social · 31/05/2026

From "Dreams (1990)" by Akira Kurosawa

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Leslie Hickman @ginsengamericano.bsky.social · 31/05/2026

We’re awarding ourselves power that we don’t have. We have power because we keep assuming that we do.

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Leslie Hickman @ginsengamericano.bsky.social · 31/05/2026

A belief in radical alterity is necessary to stop seeking control. If one thinks that their mind can reside in every man then they will try to control the mind of every man.

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Leslie Hickman @ginsengamericano.bsky.social · 24/05/2026

I do not want my voice to be valued only for the weight it lends to either side of an argument.

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Leslie Hickman @ginsengamericano.bsky.social · 01/05/2026

One of the best things about being Christian is remembering that I am free to love the people everyone hates.

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Leslie Hickman @ginsengamericano.bsky.social · 09/04/2026

I just don’t know how to say no to another cup of coffee. I just don’t know how long do I gaze at the sea until I've had my fill.

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Leslie Hickman @ginsengamericano.bsky.social · 08/04/2026

I always walk the same route home so I know when the flowers are in full bloom. And I know when they start to wilt.

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Leslie Hickman @ginsengamericano.bsky.social · 05/04/2026

Everything was under his power, so he served. He was the light of life, so he hid. When the crowd tried to crown him, the prince of peace fled. In him was the way of eternal life, so he died.

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Leslie Hickman @ginsengamericano.bsky.social · 01/04/2026

The lights at night still give me comfort. And I don’t actually care if this coffee keeps me up all night.

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Leslie Hickman @ginsengamericano.bsky.social · 01/04/2026

How I imagine my office hours to go when I become a professor.

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Leslie Hickman @ginsengamericano.bsky.social · 01/04/2026

Telling me that if I only gave up my religion then all would be well, is no different from saying that if I only adopted a religion then all would be well. I am wary of anyone who posits a conclusion.

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Leslie Hickman @ginsengamericano.bsky.social · 25/03/2026

We’re both here too Even if it surprises us Even if we don’t want it You and I

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Leslie Hickman @ginsengamericano.bsky.social · 25/03/2026

Did you know that the world has always been bigger than this?

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Leslie Hickman @ginsengamericano.bsky.social · 25/03/2026

‘Flowers by the stream do not remember the despair they hear.’

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Leslie Hickman @ginsengamericano.bsky.social · 24/03/2026

I often wonder if deeply studying a topic unveils its truth or atomizes and distributes it into ready categories.

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Leslie Hickman @ginsengamericano.bsky.social · 23/03/2026

Somewhere in the world they’re baking. I’m so glad. I’m so glad.

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Leslie Hickman @ginsengamericano.bsky.social · 21/03/2026

Stories that exist in your head are still stories that exist.

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Leslie Hickman @ginsengamericano.bsky.social · 21/03/2026

I'm so thankful that I had the opportunity to speak about this great book!

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Leslie Hickman @ginsengamericano.bsky.social · 07/01/2026

This was such an enjoyable interview, and an enjoyable book! "Suh posits that literature’s relevance to society lies in seemingly nihilistic sacrifice, viewing literature not as a proxy for politics but as the art of imagination in language." newbooksnetwork.com/against-the-...

newbooksnetwork.com

Serk-Bae Suh, "Against the Chains of Utility: Sacrifice and Literature in 1970s and 1980s South Korea" (U Hawaii Press, 2025) - New Books Network

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Leslie Hickman @ginsengamericano.bsky.social · 14/09/2025

The trees do no mind when they’re felled to make a fence. The ground doesn’t note when it’s covered in cement. The rock doesn’t care that you’ve carved in it your name. The narratives we create will prove fictions in the end.

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Leslie Hickman @ginsengamericano.bsky.social · 01/09/2025

From "That" by Oh Eun, Trans. by Seth Chandler

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Leslie Hickman @ginsengamericano.bsky.social · 22/08/2025

We must let what art invokes in others surprise us to the very end.

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Leslie Hickman @ginsengamericano.bsky.social · 16/08/2025

First reverse culture shock upon returning to the US: the prevalence of signs with phrases I would associate with battle, such as 'safe space, defend, protect, support, uphold, stand together/against, save, report, resist.'

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Leslie Hickman @ginsengamericano.bsky.social · 15/08/2025

Remember that this, too, is a foreign country.

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Leslie Hickman @ginsengamericano.bsky.social · 01/08/2025

Excited to share this interview with Benoit Berthelier and Immanuel Kim on their anthology of North Korean literature! As someone with a background in Korean Studies and literary translation, this interview was especially enjoyable. @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social open.spotify.com/episode/1Kqi...

open.spotify.com

Benoit Berthelier and Immanuel Kim, "Hidden Heros: Anthology of North Korean FIction" (Anthem, 2025)

New Books in Korean Studies · Episode

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Leslie Hickman @ginsengamericano.bsky.social · 24/07/2025

I want to savor this time when I still don't fully believe in money, and can’t fathom why we don't give and receive however we like. I worry that as I age, I'll increasingly forget it's not real, like how each year the Kingdom of God feels less and less intuitive.

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Leslie Hickman @ginsengamericano.bsky.social · 20/07/2025

americanojuseyo7.wordpress.com/2025/07/20/t... "...while I recognize that I imitate opinions and arguments as they’ve been presented to me, I still feel like they are my arguments. The strange has become incredibly familiar—I am saturated in the local perspective." A new blog post after a year.

americanojuseyo7.wordpress.com

They think in you

justwhen you begin to seek other peoples’ knowledgeand the way they do thingsif you’re really really interested in itwhy notgo and get yourself a doctorate and live thereand if you don’t commit to …

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Leslie Hickman @ginsengamericano.bsky.social · 11/06/2025

Chronicles from Kashmir (2019). Excellent. I wish I'd watched it sooner. youtu.be/6BVLiGmva1I?...

youtu.be

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Leslie Hickman @ginsengamericano.bsky.social · 14/02/2025

"It’s a phase girlfriends say something you have to get through. Weightless as an astronaut you float around in empty rooms and wait for the freedom to do what you no longer want to." t.co/q4m1y1T1g0

t.co

https://www.theparisreview.org/poetry/7827/divorce-3-tove-ditlevsen

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Leslie Hickman @ginsengamericano.bsky.social · 29/01/2025

We're all here too Even if it surprises us Even if we don't want it You and I The mixing of people from different backgrounds IS. It's a fixed reality. We have to treat people as if they deserve to be here, in this exact moment, in this exact spot.

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