iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Hat Full of Sky @hatfullofsky.bsky.social · 14h

Got a pioneer find on a meh-scoring round, so I’m taking it as a win. This damn game scratches so many itches that I’m worried it’s some kind of experiment/data collection, and I’m a rat with a lot of words.

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Hat Full of Sky @hatfullofsky.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Sending a big hug. This is HARD. Thirteen years of love, joy, and treats, though? That’s a good life. Thank you for making it possible for him.

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Hat Full of Sky @hatfullofsky.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Excellent work, Brooke! That’s a high compliment!

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Hat Full of Sky @hatfullofsky.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

For Iris: . Who was loved, even if never fed. (This news sucks. Sending hugs to you. Thanks for giving her a good life.)

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Hat Full of Sky @hatfullofsky.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Aaaaaaaah, NO. I just can’t thank you for reminding me of this.

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Hat Full of Sky @hatfullofsky.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

A small collection of enormous love and creativity. Made by hand. By people.

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Hat Full of Sky @hatfullofsky.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Omar is forever, but The Expanse’s Amos Burton is my second favorite Baltimore guy. They would have understood one another!

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Hat Full of Sky @hatfullofsky.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

I was fortunate bc my boyfriend was in that room. Protection of a sort. But the written comments on my papers—my pride has turned to dust. Another plausibly deniable probing of susceptibility, you know? Anyhow, reach out if you want, or need to. Hindsight aches.

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Hat Full of Sky @hatfullofsky.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

That whole generation (who had been through similar stuff!) could not be open about the harm. They would have had to reckon with it, and chose not to. So we had to DOUBLY figure it out, knowing that the adults’ responses were insufficient (and the same parents showed up for plays, games, etc.)

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Hat Full of Sky @hatfullofsky.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

It was the perfect storm: saving face for the school, despite the open secrets; parents who didn’t object; keeping up workplace harmony; kids who did not know what to do other than smile politely, keep distance, keep grades up. Of course there were others, we just didn’t know. But it was allowed.

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Hat Full of Sky @hatfullofsky.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

figure out all of this shit for the first time. ”Stay away,” okay, yes, but we had to be in that room, with boys who were watching it happen too. A kind of transmission by example, and not right either. The fraternity of patriarchy, you know?

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Hat Full of Sky @hatfullofsky.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

One last: These men were working out their personal stuff in a work setting, through the minds and bodies of girls who lacked equal experience, power, and insight. Who were at a developmental point of wanting to be told that they were pretty, smart, mature. We were not do-overs, we were trying to

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Hat Full of Sky @hatfullofsky.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

tax on learning in that room. And I am not sure I could have articulated this then.

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Hat Full of Sky @hatfullofsky.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Right? But back to the original question…what a dangerous situation for the girls.The boys didn’t have that risk, or those worries during class. Different experience. Gross example for them, but not an immediate disturbance taking up brain space/requiring physical adjustment, you know? An invisible

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Hat Full of Sky @hatfullofsky.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

I didn’t realize that. It felt weird at the time!

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Hat Full of Sky @hatfullofsky.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Uh…yup. (I misremembered his status, sorry. That whole thing was VERY WEIRD. And the other three teachers didn’t know? I always liked Mr. H and Mr. S., but…it disappoints me to realize that they might have known, and not acted.)

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Hat Full of Sky @hatfullofsky.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

But I think you might have known my sister. I was a few years ahead, but I remember another teacher, Mr. S., who was predatory. We knew! Why didn’t the administration? Go CR.)

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Hat Full of Sky @hatfullofsky.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Holy shit. I think we both had this teacher—in a room with things painted on the wall? Because now his stance makes sense. Can confirm the discomfort, and the vibe that we were expected to ignore. Slightly earlier era, another teacher, Mr. S., was…predatory. I’m sorry. It was gross. (Small world.…

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Hat Full of Sky @hatfullofsky.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

This has been such a good group. Hope that October is a little less hectic for you!

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Hat Full of Sky @hatfullofsky.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Great and fitting choice. Thank you so much for minding the playlist, and for all of your help!

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Hat Full of Sky @hatfullofsky.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Thank you for taking part in this read. I didn’t know how much I appreciated this novel until I slowed down, and thought about it with others, and educated myself on some of the history. Thank you for tolerating my rabbit holes!

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Hat Full of Sky @hatfullofsky.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Happy to hear you talking with John Moe again—thank you!

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Hat Full of Sky @hatfullofsky.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

And now we have siloed infrastructure. Well, some of us have it. We also have scolds telling us that we’re Doing Our Choices/Limits Wrong. Also, let’s cut funding for institutions that might have addressed the things they’re complaining about.

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Hat Full of Sky @hatfullofsky.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

You hung in there and worked at it, and I hope that your experience lets you connect with what your student is learning. I am so glad that this was a rich read for you—the work we bring to a book makes a difference to what we get out of it. Thank you!

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Hat Full of Sky @hatfullofsky.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

I choose to believe that James and his family will survive. It's not promised, but still I believe. Thank you for being here, everybody. I hope it has been a meaningful read. /🛶

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Hat Full of Sky @hatfullofsky.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

But, Baldwin, again: "...for here you were, big James, named for me....We have not stopped trembling yet, but if we had not loved each other, none of us would have survived, and now you must survive because we love you and for the sake of your children..."

progressive.org

A Letter to My Nephew

James Baldwin's thoughts on his nephew's future—in a country with a terrible history of racism— first appeared in The Progressive magazine in 1962. Over 50 years later his words are as powerful as ever.

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Hat Full of Sky @hatfullofsky.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

ending, only survival. They're delivered into hands that may yet harm them. No easy answers, even after all of the suffering.

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Hat Full of Sky @hatfullofsky.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

But however narratively satisfying this ending is, it's a fantasy, a limited action that still leaves James & his family, and the other enslaved folks on the run, in a precarious situation. Free, but not free. There's no systemic solution, or even solidarity. Everett does not grant them a happy

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Hat Full of Sky @hatfullofsky.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

"...If we do not now dare everything, the fulfillment of that prophecy, re-created from the Bible in song by a slave, is upon us: God gave Noah the rainbow sign, No more water, the fire next time!"

newyorker.com

James Baldwin: Letter from a Region in My Mind

From 1962: “Whatever white people do not know about Negroes reveals, precisely and inexorably, what they do not know about themselves.”

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Hat Full of Sky @hatfullofsky.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

"I did not intend to allow the white people of this country to tell me who I was, and limit me that way, and polish me off that way. And yet, of course, at the same time, I was being spat on and defined and described and limited, and could have been polished off with no effort whatever."

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Hat Full of Sky @hatfullofsky.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

James Baldwin, 1962, in an essay that later became The Fire Next Time: "I was icily determined—more determined, really, than I then knew—never to make my peace with the ghetto but to die and go to Hell before I would let any white man spit on me, before I would accept my “place” in this republic.

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Hat Full of Sky @hatfullofsky.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

I choose to believe that James and his family will survive. It's not promised, and hope is not a plan...but it is possible. Thank you for being here, everybody. I hope that has been a meaningful read.

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Hat Full of Sky @hatfullofsky.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Everett doesn't give us an easy answer. But Baldwin, again: "...for here you were, big James, named for me....We have not stopped trembling yet, but if we had not loved each other, none of us would have survived, and now you must survive because we love you and for the sake of your children..."

progressive.org

A Letter to My Nephew

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Hat Full of Sky @hatfullofsky.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

But it's a fantasy, a limited action that still leaves James & his family, and the other enslaved folks on the run, in a precarious situation. Free, but not free. There's no systemic solution rooted in solidarity. No happy ending, only survival. They're delivered into hands that may yet harm them.

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Hat Full of Sky @hatfullofsky.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

...If we do not now dare everything, the fulfillment of that prophecy, re-created from the Bible in song by a slave, is upon us: God gave Noah the rainbow sign, No more water, the fire next time!" www.newyorker.com/magazine/196...

newyorker.com

James Baldwin: Letter from a Region in My Mind

From 1962: “Whatever white people do not know about Negroes reveals, precisely and inexorably, what they do not know about themselves.”

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Hat Full of Sky @hatfullofsky.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

I did not intend to allow the white people of this country to tell me who I was, and limit me that way, and polish me off that way. And yet, of course, at the same time, I was being spat on and defined and described and limited, and could have been polished off with no effort whatever.

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Hat Full of Sky @hatfullofsky.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

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Hat Full of Sky @hatfullofsky.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

achievable, and effective answer. It's cinematic, this vengeance. Satisfying because the unjust are punished, & James is reunited with his family. There's been a little bit of justice in a brutal world. "Pharaoh's army got drowned/O Mary don't you weep." Listen to the mighty Aretha sing it.

youtube.com

Aretha Franklin - Mary, Don't You Weep (Official Audio)

YouTube video by Aretha Franklin

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Hat Full of Sky @hatfullofsky.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

white knight liberation, James's closing chapters give all of the agency--and the rage--to a man ready to take up arms against his oppressors. Didn't he argue with Locke about defending oneself against the enemy? And Locke had no answer. Philosophy has no answer. But violence is a practical,

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Hat Full of Sky @hatfullofsky.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

🛶 James: The End?, Or, The Fire Next Time 🧵 After spending so long with James and his speech, his philosophical discussions, and the theoretical underpinnings of his survival, we come to this: violence, murder, & a breeding camp in flames. If Huck Finn's concluding chapters made Jim the object of

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Hat Full of Sky @hatfullofsky.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

🛶 James readers, we’re coming to the close of this novel. The heartbreak and violence don’t stop; heads up for scenes of rape and murder.

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