iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Kirsten Bakis @kirstenbakis.com · 29/09/2026

My beautiful old dog on a beautiful September day

Portrait of a greying brindle dog with her nose lifted to smell the breeze

Kirsten Bakis @kirstenbakis.com · 31/05/2026

LIBRARIES SAVE DEMOCRACY (The pin is a gift from a student, the raven from a wonderful librarian in honor of my novel King Nyx which features a large black bird 🐦‍⬛ 🖤)

A crocheted raven next to an enamel pin that says LIBRARIES SAVE DEMOCRACY

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Kirsten Bakis @kirstenbakis.com · 01/04/2026

No, it's actually an April Fools surf 'n' turf; under the top layer of "dirt" is sea-green pudding with Swedish fish in it! (This was really because I'm vegan and couldn't find any gummy worms w/o gelatin, but it came out great and kids liked it!)

A spoon is in the dessert bowl and some cookie crumble is cleared away to reveal green-blue pudding and a red candy fish

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Kirsten Bakis @kirstenbakis.com · 01/04/2026

Classic "worms and dirt" dessert of pudding and gummy worms topped by crumbled Oreos for "dirt", plus some candy rocks and bugs and flowers . . . or is it?

A bowl on a table that looks like it's full of dirt (really cookie crumbs) plus colorful candy rocks and bugs and flower-shaped lollipops.

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Kirsten Bakis @kirstenbakis.com · 01/04/2026

Today’s April Fools surprise for my kids (who are 17 and 20 but still tolerate these) ……. WHAT’S IN THE BOX?

A small box with a bright pink note attached saying “your April Fools surprise is….”

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Kirsten Bakis @kirstenbakis.com · 31/03/2026

Another year, I did the classic "smoking toilet" and I got a remote-controlled poop on wheels (a thing that exists). I said to the kids: There must have been an explosion, the toilet is smoking and there's poop running all over the floor, come look!

A toilet with two toilet paper rolls on top of the closed lid, so they look like eyes, and an empty toilet paper roll tube stuck between the lid and the seat so it looks like it's holding a cigar in its mouth

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Kirsten Bakis @kirstenbakis.com · 26/03/2026

Squill! Now it’s really spring

Small bluish-white flowers coming up among brown leaves

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Kirsten Bakis @kirstenbakis.com · 09/03/2026

Yesterday’s sunset dog walk

A blue sky streaked with bright orange and gray clouds over a schoolyard. On the ground, piles of snow and a huge puddle of snowmelt reflecting the sky. A brown dog stands off to the side.

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Kirsten Bakis @kirstenbakis.com · 08/03/2026

I'm on the altar guild at this very lovely church, and this is what it looked like when I went at sunrise to set the altar

A snowy-covered lawn, bare trees, and an old stone church seen through morning fog

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Kirsten Bakis @kirstenbakis.com · 05/03/2026

Timeline cleanse. A beautiful day today. Ice breaking up and sunlight returning

A stretch of the Hudson River, blue sky and clouds overhead, hills in the distance, huge white sheets of ice breaking into jagged pieces near the shore

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Kirsten Bakis @kirstenbakis.com · 02/02/2026

Sign in a shop window that says ROSES ARE RED, VIOLETS ARE BLUE, ABOLISH ICE AND FASCISM TOO

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Kirsten Bakis @kirstenbakis.com · 31/01/2026

A little break from everything

A brindle dog, old, with a gray muzzle, lying next to a striped tabby cat on a bed with bedclothes of various colors and patterns…a cozy, mini peaceable kingdom vibe

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Kirsten Bakis @kirstenbakis.com · 15/01/2026

Applications open tomorrow for the Yale Writers' Workshop. I've taught there since 2012 and love the supportive atmosphere, faculty, the Yale campus and the incredible participants. Always have a fascinating group in my workshop. summer.yale.edu/academics/ya...

Photo of a smiling group of people on the Yale campus. Text: Yale Writers' Workshop -- Announcing the 2026 Yale Writers' Workshop -- our application will open on January 16.

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Kirsten Bakis @kirstenbakis.com · 09/11/2025

Made some vegan pumpkin muffins for the library bake sale

Muffins on paper plates, some in clear wrap tied with multicolored yarn, some in red and white checked paper

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Kirsten Bakis @kirstenbakis.com · 19/10/2025

A lone counter-protester spotted yesterday, one town away from our local protest, in a Home Depot "rent me starting at $19" truck with an old Trump 2024 flag stuck in the back

An angry-looking man in a pickup truck with a big TRUMP 2024 flag on the back. On the side of the truck, it says HOME DEPOT and RENT ME STARTING AT $19

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Kirsten Bakis @kirstenbakis.com · 18/10/2025

Seen at the Ossining, NY #NoKings gathering

Two dogs wearing signs. One says “no kings” and the other, “dogs against fascism.”

An elderly lady in a wheelchair, seen from the back, in the protest crowd. She has white hair, wears a paper crown, and is holding an absolutely huge American flag

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Kirsten Bakis @kirstenbakis.com · 06/09/2025

It’s got some nice Clockwork Orange vibes

Malcolm McDowell in the role of Alex in S Kubrick’s film, looking threatening yet somehow horribly enticing as he peers up from under his hat brim—the black brim echoing the creepy bangs of the clown on the cookie jar, the expression similar

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Kirsten Bakis @kirstenbakis.com · 22/08/2025

To be fair, the second paragraph has SOME good things, like "elevat[ing] the nation's HBCUs" but weirdly mixed in with some very not-good things as if they're hoping you won't notice. It ends with: "Funding is being allocated in a new direction in furtherance of the Administration’s agenda."

The NEA is updating its grantmaking policy priorities to focus funding on projects that reflect the nation's rich artistic heritage and creativity as prioritized by the Administration Consequently, we are cancelling existing funding opportunities that fall outside these new priorities. The NEA will now prioritize projects that elevate the Nation’s HBCUs and Hispanic Serving Institutions, celebrate the 250th anniversary of American independence, foster AI competency, empower houses of worship to serve communities, assist with disaster recovery, foster skilled trade jobs, make America healthy again, support the military and veterans, support Tribal communities, make the District of Columbia safe and beautiful, and support the economic development of Asian American communities. Funding is being allocated in a new direction in furtherance of the Administration’s agenda.

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Kirsten Bakis @kirstenbakis.com · 04/05/2025

Princess Beelzebub and Pearl

Two white chickens with red combs on a wooden railing. Also visible is sunlit greenery and a pot of blue pansies. A peaceful, homey scene

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Kirsten Bakis @kirstenbakis.com · 25/04/2025

nice walk with my old pal ❤️

My dog Lily, a boxer mix maybe? She has a brindle coat, a graying muzzle and gray eyebrows. Her mouth is partly open and she looks happy. In the background: green grass, a park bench, a nice old tree

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Kirsten Bakis @kirstenbakis.com · 15/03/2025

A lot of people at my library waiting to read Careless People!

A screenshot from a library website showing formats of the book CARELESS PEOPLE along with number of people on the waiting list for each: book 41, e-audiobook 64, ebook 79, kindle 79.

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Kirsten Bakis @kirstenbakis.com · 18/02/2025

KING NYX is out in paperback today! Creepy automatons! Friendship! Dread! Mystery! Parakeets! Esquire • Best Horror Books 2024 People Mag • 20 Scary Books for Spooky Season CrimeReads • Best Gothic Novels 2024 Times Union • 20 great books by Hudson Valley authors 2024 buy@ tinyurl.com/2audy8d7

Cover of a paperback novel, KING NYX by Kirsten Bakis, showing a black bird silhouetted against a gray, stormy landscape, with choppy waves below and a creepy mansion in the distance. The book appears to be lying on a bright, floral patterned, hand printed-looking fabric background. I actually don't have any of the paperbacks yet, so I took a screenshot of the cover and pasted it on top of a photo of a cloth napkin lying on my table

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Kirsten Bakis @kirstenbakis.com · 14/02/2025

King Nyx was chosen by my local library as the Croton Reads selection for 2025. I'm a huge fan of my local library, so this is a big honor!

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Kirsten Bakis @kirstenbakis.com · 12/02/2025

If you live in NY Senate District 40: Westchester/Hudson Valley -- Know Your Rights Workshops for immigrants and allies neighborslink.org/resources-to...

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Kirsten Bakis @kirstenbakis.com · 27/12/2024

This whole piece is devastating, but the detail I cannot get out of my head is this (context: Munro's father was fur farmer) It breaks my heart in so many different ways

Screenshot of text that reads: Once, when Andrea came over to help, Alice told a story about how her father had beaten her after she gave names to the baby foxes on their farm. She wasn’t supposed to get attached to the animals. “My mother always told me she had no interest in animals,” Andrea said. “But I believe that happened, and I thought, Oh, the nurturing was beaten out of her.”

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Kirsten Bakis @kirstenbakis.com · 18/12/2024

Christmas lights reflected in Bob’s eyes

The face of a black cat in closeup. In his yellow eyes are little swarms of bright squiggles, which are reflections of Christmas tree lights

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Kirsten Bakis @kirstenbakis.com · 13/12/2024

I am so excited about this. I’m a sucker for vegan junk food.

A box of Kraft Mac & cheese that says “plant based”

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Kirsten Bakis @kirstenbakis.com · 08/12/2024

Went to see this incredible exhibit, Luna Luna at The Shed NYC - spooky and beautiful

Large colorful image by Keith Haring of a creature that could be an alligator or a dog. The lighting is spooky yet the colors are vivid, and the creature seems powerful and alive

Image by Jean-Michel Basquiat from the side of a ferris wheel he decorated for this exhibition. It is a man and a horse. The shapes and lines and colors feel elemental and powerful. There is red, orange, blue, brown, black. There is what looks like a word above the drawing, but in an unrecognizable (to me) script.

Ghostly looking image of a white woman in a dark coat, mostly in shades of purple, with many overlapping reflections and streaks of light. In the background, shining through the person's face, some bright jewel-colored fragments of images by Keith Haring, which seem to be far away or possibly to exist in another dimension

A round cracked mirror with a two round eyes and a simple nose painted on it in smudgy white. A piece of mottled old brown tape goes across the forehead diagonally, and there is something written on it in purple sharpie that looks like "Schmögner." A small sign below the face reads: "A cracked mirror face from Susanne Schmögner's spiral labyrinth. A kinetic anilam sculpture at the lbyrinth's center handed visitors copies of Arthur Rimbaud's 1872 poem 'Golden Age.'" This sign refers to the original installation where this mirror -- and all the art in the exhibit -- first appeared, in Germany in 1987. It was packed away for decades and only recently rediscovered and put on display in NYC. It was a sort of art amusement park, with rides (such as the ferris wheel painted by Basquiat), theater performances, and other events.

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