iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Heather Clitheroe @lectio.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

It was like being in a museum exhibit. I've been reading 'May We Feed the King' by Rebecca Perry so it felt especially mimetic. The commitment to the experience was pretty admirable.

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Heather Clitheroe @lectio.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

I am working as a ballot counter on election night, and today I went for training and discovered that the election office has a mock polling station set up...right down to the 'I voted!' stickers!

The mock polling station set up for training election workers even includes a roll of the 'I voted' stickers.

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Heather Clitheroe @lectio.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

I've been using post-it flags in books for my candidacy exam somebody has just realized he can pluck them from books. VERY NOT GOOD.

Orange cat about to bite a paper page flag

Orange cat pulling said flag out of book.

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Heather Clitheroe @lectio.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Starting to pick the apples from our alley tree. They're looking good this year!

A res bucket brimming with apples harvested from the apple tree in our alley.

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Heather Clitheroe @lectio.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Have been in a first aid class for two days with way too many people with main character energy and what finally shut them down was a MIME in full face paint walking by.

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Heather Clitheroe @lectio.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

Watching the CBC rebroadcast of the last Hip concert. What a gift Gord Downie and the band were -- and still are -- to Canada.

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Heather Clitheroe @lectio.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

The third most worried man in the world will see you now.

Trailer door with sign that reads #3 Worried Man. A sign taped above it says 'open and close doors quietly please and thank you!'

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Heather Clitheroe @lectio.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

Seen on a run, just when I needed to see it.

Graffiti on a wooden railing, written in black marker on wood that says "Self love is important. Bless up."

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Heather Clitheroe @lectio.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

17 books left on my candidacy reading list. The office space I'm assigned as a grad student is pretty awful, so I decided to rent a desk at a co-working company downtown. I go after work and on the weekends, and it's been incredibly productive.

Candidacy countdown reads 17 items remaining, 122 items completed, 77 days left!

The view from the desk I'm renting - a high rise office desk looking out at skyscrapers and the river valley beyond.

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Heather Clitheroe @lectio.bsky.social · 26/07/2026

My reading list is getting closer and closer to being done. I started talking about my thesis proposal for my dissertation. Holy moly, holy moly.

Bar graph that reads Candidacy Reading Countdown. 20 items remaining, 119 items completed, 79 days remaining until THE THUNDERDOME. ONE PHD STUDENT ENTERS ONE PHD CANDIDATE LEAVES.

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Heather Clitheroe @lectio.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

My university has shifted our landscape back to natural prairie grasses and plants instead of bluegrass turf and it's pretty magical in the summer.

Swan Mall, now a prairie grass landscape (with tree).

Prairie grasses and flowers between MacEwan Hall and Hunter Student Commons.

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Heather Clitheroe @lectio.bsky.social · 27/06/2026

Left Singapore today and started the trek home. The number of container ships and oil tankers there was staggering to see.

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Heather Clitheroe @lectio.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

While I've been in Singapore, I've been using WeWork hotdesking for a comfortable place to write. I feel like an anthropologist or a spy, working on my science fiction story among business people. Typing away industriously, like a captain of industry. Little do they know...

Picture of a desk with a laptop case, glasses case, and black mug that says 'Work,' by a window with very green outdoors in Singapore.

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Heather Clitheroe @lectio.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

Today's Singapore adventure: a research visit to the herbarium, followed by a walk through the gardens.

Tropical greenery and trees with a path in the middle.

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Heather Clitheroe @lectio.bsky.social · 14/06/2026

I am jetlagged BAD but I discovered an app to look up the cargo ship I'm watching as I write.

Ports of call from an app, showing the vessel's stops

Ship info for the CMA CGM Seine, a cargo ship.

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Heather Clitheroe @lectio.bsky.social · 14/06/2026

I got some dimsum and brought it back to the open air veranda. Was just wondering what that noise is...it's the waves breaking on the shore.

Picture of an open air veranda facing the ocean with a box of delicious dim sum on the table.

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Heather Clitheroe @lectio.bsky.social · 14/06/2026

So I'm here for two weeks to research and develop science fiction-themed critical self-reflection modules, and also do some creative writing. I think...I think it's going to be pretty easy to dream up some sci-fi.

Changi Jewel waterfall feature. A concave roof has a simulated rainfall pouring down into a pool below as a train passes.

Better view of the Changi Jewel waterfall.

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Heather Clitheroe @lectio.bsky.social · 13/06/2026

I have been flying all through the night from Vancouver to Singapore. It's been comfortable but so so so long.

Airline flight map showing route from Vancouver to Singapore, only just begun.

Flight map showing the trip almost done!

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Heather Clitheroe @lectio.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

I am staying in a residence that was once a convent and there are nuns buried in the basement. It's probably not haunted.

View of a probably haunted window. Very old.

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Heather Clitheroe @lectio.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

Getting ready for my presentation this week at the 2026 Association of Canadian College and University Teachers of English meeting. My Wri 426 course at @ucalgaryconted.bsky.social was (and I think still is?) the only romance AND erotica creative writing course offered by a Canadian institution.

Powerpoint slide that says 'Teaching Romance and Erotica' Designing a consent-based, trauma-informed online classroom by Heather Clitheroe, PhD student, UCalgary

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Heather Clitheroe @lectio.bsky.social · 16/05/2026

My neighbours are on their way home from their honeymoon so I abused my spare key privileges and left them champagne and snackies (and a gross new bone for their dog) and decorated their door. I love being middle-aged and doing fun things for the youngsters in my life.

Flowers, champagne, and candy bars and haribos on a counter top.

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Heather Clitheroe @lectio.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

I'm gaining on my candidacy exam reading list...

Candidacy reading countdown chart showing 'items remaining 38, items completed 101, days remaining 151.'

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Heather Clitheroe @lectio.bsky.social · 11/05/2026

On Thursday, my grad program director muttered that my choice of Chinese to fulfil the second language requirement wasn't relevant to my PhD field of study as she looked at my profile. Today, I am making notes as I read Paolo Bacigalupi's The Water Knife and translating the Chinese characters.

like...my notes and translations isn't perfect, but I definitely get something different from reading that than, say, she would.

“The arcologies solar panels fluttered, tracking the sun, shading its walls, controlling temperature as they soaked up heat and light. Beyond Cypress 3, sister arcologies 1 and 2 were also visible, and to their west, the borehole of Cypress 4 was marked by the rising latticed towers of construction cranes, flamboyantly draped with 远大集团 banners dangling down the sides in red and gold” (ch 4)

(yuan da - adjective - long-range, broad, ambitious, jituan - group, circle, bloc) - translated by the character, Angel, as “The Broad Group, a badass construction firm out of Changsha.” (ch 4) - note that 急湍 would refer to switf/rushing current or gurgling rapids (homonym to 集团.

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Heather Clitheroe @lectio.bsky.social · 02/05/2026

I've been taking a picture of the river from the same spot off and on for three years, and the pic from twelve days ago to today is a good example of spring arriving!

Picture of the Bow River with a large ice shelf.

Picture of the Bow River with most of the ice shelf gone.

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Heather Clitheroe @lectio.bsky.social · 21/04/2026

I am filling out an application for a research trip.

Form that reads 'What do you consider strenuous activity? (Answer should not exceed 250 words * required question). The answer box reads simply, in the baddest toughest late 40s woman matter of fact voice, 'I have completed 8 marathons.' The sound of a microphone dropping to the floor, rolling off the edge of the stage, and clattering to concrete echoes in the background.

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Heather Clitheroe @lectio.bsky.social · 20/04/2026

I had to reposition the shifters, but these new handlebar grips make for a comfier ride!

Touring handlebar grips on a very nice bike with a lot of stickers on it.

Picture of a bike from the rear by the panniers.

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Heather Clitheroe @lectio.bsky.social · 07/04/2026

"Honored to have traveled further than any spread in history 🚀 Taking spreading smiles to new heights ❤️" Nutella coms team on point.

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Heather Clitheroe @lectio.bsky.social · 05/04/2026

And the Spotify daylist to go with the reading.

Spotify daylist titled slow jazz pizzazz Saturday evening

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Heather Clitheroe @lectio.bsky.social · 05/04/2026

Tonight's reading: A Room of One's Own and How to Write a Thesis.

Photo of two books: A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf and How To Writrba Thesis by Umberto Eco.

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Heather Clitheroe @lectio.bsky.social · 04/04/2026

Today's reading (there's always reading going on): finished up Cixin Liu's "The Three-Body Problem" and Ted Chiang's novella, "The Lifecycle of Software Objects."

Candidacy reading countdown bar chart: items remaining 60, items completed: 79, days remaining 192.

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Heather Clitheroe @lectio.bsky.social · 31/03/2026

I finally saw a fish and pressed the doorbell!

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Heather Clitheroe @lectio.bsky.social · 22/03/2026

Candidacy reading list: polished off Octavia Butler's Dawn today, added notes for Becky Chambers' Psalm for the Wild-Built and Prayer for the Crown Shy, and also for William Gibson's Neuromancer. Bruno Latour's We Have Never Been Modern is up on deck.

Bar graph reading Candidacy Reading Countdown: Items remaining 78, Items completed 61, days remaining 205.

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Heather Clitheroe @lectio.bsky.social · 19/03/2026

Candidacy update: 84 things left to read and annotate, 55 done, and 207 days remaining. Chastised by my program director who says I am expressly forbidden from scheduling my own exams but also says that they recognize I was sending a note titled 'fyi' do discuss plans. Feeling: I'll never win.

An optimistic looking bar graph that reads Candidacy Reading Countdown, items remaining: 84, items completed: 55, days remaining: 207 god will i ever be done with this

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Heather Clitheroe @lectio.bsky.social · 11/03/2026

Another candidacy read done - Ursula K. Le Guin's Steering the Craft, which is a re-read for me: "Climax is one kind of pleasure; plot is one kind of story." Preach. Items remaining: 96. Items completed: 43. Days remaining: 216.

My never-ending candidacy reading list bar graph, now with 'days remaining' added. Items remaining: 96. Items completed: 43. Days remaining: 216.

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Heather Clitheroe @lectio.bsky.social · 09/03/2026

Ninety-nine paperback books on the list, ninety-nine paper back books...you take one down and read and take notes, then ninety-eight paperback books on the list...

Bar graph reads 'Candidacy Reading Countdown,' with 41 items completed, 98 remaining. My eyes are soo tired.

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Heather Clitheroe @lectio.bsky.social · 05/03/2026

Candidacy reading: Paulo Freire's Pedagogy of the Heart. "Within an understanding of history as possibility, tomorrow is problematic. In order for it to come, it is necessary that we build it through transforming today. Different tomorrows are possible... (1/3)

Bar graph reading 'candidacy reading countdown' showing 126 items remaining, 22 completed.

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Heather Clitheroe @lectio.bsky.social · 02/03/2026

Candidacy countdown, weekend edition: two more books written up, taught a workshop at the public library, and set my exam dates for Oct 12-30.

Bar graph reading Candidacy Reading Countdown. 127 items remaining, 21 completed.

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Heather Clitheroe @lectio.bsky.social · 26/02/2026

Two more fields papers read and written up: Lee Maracle's "Oratory: Coming to Theory" and Lenore Keeshig-Tobias' “Of Hating, Hurting, and Coming to Terms with the English Language.” Now for another chapter of Jordan S. Carroll's 'Speculative Whiteness: Science Fiction and the Alt-Right."

Bar Graph that reads 'candidacy reading countdown.' Items remaining: 133. Items completed: 15.

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Heather Clitheroe @lectio.bsky.social · 19/02/2026

Next up on my reading: Lynda Barry's 'Syllabus: Notes from an Accidental Professor.'

Photo of the cover of Lynda Barry's 'Syllabus: Notes from an Accidental Professor.' a pair of reading glasses just next to it.

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Heather Clitheroe @lectio.bsky.social · 04/01/2026

Putting in my science fiction essay entry for this contest, and it certainly has a different feel to it today than it did a couple of days ago. (www.canada.ca/en/departmen...)

Screenshot from the entry form for Dept National Defence 'IDEaS Fictional Intelligence Writing Contest: Polar Paradigms 2045'

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