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Mandy Len Catron

@mandylen.bsky.social
250 followers 275 following 46 posts

Writer, teacher, pizza eater. Author of How to Fall in Love with Anyone (S&S). Creative Writing faculty at The University of British Columbia. Appalachian. she/her www.mandylencatron.substack.com

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Mandy Len Catron @mandylen.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Thank you Julianne!!
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Julianne Harvey @julianneharvey.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
I had the privilege of being in @mandylen.bsky.social’s CNF class and I wanted to stand up and cheer while reading her beautiful thoughts on leaning into our humanity as writers.
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Mandy Len Catron @mandylen.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Yes to writing more!
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Ryan Elizabeth @sevenintheocean.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
This, by @mandylen.bsky.social has been sitting as an open tab on my browser since June. I'm trying to kick my own butt to write more, this was a lovely reminder. :) "The best thing any writer can do right now is lean as hard as you can into the humanity in your work." thetyee.ca/Culture/2026...
thetyee.ca
Why I Write | The Tyee
The act of writing, and sharing it with others, protects us from the dehumanizing effects of AI.
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Sheelagh Caygill 🇨🇦 @sheelaghcaygill.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
'The act of writing, and sharing it with others, protects us from the dehumanizing effects of AI' - Mandy Len Catron tells us why she writes in The Tyee Weekender: @mandylen.bsky.social #creativewriting thetyee.ca/Culture/2026...
thetyee.ca
Why I Write | The Tyee
The act of writing, and sharing it with others, protects us from the dehumanizing effects of AI.
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Hey Neighbour Collective @heyneighbourcollective.ca · 03/02/2026
We were touched by this reflection shared by @mandylen.bsky.social on the idea of a “friend raft,” a kind of lifeline crafted by her and her friends to help keep one another afloat amidst the chaos that life so often brings. mandylencatron.substack.com/p/the-friend...
mandylencatron.substack.com
The friend raft
Eating food together while children run wild in someone’s small apartment turned out to be my go-to survival strategy of 2025.
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Mandy Len Catron @mandylen.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
Thanks to the great folks @thetyee.ca for republishing my latest newsletter on writing and connection in the era of AI:
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WIRED @wired.com · 08/01/2026
Just days into 2026, the killing of 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good by a federal immigration officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota, has sparked protests around the US. If you’re planning to protest, here’s how to safeguard your digital security.
wired.com
How to Protest Safely in the Age of Surveillance
Law enforcement has more tools than ever to track your movements and access your communications. Here’s how to protect your privacy if you plan to protest.
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David S. Bernstein @dbernstein.bsky.social · 05/11/2025
[Narrator: they lost 13 seats]
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zach silberberg @zachsilberberg.bsky.social · 05/11/2025
this is a reminder that we dont have to settle for newsom in 2028
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Kate Marvel @drkatemarvel.bsky.social · 14/07/2025
oh no, not something that would have upset the famously cheerful Brontës
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Mandy Len Catron @mandylen.bsky.social · 11/06/2025
Oh I love this so much! Yes!
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Mandy Len Catron @mandylen.bsky.social · 29/04/2025
Vancouverites! There are a few spots left for the Climate Wayfinding program I'm facilitating at Trout Lake Community Centre. Please join us! www.creativepublics.ca/climate-wayf...
creativepublics.ca
Climate Wayfinding — Creative Publics
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Michelle Cyca @michellecyca.com · 11/04/2025
just added another 25 crowd-sourced locations to this passion project of mine, mapping change tables in Vancouver! if you have friends with babies or toddlers, please pass it on: vancouverchangetables.com
vancouverchangetables.com
Vancouver Change Tables Map
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John Warner @biblioracle.bsky.social · 11/04/2025
Apparently we're going to surveillance our way to learning. Anyone who doubts that AI is inextricably bound up with intensive monitoring of student behaviors need only look at how those who genuinely believe this technology is a help are positioning it.
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Celeste Ng @pronounced-ing.bsky.social · 01/04/2025
Hey! If you like what Cory Booker is doing right now, call your senators and ask them to do the same (now and in the future). Find their info at ☎️ reps.fyi!
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Mandy Len Catron @mandylen.bsky.social · 10/03/2025
In my intro-level creative writing courses, I've been starting with AI on day one: "You don't have to write anything ever again if you don't want to. So let's talk about why you're here and what you do want to do."
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Mandy Len Catron @mandylen.bsky.social · 10/03/2025
I learned so much from this & especially loved the interview with @biblioracle.bsky.social. The university would like us to police AI usage. But this reiterates what a waste of time and energy that is.
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Hey Neighbour Collective @heyneighbourcollective.ca · 05/03/2025
We were very grateful to be included in Mandy's @thenarwhal.ca article alongside our colleagues at Building Resilient Neighbourhoods, where she wrote about the importance of knowing our neighbours, particularly so we can help each other out in times of disaster. thenarwhal.ca/vancouver-so...
thenarwhal.ca
Stronger social connections could help Vancouver weather climate disasters | The Narwhal
Social infrastructure is far more critical — and arguably more durable — than physical infrastructure in an era of heat domes, wildfires and flooding
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Hey Neighbour Collective @heyneighbourcollective.ca · 05/03/2025
We love this article from @mandylen.bsky.social so much - as well as her resource spreadsheet! Small, joyful things to hold onto, for those moments when we may be feeling "occasionally bereft or despairing about The State of Things." (Which we recognize may be *more* than occasionally right now.) 💙
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Leslie Pietrzyk @lesliepwriter.bsky.social · 19/02/2025
This is the official journal of the Converse low-res MFA program. I'm the editor and our team of enthusiastic and smart readers would love to consider your fiction/poetry/CNF/flash. Deadline: 3/10/25
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Wendy N. Wagner 🎃 @wnwagner.bsky.social · 18/02/2025
Need some good news today? Authors Against Book Bans fought one conservative school district in FL and won! lithub.com/authors-agai...
lithub.com
How Authors Against Book Bans helped defeat attempted library censorship in Florida.
If you’ve been following the right wing’s obsessive book-banning over the last few years, you’ve probably heard of Authors Against Book Bans, a coalition of writers, illustrators, and other book pe…
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Mandy Len Catron @mandylen.bsky.social · 18/02/2025
This should be my new byline! Mandy Len Catron is in love and chasing toddlers.
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Mandy Len Catron @mandylen.bsky.social · 18/02/2025
Vancouverites, I made a thing! Please contribute--and share! open.substack.com/pub/mandylen...
open.substack.com
The loneliness of climate change, part two: the less lonely spreadsheet edition!
I made a thing! Please contribute--and share!
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Mandy Len Catron @mandylen.bsky.social · 17/02/2025
Spending this Family Day weekend working on my new project: How to give your three-year-old eye drops in 112 easy steps.
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The Tyee @thetyee.ca · 07/02/2025
Dear Elon, we’re out. The Tyee will no longer be posting to X (formerly Twitter) and we’ve removed the X sharing buttons from our stories. Here’s why.
thetyee.ca
No Thanks, Musk. We’ll Direct Our Readers Elsewhere | The Tyee
The Tyee is no longer posting on X. Here’s why.
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Matt @mikalatos.com · 07/02/2025
My mom called me from a thrift shop once and told me that a book I'd signed to a co-worker was there. I asked her to buy it, and then I snuck it back into his house at the company Christmas party and never mentioned it again.
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Saeed Jones @theferocity.bsky.social · 09/01/2025
“In order to shoot off one email per week for a year, ChatGPT would use up 27 liters of water, or about one-and-a-half jugs… that means if one in 10 U.S. residents—16 million people—asked ChatGPT to write an email a week, it’d cost more than 435 million liters of water.”
fortune.com
AI doesn’t just require tons of electric power. It also guzzles enormous sums of water.
It also guzzles enormous sums of water.
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brian david gilbert @briamgilbert.bsky.social · 09/01/2025
waaaaay too many people in the middle imo
a venn diagram. the left circle is “people who understand that climate change is an existential threat” and the right circle is “people who use Al, but, like, not for real work! lol! i just needed a silly pic of a dog on a scooter and it's surprisingly hard to find good reference images”
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The Narwhal @thenarwhal.ca · 02/12/2024
In lonely cities, stronger neighbourhood connections are essential for preparing for climate change disasters, writes @mandylen.bsky.social thenarwhal.ca/vancouver-so...
thenarwhal.ca
Stronger social connections could help Vancouver weather climate disasters | The Narwhal
Social infrastructure is far more critical — and arguably more durable — than physical infrastructure in an era of heat domes, wildfires and flooding
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michellehoar.bsky.social @michellehoar.bsky.social · 04/12/2024
I loved hanging out with @mandylen.bsky.social recently for one of the interviews that fueled her beautiful, thoughtful piece. Thanks for being interested in @heyneighbourcollective.ca's work Mandy and for your beautiful writing about #socialresilience, #socialconnection etc.
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Mandy Len Catron @mandylen.bsky.social · 22/01/2024
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre... The Guardian asked me to write about new studies showing high interest in non-monogamy. What does it all mean? One answer is that the nuclear family is just not enough.
theguardian.com
Non-monogamous relationships seem to be on the rise. Is that surprising? | Mandy Len Catron
We want our partners to help clean, cook, parent, and remind us to go to the gym. It’s a lot to ask of one person – what if there were more than one?
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MacDowell @macdowell1907.bsky.social · 02/01/2024
At MacDowell, there are no residency fees, and to defray expenses that accrue during an artist’s stay, we provide need-based stipends to cover rent, utilities, childcare, and lost income from taking time off from employment, as well as grants to travel to and from the residency.
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Split Lip Magazine @splitlipthemag.bsky.social · 02/01/2024
FREE SUBMISSIONS are open again! We absolutely LOVE: ⚡️ voice-driven writing 📺 all things pop culture 🧠 the kind of honesty that gets you right in the kidneys 😉 following our guidelines 💰paying our contributors Check out the deets here: buff.ly/32k496o
simple black and white illustration of someone typing on a typewriter
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Mandy Len Catron @mandylen.bsky.social · 11/12/2023
"One thing I have learned, mostly from my classmates, is that people are more vulnerable than I thought." 💗💗😭✨
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Mandy Len Catron @mandylen.bsky.social · 08/12/2023
"I'm ashamed to admit that I thought non-fiction would be boring since it was reality and truth. I was proved WAY wrong. Our experiences are beautiful and powerful, they shape us into who we are today."
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Mandy Len Catron @mandylen.bsky.social · 08/12/2023
Not me here in my office tearing up over students' takeaways from our Intro CNF course!
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Mandy Len Catron @mandylen.bsky.social · 08/12/2023
I used to feel this way until a colleague accidentally swapped computers with someone in the airport security line and, when he got to Sweden, he discovered his laptop was in China. I'm now very pro sticker.
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Nicole Chung @nicolechung.bsky.social · 05/12/2023
❤️
electricliterature.com
Electric Lit’s Best Nonfiction of 2023 - Electric Literature
Nicole Chung, Claire Dederer, Lamya H, Maggie Smith, and Samantha Irby are among the year’s most loved books of nonfiction
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Tash 🍉 @tashmahal.bsky.social · 23/10/2023
"Or did you mean to ask   'Why are you sad so often?'   Ask the moon.   Ask what it has witnessed." -Linda Pastan, Why Are Your Poems so Dark?
Why Are Your Poems so Dark?
LINDA PASTAN


Isn't the moon dark too,  
most of the time?  

And doesn't the white page  
seem unfinished  

without the dark stain  
of alphabets?  

When God demanded light,  
he didn't banish darkness.  

Instead he invented  
ebony and crows  

and that small mole  
on your left cheekbone.  

Or did you mean to ask  
"Why are you sad so often?"  

Ask the moon.  
Ask what it has witnessed.
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Mandy Len Catron @mandylen.bsky.social · 23/10/2023
Also they'd like e to buy a $100 mic for the interview. Is this normal?? I haven't been out of the loop for that long have I?
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Mandy Len Catron @mandylen.bsky.social · 23/10/2023
Just signed up for a podcast that prefers I connect via ethernet for my interview. Have I...missed something? Is it 2009?
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Mandy Len Catron @mandylen.bsky.social · 23/10/2023
Truly time to abandon this stupid test. Here in Canada we don't use it and everyone gets by just fine. There are still broken parts of admission systems, but it's a start.
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Lina Srivastava @linasrivastava.bsky.social · 05/10/2023
The border wall kills. It kills people, wildlife, habitats, and communities. There is no justification for this. This is a terrible decision by the Biden administration.
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G. Willow Wilson @gwillow.me · 09/10/2023
In the hands of the biggest media corporations, the term 'diversity' has become a poison pill. A way to silo and minimize the contributions of the historically marginalized. There are *real* books and 'diverse' books, which you can safely ignore. At conferences, real panels and 'diverse' panels. Etc
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Donnell Wyche @donnell.bsky.social · 09/10/2023
Scholastic asks, "Do you want to opt out of 'diverse' books at your school's next book fair?" Your participation in white supremacy has never been easier, just uncheck the 'diverse' books box– poof, no problems. 🙄
themarysue.com
Scholastic Under Fire for Allowing Schools to Opt Out of ‘Diverse Books’ for Book Fairs
Scholastic has been accused of bending to right-wing pressure, making having diverse books optional for school book fairs.
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The Cincinnati Review @cincinnatireview.bsky.social · 04/10/2023
We at CR support our colleagues at Gettysburg Review—a magazine whose value to American letters, and the student interns who work at the journal, is beyond doubt. You, too, can show your support by writing Provost Bookwala and President Iuliano at Gettysburg College.
Tweet thread by Gettysburg Review re: their impending shutdownTweet thread by Gettysburg Review re: their impending shutdown
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Mandy Len Catron @mandylen.bsky.social · 05/10/2023
Was just complaining with a colleague about how Canvas, which also supposedly makes things easier for faculty, actually creates so much tedious admin work. As email did before it. This narrative of technology giving us time when it actually gives us work is evergreen.
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