iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Melissa Sevigny @melissasevigny.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Found this 1930 copy of MR Tillotson's Grand Canyon Country in a used bookstore, which I had to buy for the delightful map inside.

A whimsical old timey tourist map of the Grand Canyon

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Melissa Sevigny @melissasevigny.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Such a startling contrast in night lighting due to LEDs. And it's such an easily solved problem with a shift to amber and shielded fixtures. Story in @nautil.us #darkskies #scicomm nautil.us/astronaut-ph...

nautil.us

Astronaut Photos Taken Just 13 Years Apart Show a Major Shift in City Lights - Nautilus

We’ve moved on from the golden glow

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Melissa Sevigny @melissasevigny.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

This month's musings are about the Bright Angel floods that devastated one of the places I love best in the world. Still, the Grand Canyon's greatest gift is inspiring a long view of time. #grandcanyon #climatechange #scicomm substack.com/home/post/p-...

substack.com

Fire & Flood

After the North Rim wildfires comes catastrophic flooding in the Grand Canyon

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Melissa Sevigny @melissasevigny.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

Possibly the most unusual venue I’ve ever had for a book reading - back room of a brewery! American Rivers, Grand Canyon Trust, Grand Canyon Youth & Lumberyard hosted this lovely event in honor of women, rivers, and Heather Hansman’s new book FIERCE COUNTRY.

a crowd of people sitting on benches between giant silver beer brewing things (sorry don't know what those are called)

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Melissa Sevigny @melissasevigny.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

Giving Substack a try! Here's my first post, on a visit to the North Rim burn scar to restore native vegetation. 🌱#scicomm #writing melissasevigny.substack.com/p/afield-the...

melissasevigny.substack.com

Afield: The North Rim

Restoring plants in a burn scar evokes both grief and gratitude

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Melissa Sevigny @melissasevigny.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

STAR TREK🖖 + WHALES🐳 = best possible combination. Fellow nerds (and future nerds), read this wonderful piece by @chanda.blacksky.app in @orionmagazine.bsky.social orionmagazine.org/article/plan...

orionmagazine.org

Planetary Kin - Orion Magazine

Learning from Star Trek’s space whales

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Melissa Sevigny @melissasevigny.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

I love interviewing botanists. Whenever you come across an Echinocactus in the field, they all make the exact same joke, and you end up with transcripts that look like this. <nerd joke alert> 🤦‍♀️🌵

A timestamped transcript of five different people all saying "A kind of cactus." This is a nerdy pun on the genus name "Echinocactus."

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Melissa Sevigny @melissasevigny.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

Congrats to @hhansman.bsky.social whose excellent book FIERCE COUNTRY is out today! If you liked my book and are hungry for more stories of fierce, complicated, wonderful women out in the wilds, this one's for you. #books #writing #nature www.harpercollins.com/products/fie...

harpercollins.com

Fierce Country

The inspiring, untold story of three incredible women who spearheaded recreation, conservation and resilience in America’s most beloved landscapes, for read...

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Melissa Sevigny @melissasevigny.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

If you've hiked the Yetman Trail in Tucson, you know the Bowen homestead. I've been obsessed with Ruby Bowen's story since I was a kid, and it was fun to finally write about her. My latest in Arizona Highways: www.arizonahighways.com/archive/issu... #nature #writing

arizonahighways.com

OUT IN THE DESERT

Unlike her namesake, a woman whose story is repeated in karaoke bars around the world, Ruby Bowen never took her love to town. Instead, she and her husband built a house and made a home on a secluded ...

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Melissa Sevigny @melissasevigny.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

My latest in @highcountrynews.org: after a decade of preparation, scientists restore one of the nation's rarest orchids to a desert wetland in Arizona. #science #botany #scicomm

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Melissa Sevigny @melissasevigny.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

Back from rafting the Green River. Here's our last morning - sometimes nature is ridiculously, wonderfully, amazingly cliche.

A rainbow arching above rugged cliffs touched with early morning light. Below, a tent sits on a sandbar next to a river.

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Melissa Sevigny @melissasevigny.bsky.social · 15/06/2026

Still time to sign up for a #writing workshop on the Green River with me and the fantastic Holiday River folks! We'll take off on June 22 - don't you want to be floating a beautiful river next week?? www.bikeraft.com/specialty-ri...

bikeraft.com

Writing Workshop on the Green River - Holiday River Expeditions

Flex your creativity in this writer's workshop! Float the Gates of Lodore with acclaimed author Melissa Sevigny and hone your writing skills.

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Melissa Sevigny @melissasevigny.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

Advice to writers from the 1920s. It has aged rather well. "Don't hurry the book because no one will publish anything now..." #amwriting #authors

A page handwritten in cursive that says "Don't hurry the book because no one will publish anything now but perfect it and make it a monumental work. if you get it out in 2 or 3 years you will do well."

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Melissa Sevigny @melissasevigny.bsky.social · 09/06/2026

Health insurance companies: Let's talk about wellness! Me: Okay, my eyes have been -- 👀 Them: Eyes don't count. Me: Oh, well, I could use a dentist --🫤 Them: Teeth don't count. Me: Really? I'm gonna need a therapist. Them: Brains def don't count. 🧠

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Melissa Sevigny @melissasevigny.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

Prickly poppies abloom in the White Sage burn scar north of the Grand Canyon.

A brown landscape with charred vegetation; in the foreground are four blooms of tall white flowers with yellow hearts.

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Melissa Sevigny @melissasevigny.bsky.social · 31/05/2026

For your Sunday reading, #author Benjamin Schneider talks about the value of truly public spaces, the concept of "15 minute malls" and flying cars. Take a deep dive into the future of American urban centers. @terrainorg.bsky.social www.terrain.org/2026/intervi...

terrain.org

Gathering Spaces: An Interview with Benjamin Schneider - Terrain.org

Congress for New Urbanism Fellow Galina Tachieva interviews Benjamin Schneider, author of The Unfinished Metropolis: Igniting the City-Building Revolution.

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Melissa Sevigny @melissasevigny.bsky.social · 25/05/2026

Okay, mostly being a writer does not look like this. But some days it does. 💙 #amwriting

An open notebook and a coffee cup set on a high bluff surrounded by red rock Utah scenery under sunrise.

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Melissa Sevigny @melissasevigny.bsky.social · 23/05/2026

Goodness, I almost forgot it's my book's 3-year anniversary! To celebrate, here's a throwback photo to my publicity manager, who gets credit for keeping my sanity mostly intact. 🐱💙📚

A photo of a book BRAVE THE WILD RIVER lying on a table next to a cat who is staring up at the camera with a cynical expression.

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Reposted by Melissa Sevigny

Roberta Kwok @robertakwok.bsky.social · 20/05/2026

Goodreads is running a giveaway for my upcoming book LOST IN CURIOSITY: Field Notes from Scientists' Adventures into the Unknown! You can enter to win a free print copy www.goodreads.com/book/show/22...

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Melissa Sevigny @melissasevigny.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

The new issue of About Place includes my brief essay "Landslide." It's about loss, interconnected ecological and human health, and the ocean. Give it a read. #writing #climatechange #ecology aboutplacejournal.org/issues/the-g...

aboutplacejournal.org

Melissa L. Sevigny – The Ground Beneath Us – About Place Journal

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Melissa Sevigny @melissasevigny.bsky.social · 18/05/2026

Morning on the Colorado River above Lees Ferry. Had a lovely float before the crazy wind set in.

A red cliff mirrored in still blue water. In the distance are two kayaks floating down the river.

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Melissa Sevigny @melissasevigny.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

Grand Canyon sunrise. Never a bad thing when this is your office for the day.

A view of the Grand Canyon in hazy purples and pinks framed by juniper trees.

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Melissa Sevigny @melissasevigny.bsky.social · 10/05/2026

Mother's Day feels like the right time to share this poem, published in the latest issue of Grist journal. #poetry #amwriting

Dishwashing. In the evenings after supper she'd pull back her hair from its formal curls and fill the sink with dishes. It was my favorite game, to stand on a chair beside her, plunge up to my elbows on the wonderland of soap. Plates appeared like pearly sheened oysters, forks and spoons shipwrecked treasures. Out the window we could see a bit of the laundry line, sky's flagging pinks, the bony angled arms of mesquite. Not too much soap my mother would say. It's all about scrubbing. Her hands, which I knew from gardening, repairing engines, changing tires, answering phones, grew soft in the water. When she left the last of the dishes unfinished and dropped into bed, I knew the game was over and went back to my own quiet play.

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Melissa Sevigny @melissasevigny.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

Is anyone in #scicomm reporting on the FDA and thyroid medication? This needs a close eye. Insurance is now basically forcing everyone to take levothyroxine, a generic that DOES NOT ALLEVIATE SYMPTOMS for most people who take it. It took me years to find a thyroid med that worked; fewer options now.

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Melissa Sevigny @melissasevigny.bsky.social · 05/05/2026

This little sprig is a third generation Apollo Moon Tree, set to be planted at Lowell Observatory. Space + botany, the best combo! 🌑🌱

A small sycamore sapling in a yellow pot beside a sign on an easel explaining it came from a seed that flew on an Apollo spacecraft

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Melissa Sevigny @melissasevigny.bsky.social · 05/05/2026

Important reporting in @sierramagazine.bsky.social by @morgansjogren.bsky.social on stalled Colorado River negotiations: "the only common ground between the states is disapproval for all alternatives put forward. " #water #scicomm www.sierraclub.org/sierra/can-c...

sierraclub.org

Can the Colorado River Survive 2026?

This mighty river’s water levels are approaching dangerous lows, which could impact millions of people

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Melissa Sevigny @melissasevigny.bsky.social · 04/05/2026

Chatted with the amazing whitewater river runner/writer Becca Lawton about.... let's see, rivers, deserts, #womeninSTEM, #books, #poetry, the impact of a mentor, and other things. Give it a listen! beccalawton.substack.com/p/melissa-l-...

beccalawton.substack.com

Melissa L. Sevigny and Brave the Wild River

One writer's journey through science and writing to a river life

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Melissa Sevigny @melissasevigny.bsky.social · 02/05/2026

High elevation gluten free sourdough baking today. Wish me luck!

A glass jar filled with fluffy sourdough starter

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Melissa Sevigny @melissasevigny.bsky.social · 28/04/2026

Interesting @newyorker.com piece. I think a lot about the joys of physical media; on VCR nights w/ niblings, they squabble over who gets to push the cassette in. There's beauty in the tactile. Also, it starts and stops: a mindfulness not found in endless streaming. www.newyorker.com/culture/essa...

newyorker.com

Our Longing for Inconvenience

People are pining for old technologies—CD players, VCRs, Walkmans. What’s behind our longing for inconvenience?

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Melissa Sevigny @melissasevigny.bsky.social · 12/04/2026

My latest in AZ Highways, the mysterious story of the Continental Divide marker in Bisbee which is 100+ miles off from the real divide

An open magazine showing a story called Off the Mark? Alongside a black and white photo of a concrete obelisk.

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Melissa Sevigny @melissasevigny.bsky.social · 08/04/2026

Today's adventure afield: baby endangered orchids returning to the wild. Story to come! #scicomm #botany

A tray of containers holding small green orchid sprigs with white labels, sitting in a box that is resting on tall grass.

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Melissa Sevigny @melissasevigny.bsky.social · 06/04/2026

Sonoran Desert in the spring, seen through the windows of the old stone house on the David Yetman Trail.

A stone wall with three wide square windows frames a scene of a desert hill covered in cactus.

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Melissa Sevigny @melissasevigny.bsky.social · 02/04/2026

This thread! I work with archival materials that aren't available online, and it is slow and painstaking and totally inefficient, and guess what? I love it, and I find humor and heart and surprise and awe in my work. AI can't do that. It shouldn't even try.

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Melissa Sevigny @melissasevigny.bsky.social · 02/04/2026

Bought a used book today and found a package of wildflower seeds tucked inside .... From 1998. Think any of them will still sprout? #books #nature

A seed package labeled Sunset Flower Garden resting in the pages of a paperback book.

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Melissa Sevigny @melissasevigny.bsky.social · 01/04/2026

update: not a scam. It's a tariff. Apparently this is happening a lot, where the seller puts the tariff bill on the buyer long after the fact. $15 tariff on a $25 item... 🤷‍♀️

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Melissa Sevigny @melissasevigny.bsky.social · 30/03/2026

Flagstaff friends, I'm teaching a (free!) nature writing workshop Tuesday at Willow Bend Environmental Center at 5pm. Also, Thin Air magazine has other workshops coming up on comics and the science of storytelling, so keep an eye out! #writing

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Melissa Sevigny @melissasevigny.bsky.social · 26/03/2026

Starting in 10 minutes! Join me. 👇

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Melissa Sevigny @melissasevigny.bsky.social · 26/03/2026

Early cherry bloom plus smoky skies (Rx burn) making things both beautiful and apocalyptic today.

White blooms of a cherry tree against a smoky sky, with the sharp outlines of a metal ladder and more distant ponderosa pines.

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