iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Midwest BSFA @midwestbsfa.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

Got my copy of Midnight Mystics! Seeing some familiar names as well as some new-to-me names. 💞💕💞

Copy of Midnight Mystics being held in my hand

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Midwest BSFA @midwestbsfa.bsky.social · 15/04/2026

Black Fae Day meetup for Southwest Ohio on deck! May 9, 1 to 3 p.m., Mt. Airy Arboretum (Cincinnati)!

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Midwest BSFA @midwestbsfa.bsky.social · 05/03/2026

The FUTUREGLOW Bacchanal was lit! 🌌🌌🌌

Midwest BSFA members Cassandra, Aiesha, and Tiffany in front of FUTUREGLOW mural

Closeup of Aiesha's frohawk, face shield, and feather cape

Aiesha's outfit for the FUTUREGLOW Bacchanal event (frohawk, feather cape, faux leather bolero, sheer cheetah print top, faux leather bubble skirt).

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Midwest BSFA @midwestbsfa.bsky.social · 28/12/2025

I'm currently dogsitting a Jim Henson muppet.

Tiny dog with white coat and grayish black ears wearing a Christmas sweater.

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Midwest BSFA @midwestbsfa.bsky.social · 08/10/2025

The @cincylibrary.bsky.social's flyer for our Queen City Black Comix Day Event is so cute! 🔥🥰😍

Queen City Black Comix Day 2025 details along with comic book characters

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Midwest BSFA @midwestbsfa.bsky.social · 02/10/2025

Went to the THOT SQUAD show this week and it was so much fun! Weird Black girls, FTW!

Two Black women posing for photo (one on left in a tutu and a THE FUTURE IS FEMALE EJACULATION t-shirt and one on right in hot pink top and black leggings)

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Midwest BSFA @midwestbsfa.bsky.social · 25/09/2025

Queen City Black Comix Day is back! Join us from 1 to 3 p.m. on Saturday, October 11, at the College Hill branch of the Cincinnati & Hamilton County Public Library to buy comics from local Black and POC creators!

Two versions of Midwest BSFA's mascot, Frobot, dressed as Mr. Terrific and Superman sitting on steps and reading books.

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Midwest BSFA @midwestbsfa.bsky.social · 25/09/2025

Thanks to juke joint ticket sales and sponsorships, we were able to donate $250 directly to the Sickle Cell Alliance Foundation this week! SCAF is dedicated to increasing the life expectancy of people with sickle cell disease through quality programs, effective workshops, advocacy and outreach.

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Midwest BSFA @midwestbsfa.bsky.social · 25/09/2025

While the #BIPOCVampDay organizers raised money for the National Sickle Cell Disease Association during last weekend's festivities, we got local and decided to raise money for Cincinnati's very own sickle cell charity.

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Midwest BSFA @midwestbsfa.bsky.social · 22/09/2025

The National Commission for Black Arts & Entertainment gave off the perfect juke joint vibe, DJ Apryl Reign played a fantastic set, and some of our longtime friends and supporters came through to kick it with us.

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Midwest BSFA @midwestbsfa.bsky.social · 22/09/2025

Our juke joint for #BIPOCVampDay weekend was such a vibe! While events like these are incredibly stressful to put together, we’ve cultivated a small community of like-minded people who understand the whimsy I’m trying to spread. Together, we make magic. 💖💖💖

Ricky Pleasant of Black Bottle Connect does samplings of Black-owned alcohol brands.

The cobblestone courtyard with fairy lights at the National Commission for Black Arts & Entertainment space served as the dance floor.

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Midwest BSFA @midwestbsfa.bsky.social · 09/08/2025

JUKE JOINT ANNOUNCEMENT: Our deejay for the Midwest BSFA Juke Joint on September 19 is Apryl Reign (IG: @djapryl)! The daughter of drummer/singer and modern dancer/actress/singer, Apryl Reign naturally inherited melodic and rhythmic abilities to make you move on the dance floor!

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Midwest BSFA @midwestbsfa.bsky.social · 25/07/2025

It's official: LALOVAVI will make its world premiere as part of the Cincinnati Opera's 2026 season on July 9 and 11, 2026!

Black woman with blue face paint (painted in a circle), a septum ring, and decorative ornaments in her hair on yellow background

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Midwest BSFA @midwestbsfa.bsky.social · 22/07/2025

The CinSei manga and anime pop-up shop's grand opening is next weekend! 🎊🎉🎊 The owners are celebrating with a block party.

Flyer for CinSei manga and anime shop's grand opening.

August 2, 11 am to 5 pm., 1542 Pleasant Street, Over-the-Rhine (Cincinnati)

DJs: Jay Da Don, Loren Heard
Food Trucks: Funnel Cake Island, Town Frites
Performances: Casey Jones, Grandace, Swooty Mac, Turich Benjy

Cosplay contest & more

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Midwest BSFA @midwestbsfa.bsky.social · 14/07/2025

I was dressed up at a con over the weekend pushing the Midnight Mystics anthology Kickstarter along with @azizatgn.bsky.social's comics. People were very interested! #Blacksky #BlackCosplay

Black woman wearing antler flower crown, gold opera gloves, white feather top, green shrug, pink mesh corset, and blue-green tulle skirt.

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Midwest BSFA @midwestbsfa.bsky.social · 11/07/2025

I'm updating the Midwest BSFA Juke Joint flyer with sponsor logos as big sponsorships come in. First up: @nicolegkurtz.bsky.social of Mocha Memoirs Press! MMP is a small publishing house based in Winston-Salem, NC. #BlackSky #BlackBookSky

Photo of Midwest BSFA's mascot, Frobot, and other their robot friends wearing suits and holding instruments with the Juneteenth flag in the background.

The text reads: Midwest BSFA Juke Joint, September 19, 7-9 pm, National Commission for Black Arts & Entertainment, 123 E. McMicken Ave. (Cincinnati, OH 45202), $20 person

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Midwest BSFA @midwestbsfa.bsky.social · 02/07/2025

📣📣📣 We're hosting a Sinners-style juke joint at the National Commission for Black Arts & Entertainment space in Over-the-Rhine on September 19! #blacksky

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Midwest BSFA @midwestbsfa.bsky.social · 18/06/2025

Last night's Afrofuturism Freedom School workshop on Black mythology and folklore was great! Thanks to the @cincylibrary.bsky.social's Forest Park branch for hosting us. If you want your kids to get in on the action, tonight's "Seed Magic" workshop (June 18) still has some seats available.

Participants and instructors in the Afrofuturism Freedom School workshop on Black mythology and folklore on June 17

Renee Tecco reads to students during the Afrofuturism Freedom School workshop on Black mythology and folklore on June 17

Black mythology card made for the Afrofuturism Freedom School workshop on Black mythology and folklore. Students can collect a different card from each workshop they attend this week

Crafting project from the Afrofuturism Freedom School workshop on Black mythology and folklore on June 17

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Midwest BSFA @midwestbsfa.bsky.social · 17/06/2025

At my appointment this morning, my doctor told me to lie back so he could feel around on my stomach. After a minute or so, he stopped abruptly. I thought something was wrong but he was reading my shirt and laughing. The shirt in question:

elevenparis Life Is A Joke t-shirt with a wolf in a sweatshirt and ripped jeans and the words JESUS LOVES WOLVES

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Midwest BSFA @midwestbsfa.bsky.social · 06/06/2025

Registration is OPEN for our Afrofuturism Freedom School workshops! Trash to Treasure: cincinnatilibrary.bibliocommons.com/events/68221... Black Mythology & Folklore: cincinnatilibrary.bibliocommons.com/events/68221... Seed Magic: cincinnatilibrary.bibliocommons.com/events/68221...

Afrofuturism Freedom School workshops flyer:

*Trash to Treasure, June 16, 5-6 p.m.

*Black Mythology & Folklore, June 17, 5-6 p.m.

*Seed Magic, June 18, 5-6 p.m.

Location: Forest Park library branch

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Midwest BSFA @midwestbsfa.bsky.social · 13/05/2025

Now that Black Fae Day is over, we're moving on to our next set of workshops: the Afrofuturism Freedom School!

Flyer for Midwest BSFA's Afrofuturism Freedom School workshops:

Trash to Treasure
Monday, June 16, 5-6 p.m.

Black Mythology & Folklore
Tuesday, June 17, 5-6 p.m.

Seed Magic
Wednesday, June 18, 5-6 p.m.

Location: Cincinnati & Hamilton County Public Library, 660 Northland Blvd., Forest Park (Cincinnati OH 45240)

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Midwest BSFA @midwestbsfa.bsky.social · 11/05/2025

Our Black Fae Day meetup at Mt. Airy Arboretum and Hijabi Geek Studios' tea party were so fun! Can't wait to see the meetup photos! 💫💫💫 A huge thanks to the photographers who came out again to capture the moment! 💫💫💫 #blackfaeday #southwestohio #greatercincinnati #events #blacksky

Southwest Ohio Black Fae Day meetup attendees at Mt. Airy Arboretum, May 10, 2025

Midwest Black Speculative Fiction Alliance Co-Founder Aiesha L. in green velvet jumpsuit and purple tulle shrug with elf ears and a cane

Victoria H. of Hijabi Geek Studios (in orange and white caftan) explaining tea choices at Black Fae Day tea party

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Midwest BSFA @midwestbsfa.bsky.social · 05/05/2025

Our Black Fae Day meetup is around the corner (May 10 from 1 to 4 p.m. at Mt. Airy Arboretum)!

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Midwest BSFA @midwestbsfa.bsky.social · 08/04/2025

We've only got about month until the annual Black Fae Day meetup for SW Ohio! This year's theme is "flora and fauna" so break out your best flower-themed costumes and join us from 1-4 p.m. on Saturday, May 10, at Mt. Airy Arboretum! #blackfaeday #floraandfauna #events #greatercincinnati #BlackSky

Flyer for Midwest BSFA's annual Black Fae Day meetup showing different photos of last year's participants inside of BFD 2025 on black background with event details in white below.

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Midwest BSFA @midwestbsfa.bsky.social · 09/03/2025

Our next "Book Talks" session features Cincinnati native J.M. Clark! He'll be discussing his trilogy The Palace Program! Join us from 3 to 4:30 p.m. at the Avondale library branch on Saturday, March 29!

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Midwest BSFA @midwestbsfa.bsky.social · 13/02/2025

I have a story ("I, Ghosthunter") in the third issue of the Cincinnati Cabinet of Curiosities anthology! The issue drops at the Frogman Festival on March 1 and 2! #comics #events #cincinnati

Cincinnati Cabinet of Curiosities issue 3 flyer

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Midwest BSFA @midwestbsfa.bsky.social · 27/01/2025

Use the code JONES at checkout when you buy the book at www.ohiostatepress.org and get 30% off *plus* free shipping! #BookSky #BlackSky

Book description: "Jones looks at the writings of Octavia E. Butler, Tananarive Due, Nalo Hopkinson, Rasheedah Phillips, and Nnedi Okorafor to chart those moments where characters harness, or fail to harness, the power of memory. These instances transform memory—individual and collective, bodily and archival—from passive recollection into direct or indirect social action. Taking a Black feminist approach, Jones addresses several emancipatory themes within Afrofuturism: the decolonization of time that can be found in fiction employing non-Western and non-linear expressions of time, exploring futurity and the projection of a full range of expressions of Black humanity into anticipated futures, and imagining new worlds and novel approaches to old problems. Drawing on critical fabulation and restorative justice, she forwards restorative fabulation as the mechanism by which speculative fiction offers a healing site for authors and readers to process generational trauma while imagining more equitable futures."

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Midwest BSFA @midwestbsfa.bsky.social · 27/01/2025

We had a great conversation on Saturday with Dr. Cassandra Jones about her new book Black Speculative Feminisms!

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Midwest BSFA @midwestbsfa.bsky.social · 24/01/2025

Side by side of my pre-time skip Akainu cosplay. I made some changes from when I wore it at #DragonCon last year so I needed a good full-body shot of the new version. #onepiece #blackcosplay #cosplay (📸: @nytevisions.bsky.social)

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Midwest BSFA @midwestbsfa.bsky.social · 04/01/2025

Join us for our first program of 2025 from 3 to 4:45 p.m. on Saturday, January 25, at the Avondale branch of the Cincinnati & Hamilton County Public Library! Midwest BSFA member Dr. Cassandra Jones will be discussing her new book, Black Speculative Feminisms! #BlackBookSky #BookSky

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Midwest BSFA @midwestbsfa.bsky.social · 21/12/2024

That 🐦 app may be uninhabitable now but all of the jokes that popped off because of this tweet live on 😂🤣😂

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Midwest BSFA @midwestbsfa.bsky.social · 13/12/2024

@imjayhero.com Your Nina Simone piece on my wall! 💗💗💗

Bulletin board with lots of buttons, postcards, and scraps of paper surrounded by art pieces.

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Midwest BSFA @midwestbsfa.bsky.social · 04/12/2024

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. Day 15: #BookSky📚💫 #BookChallenge #BlackBookSky

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Midwest BSFA @midwestbsfa.bsky.social · 29/11/2024

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. Day 14: #BookSky📚💫 #BookChallenge #BlackBookSky

Cover of the Steamfunk! anthology (edited by Georgia-based indie authors Milton Davis and Balogun Ojetade)

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Midwest BSFA @midwestbsfa.bsky.social · 28/11/2024

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. Day 13: #BookSky📚💫 #BookChallenge #BlackBookSky

Cover of Marilyn French's The Women's Room

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Midwest BSFA @midwestbsfa.bsky.social · 27/11/2024

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. Day 12: #BookSky📚💫 #BookChallenge #BlackBookSky

Cover of Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart (author's name in blue letters on yellow background with photo of African man in bottom left corner and book title in white letters in red box in top right corner)

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Midwest BSFA @midwestbsfa.bsky.social · 27/11/2024

I didn't have any small dolls to put in a basket but a friend of mine had bloody mannequin body parts that I stuffed in a clothes hamper. I took this in my front yard so I'm sure my neighbors were confused by me dragging a torso and a set of legs across the grass! 🤣😂🤣 (📸 @nytevisions.bsky.social)

Black woman with black horns and black hair in a black dress and fuchsia stockings, sitting in chair with arm resting on bloody torso in a hamper

Lady Krampus (black hair, horns, long red tongue, black dress, red stockings, black shoes) with bundle of switches and tiny men in a basket on her back

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Midwest BSFA @midwestbsfa.bsky.social · 27/11/2024

Krampusnacht is next week (Dec. 5) so it's time to bring this back. A couple of years ago, I found out that there used to be a super cute female version of Krampus who punished bad men instead of bad children, and I did a quick interpretation of her. #BlackCosplay

Lady Krampus (black dress, horns, long red tongue, holding bundle of switches) with tiny misbehaving men in her basket

Black woman with black horns and black hair in black dress wearing a black choker necklace

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Midwest BSFA @midwestbsfa.bsky.social · 26/11/2024

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. Day 11: #BookSky📚💫 #BookChallenge #BlackBookSky

Cover of Toni Morrison's Beloved (title and author's name in yellow cursive script on red background)

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Midwest BSFA @midwestbsfa.bsky.social · 26/11/2024

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. Day 10: #BookSky📚💫 #BookChallenge #Blackbooksky

Cover of Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States (title in blue letters on white background)

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Midwest BSFA @midwestbsfa.bsky.social · 24/11/2024

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. Day 9: #BookSky📚💫 #BookChallenge #Blackbooksky

Cover of Derrick Bell's Faces at the Bottom of the Well (left side of cover is the author's name in red letters above a Black man's face on a black background; right side is the book title in black letters on white background)

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Midwest BSFA @midwestbsfa.bsky.social · 23/11/2024

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. Day 8: #BookSky📚💫 #BookChallenge #Blackbooksky

Cover of Walter Mosley's Blue Light (black background with "Walter Mosley Blue Light" in white letters)

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Midwest BSFA @midwestbsfa.bsky.social · 22/11/2024

Zig Zag Claybourne! Amazing world building and dialogue. #Blackbooksky

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