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If you sometimes have a hard time balancing the global-personal & the public-professional... You are not alone. You are not "failing". You are doing the best you can in the eyeblink of cosmic plot that any of us receives. And it's okay to grieve the mess of it all... So long as you press on. /🧵

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And when we can't? When we just find ourselves dancing on that line as best we can, between professional and real-life needs? That's how the breaking points arise. For me this past week, that's how they *did* arise. And mine have given me a lot to consider. But for now, I'll just say this:

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It's so easy to get lost in the "tormentas en un vaso de agua" that show up in our working lives, and on sites like these: platforms where many seek to answer the sincere ache for more sociopolitical agency in awful times through elaborate debates online. We all want *dearly* to be able to do more.

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But that two-worlds schism is real, & more of us are living with it than we like to admit. Whether it's being sole caregiver for a deteriorating loved one, or caught in a region where aid just isn't showing up. The weight of real suffering calls out to us: Be kind. Be kind. Be kind. And yet...

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Another privilege: Sometimes - especially when work has me down, and I'm living in a strange bubble of tempests in teapots - I berate myself for the "saviour" shtick. Lil' Mx ML, always going on about the need all around them. Having time to think about "optics" is a privilege too. Need is need.

(I have said it before, and I will say it again: We are so, so privileged to be able to engage in creative practice in our lives at all. The world is so much bigger than all our books, music, visual art, and multimedia - and that expanse is populated primarily by subsistence-level want and need.)

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Now, I pour myself into work for a few reasons: 1) Because I like to think I'm building something that will help to sustain community for a complex world ahead. 2) Because sustainability in this work means having more personal agency to help the people I do, many of whom beg / lack key resources.

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--how hard it was sometimes to bear up to all the petty bickering he endured in his office job. And yet, the money he made there would go in part to things like making sure family wasn't burning toxic materials to survive winter in remote, blockaded villages. And that's an agony many humans know.

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So the schism I inhabit is not distinct to me. I know tons of fellow writers who move between two worlds: one, in which they are told that their families' lives, or the lives of people with the same cultural background, aren't as worthy as others. Years ago, a Syrian friend back in Canada told me--

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Right now, Venezuela is under rolling, relentless blackouts - all while the US robs the country of resources. Local deprivation makes life hard for average citizens. It's not the only place like this, of course. Human potential is routinely determined by access (or lack thereof) to basic resources.

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And one way in which we improve mental health is with transparency. We have the conversation. So about those "two worlds": In one, I spend most of my time juggling a lot of extra tasks at work. In the other, the kid is in absurd limbo in Venezuela, and it's a daily fight to get her back on track.

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🧵 So I'm going to thread a bit. I don't usually do so on Bluesky, but it's not easy moving between worlds, & this past week was rough on the noggin. I thought about things I haven't thought about for a while--just a stress response, triggering mental habits familiar to anyone with BPII, but rough.

Well, I *told* myself I wasn't going to buy anything, but then I found a beautiful indie collective from Bogotá that was all about connecting and uplifting Latin American writers with a humanist bent in hard times for the world, and of course I had to support their work. #IRegretNothing #Books

Five books here, one thrown in free after a beautiful conversation about politics and human dignity. I am looking forward to them all. They even had a scifi anthology!

Wherever they go, this indie collective from Bogotá seeks to remind people that the spirit of the people cannot be contained by oppressive states. Good for them.

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But easily one of the sweetest places is the secondhand section. You find more conversation, more deep quiet love, more historians of lit. I even had a great chat about Svetlana Alexievich with some teens here. *They* were excited to read her! 😮 #TheKidsAreAllRight #Colombia #FiestaDelLibro #Books

Quirky displays like this back of a van full of books are the norm in secondhand sections.

Here is where great old reads find new life with new loves/readers.

It is a BIG event, as this map of the terrain illustrates.

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Fiesta del Libro y la Cultura de Medellín is always held in the Botanical Gardens, open to the public for those weeks. It's a beautiful thing to see nature & literature/art blended together so well. Definitely needed this return to pure creative joy. #FiestaDelLibro #Colombia #Books #Literature

Scenes from the blended Botanical Gardens and Book Festival.

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🧐 Who let the majors in? It's funny. SF rarely shows up here. When it does, it's classics. There is also a wonderful display from the centre for memory, museums, libraries... Of course, my happy place was always among books about the heaviest themes. #Colombia #Books #Literature #FiestaDelLibro

Penguin Random House and a couple other big presses showed up, but there is a wealth of small and indie press around them.

The museums and libraries also play a key role in making this a living festival, full of events.

Science fiction usually shows up in the international majors' tents, like this one. Even then, it's almost always primarily classics like Bradbury and Le Guin.

I spent so much of my young life devouring literature about the hardest parts of the human condition. Mostly Russian. Ah, good times.

There are a wealth of specialty and university presses here, and they all do such a phenomenal job of curating "book as art" and building excitement around the ideas each volume may contain. #FiestaDelLibro #Colombia #Books #Literature #Art

Celebrating the best and brightest in literature here in Medellín.

Industry halls go BIG for this celebration of literature. University presses always have stunning displays.

This year there's a strong South Korean lit theme, in honour of youth interest in Korean pop culture.

And a whole pavillion for comics presses and related merch markets!

M L Clark @mlclark.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

I'm in a very wobbly state, so today I'm spending a few hours at the massive Medellín book festival, which always rekindles in me the raw wonder of narrative, and how thrilling it is to create *anything* in this painful world of ours. Photos may arise as I wander. #Colombia #Books #Literature #Art

Bookstores here really don't do genre divides, except by medium and a few rare mystery or angelology / witchcraft subsections. A story is a story is a story.

A wide wealth of indie presses attest to a thriving canon and discourse in South America and castellano.

The fanzine and art magazine are alive and well in South America!

Literary creativity is a joy at any size.

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It's been a really rough week. I think I'm at a breaking point I can't afford, so I'm taking tomorrow off, but after working through a chunk of the night and still finding myself behind on key tasks for a ton of teams... I just needed to vent to the park horses first. Now home and back to it.

Like giant raccoons, these two are always garbage diving for fermented fruit peels until called on by their guardian to head home.

Yeah, yeah, the little fella gets other nutrition, too.

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M L Clark @mlclark.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

#PoetryBreak before the next round of coding and data entry. I'm out of words. Just tired. 🫂 Fill in the blanks here with something pithy, and be good to your weary noggins this weekend. (Andrea Gibson: August 13, 1975 - July 14, 2025)

every time i ever said i want to die
By Andrea Gibson

A difficult life is not less
worth living than a gentle one.
Joy is simply easier to carry
than sorrow. And your heart
could lift a city from how long
you've spent holding what's been
nearly impossible to hold.

This world needs those
who know how to do that.
Those who could find a tunnel
that has no light at the end of it,
and hold it up like a telescope
to know the darkness
also contains truths that could
bring the light to its knees.

Grief astronomer, adjust the lens,
look close, tell us what you see

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A world leader fabricated a story of where he was that day, so the 9/11 Discourse got off to a brisk early start while reacting to that.

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Some days you just have to let the feeling of crushing failure wash over you. It will not stay forever, but sometimes you just need to be sad for a bit, & feel like you've failed everyone for a bit... so long as you keep moving forward, until you feel like you are large & contain multitudes again.

It's been a beat since my last #PoetryBreak, so let's return to one of the greats this morning. Thank you, Mary Oliver, for always reminding us that a life of wonder can and does exist even in a world that brings us so much stress and sorrow. May we find the hidden nests we need today.

With Thanks to the Field Sparrow, Whose Voice Is So Delicate and Humble

I do not live happily or comfortably
with the cleverness of our times.
The talk is all about computers,
the news is all about bombs and blood.
This morning, in the fresh field,
I came upon a hidden nest.
It held four warm, speckled eggs.
I touched them.
Then went away softly,
having felt something more wonderful
than all the electricity of New York City.

-Mary Oliver

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ALT: Sylvester's Worried Wait

Kiddo's having a rough time in the humble pueblo the Venezuelan courts thought would be a better option than emancipating her so she could return to my care. Live footage of me trying to get work done while worrying and planning next steps for her move to the big city in time for school in October.

static.klipy.com

Sylvester's Worried Wait

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We are so fortunate to be able to do the work we do, and to extend the table of plenty where we can. May we go gently through this week together, holding firm not against fellow struggling humans, but against the real enemies of human dignity in our pursuit of a better world. 3/3 #WritingCommunity

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Sometimes I get deeply in my feelings about the "point" of story in our brutal age, but for so many of us, gaining agency over our stories is the only way out of hardship. There is real power to finding the right narrative, & community, for fellow humans in our hurting world. 2/3 #WritingCommunity

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Before my main job starts in an hour, I'm wrapping up a translation for a local company here, and it's a beautiful interview with a Colombian nonprofit that works with female sex workers and victims of sex trafficking. 1/3 #WritingCommunity

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M L Clark @mlclark.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

I both did a lot and didn't do enough this weekend, so while I work on forgiving myself for not being a robot, here's an #ArtBreak for perspective. Nataliya Bagatskaya (Ukraine) leverages the mundane to heighten the surrealism of simply existing in today's cruel world. We are all doing what we can.

"A Summer Night" by Nataliya Bagatskaya (2025)

"The Five" by Nataliya Bagatskaya (2023)

"The Cat Who Chose My Home" by Nataliya Bagatskaya (2022)

"Everything Is Fine. Almost." by Nataliya Bagatskaya (2026).

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Man, I love this kid. I'm working through my Labour Day, but I just got a message: She's reunited with an old friend of her deceased father, an elderly man living in squalor, and just asked for help and permission to spend part of the week improving the dignity of his home. A good kid. #SuperProud

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M L Clark @mlclark.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Happy 7 of 9 Day to everyone working on Labour Day, but with a sense of humour about it all. We'll return to our regeneration alcoves soon. 👍🏻

It is 7 of 9 Day. Fun will now commence. So says Seven from Voyager!

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Ceibas gonna ceiba! 🤷🏻‍♀️ It also helps that countries like Colombia are less litigious. Playgrounds & other public spaces in the US & Canada are often built defensively around the risk of lawsuits from citizens harming themselves. There's more of a "lol, look where you're going next time" vibe here.

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We have ciclovía every Sunday, and an abundance of free, elaborate outdoor gyms, in large part because the upkeep costs for winter damage don't exist. In seasonal countries, you simply can't have as much free preventative wellness care unless governments expressly invest in inclusive indoor builds.

No argument there! Countries with no winter get to invest in some pretty nice outdoors areas!

That was a very good story. I stood in the stillness of the park, in an area of rubble, while listening to the sharply written end of Min Jin Lee's rendition of Wendi Kaufman's "Helen on Eight-Sixth Street", & now I really wish this was a writing day. #Soon! But I have tech tasks to tackle instead.

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Min Jin Lee Reads Wendi Kaufman

Oh, I am loving this month's New Yorker Fiction Podcast, where Min Jin Lee introduces us to a clever, funny writer who lived a praxis of community that strove to invite others in. May we always extend the platform from wherever we are, in this privileged world of creative expression we all occupy.

pca.st

Min Jin Lee joins Deborah Treisman to discuss “Helen on Eighty-Sixth Street,” which was published in The New Yorker in 1997. A recipient of the Fitzgerald Prize for Literary Excellence, Lee is the…

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M L Clark @mlclark.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

The pristine quiet of the predawn dark. :) Just me and the birbs.

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I was feeling kind of low today, but after getting through some of my work (more tonight), I went for a walk & talked with an elderly woman out begging for herself and her son, out of work after an accident. There's the usual thanks after I buy staples, but they have no idea how much it helps *me*.

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M L Clark @mlclark.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

I'm juggling a lot today, ahead of a launch I'm very proud of (even if it *is* a day late). But when I have a moment, I will process this grief properly. We had all the knowledge we needed to make better choices. We just didn't have enough in us to overcome our cruelty and pettiness as a species.

cbc.ca

For the first time, a key UN report says the 1.5 C global warming threshold is lost | CBC News

In a strategic retreat in the fight against climate change, the United Nations has acknowledged that Earth has lost its chance to prevent some of the worst of global warming's harms. Officials say the...

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M L Clark @mlclark.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Thank you, Wendell Berry (August 5, 1934-August 31, 2026), for the work of your life. One day I will learn a thing or two from your philosophy. #PoetryBreak

The Peace of Wild Things
Wendell Berry

When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

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M L Clark @mlclark.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Well I'll be darned. Halloween arrived before Xmas this year - at least in DollarCity, which doesn't bother changing most inventory for local demographics. That's why, for Día del Amor y la Amistad in Sept, DollarCity sends Valentine's stock. 🙃 International trade is a strange beastie. #Colombia

The local malls will have the first Navidad displays up in a couple of days, once August's flower festival is over. In a culture without Thanksgiving or Remembrance Day, there's really not much else to disrupt the road to Xmas!

Yes, the Valentine's Day junk is in English at DollarCity, which doesn't really curate its sections to local needs. I also don't trust the chocolate to be fresh; a lot of this inventory might have been sitting around from North American Valentine's Day.

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M L Clark @mlclark.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

Today I'm doing a TON of data entry, which is making me sentimental about my genre's history. So for today's #SFFSunday #ArtBreak, I bring you Bruce Pennington, whose work has uplifted a wealth of authors over his illustrious career. It takes a village to bring our dreams to life. Thank you, Bruce!

Bruce Pennington's cover art for MYSTERIOUS RAILWAY STORIES, edited by William Pattrick

Bruce Pennington's cover art for THE WORLDS OF ROBERT HEINLEIN

Bruce Pennington's cover art for OUT OF THEIR MINDS by Clifford D Simak

Bruce Pennington's cover art for SATAN'S WORLD by Poul Anderson

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M L Clark @mlclark.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

The kid and I are currently working out her budget for food and other essentials in Sept. She's stuck in a small pueblo with limited light and power, so... no fridge. Teaching her how to set a budget and plan ahead is one of the best/only things I can do at a distance, so... we're making do. 🤞