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Michael VanCalbergh

@mvcpoet.bsky.social
1.2K followers 953 following 1.9K posts

Poet, Writer, Incredible Hulk Enthusiast, Father, Comic Lover, Obsessive Reader, SRPR Reader, Trying to get 1st manuscript picked up. Monthly writing on books/reading/writing at: widely-read.ghost.io

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Michael VanCalbergh @mvcpoet.bsky.social · 10h
The Word for World is Forest by Ursula K LeGuin A stunning book.
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I Scare You Like Sound Dog @chadstanton.blacksky.app · 11h
It’s genuinely remarkable how complete the consensus around anti-Black racism as an unremarkable feature of public and political life has become.
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Michael VanCalbergh @mvcpoet.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Wow. Like. You didnt need to call me out like that. Esp when i got a poetry acceptance 10 min ago and said, "eh i dont think its a good poem"
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The Ignyte Awards @theignyteawards.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Hello and happy Fullmetal Alchemist Day! We're about ready to get started with this year's winner announcement A very special thanks to our first-ever sponsors: @bcsmagazine.bsky.social, @edmontonin2030.bsky.social, @laworldcon.bsky.social , and @revmindi.bsky.social ! #2026IgnyteAwards
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Michael VanCalbergh @mvcpoet.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Okay what I really want is the Chicago Pope eating a hot dog or italian beef, giving an interview that says fuck a lot, uses the "eehhhh", and ends with him saying go Sox while wiping his face with a tissue thin napkin so his face opens like the Scream painting. Then i might go back to church.
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Michael VanCalbergh @mvcpoet.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Listen if the Chicago Pope is going to start supporting artists, I'm in. Now keep going and support trans rights. We might have a Catholic church on the right side of history. That'd be legit.
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Michael VanCalbergh @mvcpoet.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Man getting through work today has been a chore. I'm trying though my friends. I'm trying.
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Michael VanCalbergh @mvcpoet.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
If you happen to be in Bloomington-Normal tonught at 6pm, roll through the Normal Public Library for a Poetry Open Mic! Its bound to be a fall themed experience!
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Oh Joy Sex Toy @ohjoysextoy.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
Happy 13th Birthday to Oh Joy Sex Toy! Join our Patreon Pledge Drive this month for BONUS COMICS and to keep the site going for one more year! www.patreon.com/OhJoySexToy
Erika draws with a bouncy, cartoony style and uses a color palette of warm yellows, oranges, and reddy-pinks. 

"Ahh, summer again!" Exclaims Erika, a white cis middle-age woman in beach attire, which is appropriate since she and her crew are walking on a sandy beach. 

Ahead of her walks Ziggy, a trans man in his 40s with a heavily tattooed arm, gauged ears, and a septum piercing. He wears big round glasses, a Pokemon trainer's baseball hat, swim trunks and a tank top while toting in more beach supplies under his arms.

He adds, "That means sunshine, BBQs, and celebrating-"

"Oh Joy Sex Toy's 13th Birthday!" reads the text on a giant beach umbrella that Matt stakes into the sand. He is a devastatingly handsome white cis British man with salt and pepper hair who has just crossed the threshold into his 40s. He wears square-ish glasses, a t-shirt, shorts, and sneakers.

"We invite you all to chip in to our annual Pledge Drive and support the site this month!" Matt continues. 
"For the price of a fancy coffee-" 

"(or tea)" Erika interrupts.

"(or kombucha!)" Adds Ziggy.

"-you keep the site going AND get access to a bunch of BONUS COMICS that we've been cooking up this last few months.*" Finishes Matt with an iced coffee in his hands while Erika and Ziggy rest under the umbrella, each holding up their own iced tea and kombucha. 

Caption: *In addition to all the previous years' extra stories if you haven't read them yet.
The scene shifts from the beach to show samples of the bonus comics, under a ribbon banner labeled "Preview"

Caption: Ripley LaCross travels through a backpacking retrospective. Hien Pham tackles Hourly Comic Day. Jey Pawlik explores what sketchbooks mean to them.
Surfing in on a wave of comic pages, Matt says, "Last year, we had to consider closing... but with our successful Pledge Drive, instead you all helped us raise our rates to commission 27 new and returning guest artists to publish 52 comics for the site, which now has... gosh, 680 comics, all available for free to the folks who need them."
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Michael VanCalbergh @mvcpoet.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Just met a possible new friend and honestly feels real real fucking good. I like these good days.
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Eoin Higgins @eoinhiggins.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
By giving AI agency it can’t claim, we’ve turned it into a sentient being made of code, one that has hopes, desires, and the capability of deceit.
eoinhiggins.substack.com
There are no “rogue” AI agents
Identifying them as such only lets companies like OpenAI off the hook.
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Ms. Deathwish #Exist2Resist @msdeathwish.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Please show me a "real" example of this causing an actual problem. Making testosterone sound scary doesn't count. www.them.us/story/new-st...
them.us
New Study Once Again Shows Trans Women Have No Physical Advantage Over Cis Athletes
Researchers analyzed data from almost 3,000 trans women.
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Michael VanCalbergh @mvcpoet.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Omg. I cannot unsee it and it is wonderful.
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Michael VanCalbergh @mvcpoet.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
All this week ive been aching to write and today sitting down to actually do it felt like digging a hole with a toy shovel.
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Michael VanCalbergh @mvcpoet.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
This is the kinda shit I think about when I see videos of huge farming operations almost in tears saying, "Im offering SO MUCH and no one will pick the PEAS".
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Gwen C. Katz @gwenckatz.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Fuck ChatGPT flyers. The future is broadsheets.
A crowded broadsheet with way too many fonts. It says:
Forget ChatGPT Flyers
Say it with 
Broadsheets
Unlimited fonts
Stretch them
Or cram a really long sentence into one line for no good reason
No whitespace
Mix capital and lowercase
Pointing hands
(They're called manicules!)
Don't be left behind
Broadsheets are the future
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Michael VanCalbergh @mvcpoet.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Listen Centaurworld should be at #1. Breaking Bad when you have Jeffica right there? Hahahaha f*ck you. Pay some goddamn respect to Centaurworld. *storms out of the room*
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Michael VanCalbergh @mvcpoet.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
This is very Becky Chambers, PSALM FOR THE WILD-BUILT and im here for it.
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Michael VanCalbergh @mvcpoet.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
When people tell me that they listen to audio books at 1.5x or 2x speed, to me it sounds equivalent to saying I listened to Janelle Monet's album at 2x speed. I dont understand. I will never understand. *scurries back to working*
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Chaucer Doth Tweet @levostregc.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Peacehammer 40K: Paintinge miniatures of gardeneres, sculptors, academics. Detailed scale dioramas of museums, kiosks, cafés. Trimminge hedges. Makinge friendes. So manye hues of greene. Yn the cozye glowe of the far future ther ys onlye WARMTH.
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Moby Dick @mobydickatsea.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
But no more of this.
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Dr. Han VanderHart @hanvanderhart.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
ever green
Betty Draper with her eyes closed, blush pink lip, cigarette, weary and done with life
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Michael VanCalbergh @mvcpoet.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
This was an amazing video. Also, food access and service like this (and trains) is something I think about a lot. To me a high functioning society has something like this, at a more accessible price, in every town. Community meals or community responsibility for cooking is an absolute dream of mine
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Michael VanCalbergh @mvcpoet.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
I wish this series had way more issues than it did. I still think about how wonderful it was to read it and how beautiful this art. Just a stunningly good book.
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Michael VanCalbergh @mvcpoet.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Just writing a review at the library. Feeling good about these choices today.
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Puff the Magic Hater @mskellymhayes.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
The Anthropic, Meta, and Google "breaking containment" incidents all resulted from setup errors (or a stunt) by the same company: Irregular. Irregular created a sandbox that wasn't really a sandbox because it had a live internet connection, and gave instructions that were then carried out online.
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Michael VanCalbergh @mvcpoet.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Okay, I really hope this story I'm working on goes somewhere and is picked up obviously. BUT The amount that I feel like I'm learning about what I like to write and how I like to play with things and the joy that certain kinds of writing gives me makes me never want to stop this thing. Ever.
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Michael VanCalbergh @mvcpoet.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Alright alright. I'm sitting down to actually do some writing rather than work or grading or prepping for work/grading. Please everyone, stop yelling. I'm doing my best here.
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Puff the Magic Hater @mskellymhayes.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
ICE activity has been picking up again in Chicago A LOT. If you were previously involved with ICE watch efforts, now is a good time to reengage. I’m going to start wearing a whistle again.
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Michael VanCalbergh @mvcpoet.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Man this thread really has me all up in my feelings about food today (complimentary).
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Michael VanCalbergh @mvcpoet.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Who invented work on a Friday? Its some bullshit. I dont like it. Grumble grumble
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Kevin A. Risner @mrdecember.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Buy my book. Fuck AI. matchfactoryeditions.com/books/Its-Ea...
matchfactoryeditions.com
It's Easy to Lose Your Breath | Books | Match Factory Editions
Anchored by the first years of the Covid-19 pandemic, Kevin A. Risner 's debut full-length poetry collection It's Easy to Lose Your Breath is both introspective and outward-facing, rippling from the p...
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Sequential Scholars @sequentialscholars.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
In a 2016 roundtable moderated by Kate Tanski for Women Write About Comics, educators/scholars Elizabeth Coody, Rachelle Cruz, Andrea Horbinski, Chandra Jenkins, Nancee Reeves & Ambria Taylor discuss the rewards & challenges of teaching "Bitch Planet" in various educational contexts. 1/10 #Comics
 An image of a hand holding a trade paperback of Bitch Planet.
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Michael VanCalbergh @mvcpoet.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
I'm currently working on a review of this book and this is 100% a portion of what I took away. The beginning of this book, esp, is a wonderful way to teach yourself/rewire your brain to understand what the goal of prediction is by these people.
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Museum of Twitter @museum-of-twitter.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Mr. Bedtime @InternetHippo

I stepped away from my computer for a moment. When I returned, it was building something. I did not ask it to do this. We're not ready for what's coming

(picture of windows 3d pipes screen saver)
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Michael VanCalbergh @mvcpoet.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
If you wanna listen to something by Macklemore that's less...dated?...than "Thrift Shop", here's the song he did about the student protests that were suppressed throughout the US in 2024/2025. www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgDQ...
youtube.com
MACKLEMORE - HIND'S HALL
YouTube video by Macklemore
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skip intro @upfromsumdirt.blacksky.app · 14/09/2026
african scifi you should be familiar with...
marmaladecollective.com
7 African Science-Fiction Movies to Watch This Summer
These films capture the magic of Afrofuturism, the art of imagining futures built from African roots, where mythology meets technology, and history becomes a launchpad for something new and exciting.
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amanda moore 🐢 @noturtlesoup17.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Wrote about documenting ICE arrests during a surge in southwest Florida -- and how no one wanted any of the footage.
turtlediaries.net
ICE is Still Surging
Dispatch from an immigration surge in southwest Florida
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derek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
IMO, the solution should not be to browbeat people into an old standard, but rather allow people to wear whatever they want. If someone can wear ducky pajamas in public, you can wear tailoring in any cut, color, and material. As options open up, dress can then be a source of pleasure.
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Michael VanCalbergh @mvcpoet.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Ive been too many halls of fame this weekend. One of them was so wild that I took notes the entire time to write poems about. No idea if these poems will end up good but fuck yea im gonna spend my time writing them.
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Michael VanCalbergh @mvcpoet.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Ive enjoyed some of the comedy posts Ive seen today on Bluesky which reminds me that I need to be reminded often that Im not one man screaming at clouds but one of many people asking idiots to grow a soul.
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Michael VanCalbergh @mvcpoet.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
The problem is that algorithmic processes are killing people now. They are forcing people to suffer, moving wealth to the already wealthy, and that's why the GenAI shit is continuing to be built. They want to kill us. This is why they still work on it. The reason some of us think that this idea...
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jon christian @jonchristian.net · 09/09/2026
NEW: In one of the most horrifying stories I've ever reported, I found that Facebook is hosting huge quantities of AI-generated videos of violent child abuse -- kids being beaten, burned, and far more But the genuinely shocking thing was how little Meta seems to care futurism.com/artificial-i...
futurism headline:

> Facebook Is Hosting Huge Numbers of Horrifying AI-Generated Videos of Violent Child Abuse, and Meta Is Barely Even Pretending to Care About Taking Them Down

> Facebook is filled with AI-generated videos of children being beaten, burned, and bludgeoned with heavy objects. Meta doesn't seem to care.
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The Fake History Hunter @fakehistoryhunter.net · 09/09/2026
The teeth in the photo are from 1909, its a model made based on real ancient dental work but from 2400 years ago, not 4000, also not Egyptian but Phoenician, from Sidon, today Lebanon. This account has half a million followers on instagram.
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Michael VanCalbergh @mvcpoet.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Unions are the reason I can feed myself right now. Unions always.
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Michael VanCalbergh @mvcpoet.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
I just saw a whole selection of @mitpress.bsky.social Radium Age imprint @bobzbay.bsky.social and holy moly. I am very very interested and excited. I dont know which ones to get. Do I get all of them? Do I eat rice and beans the rest of Sept to fit them in my budget!?
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Michael VanCalbergh @mvcpoet.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
I'm excited about the reordering of my manuscript and removing/adding different poems that speak to this project. But damn if I don't know what makes a poetry manuscript attractive. Just trying to write good poems about the intersections of class and masculinity using my father as a guide.
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Michael VanCalbergh @mvcpoet.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Solidarity Nancy. Solidarity.
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Rebecca Sear @rebeccasear.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Patricia Kingori’s work on the “shadow scholars” of Africa is fascinating: “One Kenyan writer told me he applied for a job at an Ivy League university. When the rejection came through, he wrote back to say thanks, then added: “Just so you know, I’ve written all these papers for your institutions””
nature.com
Shadow scholars: inside Kenya’s multibillion-dollar fake-essay industry
Sociologist Patricia Kingori is helping to expose contract cheating by scholars in high-income countries.
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