iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Nico Mara-McKay 🦇 (they/iel) @nicomaramckay.com · 06/10/2026

A trans boy who loves football transfers to a boy's team after he comes out. When his new teammates bully him, Jacob's coach works with an LGBTQ+ youth worker to address the transphobia and create a supportive environment. Read the full review: www.patreon.com/ephemeralrec... #BookSky 🏳️‍⚧️ 🌈📚

Social media graphic for a review of Jacob's Transition Goals published on Ephemeral Record.

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Nico Mara-McKay 🦇 (they/iel) @nicomaramckay.com · 06/10/2026

But why though. I have never clicked on ads with products for trans women. Happy for them, but that's not me. I am almost exclusively in trans masc subs and obe general trans sub. Trans women aren't the only trans people. 😭

Reddit ad for voice training for trans women.

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Nico Mara-McKay 🦇 (they/iel) @nicomaramckay.com · 05/10/2026

Good morning, Bluesky! Here is your weekly reminder to take your HRT, medications, and vitamins. Bluesky still deserves better leadership. Trans rights are human rights. 🏳️‍⚧️ Unban Link.

This week's HRT still life with a jar of cotton balls opened, isopropyl alcohol, testosterone bottle and box, used needle and syringe.

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Nico Mara-McKay 🦇 (they/iel) @nicomaramckay.com · 30/09/2026

I donate when I can to mutual aid and organizations I know are doing important work. Indspire is one I specifically give to every Truth and Reconciliation Day. You can support Indigenous education here: indspire.ca/ways-to-give/ Or click through the thread below to find others.

Screenshot from a successful donation to Indspire.

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Nico Mara-McKay 🦇 (they/iel) @nicomaramckay.com · 28/09/2026

Good morning, Bluesky! This is your weekly reminder to take your HRT, medications, and vitamins. Bluesky still deserves better leadership. Trans rights are human rights. 🏳️‍⚧️ Unban Link

HRT still life with a jar of cotton balls opened, isopropyl alcohol, testosterone bottle and box, used needle and syringe.

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Nico Mara-McKay 🦇 (they/iel) @nicomaramckay.com · 21/09/2026

Good morning, Bluesky! Here is your weekly reminder to take your HRT, medications, and vitamins. Bluesky still deserves better leadership. Trans rights are human rights. 🏳️‍⚧️ Unban Link

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Nico Mara-McKay 🦇 (they/iel) @nicomaramckay.com · 19/09/2026

Yeah, but it's a legit thing too. In Canada, the best washroom signs I've seen simply indicate the facilities without prescribing a gender. But something similar is certainly possible for single stalls as well.

Bathroom sign with icons for a toilet and a urinal. Beneath it reads, "all gender (with urinal)" and beneath that is braille that presumably says the same thing.

Bathroom sign with icons for a toilet and a urinal crossed out. Beneath it reads, "all gender (without urinal)" and beneath that is braille that presumably says the same thing.

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Nico Mara-McKay 🦇 (they/iel) @nicomaramckay.com · 19/09/2026

I've only been harassed once in a men's washroom, but this hits. #TransRightsAreHumanRights

Text above says, "This picture is really powerful. #ProtectTransKids."

The image below shows a person with short black hair standing in front of two gendered washrooms. The left has the icon for woman with the text "get yelled at" beneath it. The one on the right has the icon for man and the text "get beat up" below it.

The implication is that trans people are not safe in either gendered washroom. It's not clear whether the person in the image is a trans man, trans woman, nonbinary trans person, or, for that matter, a cis lesbian or cis femboy. Because it doesn't matter. Absolutely everyone is harmed by restrictions on access to basic facilities.

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Nico Mara-McKay 🦇 (they/iel) @nicomaramckay.com · 19/09/2026

Expo 67 is taking shape as a young gay man strikes out on his own in Montréal. I've only just started the book, but it's already so good. #BookSky #GayReads #CanCon 🌈📚 🏳️‍🌈

I Remember the Lights, by Ben Ladouceur. The cover features coloured strips with duotone slices of photographs from Expo 67.

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Nico Mara-McKay 🦇 (they/iel) @nicomaramckay.com · 18/09/2026

Walking while trans in Toronto's Church-Wellesley Village.

Trans crosswalk in Toronto. Lines are pained across the street in the colours if the trans flag: blue, pink, white, pink, and blue.

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Nico Mara-McKay 🦇 (they/iel) @nicomaramckay.com · 15/09/2026

Good night, Bluesky! This is your weekly reminder to take your HRT, medications, and vitamins. Bluesky still deserves better leadership. Trans rights are human rights. 🏳️‍⚧️ Unban Link.

This week's HRT still life with a jar of cotton balls, isopropyl alcohol, testosterone bottle and box, used needle and syringe.

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Nico Mara-McKay 🦇 (they/iel) @nicomaramckay.com · 08/09/2026

For those of you in Ontario wondering when you can receive your next covid vaccine: they should be available by the end of September and updated locations will be posted at the end of the month: www.ontario.ca/vaccine-loca... #Ontario

Email screenshot:

Hi Nico,

Updated COVID-19 vaccines are expected to be available by the end of September, and flu shots by mid-October. The updated vaccines will provide better protection against circulating variants.

An updated list of pharmacies offering COVID-19 vaccines and flu shots will be posted at the end of the month at the following link: COVID-19 pharmacy vaccine locations

Thank you,
OPDP Info Box

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Nico Mara-McKay 🦇 (they/iel) @nicomaramckay.com · 08/09/2026

Claude Cahun was a Jewish nonbinary person who, with their partner Marcel Moore, created iconic surrealist work and later led a secret resistance against the Nazis. I was previously unfamiliar with them, but fortnightly this graphic biography has a bibliography to mine. #BookSky #TransReads 🌈📚 🏳️‍🌈 🏳️‍⚧️

Liberated: The Radical Art and Life of Claude Cahun, by Kaz Rowe. The cover features an illustration of the title figure sitting on a stool wearing harlequin makeup, their shirt reads, "I am in training, don't kiss me."

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Nico Mara-McKay 🦇 (they/iel) @nicomaramckay.com · 07/09/2026

Good afternoon, Bluesky! Here is your weekly reminder to take your HRT, medications, and vitamins. Bluesky still deserves better leadership. Trans rights are human rights. 🏳️‍⚧️ Unban Link.

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Nico Mara-McKay 🦇 (they/iel) @nicomaramckay.com · 07/09/2026

The Fabulous Edweena is a beautifully illustrated children’s picture book about drag, self-expression, and the courage to be yourself. Read the full review: www.patreon.com/ephemeralrec... #BookSky #ChildrensBooks 🏳️‍🌈 🏳️‍⚧️ 🌈📚

The Fabulous Edweena, a book review. The centre illustration is of the titular character, Edweena, smiling with long blond and purple hair.

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Nico Mara-McKay 🦇 (they/iel) @nicomaramckay.com · 06/09/2026

Folks, they're real. The reviews have been scheduled. Subscribe to the Patreon for free to receive them to your inbox as they post: patreon.com/ephemeralrec...

Screenshot from Patreon showing four reviews scheduled in September and October.

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Nico Mara-McKay 🦇 (they/iel) @nicomaramckay.com · 03/09/2026

Ok, here's an early storm pic from which I've removed the background. The water came up to my mid-calf and I'm taller than the average cis man.

Photo edited to remove identifying details, but shows a flooded street with a car partially submerged in water.

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Nico Mara-McKay 🦇 (they/iel) @nicomaramckay.com · 02/09/2026

My cis partner gets ads for testosterone all the time, but the gendered ads I usually receive are either for trans women or menopausal cis women, even though I exclusively shop for products marketed towards men. Should this feel gender affirming?

Reddit ad for low testosterone aimed at cis men. Symptoms include puffy facr, waking up tired, tense neck and shoulders, low energy, bulging belly fat, losing motivation, brain fog, and low libido.

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Nico Mara-McKay 🦇 (they/iel) @nicomaramckay.com · 02/09/2026

Dusk was the best time for kitty spotting. It was far too hot during the day.

White cat with a grey tail snoozing on a Roman ruin.

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Nico Mara-McKay 🦇 (they/iel) @nicomaramckay.com · 02/09/2026

It was irl Neko Atsume spotting them. I took so many bad photos of cute kitties.

Two black cats snoozing together on a Roman ruin.

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Nico Mara-McKay 🦇 (they/iel) @nicomaramckay.com · 02/09/2026

I offer you a kitty snoozing in a Roman ruin.

A grey and white kitty snoozing on a Roman ruin at Torre Argentina.

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Nico Mara-McKay 🦇 (they/iel) @nicomaramckay.com · 02/09/2026

Another novel drawn from personal experience as a gay US migrant in 1950s Paris. (Still on the plane, but much closer to home. 🇨🇦) #BookSky #GayReads 🌈📚 🏳️‍🌈

Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin. The cover features a black and white photograph of a round table with a carafe of water, a milk jug, cup and saucer.

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Nico Mara-McKay 🦇 (they/iel) @nicomaramckay.com · 02/09/2026

Is this what it is to live in the US right now? I imagine many people will know someone like Frl. Schroeder.

Excerpt from Goodbye to Berlin:

Tomorrow I am going to England. In a few weeks I shall re-turn, but only to pick up my things, before leaving Berlin altogether.

Poor Frl. Schroeder is inconsolable: "I shall never find an-other gentleman like you, Herr Issyvoo-always so punctual with the rent ... I'm sure I don't know what makes you want to leave Berlin, all of a sudden, like this..."

It's no use trying to explain to her, or talking politics. Al-ready she is adapting herself, as she will adapt herself to every new régime. This morning I even heard her talking reverently about "Der Führer" to the porter's wife. If anybody were to remind her that, at the elections last November, she voted communist, she would probably deny it hotly, and in perfect good faith. She is merely acclimatizing herself, in accordance with a natural law, like an animal which changes its coat for the winter. Thousands of people like Frl. Schroeder are ac-climatizing themselves. After all, whatever government is in power, they are doomed to live in this town.

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Nico Mara-McKay 🦇 (they/iel) @nicomaramckay.com · 01/09/2026

A gay semi-autobiography novel set in pre-Hitler Berlin, the basis for The Cabaret musical, and my plane read for my flight back to Toronto. 🇨🇦 #BookSky #GayReads 🌈📚 🏳️‍🌈

Goodbye to Berlin by Christopher Isherwood. The cover has red and gold circles out of focus.

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Nico Mara-McKay 🦇 (they/iel) @nicomaramckay.com · 31/08/2026

Take 2: Lesbian vampire novel on the bus to Roma. 🇮🇹 #BookSky #LesbianBooks 🌈📚 🏳️‍🌈

Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu. The cover features line drawings of bats, with a band of red overlayed on the top third, and a cream background on the bottom third. Two red blood marks appear on the bottom right.

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Nico Mara-McKay 🦇 (they/iel) @nicomaramckay.com · 31/08/2026

Or not. The left left-hand pages are misprinted. ☹️

Photo of a page of poetry with a large section of the left-hand page blank, rendering the book unreadable.

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Nico Mara-McKay 🦇 (they/iel) @nicomaramckay.com · 31/08/2026

Trans masc poetry on the bus to Roma. 🇮🇹 #BookSky #TransReads #CanCon #CanadianReads 🏳️‍⚧️📚 🌈📚 🏳️‍🌈

In Your Nature by Estlin McPhee. The cover is black with a spider web and flowers.

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Nico Mara-McKay 🦇 (they/iel) @nicomaramckay.com · 31/08/2026

Good morning from Siena, Bluesky! 🇮🇹 This is your weekly reminder to take your HRT, medications, and vitamins. Bluesky still deserves better leadership. Trans rights are human rights. 🏳️‍⚧️ Unban Link.

HRT still life with a bag of cotton balls, isopropyl alcohol, testosterone bottle and box, used needle and syringe.

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Nico Mara-McKay 🦇 (they/iel) @nicomaramckay.com · 29/08/2026

This one has been in my to-read pile for too long: a trans masc retelling of Peter Pan. #BookSky 🏳️‍⚧️ 🏳️‍🌈 🌈 📚

Peter Darling by Austin Chant. The cover centres a line drawing of an open window, running along the bottom is a sea monster chasing a pirate ship.

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Nico Mara-McKay 🦇 (they/iel) @nicomaramckay.com · 24/08/2026

Good morning from Siena, Bluesky! 🇮🇹 Here is your weekly reminder to take your HRT, medications, and vitamins. Bluesky still deserves better leadership. Trans rights are human rights. 🏳️‍⚧️ Unban Link.

This week's HRT still life with a plastic case of cotton balls, isopropyl alcohol, testosterone bottle and box, used needle and syringe.

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Nico Mara-McKay 🦇 (they/iel) @nicomaramckay.com · 23/08/2026

Second pool read. (Well, third. But I was already well into the first book: The Mercy of Gods.) #BookSky

The Hunger We Pass Down by Jen Sookfong Lee. The cover is pink with green text and features a person with very long straight hair.

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Nico Mara-McKay 🦇 (they/iel) @nicomaramckay.com · 17/08/2026

Good morning, Bluesky! This is your weekly reminder to take your HRT, medications, and vitamins. Bluesky still deserves better leadership. Trans rights are human rights. 🏳️‍⚧️ Unban Link.

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Nico Mara-McKay 🦇 (they/iel) @nicomaramckay.com · 10/08/2026

Good morning, Bluesky! Here is your weekly reminder to take your HRT, medications, and vitamins. Bluesky still deserves better leadership. Trans rights are human rights. 🏳️‍⚧️ Unban Link.

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