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VR Hickman

@vrhickman.bsky.social
149 followers 221 following 119 posts

a book in one hand and, in the other, a great deal of hesitation // she/her

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the Jarvis Cocker of the Chicago lit scene @yoadrianididit.bsky.social · 15h
Of course this is how Anne Carson accepts the Nobel prize.
It was a short call, Carlberg said: All the poet would say was she was “in Iceland,” where she was “listening to the wind.”
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VR Hickman @vrhickman.bsky.social · 15h
Anne Carsonnnnnn
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Ryan Packer @typewriteralley.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
George Saunders on using AI: "Writing is the most precious way one person can communicate their essence to another person. I’ve spent a lifetime trying to get better at making myself present in my writing. Why would I want to sacrifice even one iota of that?"
Have you spent time trying to write or revise with AI? Is there an experiment that would be interesting enough to try?

I have not. Not for a second. To me, this whole idea of using AI to write is . . . anathema. A thing to be most radically avoided.

Writing is the most precious way one person can communicate their essence to another person. I’ve spent a lifetime trying to get better at making myself present in my writing. Why would I want to sacrifice even one iota of that? Not even in an email and certainly not in a short story or novel.Who are we ceding our authority to, exactly, when we let AI write for us? And why? Why surrender our agency (that amazing ability we have to reach across time and space, with our strange, idiosyncratic phenomenon, and land within the sensibility of another human being) to something that, by its very design, pushes the individual sensibility aside? And in the name of . . . what, exactly? Ease, I guess? Efficiency? The person who chooses to write with AI has also sacrificed, from the start, the opportunity of experiencing difficulty, of struggling to say what he wants to say, of making himself evident in his prose, of trying to find out what he believes. By this, he sacrifices a chance to know himself and his mind better. To me, that’s a shame. And it’s dangerous, because, as we are now finding out, it affects the brain and lessens our capabilities. Thanks, but no thanks, get thee behind me, etc.
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VR Hickman @vrhickman.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
SAME
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VR Hickman @vrhickman.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
This post made me realize I could look up whether there is a cat cafe near me and there IS
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VR Hickman @vrhickman.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
If you’re full of despair/ennui/rage/AI fatigue/etc I cannot recommend highly enough (a) getting an old manual typewriter and (b) using it to type poems
A turquoise typewriter (it’s an Olivetti Underwood Studio 44, I forgot to put the cover back on) with a typed copy of Gerard Manley Hopkins’ “God’s Grandeur” in it
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VR Hickman @vrhickman.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
!!
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Madison365 @madison365.bsky.social · 25/07/2026
Protesters have taken to the streets in Madison every day and night since police shot and killed Corey Ruiz on Wednesday. Our Beth Stacey was there on Thursday evening.
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Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 19/07/2026
“If students are using it to compose, which is the biggest tragedy of all, they’ll never learn to write. And their voice is stolen from them.”
theverge.com
Dave Eggers told OpenAI staff that ChatGPT was ‘silencing an entire generation’
He called AI writing “pastiche nonsense.”
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VR Hickman @vrhickman.bsky.social · 11/07/2026
Another huge loss. artreview.com/shahrnush-pa...
artreview.com
Shahrnush Parsipur, Persian literature’s uncompromising voice, 1946–2026
Parsipur was imprisoned under both the Shah and the Islamic Republic
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VR Hickman @vrhickman.bsky.social · 11/07/2026
I was planning to take a little time off before book 3, but now…
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VR Hickman @vrhickman.bsky.social · 11/07/2026
none of you warned me that book 2 of On the Calculation of Volume was going to end with a CLIFFHANGER
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sam @wisconsam.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
the nyt: "sure a dsa candidate can win in NYC but could they in backwater Wisconsin??" me: pulls out a labor history textbook
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VR Hickman @vrhickman.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
Pro tip: making an emergency Sunday night run to the bookstore for poems is a great way to get in the right frame of mind for Monday (that frame of mind being poetry)
Two books stacked on top of each other: Modern Poetry by Diane Seuss and If Not, Winter by Sappho via Anne Carson
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VR Hickman @vrhickman.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
Who knew Cape Verde would be the cause that finally united all of Bluesky
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bijan (spooky version) @bijan.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
every job i see these days is like: LEAD CONTENT ANALYST, Puppy Killing Factory (remote). $350,000 - $500,000. You will edit our internal newsletter (circulation 500). Associate Editor, Nonprofits, Global Good Magazine (in office, NYC). $27,000 - $28,000. Lead ALL of our fundraising efforts!
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Goth Wyatt Earp @eighthsamurai.bsky.social · 21/06/2026
Dada centers. Everyone gets one chocolate umbrella each and then the other thing. Power is drawn from several random words on paper in a bowler hat and creates no drain on the ecosystem.
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VR Hickman @vrhickman.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
Somebody make this into a t-shirt (via Sarah Maria Griff)
A computer can never be horny or sad

Therefore a computer must never make an artistic decision
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Grace Loh Prasad @gracelp.bsky.social · 04/06/2026
What a tremendous loss. RIP Marjane Satrapi 💔
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VR Hickman @vrhickman.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
Finally, some clarity
Signs taped to a telephone pole, one says RACCOONS ARE REAL and the other one says QUEER LIBERATION MARCH
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VR Hickman @vrhickman.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
Hey, this is real good
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VR Hickman @vrhickman.bsky.social · 24/03/2026
Why is “heteronym” leading M-W’s top lookups list right now, is Pessoa in the news
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VR Hickman @vrhickman.bsky.social · 01/10/2025
You might already know about these folks, but I saw it floating around again today: www.amitzvahtoeat.org
amitzvahtoeat.org
Home | A Mitzvah to Eat
At A Mitzvah to Eat, we empower Jews needing ritual accommodations to safely connect to sacred Jewish practice and community. We provide resources, support, and advocacy for these Jews, as well as the...
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VR Hickman @vrhickman.bsky.social · 25/09/2025
I’ll bet the Barrymore would run it!
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VR Hickman @vrhickman.bsky.social · 30/08/2025
I’ve always loved this one, even though I know Pound’s translations are … creative. Something about that ending—!
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VR Hickman @vrhickman.bsky.social · 14/07/2025
This thread is solid good news all the way down
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Taco Bell Quarterly @tacobellquarterly.org · 11/07/2025
If you're not writing your long book what are you even doing. It's the summer of writing your long book, not the summer of experiencing happiness
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VR Hickman @vrhickman.bsky.social · 19/06/2025
I am weary of New York mayoral race updates, but I’ll make an exception for this post 🏆
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VR Hickman @vrhickman.bsky.social · 29/05/2025
I like Instapaper!
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VR Hickman @vrhickman.bsky.social · 29/05/2025
www.theguardian.com/books/2025/m...
theguardian.com
Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, giant of African literature, dies aged 87
Kenyan writer’s death announced by his daughter, who wrote: ‘He lived a full life, fought a good fight’
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VR Hickman @vrhickman.bsky.social · 20/05/2025
Oh, this is sad news.
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VR Hickman @vrhickman.bsky.social · 16/05/2025
I just read it this morning and I know I’m a few days late, but this from Paul Tran is the poem I needed for Mother’s Day www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazi...
poetryfoundation.org
A Force of Nature
A stranger knows Your mother’s order, has seen her From the other side of the glass where she is always Right and a number one Priority. In exchange for her heels shuffling, scuffing The linoleum, ris...
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VR Hickman @vrhickman.bsky.social · 16/05/2025
Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home has a “six-minute chocolate cake” recipe that is vegan and amazing
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VR Hickman @vrhickman.bsky.social · 12/05/2025
I almost gave up when I got to the first notebook section, but I am persevering
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VR Hickman @vrhickman.bsky.social · 28/04/2025
#FlowerReport from today’s trip to the botanical gardens
A magnolia tree full of pink flowersA plum tree full of white flowers Yellow and white daffodils and purple flowers in the grass around two trees (maybe birch?)A redbud tree full of (yes) red buds
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VR Hickman @vrhickman.bsky.social · 27/04/2025
Good evening, I’m here to make an extremely belated recommendation for bell hooks’ essay “Women Artists: The Creative Process,” which is excellent and which somehow I hadn’t read until today
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queer & trans bookstore @roomofonesownbooks.bsky.social · 26/04/2025
tomorrow is indie bookstore day! come see us for: 🥳10% off ALL SIGNED BOOKS 🥳10% off select staff picks (a whole table full of em!!) 🥳15% off ALL ROOM MERCH 🥳IBD EXCLUSIVE MERCH 🥳A GOLDEN LIBRO.FM TIX -- whoever finds it gets TWELVE FREE AUDIOBOOKS AND MOOOREEEEEEEEEE <3
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Michael Zapata @michaelzapata.bsky.social · 25/04/2025
Telling my students I invented the most American literary device ever called “Rambo’s gun”, based on Chekhov’s gun, in which after an object like a gun is introduced into a story it’s THE ONLY THING the character uses to solve a problem.
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VR Hickman @vrhickman.bsky.social · 24/04/2025
Friends, I was not prepared for The Golden Notebook. I’m thirty pages in and we’re still on the first scene. And the adverbs! So many adverbs!
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Lauren Groff @legroff.bsky.social · 24/04/2025
Fellow authors, I love you, and I know it feels like we don’t have a choice, but B&N and Am*zon both scheduled sales this week to preempt Independent Bookstore Day, a hugely vital source of income for indie bookstores. Please don’t promote their sales; please promote your local indie this week.
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Transit Books @transitbooks.bsky.social · 18/04/2025
Coming in September! Kate Zambreno’s ANIMAL STORIES, an exploration of mortality, alienation, boredom, surveillance, and how we regard ourselves among the animals, part of our Undelivered Lecture series, is now available for preorder ✨ www.transitbooks.org/books/animalstories
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VR Hickman @vrhickman.bsky.social · 18/04/2025
All I’m saying is, The Sea The Sea is one of those novels you probably shouldn’t try to pull unironic self-care advice from
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VR Hickman @vrhickman.bsky.social · 28/02/2025
SAME
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VR Hickman @vrhickman.bsky.social · 26/02/2025
I’ve been shopping more at Ace Hardware—the stores are locally/individually owned, at least in my area, and have a surprising range of stuff. Haven’t tried ordering from them online, but it might be worth a try?
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Benjamin Dreyer @bcdreyer.social · 13/02/2025
This is where you go to tell the National Park Service to restore the word "transgender" in its entry on the Stonewall monument. (Scroll down.)
nps.gov
Stonewall National Monument (U.S. National Park Service)
Before the 1960s, almost everything about living openly as a lesbian, gay, bisexual (LGB) person was illegal. The Stonewall Uprising on June 28, 1969 is a milestone in the quest for LGB civil rights a...
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VR Hickman @vrhickman.bsky.social · 13/02/2025
At the risk of turning this into a Bookforum fan account: woooo, new issue of Bookforum! AND look at all those pansies, which are honestly bringing me back to life
The cover of the new issue of Bookforum, which is full of pink, yellow, and purple pansies.
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VR Hickman @vrhickman.bsky.social · 11/02/2025
I’ve seen several people move from substack to ghost? Might be something else to look at?
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VR Hickman @vrhickman.bsky.social · 10/02/2025
Look at these lovely prints!
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VR Hickman @vrhickman.bsky.social · 06/02/2025
This is the level of pep talk I need right now
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