iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

em, she/her 🇨🇦 @windowsandcups.bsky.social · 24/03/2026

Book 8, Read Around the 🌎: The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree, by Shokoofeh Azar, translator wishes to remain anonymous - Iran. This book reads like a fairytale, all while telling a story of profound cruelty in Iran. Magical realism & folklore meet history. To say it's beautiful isn't enough.

A picture of the cover of the book The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree, by Shokoofeh Azar. The cover is very colorful: patterns in vibrant shades of yellow, green, orange, and pink are interspersed with flowing stripes of a darker blue-black. The title is written in white and a light blue over the darker stripes, in text that changes height and shape with the stripe it sits in, and the author's name is written along the top, in vibrant green-yellow.

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em, she/her 🇨🇦 @windowsandcups.bsky.social · 22/01/2026

Book 7 of Read Around the 🌎: The Master & Margarita, by Mikhail Bulgakov, trans. by Richard Pevear & Larissa Volokhonsky - Russia. The moment I picked this one up I was swept away into a crazed, mystical, darkly curious world. Feels multi-dimensional and defiant. I'm really enjoying it! #BookSky

A picture of the cover of The Master & Margarita, by Mikhail Bulgakov, translated by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky - the 50th anniversary edition. The design of the front cover is halved by the title and author name boldly crossing the cover diagonally from the bottom left to the top right, in a vintage theatre-feeling font, perhaps suggesting a marquee. On the top portion of the cover, behind the title blocks, we see the a portion of a black cat's face: one yellow eye peering out, against a light blue background, and surrounded by smoke from the lit cigarette the cat appears to be smoking. The bottom portion of cover, under the title blocks is part of a woman's face and neck. She has rich red lips, black hair that curls around her face, we see an ornate earring theough her hair - a drop of pearls and red stones shaped like teardrops. There is a single tear falling down her cheek. The cover behind her is a golden yellow.

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em, she/her 🇨🇦 @windowsandcups.bsky.social · 16/01/2026

1st book finished in 2026 is Death of the Author, by Nnedi Okorafor. What a way to start a new year! It's science fiction at its best, but with a realistic fiction twist. Or is it the other way around? The main character is beautifully complex & her story is so wondrously told. Gorgeous. #BookSky

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em, she/her 🇨🇦 @windowsandcups.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

Book 6 of Read Around the 🌎: Present Tense Machine, by Gunnhild Øyehaug, translated from Norwegian by Kari Dickson. I'll finish it today, & that feels right given that, among other things, this book is all about time & shifts in perception & reality. It's a shorter book, but so, so clever #BookSky

A picture of the cover of the book Present Tense Machine, by Gunnhild Øyehaug, translated by Kari Dickson. The cover is beige, with two ribbon-like banners crossing in the middle. The black ribbon shows the book's title in a cursive font, from the top left to the bottom right. The white ribbon, which crosses behind the black one in the middle, features the author's name in an all caps, sans serif font. Together the ribbons suggest an hour glass shape, and in the space between them at the bottom, the words "a novel" are written in back cursive font. In the space between them at the top, that same font is mirrored in white, but upside down and backwards.

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em, she/her 🇨🇦 @windowsandcups.bsky.social · 14/12/2025

Book 5 of my Read Around the World project is The Three-Body Problem, by Cixin Liu, translated by Ken Liu - for China. I love good science fiction. With this one I find the science a little daunting at times, but the story is so compelling. I'm enjoying the philosophy woven throughout. #BookSky

A picture of the book The Three-Body Problem, by Cixin Liu, translated by Ken Liu. The art is all in shades of blue, black, and Grey, with what looks like three full moons glowing in the sky above a pyramid. There is a single human figure walking towards the pyramid, their back to the reader. The title is in bold, bright green letters above the pyramid.

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em, she/her 🇨🇦 @windowsandcups.bsky.social · 10/12/2025

Read Around the 🌎 4 is from Mexico: Reservoir Bitches, by Dahlia de la Cerda, translated by Heather Cleary & Julia Sanches. These short stories are the perfect example of why I'm doing this project: to be exposed to new stories, to learn. It was challenging, I loved it, it broke my heart. #BookSky

A picture of the cover of the book Reservoir Bitches by Dahlia de la Cerda, translated by Heather Cleary and Julia Sanchez. The predominant colour on this cover is a vibrant, bright green. The title is large and bold and placed just above the middle of the cover. The graphic on the cover, which is positioned to the right of the cover and behind the white title text is an open mouth. The mouth appears to be wearing lipstick, and some of the teeth on the bottom row are quite sharp. Definitely a design that piqued my curiosity about the book.

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em, she/her 🇨🇦 @windowsandcups.bsky.social · 09/12/2025

Book 3 of Read Around the World was: The Rainfall Market, by You Yeong-Gwang, translated by Slin Jung - South Korea. A sweet story; a modern fable, which I always love. There are also elements of Korean folklore in the characters. What would you do if you had a chance to pick a new life? #Booksky

A picture of the cover of the book The Rainfall Market, by You Yeong-Gwang, translated by Slin Jung.

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em, she/her 🇨🇦 @windowsandcups.bsky.social · 08/12/2025

Book 2 in my Read Around The World project was Above Us The Milky Way, by Fowzia Karimi - chosen for Afghanistan. The author grew up in the US after fleeing "the first land." The book tells the story of five sisters, their parents, two lands, and how the heart is forever affected by both. #BookSky

A picture of the cover of the book Above Us the Milky Way: An Illuminated Alphabet, by Fowzia Karimi.

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em, she/her 🇨🇦 @windowsandcups.bsky.social · 08/12/2025

Inspired by Courtney Henning Novak, I've started by own Read Around the World project. It will take years and I love it! This was book one: What You Can See From Here, by Mariana Leky, translated from the original German by Tess Lewis - tender & utterly charming magical realism. ##Booksky

A picture of the cover of the book What You Can See From Here, by Mariana Leky, translated by Tess Lewis.

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em, she/her 🇨🇦 @windowsandcups.bsky.social · 24/05/2025

I loved the new one too, but the original will always have that special place in my heart!

A screen capture showing some of the characters from the original She-Ra cartoon series of the 1980s. Left to right: Peekablue - with green hair and fan of peacock feathers behind her, Frosta - with long light blue hair and an outfit in shades of blue and white, Sea Hawk - a male presenting character with firey red hair and beard, Madame Razz - a white haired, purple skinned, short witch wearing a red witch hat pulled down over the top of her face, with eye holes cut out so we can see her yellow eyes, Broom - an animated wooden broom, Glimmer - with her long pink hair and light blue and purple bodysuit, She-Ra - Princess Adora transformed with her longer blonde hair, short white dress, red cape, sword, and signature golden crown style headpiece featuring golden wings coming off the side to frame her face, Bow - another male presenting character but with orange hair, a red cape, blue pants and he's showing some midriff, Kowl - and owl type creature who flies, he has orange-red fur and his wings look like large multicolored ears, Angella - long blonde hair pulled back from her face, her large white wings can be seen behind her, Loo-Kee (whose name I always thought was Lucky) - stands at Angella's feet, he's a small creature with pointed ears and a bushy blue tail wearing red overalls, Castaspella - she has auburn hair that is up in a high ponytail and her outfit is dark blue and gold, and finally Netossa - brown skin, long white/grey/purple hair that falls down her back and her outfit is a shirt white dress with blue accents and her cape is a net that features two white wave-like fans coming up off the neck to frame her face.

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em, she/her 🇨🇦 @windowsandcups.bsky.social · 13/03/2025

I don't usually post about books until I'm done, but I'm almost there, & this one is too cute. I also don't usually read romance, the things I do for my students! This book is precious. A Romeo & Juliet remix, with excellent character work, & a unique narrative voice. Realistic, delightful. #Booksky

A picture of the book "A Phở Love Story," by Loan Le. The background colour on the cover is bubblegum pink. The title takes up most of the centre of the cover, with a Vietnamese boy on one sideof the words and a Vietnamese girl on the other. The title is all in white letters. Both characters are dressed in casual, current fashion: him in black jeans, red converse shoes, and a red and black plaid shirt with the sleeves rolled up to the elbows. He is holding a strainer full of leafy herbs and sprouts, and wearing a white full body apron. His hair is short, black, and stylishly cut. She is wearing blue jeans, distressed around the knee and lower thigh, a white t-shirt, black ballet flats and a red body apron. She is holding a tray of used bowls and chopsticks up in her right hand, and a tray with a fresh bowl is balanced lower on her left hand. Her black hair is straight and she's wearing it down, with her hair and a pencil tucked behind her left ear. They are looking sideways at each other over across the title words, both smiling softly.

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em, she/her 🇨🇦 @windowsandcups.bsky.social · 02/03/2025

International Women's Day is coming up next week. We are seeing huge steps backwards for women's rights all over the world. As I thought about it today, I was reminded of a favourite poem, by Muriel Rukeyser. It's called "Myth"

The poem "Myth," by Muriel Rukeyser.

Long afterwards, Oedipus, old and
blinded, walked the roads. He smelled a familiar smell.
It was
the Sphinx. Oedipus said, "I want to
ask one question.
Why didn't I recognize my mother?"
"You gave the wrong answer," said the Sphinx. "But
that was what
made everything possible," said Oedipus.
"No," she said.
"When I asked, What walks on four legs
in the morning,
two at noon, and three in the evening,
you answered,
Man. You didn't say anything about
woman."
"When you say Man," said Oedipus, "you include women
too. Everyone know that." She said,
"That's what
you think."

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em, she/her 🇨🇦 @windowsandcups.bsky.social · 01/03/2025

Through it all, whatever it is, I make sure I have a book close by. Just finished this one today, and oh my, what a sweet, cozy read. If you like fantasy and you'd like something different and light, this was lovely.

A picture of the book "Legends & Lattes," by Travis Baldree. The cover features two women, standing almost back to back, each one looking back at the other and smiling softly. The woman on the left is a succubus with a short, dark bob hairstyle, a pink skin tone, pointed ears and horns that rise from either side of her forehead. The horns are relatively small, and her hair sits messily around them. She also has a pointed tail poking up into the picture and she's holding a plate with a cinnamon roll on it. The other woman is an orc, and she is much taller and significantly more muscular than the other woman. Her skin is green, her ears are also pointed, and she has longer, wavy, dark hair that is pulled back into a ponytail at the nape of her neck. She's holding what looks like a silver pitcher pot in one hand and a white coffee cup in the other. Just behind her hands we can what might be an espresso machine. We can see some details of the room they are in: a wood-burning stove to the left of the succubus, a bowl of coffee beans on a table behind then, some white coffee cups hang on the wall behind and to the right of the orc. In the foreground we see part of a table, with a white table cloth that has a pink border draped across it, and on the table are some baked goods.

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em, she/her 🇨🇦 @windowsandcups.bsky.social · 09/02/2025

When Hamas attacked on October 7, 2023, I admittedly knew nothing about Palestine. Since then, I've been listening, learning, and reading. But I stopped shopping at Indigo, & all the stores it owns, in November of 2024 because of the connections to the HESEG Foundation, founded by their CEO 🧵 1/

A picture of my Plum Rewards card from Indigo, laid on top of an envelope addressed to the company's head office. You can barely see the stamp info in the top right corner of the photo. It's not my most glamorous picture - despite the fact that you can also see some sequins underneath the envelope. It's a pencil case 🙂 But I'm not going for beauty or composition with this photo, just for the fact of it - this card is going back to them. Free Palestine.

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em, she/her 🇨🇦 @windowsandcups.bsky.social · 09/02/2025

My library was closed yesterday due to a power failure, and I had holds to pick up. So I was going to start Legends & Lattes, by Travis Baldree, but I also needed a new audiobook so I chose Cold, by Drew Hayden Taylor. Loving it so far!

The book Cold, by Drew Hayden Taylor. The cover shows the CN Tower and surrounding cityscape from across the lake, and that's along the bottom of the cover. The rest of the cover art is clouds - starting with big, fluffy, but darkly coloured and ominous looking clouds surrounding the city. Further up into the clouds, we start to see where the sunlight is hitting through the storm and we see dark orange clouds, then up to just a little bit of blue sky and white clouds. The title is in the middle of the cover in bold, white letters, all capitals: COLD.

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em, she/her 🇨🇦 @windowsandcups.bsky.social · 09/02/2025

Another of my favourite picture book reads - a must for anyone who is a creator, in any medium or format. It's about that special fire, that unignorable push to make our art and to express ourselves. Inspirational, and truly beautiful.

A picture of the picture book What If... written by Samantha Berger, and illustrated by Mike Curato. The background of the book's cover is all in shades of purple and looks like swirls of clouds, with collage pieces throughout - a couple stars and a unicorn. Other stars and shapes swirl around in the purple as well. The left side of the book is the close-up on half a little girl's face. She is black, and we can see a few curls of her black hair up at her forehead. Her eyes are closed, and she is smiling a soft smile. The title is at the top centre, in flowing white letters.

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em, she/her 🇨🇦 @windowsandcups.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

I was given this book by a friend today. We work together & have become closer recently. I'm so grateful for her. We always make time for hugs, and act as a sounding board for each other as we do what we can to help, as we try to understand our power. Today, it's in gifting & reading his words. 🇵🇸

A picture of the book "If I Must Die: Poetry and Prose," by Refaat Alareer. The background art of the cover is a picture of clouds, during sunset perhaps - the light staining the clouds a deep purple, with vibrant pink highlights streaking through the middle and along the bottom, and small spaces where we can see through to a darkening sky. The text on the cover is in white letters, with his name prominently displayed at the top centre, the title in the bottom right of the cover, and in the middle - almost at the centre - a graphic of a white Kite, flying against the clouds behind it.

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em, she/her 🇨🇦 @windowsandcups.bsky.social · 03/02/2025

Another new favorite picture book. Stories like these have to be told and shared widely so they are never lost. These stories of joyful resistance, when people said no, rejecting the status quo & helping to pave the way for change. A fun bonus: playing the song for the kids after we read the book! 🎶

A picture of the cover of the book "¡Mambo Mucho Mambo! The Dance That Crossed Color Lines," by Dean Robbins and illustrated by Eric Velasquez. The cover background is a bright golden yellow and features a woman and a man dancing the Mambo together, both smiling. The illustration suggests the movement of the dance brilliantly! Both dancers are dressed in 1940s fashion: the woman is wearing a white, long sleeve blouse, with a blue skirt that falls just below her knees. The blouse is tucked in and she wears a belt around her waist, and white strapped heels. Her dark brown hair is in a low ponytail and she is also wearing a white headband. The man she is dancing with is wearing black, high waisted pants and shoes and a white, long sleeved shirt under a tight fitting vest. His dark hair is cut short on the sides, and styled in an almost pompadour style on top, sculpted up at the top front. Both have brown skin and we do learn more about them as we read the book. It's a very joyful book cover, even in its relative simplicity.

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em, she/her 🇨🇦 @windowsandcups.bsky.social · 02/02/2025

Since October of 2023, I have been trying to understand my activism & how I can sustainably contribute to making a difference. I've learned so much from this book. Omkari L. Williams is an activism coach & I'm incredibly grateful she wrote this book. For anyone who feels alone & powerless.

A picture of the book "Micro Activism: How You Can Make a Difference in the World," by Omkari L. Williams. The covers art design shows rays of colour extending from a small black circle, on which are the words "Small actions = big results." It also say "foreword by Layla F. Saad, New York Time best-selling author of Me and White Supremacy."

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em, she/her 🇨🇦 @windowsandcups.bsky.social · 01/02/2025

A picture book version of the poem Dream Variations, by Langston Hughes. I read it on one of my class visits last week. The conversation that followed was big & beautiful. They're in grade 5 and they had lots of questions & thoughts they wanted to share. Picture books are a special kind of magic.

The cover of the picture book That is My Dream! by Langston Hughes and Daniel Miyares. A young black boy has his arms outstretched as he soars through the sky on the back of a bird. He is smiling, even though his hat has flown off his head 🙂

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