Kio Stark
@kiostark.bsky.social
I talk to strangers. I write stuff. Wallet full of library cards. Here to help. Books: WHEN STRANGERS MEET (about why you should), FOLLOW ME DOWN, a novel. New novel underway about theater people. Also writing some fucked up folktales.
If you would like some high quality interactions with strangers, start by talking to their dogs. I am in no way kidding about this. You will make the dogs very happy. And usually when you greet a dog, the person on the end of the leash greets you. And if they don't, you have still enjoyed a dog.
Downtown F train 2:14 pm. Approx 40 people in this car. Four conversations, four reading paper books, three drawing. 13 ( I think) looking at phones, everyone else just looking around.
And also, as we all continue to talk about the source material, the translations, the movie versions, the movie reviews, the book reviews -- this is the way culture works! This is the fun stuff! And I feel so lucky to be a part of the maelstrom.
Kate Tuttle@katekilla.bsky.social · 6d agoI talked with @emilyrcwilson.bsky.social for the @bostonglobe.com. I don't think she loves all the attention online, but she's definitely tough enough to handle it all. www.bostonglobe.com/2026/07/31/a...
Today’s strangers: at small town train station. woman w/ fancy suitcase is beaming genuine smiles. goth kid reading a library book, it’d be too creepy if I went to ask what book. older woman drawing in a notebook. I get 6 steps over to peek what she’s drawing, Fancy suitcase says “you a pacer too?”
No professional accomplishment has ever made me happier than this. theonion.com/translator-o...
Translator Of Original ‘Minions’ Epic Poem Slams ‘Sexless, Bloodless’ Film Adaptation
PHILADELPHIA—In a 4,500-word essay published in Harper’s Magazine, Emily Wilson, known for her popular translation of the Minions epic poem, blasted the latest film Thursday as a “sexless, bloodless” ...
theonion.com
The brilliant and delightful @erikahall.bsky.social and @kiostark.bsky.social have an upcoming event you should totally check out. The path forward runs right through Talking to Strangers and that is their bailiwick.
How to Talk to Strangers
There are 8 billion new friends out there. Or at least encounters that can make memories and good stories. And that’s all life is, really.
eventbrite.com
Public service announcement (without guitars). Just went on a journey double-checking settings in zoom, which seems to have added like a dozen new AI settings to opt out of since I last looked. I suggest chanting NOPE, NOPE, NOPE as you toggle the buttons from blue to grey. Very satisfying.
Today's stranger: The most chatty phlebotomist on the planet. She's 58, has amazing skin.Tells me about her potions & lotions she makes. I'm like, you should sell this stuff! She says oh, no, it's just my hobby. And it's you know, proprietary. Smiles, winks, shows me the limits of her public self.
Come join me and @erikahall.bsky.social on Friday, August 14 to learn about why and how you should talk to strangers! tl;dr it's good for you, it's good for the world, and it's not as hard as you think. www.eventbrite.com/e/how-to-tal...
How to Talk to Strangers
There are 8 billion new friends out there. Or at least encounters that can make memories and good stories. And that’s all life is, really.
eventbrite.com
Today's stranger. I'm wearing @yourewrongabout.bsky.social shirt "IT WAS CAPITALISM ALL ALONG." A Dude asks "Hey what does yr shirt mean, what don't I know??" Me:"Uh, that unregulated rampant capitalism turns out to be the cause of many societal problems." Him: "OK I'm gonna give that some thought."
TIL that the FAA, as in the agency that oversees crop dusting, doesn’t call pesticides “pesticides.” It calls them “economic poisons.” Do with that what you will.
There is something very medieval feeling about having the diaphanous curtains drawn against the sun.
If you have not already bought Mike's book, now you are seriously going to have to. And if you have a copy already, order this, keep the tombstone, give the book to a friend. Everybody wins!
Monteiro@monteiro.bsky.social · last mo.🚨 NEW MERCH ALERT 🚨 Order my new book, How to die (& other stories)—awesome all on its own, and get this FREE wee hot pink tombstone. Perfect for your desk or home. Fiercely positive! www.mulebooks.com/store/how-to...
Resident teenager has not seen her 5-year old half-brother for a few weeks. Upon return to that house, she finds him changed in a way that any grandparent would recognize. "It’s like he's constantly replaced with a slightly larger and more articulate clone of himself."
TFW you realize you and your daughter are both eavesdropping on the same person. My work here is done.
Do not sleep on this. I’ve seen these two people talk to each other, and it’s a marvelous experience.
Monteiro@monteiro.bsky.social · 2mo agoCome experience love between two old men! On July 9 I will sit down with America’s best printer, Amos Kennedy Jr (@kennedyprints.bsky.social), to talk about my new book. We will go on tangents! ‘Merica, pizza, money laundering, and the joy of making things with your hands! Somehow this is free.
As always, today is a good day to support artists, writers, creators. If you have the means, maybe consider signing up for a Patreon. Buy a book, a game, a painting. Commission a new piece. Tell a creator what they mean to you. Signal boost their work.
Historic use of an exclamation point in a municipal alert email.
This one really hit home for me this morning (even tho I read it after I already got out of bed). Thanks for the reminders @monteiro.bsky.social. buttondown.com/monteiro/arc...
How to get out of bed
Mike, how do I get out of bed every day? How do I try?
buttondown.com
1. I will always share/subscribe to a buttondown hosted newsletter. 2. This is something I've been saying: The language used around AI is the language of rape and coercion. 3. You can measure a person's character by the way they respond to you saying No.
Monteiro@monteiro.bsky.social · 2mo agoIt’s not inevitable. You don’t have to relax and enjoy it. It’s not happening whether you want it or not. I’m not giving up on the future. Your Saturday read: buttondown.com/monteiro/arc...
A reminder that mystery chicken adoptions remain open. I'm mailing out my next batch tomorrow. If you get your hundy in the mail this week, your chickie could show up by the end of June. www.chicken.pics/prints
Adopt a chicken pic! — Chicken Pics
For a limited time, if you send us $100, you may receive an original 7x7 chicken pic.
chicken.pics
At the cafe, woman compliments my dress. We chat abt inconsequential things which are situationally consequential for humans' sense of belonging & happiness. Then we overhear someone talking abt using Chat GPT to make a kids book. Turns out shared grimace also works for affirming mutual humanity.
So good. Thank you @kys.makersfield.co
Kill Yr Substack@kys.makersfield.co · 3mo agoHi there! I label Substack posts. I know that there's another labeler that already does this. But I publish what I catch as filter lists. Point uBlock Origin or your Pi-hole at these and (hopefully) never look at Substack again: kys.makersfield.co/substack-fil... kys.makersfield.co/substack-hos...
Several things made me happy today, one of them was watching this.
Angus Johnston@angus.bsky.social · 3mo agoSince it came up in conversation, here's an opportunity to watch me trip over my lines in the same Chekhov monologue in two different centuries.
Combatting feeling bummed & powerless by talking to strangers, and being receptive to people turning bureaucratic or informational interactions into human ones. 1. Health insurance company rep concluded our call not by asking me to fill out a survey, but by asking me if I was related to Tony Stark.
Lilacs in the public right of way are fair game for cutting. Right? Because I can’t just keep standing here smelling them.
Downtown 6, 11:18am. 31 ppl visible. Group of 3, talking. Group of 2, not talking. Group of 2, talking. Reading books, 2. Looking around, 7. Looking at phone, 12. Sleeping, 2. Child swinging around pole, 1.
