Alexander Corby 🇵🇷

Writer, teacher, circus artist, and parent.
Cisgender Male (He/him)

Public Key

npub1de5jkmzh5mrcju8v9ctcfe2y3e3re0j2q32zsqc077el37tvh3lslu8nsu

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Profile Code

nprofile1qqsxu6ftd3t6d3ufwrkzu9uyu4zguc3uhe9qg4pgqv8l0vlcl9ktclcpz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduqs6amnwvaz7tmwdaejumr0dszkqw5n

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relay.damus.io

nos.lol

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npub1de5jkmzh5mrcju8v9ctcfe2y3e3re0j2q32zsqc077el37tvh3lslu8nsu

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Last Notes

2026-09-06 16:52:33 GMT

#ScribesAndMakers 9/6 Have you ever listened to an audiobook where the reader had a good voice, but not the 'right' voice?
I don't tend to listen to many audiobooks, but all of them that I did listen to had some rather talented readers.
I could say this about certain performances, where I feel the actor did a superb, inspired performance but it didn't feel like the 'right' character for me (cough...Joker...cough)

2026-09-05 23:22:14 GMT

#WordWeavers 9/5 If your antagonist could justify their actions in one sentence, what would they say?
Matholwch: “I don’t care if she’s upset that I enslaved her countrymen wholesale, the Queen stepped out of line and I had to show her who wears the breeches here!”
** The High King of Erinne is seldom asked to justify his own actions and he’s (apparently) not very good at it. **

2026-09-05 14:42:39 GMT

#ScribesAndMakers 9/5 From a purely aesthetic standpoint, what is your favorite color of ice cream?
Before I answer, are we counting sherbert?
Can I possibly add musical accompaniment to my dessert, to enhance the aesthetic?
I'm just thinking that eating sherbert to Schubert could be very aesthetically satisfying.

2026-09-02 19:54:43 GMT

I feel like I'm going through a pretty intense crisis right now and I just need to give voice to it.
Basically, we had a conflict. I tried to be accommodating, but I had my share of demands too, and they didn't like that.
A lot of my work in therapy has been trying to get me out of my co-dependent habits and to recognize my tendency to people-please, so I've been trying hard to learn to voice my feelings and wants instead of denying them to make others comfortable.
They weren't happy with that. It's not the first time I've been here, but I'm always worried about how it's going to turn out.
Crises are turning points. Things will either mend, and I can move forward knowing I stood up for myself, or things will end, and I can move on from someone who doesn't understand or respect my needs.
This is still very hard.

2026-09-01 14:14:00 GMT

#ScribesAndMakers 9/1 List 7 things about your creativity?
1. Sex is nice, but have you ever been in a creative flow state for five hours straight?
2. I am as much inspired by ancient fairytales as I am by complex, geometric patterns.
3. I dabble in theatre, circus, writing, sketching, ukulele, balloon art and more.
4. Near-future attainable goal: Design and build a local playground.
5. I used to busk on the street. Sometimes with circus, sometimes at the local flea market with balloons.
6. I'm known as 'the artist' at my school since I tend to propose very original ideas for hands-on projects for the students. I don't feel my ideas are anything that crazy, so I get slightly embarrassed by this.
7. My creativity has sometimes made my family push me to get diagnosed for autism or another form of neurodivergency. I fail to see what they hope to prove by that.

2026-09-01 13:47:13 GMT

#WordWeavers 9/1 What is something your MC desperately wants but would never admit to wanting?
For Taliesin, genuine, romantic love. He's not an undesirable person on the surface, but his head is too full of cosmic mysteries to be a very attentive lover.

2026-08-29 12:20:16 GMT

#ScribesAndMakers 8/29 Did you know what you wanted to be at 11?
At that point, it was either a scientist (so I could blow myself up in wacky explosions) or it might have been the period I was looking to be a doctor. I was set to go into medicine for a bit until I realized how much squick I'd be looking at.
In retrospect, I might have enjoyed getting a medical degree. I've met some pretty rad doctors who travel, are politically active, and have their own music careers on the side.

2026-08-27 15:36:07 GMT

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Tuna's not even my favorite. And to make things worse, the printer now has horrible breath.

2026-08-27 14:29:59 GMT

#ScribesAndMakers 8/27 Tell a story, real or fictional, about an object on your desk.
The damn 3D printer is not working again.
Here I am working through lunch, my tuna sandwich off to the side of my desk, barely touched while I tinker with factory settings, filament sizes, pre-heating temperatures and every fine-hair piece of technical minutia the stupid machine can throw at me.
I'm just trying to print out a dinky keychain. But it's no use. I run the calibration sequence one more time, watching the gears whirl and lift the printing nozzle up and down, deciding if it will throw me a bone and print already. I coat the work pane with purple Elmers glue in case it decides to actually print something this time.
Before I can find out, the phone rings. It's Mrs. Soto again telling me I'm late for the faculty meeting. I put my sandwhich down in frustration and hurry out the door, leaving the machine running. Who knows? Maybe it will work this time.
I come back an hour later. The machine is running, but it's not printing a key chain. I watch the robotic arm wizz back and forth, side to side as it lays the blue plastic filament onto the pad, spelling out two bulky words.
FEED ME
I look down at my desk. Half of my sandwich is gone.

2026-08-25 13:55:07 GMT

#WritersCoffeeClub 8/25: Can a story be told from the point of view of something unconscious?
Well...no!
If there's no consciousness, there's no awareness and no point of view. Now, maybe we as writers and readers can lend this object our consciousness for a time, and that's great, but that's as far as we can go.
I wrote a story that was from many POV's in the form of journal entries from the characters and public headlines, but the plot revolved around the sentience of rocks on an alien planet. In the end, we see a little of what the rocks are processing, so in that sense it was a story told from the POV of an 'unconscious' object, but the whole point of the story is that the rocks ARE conscious.

2026-05-08 17:26:56 GMT

#WritersCoffeeClub 5/8 What experience can you identify as having made you the writer you are today?
Come to think of it, I spent a lot of time by myself growing up, sometime in my backyard by my basketball hoop and sometimes on secluded beach shores. I used to make up whole epic tales using the geography of wherever I was and just think about their history and timeline. That probably gave me some world-building experience from a young age.

2026-04-17 13:30:36 GMT

#ScribesAndMakers 4/17 What's something you've learned in recent research?
1. The Dun Laoghaire was an Irish seaside fort presumably built by King Lóegaire mac Néill in the 5th or 6th century to carry out raids on Britain and Gaul.
2. The average price of a mani-pedi in the US is around $57.50
Thank you. I will not be taking questions at this time.

2026-02-25 13:49:24 GMT

#WritersCoffeeClub 2/25 What's an unique habit you have while writing?
I had to stop writing late at night. I either spend too much time mindlessly scrolling through Mastodon (Damn you, interesting people!!) or I fall asleep writing nonsense.
Seriously, I've come back to my work the next morning and get extremely freaked out. I'll be writing some battle scene, or something, and the text will trail off.
"He picked up his sword and completed all the exercises and remember to show your work, points will be taken off for lateness. Having crab for lunch tomorrow...worried about indigestion..."

2026-02-15 10:55:12 GMT

Raise your hand if you'd rather have a world run by artists, scientists, teachers, and doctors instead of industrialists, bankers, warmongers, and psychopaths.

2026-02-09 20:23:16 GMT

My wife cried last night to see Benito (aka Bad Bunny) holding the PR flag during the halftime show. Less than a century ago, flying the PR flag or singing the PR National Anthem could have gotten you arrested.
Bad Bunny’s symbolism during the performance was outstanding! From the sugar cane colonial plantation to the electric power line scene (a nod to the colonialist, private power company, LUMA) Benito once again delivers strong for Borikén!
#PuertoRico #BadBunny #FueraLUMA #Diversidad

2026-01-24 14:31:17 GMT

#ScribesAndMakers 1/24 What's a work of science fiction that you love? What do you love about it?
I'm not as well read in this genre as I should be, so I'll just say Adam's Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
When I first read it, (I read all 5 books in one large volume) I was so impressed with the scope of the narrative and, of course, the humor. But some of the strange, sometimes random things that happened to the characters struck a deep chord with me. They not only made me laugh and think, but also left me absolutely terrified.
I drop references to Adams in class all the time, and I'm sure very few of my students understand it.
"So long class, and thanks for all the fish!"
(Students glance quizzically at each other.)

2026-01-15 22:50:39 GMT

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“Felon receives Nobel Peace Prize from the head of the country he invaded by force.”
RIP satiric irony

2026-01-03 22:24:59 GMT

At the emergency protest against US intervention in Venezuela today in Hato Rey, PR.
A la manifestacion contra los estados unidos y los accionnes militario en Puerto Rico y Venezuela. Hoy en Hato Rey, PR.
#Venezuela #Manifestacion #PuertoRico #NoWarInVenezuela #Protest
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2026-01-03 17:16:20 GMT

#ScribesAndMakers 1/3 Instructions
Thank you for purchasing the Make-A-Masterpiece, the world's top-rated fine art gun.
How to use:
1. Load paint stock in the brush cartridge and fill the inspiration well.
2. Aim the gun at your canvas.
3. No, not like that.
4. Perfect! Now squeeze trigger gently to fire gun.
5. Make sure the art gun is pointed away from eyes and face before completing step 4.
6. That hole in your wall will appreciate in value over time since its art.

2025-12-27 03:58:38 GMT

#ScribesAndMakers 12/26 What animal appears most often in your creative work?
It varies, but for my current WIP, there are a lot of birds that show up thanks to Branwen's affinity towards them.
Horses also appear quite a bit, but that's more a product of the medieval setting.

2025-12-04 23:07:32 GMT

#ScribesAndMakers 12/4 Tell us about your experience with audio recording.
So my school does this thing where, for a school play, they record the kids’ lines and then have them lip sync to their own voice. It completely stunts the acting, but god forbid someone forgets a line.
I’m usually the poor sap who has to record them, but that part is kinda fun. We set up a sound booth and I have the kids deliver their lines a bunch of different ways just to see what comes out. We have some good laughs.

2025-11-29 19:37:44 GMT

Tom Stoppard, brilliant playwright, dead at 81.
One of the greatest of our time.
There is a reason that the people who write plays are not called 'playwrites' but rather 'playwrights' as in shipwright, someone who crafts.
Arcadia by Stoppard is a modern wonder on stage, a time jumping celebration of chaos theory and carnal embraces.
Farewell Tom, the world is a little brighter thanks to you.
#Theater #Playwright #TomStoppard
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2025-11-23 15:44:18 GMT

#WritersCoffeeClub 11/23 What's your niche?
Uhm...yeah.
I don't know. I'm grappling with a mythological histfic on one hand, a speculative action adventures on the other. I'm writing short stories for horror, scientific non-fiction articles, chapters to a contemporary romance, and someone is commissioning me to write a scifi erotica piece.
So whatever "niche" that is.
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2025-10-27 16:53:24 GMT

We had a chicken disappear on us for a few weeks. We found her again yesterday morning with a few new additions.
7 chicks hatched in the wild.
#BackyardChickens #PuertoRico #chicks
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2025-10-16 18:45:14 GMT

One of my students showed me the printed copy of the book Doug, a Doug Doug Story, by Douglas Scott Wrenden. It is 230 pages of just the word “Doug” printed again and again. It has sold 19 million copies worldwide.
My novel is a well-crafted narrative that blends Welsh myth and language into a beautiful story of magic and family loyalty. It has sold maybe 40 copies total.
I will be spending the rest of my day at the local bar, re-evaluating my sanity, thank you.
#Bookstodon

2025-09-13 14:21:03 GMT

#ScribesAndMakers 9/13 Shameless Self Promotion day! Boosty Boost Boost!
All I have to plug is my book Taliesin, Chief of Bards. The goal is to hopefully publish B2 sometime spring/summer of 2026, but I feel the two books could be read as standalone stories.
Explore the mythic origins of Wales' earliest pseudo-historical Bard, Taliesin, and the impossible task to freeing his foster-father from the hands of a tyrant.
https://www.amazon.com/Taliesin-Chief-Bards-Alexander-Corby-ebook/dp/B09P64ZJYJ
#Books #mythology #Wales #HistFic #ReadingCommunity
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2025-09-09 14:25:45 GMT

#WritersCoffeeClub 9/9 What incorrect assumptions might a reader make about you?
If I'm doing my job well, I should hope that some readers would think I'm actually from Wales. I'm not, but I'd consider the misconception a high honor.
Interesting side story, a few kids in the park yesterday thought I was from China since I was doing circus tricks on my slack line (my profile pic is accurate btw) When they found out I wasn't, they tried to speak to me in French

2025-08-22 13:12:03 GMT

8/22 If money wasn't an issue where would you arrange a #WordWeavers writing retreat?
Y'all should just come to my house!
Think quaint, Puerto Rican mountainside, tons of fresh air, beautiful birds, fresh eggs from chickens, Pana mofongo made by yours truly. We'll take a writing outing to a river or a beach perhaps.
Downsides? Not the best place for arachnophobes, or people not cool with small lizards swarming everywhere.
Also we might lose water and/or power at a moment's notice.

2025-08-21 19:33:03 GMT

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Yes! Unionize and make the execs come crawling back on their hands and knees!

2025-08-14 23:31:02 GMT

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Flashback to 2019 when ICE officers threw burritos at AOC for the audacity of calling them out about keeping children in concentration camps.

2025-08-14 20:06:31 GMT

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Sorry to hear that. I hope things turn around for you soon ❤️

2025-08-02 13:09:09 GMT

#WritersCoffeeClub 8/2 What's plentiful in your writing?
Stories
(Voice shouting from back of the room): GOOD JOB, CAPTAIN OBVIOUS!
No, no. I mean stories within the story. Taliesin is a story-teller so that's easy, but I realize a lot of my work has people telling stories to others, either as exposition or world-building.

2025-08-01 16:33:16 GMT

#WordWeavers 8/1 If your WIP was an animal what would if be and what would you feed it?
Right now, I think I'm dealing with a Cassowary.
It's beautiful, strange, and elegant. So much that you may want to go up and touch it, at which point it will punt you across the room like a football and stab you in the heart with its dagger sized talons.
I approach it cautiously, feeding it small slivers of my soul, hoping to keep it satiated long enough so I can finish the work before it destroys me.
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2025-07-04 12:24:21 GMT

#ScribesAndMakers 7/4 When you procrastinate, what do you do?
Sorry, I meant to get to this prompt yesterday.

2025-06-28 14:13:02 GMT

#WordWeavers Antagonist POV: Would you rather have legs that grow a mm every time you lie OR a head that grows every time you sneeze?
MATHOLWCH: HAHA! What an easy choice! I'd grow taller obviously. As the beloved High King, I am sworn to the truth and have been faithful in my vow since I was a lad. Indeed, my people sing my praises as an honest, just king.
BRANWEN: Why, dear husband, I could swear you stand an inch taller today!

2025-06-14 20:11:49 GMT

No Kings protest in San Juan PR.
#NoKings #PuertoRico #CalleDeResistencia
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2025-06-04 12:32:03 GMT

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Glad you enjoyed! I've made mofongo at home too and it's ok, but it's never the same as getting it from someone who knows how to cook it authentically (not me).
Buen Provecho!

2025-05-31 14:18:04 GMT

#WordWeavers 5/31: If everyone doing WordWeavers met for a party, what favorite food would you bring and why?
It's been brought to my attention that an alarming number of you have never tried mofongo.
Can be served veggie or with pork, beef, or shrimp. The mofongo itself can be made from plantain, yucca, pana or all three (trifongo)
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2025-03-21 01:55:39 GMT

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Don't know if you saw it, but Bad Bunny released a short film with a similar message. The frog in the video is a Sappo Concho, which is a native species to PR under threat.
I do feel a little awkward as a gringo that moved to the island (my wife is Puerto Rican) but I do what I can to celebrate and preserve Puerto Rican identity. I mean, at least I know what a real quesito is.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLSzEYVDads

2025-03-20 13:17:55 GMT

#ScribesAndMakers 3/20 Do you like graffiti? Do you have an example?
I see it as an incredibly powerful artform that has been unjustly vilified by the status quo.
I'd also say it's nearly impossible to create street art (arguably any art) that is politically neutral. It is public art that makes use of both public and private property as its canvas.
Puerto Rico's district of Santurce is alive with vibrant street art and murals. The visual soul of Borikén.
#StreetArt #PuertoRico #Banksy #Gaza
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2025-03-10 19:16:34 GMT

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It fits that American fascists are letting our health safety net fall apart at the beck of Putin, but an even more simple explanation is that they want to kill off people they see as undesirable. With rampant disease, only the wealthy elite will be able to afford health care while poorer marginalized people die off. It's eugenics, racism, and social Darwinism at it's most horrifying level and it's not a strategy that's uncommon throughout the history of the U.S.

2024-09-19 01:33:51 GMT

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I am so worried about the slippery slope of this thing. How long will it be before prolific Palestinian sympathizers have their devices explode. Sure, it sounds far-fetched but so did blowing up people's pagers remotely until this week.

2024-09-17 19:29:18 GMT

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We have them all over the beaches in Puerto Rico. These were feeding off Yabucoa. Beautiful animals!
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2024-08-30 15:54:15 GMT

#WordWeavers 8/30 Share something about your work.
If I have a single hope for my work, it is not that it will be wildly successful, bring me fame and fortune, or even be particularly "good" critically. (But any of that would be SWEEEEEELL!!)
My highest hope is that someday my children, grandchildren, or any future person might read it, and it will spark something special in them, something that will connect us and live on.

2024-07-07 12:14:25 GMT

#WritersCoffeeClub 7/7 How do you structure your WIP? Do you use epigraphs?
I opened each chapter in Taliesin B1 with an epigraph of Taliesin's poetry in Welsh and English. That was fun, but I'm worried I won't be able to continue that in B2 so there might be consistency issues.
For my first draft, I don't put a ton of effort into structure or format. I end chapters where they feel like they should end. Draft 2 is when I start wondering what's too long and which part should go where.