Niko Stratis
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nikostratis.com
Niko Stratis
@nikostratis.com
Sober trans broad. Award winning writer. Former smoker. I write a newsletter called Anxiety Shark, my debut book is called The Dad Rock That Made Me a Woman

She//Her

linktr.ee/nikostratis
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hell of a time to be promoting a book about being trans, the damage done to the body/spirit in the decades spent fighting it, and how you can’t fight city hall (Big Transgender) but here we are. utpress.utexas.edu/978147733148...
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Incredible things are happening in the comments here
November 24, 2025 at 2:29 PM
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NEW EPISODE! [S2E18] “The Risky Business” In which @nikostratis.com and I reminisce about watching M*A*S*H and Designing Women with Aunt Peggy and McGregor, ask whether or not Steve McQueen qualifies as an action star, and try to remember this friggin' egg from Risky Business.
November 24, 2025 at 2:45 PM
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thrilled and honored for SIMPLICITY to be on here. thank you NPR~
November 24, 2025 at 2:24 PM
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How To Restore a Timeline is a holiday story about violence and memory. It takes place on a special variant of December 27, 2006—one that never ends, overlapping and consuming all time that dares come after.
And I hear it makes a great gift, available everywhere you buy books.
November 24, 2025 at 1:05 PM
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Reposting my 2018 piece about year end lists for anyone who needs it (me!). www.damemagazine.com/2018/12/19/i...
It’s Time to Reconsider the Best-Of List - Dame Magazine
The piles of books and galleys that clutter my apartment are overwhelming. This is not a humble brag—more of a cry for help. I’m a culture writer and critic who is deeply entrenched in the book world....
www.damemagazine.com
November 24, 2025 at 12:37 PM
good morning to anyone else who needs to just get a good cry out, here's Emmylou Harris covering The Boxer

www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8Kt...
The Boxer (2002 Remaster)
YouTube video by Emmylou Harris - Topic
www.youtube.com
November 24, 2025 at 12:33 PM
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Yeah I agree here. MJL can certainly deliver emotion, and he's often kind of goofy, but he's decidedly not corny.
bsky.app/profile/luke...
Most of the covers lean into the longing, and that is important, but they can't capture the corniness. The song's load-bearing corniness is so important.
I am usually not precious about covers, the opposite in fact, but every time I hear a cover of A Long December -and there are so many!- I just want to hear the original.
November 23, 2025 at 2:01 PM
This is such a trap designed for me, but what keeps taking me out of it is that MJ Lenderman's shambolic charm lacks the yearning, overwrought sincerity the song needs to work. It feels like he's winking at the parts where he's supposed to cry.
MJ Lenderman (Solo) - A Long December - Chateau Marmont - 11/13/25
YouTube video by Don Dante
youtu.be
November 23, 2025 at 1:47 PM
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"Trans people are often told that ‘we have always been here’, but it's rare to see that laid out in a way where we feel lifelike. It's one thing to show idealized images of past figures; it's another to make them feel real."

For real @theneedlenews.com (thank you!!)
Review: 'Gendertrash from Hell' Makes Trans History Feel Brand New
Gendertrash from Hell manages to take the words of the past and make them feel as if they were written yesterday.
theneedlenews.com
November 20, 2025 at 9:30 PM
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we've got quite a lot featured in the current issue of @thegrindto.bsky.social, especially in the gift guide where i recommend professional earplugs for shows and @nikostratis.com' excellent memoir.
toronno! there's a new issue of @thegrindto.bsky.social out, which means more music coverage from us, including show listings, contributions to the annual gift guide, and "what we're listening to"! check it out online and across the city. www.thegrindmag.ca
November 22, 2025 at 5:43 PM
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I love Winona Ryder on hot ones in her big Tom Waits shirt taking large sloppy spoonfulls from her gigantic bowl of ice cream soup.
November 21, 2025 at 4:27 PM
wild that the book in review talks about the rise of the Proud Boys from Vice's early days of rampant racism, sexism, and homophobia and then says "the real problem is poptimism", as if every man hasn't already tried to make annoying Swifties the real problem for the last infinite expanse of time
counterpoint: no it didn't

www.nytimes.com/2025/11/21/b... (gift)
November 21, 2025 at 6:48 PM
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actually my thing is the best thing you could read about her because it knows what a memoir is
www.patreon.com/posts/144031...
November 21, 2025 at 6:12 PM
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essay pitch: "'am i sexual?' how 'backstreet's back' normalized healthy sexual discourse in male friendships"
November 21, 2025 at 2:46 PM
the end of the year delivers new, beautiful, surprises like the words "new De La Soul record just dropped"
music.apple.com/ca/album/cab...
Cabin In The Sky by De La Soul on Apple Music
Album · 2025 · 20 Songs
music.apple.com
November 21, 2025 at 1:19 PM
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Poet, musician, and software engineer nori li, here as @nori.gay, has died. She was phenomenally talented and dearly loved

💜 🏳️‍⚧️ 💜
honoring the life of nori li
A celebration of nori li, an American poet, musician and software engineer, who was passionate about the arts and trans liberation.
honoringnori.gay
November 6, 2025 at 2:08 AM
November 20, 2025 at 9:43 PM
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Accountability thread: trying to read more books slash reduce my screen time slash go to the library more! Second: The Dad Rock That Made Me a Woman by @nikostratis.com, so psyched about this one
November 20, 2025 at 7:20 PM
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Holy heck, Mani from the Stone Roses has died.
Gary 'Mani' Mounfield of Stone Roses dead at 63 - latest tributes
The musician rose to fame with the Stone Roses in the 1980s
www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk
November 20, 2025 at 4:05 PM
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lil update: today's my last day at paste but i'm happy to share that i'll be contributing to vice under munchies and comedy! my email there is [email protected]. i'm still looking for a full-time role but i'm very excited to work with @danielkohn.bsky.social again
November 14, 2025 at 5:09 PM
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I wrote about the anti-vax conference that was taking place at my hotel during the Texas Book Festival. lithub.com/amid-the-mah...
Amid the MAHA Anti-Vaxxers at the Texas Book Festival
When I walked into the hotel lobby the first person I saw was a woman with enormous lips wearing a T-shirt that said BAN ASSAULT VACCINES. Wow, Austin really has changed, I thought. I used to come …
lithub.com
November 20, 2025 at 1:44 PM
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Not much to say about Trans Day of Remembrance anymore besides “try loving and celebrating us while we are alive”
November 20, 2025 at 2:10 PM
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when the fuck is this gonna end
November 20, 2025 at 5:12 AM