Nōto by Erika Tovi

A first newsletter & new last name 📒

Hello, reader!

My name is Erika Tovi. I just got married, so I’m still adapting to my new last name and those Extra-Terrestrial initials. 😉

After months of dilly-dallying, I’ve gathered the courage (only a spoonful, but it’s enough) to start this Substack. I wanted to introduce myself and then extend an invite to you!

A bit about me 👀

I’m a writerly human. When I slow down and sit with words, they often help me unearth meaning. One day, I want to publish a children’s book to help kiddos tend to their inner worlds, too.

I'm Japanese American. Growing up ハーフ (hāfu) included memories of setting up 雛祭り (hinamatsuri) dolls every March and watching my mom shape rice into おにぎり (onigiri) for lunch. These small experiences are brushed on my heart like my obaachan’s calligraphy—graceful, defining, and almost poetic.

I’m a Georgia resident. I moved here in late 2017 after craving the rush of somewhere like Atlanta, a “city in the forest.” I now live outside the city’s limits, but I loved the years I spent near that bustling, tree-canopied energy.

I’m a new wife and stepmom. Rain pitter-pattered the night Aaron and I met online. After all we’d been through, it seemed serendipitous that our hearts clicked. Exactly two years later, we married in a sunshiny photo studio as my (now) stepson ran circles around us. Tovi means “my good” in Hebrew, and these two guys certainly feel like goodness to me!

An invite for you 📮

I’ve learned lots from writers, thinkers, hobby researchers, and interdisciplinary artists who experiment publicly. They are dynamic folks, and so are their works.

I’ll be taking a similar route with my Substack, Nōto. (The name, btw, is the Japanese rōmaji word for “notebook.”)

While there isn’t a crystallized plan, I want to follow my curiosities, note emerging themes, and share what I find, make, and experience as I go.

What will you read?

• peeks into my perpetual projects

• book reviews (for children & grown-ups)

• personal essays and life thoughts

• explorations on: the arts, design, disability, faith, hospitality

I envision the comments section becoming a place to exchange ideas, stories, questions, or resources. And whether we share similarities or not, I hope you and other readers feel valued here.

Thanks for joining me. I look forward to learning from and with you.

Meet you over in the comments! 👋🏼
—E.T.