i’m ready for something different than whatever the fuck this is

The average SNAP benefit per month is $177 a person. The average ACA benefit per month is up to $550 a person. People want us to hold the line for a reason. This is not a matter of appealing to a base. It’s about people’s lives. And working people want leaders whose word means something to them.

They’re wearing masks so they can’t be prosecuted later. As long as they think they can’t be prosecuted, their crimes will intensify. They will torture, starve and kill, as they have already, on greater and greater scale. Signed, someone who’s covered the unaccountable War on Terror for 23 years.

My latest is a love letter to Chicago. "I see you stumbling through the stubborn, awkward rhythm of showing up, again and again. I see you fighting alongside people who sometimes frustrate and confuse you, and defending neighbors you may have never met, because you know they’re all your people."

Identifying flaws in GenAI unfortunately offers a pretext for claims that perfecting the product is just a matter of time & money. So pointing to chatbots’ role in,say, suicides can only go so far if we don’t also identify the systemic, irresolvable lack of Gen AI’s human commitment bc math has none

A family friend was telling us about what her husband shared about his experience in Broadview before he was deported back to Mexico. She's been sharing to friends and family because she's just in disbelief & horror what her husband told her. She wasn't able to talk to him until he was in Mexico.

I don’t know how many times I’ve watched this video. I don’t know how we’ve gotten to the point where men in full balaclavas can abduct daycare teachers while they’re watching children. But I do know that this isn’t sustainable. Abolish ICE. There is no way to reform this.

BREAKING: Zohran Mamdani wins the New York City mayoral race, NBC News projects. nbcnews.to/4nIzNUC

The Biden administration worked hard to accomplish this new free IRS filing system. It’s astounding that one should have to pay fees in order to pay their taxes. But this rent seeking is entirely consistent with the economic policies of the current administration that benefit the most wealthy.

Broderie d'après Jérôme Bosch.

Fun fact: this is my choir (St. James Cathedral, Chicago)! Such a cool collaboration with the #Newberry and so appropriate for the season. 👻 Click through to read about the piece, and listen to the recording!

Map of verified ICE sightings in Chicago bit.ly/chi_ice_map

As DH grows, it’s increasingly important to publish conference papers, but there hasn’t been a clear venue for that. So I’m thrilled to share this new home for DH proceedings, which will include CHR papers & more. Thanks to @taylor-arnold.bsky.social for leading this effort! bit.ly/ach-anthology

New: Videos show ICE/CBP agents are scanning peoples' faces on the street to verify citizenship. ICE has tool to instantly look up unprecedented number of databases with just a photo “I’m an American citizen so leave me alone” “Alright, we just got to verify that” www.404media.co/ice-and-cbp-...

If you want to save favorite socks & learn a fun & easy (& cozy!) craft method, @snblickhan.bsky.social & I made this free zine on using a Speedweve (tiny, <$15 mending loom) for mending 🧵✨:

"What I need you to understand is that nobody is letting them go quietly. The Feds' every movement is announced by a chorus of whistles, by a parade of cars honking in their wake, neighbors rushing outside to yell to film to witness.... Neighbors running towards trouble."

*springsteen voice* Well they burned up the Wicker Man on Summerisle last night Burned up some sheep too

It's hard to overstate how fully engaged Chicago and the surrounding suburbs are in this ICE madness. There are neighborhood watch alerts, spontaneous crowds gathering outside schools at pick up & drop off plus madly blowing whistles and honking car horns, this city is fighting back and hard.

I will tell you that the folks working the ICIRR Hotline are the real deal and saved these kids. PUT THIS NUMBER IN YOUR PHONE AND CALL IF YOU SEE ICE IN ILLINOIS: (855) 435-7693

Really enjoyed this episode of Movement Memos on making: truthout.org/audio/making... Wanted to share here for the #DHMakes community (it made me think of so many of y'all!). Thank you to @mskellymhayes.bsky.social @prisonculture.bsky.social and Red Schulte for the conversation!

#DHmakes knitting pattern alert!

If you were out in the streets today, thanks. If you left feeling inspired, please seek out local ways that you can keep organizing with others.

If you're heading out to a protest, there are a number of concepts to keep in mind to keep yourself—and your data—safe. ssd.eff.org/module/atte...

something I have thought a lot about is that I would love to see licenses for data sets that authenticate that they are 100% human-generated (sort of like CC-BY licenses) as a way to contrast between that + synthetic data. This article is an interesting premise to add to that desire

If you want to know more about our use of handwritten text recognition software (Transkribus) on the wills project, tune in on Zoom next week 👇 All welcome (not just postdocs!). #EarlyModern 🗃️ #DigitalHumanities #HTR #CitizenScience

They are not planning "a violent crackdown" on 10.18. What they are doing is sending a signal to their shock troops to try to cause havoc. But those shock troops will be vastly outnumbered. Go out and protest freely. Do not be cowed.

📢 Call for Proposals: DH2026 📍 Daejeon, South Korea 🇰🇷 📅 July 27-31, 2026 🎯 Theme: "Engagement" Submissions: Oct 8 - Dec 8, 2025 Hybrid conference w/ AI translation support More info: dh2026.adho.org/cfp/ #DH2026 #ADHO #KADH

#DHmakes klaxon!

Does this creature have a soul

I have a full day today, but I woke up early to put this edition of my newsletter together because I need you all to have this rundown of what we've been up against this week in Chicago as the federal assault on our city continues. To ignore these developments would be a damning mistake for us all.

State police assisted ICE in the performative brutalization and arrest of protesters today. @govpritzker.illinois.gov must answer for this.

ICE just blatantly violated the law and arrested sitting Chicago Alderperson Jessie Fuentes while seeking to illegally arrest a patient in a hospital. Fuck these fascists.

@govpritzker.illinois.gov owns every arrest and act of violence against protesters this morning. He is aiding and abetting Operation Midway Blitz by allowing state cops to do this. He tells us to film ICE. His cops have shoved me around for filming this morning.

Pritzker’s office phone line is open if anyone wants to register their opinion about this: (312) 814-2121

"Be loud for America" but not like THAT I guess.

This is what the state of Illinois sent to greet protesters at Broadview.

It's important to note that penning people in to "free speech zones" & rolling out state/local cops in riot gear is a move that always ends with them being heavy-handed/escalating situations with protesters, but allows the state to change the narrative to "bad" protesters deserving harm.

Gift link: essential and sadly brave writing for dark times from Tressie McMillan Cottom (@tressiemcphd.bsky.social). www.nytimes.com/2025/10/01/o...

BREAKING: Governor Pritzker calls for the removal of Donald Trump as President by invoking the 25th amendment. EVERY governor should stand behind the Illinois governor. Governor Pritzker also cited health concerns for the president. He is clearly not well. youtu.be/Dt4mrxNWQWs?...

Kaleb Horton, again: "It's sad how many RTs you get by saying the world is ending instead of admitting the scary truth that it's not and there's work to do in it."

This isn’t making our communities safer; it’s a performative show of force and a waste of taxpayer dollars. It needs to end. blockclubchicago.org/2025/09/28/a...

ICE just chased everyone off the public road by the Broadview facility. They yelled for people to move and immediately began firing gas into the crowd, which included legal observers, press, and medics.

I can’t tell you how much good could be done right now by average citizens socially cold-shouldering anyone tangentially working for ICE.

i got you, added a couple points

open.substack.com/pub/houseofm... Wrote about the radical act of returning to one's body in a digital age designed to detach us from them.

A deeply important read.

They just tear-gassed us. They tried to run us over in a van holding a peaceful protester. They shot us with pepper balls. They dragged another protester into the facility.

More manuscripts are coming to the British Library's online site www.bl.uk/collection/d... And, erm, how can I say this nicely? If you have a cheeky script that downloads images from the site, please build in some delays so that you don't kill the servers. Play nice, innit!

An immigration agent shot and killed an unarmed 38-year-old father outside Chicago on Friday—and their initial narrative of events was quickly disproven by videos captured by witnesses. https://bit.ly/3IbeDjf