Soren Spicknall

@sorenspicknall.bsky.social

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Chicago. Interested in how places are shaped. Friend to alley cats. I don't speak on behalf of my affiliations. he/him

"We know this world is good enough because it has to be."

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Portions of the former McCormick Works - "the world's largest farm machine factory" - which operated for 100 years and eventually included over 100 acres' worth of facilities in what is now West Pullman. It employed thousands right up until its closure. www.assemblymag.com/articles/981...

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A link from someone who is on team "give every good song a full brass section" and I would love folks who are part of that team to share more performances. <3

I'm really fond of this radio session of the Mountain Goats' "This Year" for that reason: www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8Iu...

The Mountain Goats - This Year (opbmusic)www.youtube.com Subscribe to receive all our session videos!The Mountain Goats play "This Year" at the Aladdin Theater for opbmusic, Portland, OR, 12-16-12. Full session at:...

Sometimes fledgling churches come and go quickly. I think that New Saint James Trinity Missionary Baptist Church, established inside this little converted house 2015, is already gone. www.youtube.com/watch?v=q36K...

The 12000 block of Emerald, seen from on and around the Major Taylor Trail. The large building is Hancock House, a structurally affordable senior living community, and the new homes are from Habitat for Humanity in partnership with Chicago's City Lots for Working Families program.

Some of my favorite bits of Chicago are alleys that were promoted to street status for some reason, and have a tiny number of alley-facing buildings with valid addresses tucked in among the garages and backyards. This two-story residence sits on an alley behind a main commercial street in Roseland.

I wish I had bothered to stop my moving bike and take this photo properly because it's a little blurry now and I didn't realize until afterward how good the lighting was

mature camry no. 104

mature camry no. 103

The Kiwi, a distinctive late midcentury condo complex just outside Chicago in Evergreen Park, completed in 1967. Commissioned by local builder Carl Stocklose, the condos were advertised with the tagline "Want to live luxuriously?". The curving balconies recall prewar Streamline Moderne architecture.

Facebook is a website that consists of: An engagement farming spam profile... ...posting a stolen, low-res photo of a cityscape... ...in a local nostalgia group with 200,000 members and no active moderators... ...to which a bunch of people who haven't lived there in decades reply "YOU'LL GET SHOT"

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Power Lines Drawing #64 (Hamtramck) Prints of this drawing (signed, limited) are available at my store: marcusmerritt.bigcartel.com/product/hamt...

Power Lines Drawing #78 (Detroit, North End) Prints of this drawing (signed, limited) are available at my store: marcusmerritt.bigcartel.com/product/powe...

earlier

alleywalk ambient light progression 1

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ICE created a fake university in order to defraud, rob, and deport students. The depths of depravity there know no bounds. www.freep.com/story/news/l...

Students at fake university in Michigan created by ICE can sue US, court ruleswww.freep.com An appeals court ruled in favor of students who said they were tricked by ICE into enrolling at a fake university in metro Detroit.

I am the Don Bradman of running into people I know whenever I leave the house

Heather's coverage here is full of important context for what comes next. We're likely to see more future conflict between Judge Pallmeyer and the CCPSA about who should have structural purview over different areas of CPD policy and practice. This previous coverage focuses directly on that conflict:

NEW: Three Chicagoans who accused the Chicago Police Department of targeting Black and Latino drivers with a massive campaign of traffic stops have been stopped repeatedly since they filed the lawsuit 12 months ago, court records show.

Chicagoans Who Sued CPD for Targeting Black, Latino Drivers Have Beennews.wttw.com The lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois accuses the Chicago Police Department of making more than 1.5 million traffic stops between 2016 and 2023 based on dubious evidence ...

Don’t Expand Chicago Police Department Consent Decree to Includenews.wttw.com A court order requiring the Chicago Police Department to change the way it trains, supervises and disciplines officers should not be expanded to include traffic stops, eight alderpeople told the feder...

I went to the car show that Dave organizes as part of a weekly "Main Street Nights" event in Park Forest, and it was a lovely time. Downtown Park Forest has struggled in recent decades due to e-commerce and nearby population loss, but the village throws a chill, well attended party with live music.

I took the project car on an aimless drive, out of town where the south suburbs turn to farms. Came across a cruise-in night at an ice cream stand. Not my crowd, muscle cars and flags. But then, at the back, I found Dave. Volvo wagon, retired historian, former labor organizer, wearing a "peace" pin.

Just trusted this elevator with my life

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POKEY AND THE BIG SURPRISE yellow5.com/pokey

mature camry no. 103

mature camry no. 102

Somebody hung big letters from an overpass on the Kennedy that spell out "TOPLESS RAMASWAMY" and at first I thought it was a non sequitur on the route to the GOP convention in Milwaukee, but it turns out Randy Sax is back at it

The littlest guy, probably fresh out of the nest, hopped into the middle of the road and froze with zero survival instincts to his name. I moved him back into the closest patch of greenery, with a little bit of buffer zone away from the sidewalk.

mature camry no. 102

mature camry no. 101

Have you heard the news?

Disinvestment means that I'm out here cutting down the six foot tall weeds that cause a visibility hazard on a busy street corner because the north sider who owned a gas station here in the '70s abandoned it after white flight and then his family seemingly forgot they owned the land after he died

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city hall (then first national bank), main street, waitsburg, washington, 1987

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I wrote for More Perfect Union about the Biden administrations proposal to implement new protections for workers who are agonizing under extreme heat.

Biden Proposes Protecting Workers from Extreme Heat and Their Own State Governmentssubstack.perfectunion.us “This regulation will save lives,” one union leader said.

This is petty whining but why has seemingly every car in Chicago with a deafening exhaust leak driven past my house in the last 20 minutes

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5 TIPS TO STOP THE MEETING BULLDOZER

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they have these gatherings of annoying people called city council meetings and if you bring a couple other annoying people regularly you can actually accomplish a lot

Being annoying as praxis is only the first step. The second step is to gather likeminded neighbors and friends and ask each other how you can maximize your joint annoyingness. Congrats: this is called organizing, you’re building a base of your common man united on a common cause.

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democracy in the 24/7 online news cycle era has a real 'twitch plays pokemon' feel