Rua

Green triangular pottery piece

A big Art Box! thank you to RM for this piece!

Just a quick update from the Twin Cities. (Please forgive the unsolicited message). THINGS ARE NOT BETTER IN MINNEAPOLIS. The media is mostly moving on, Trump is focused on other stuff, BUT NOTHING HAS CHANGED ON THE GROUND. More than 2,000 DHS thugs continue to roam the streets, abducting people 24/7, assaulting legal observers with impunity, and routinely denying 1st, 4th, and 5th amendment rights. Drones and helicopters are overhead every day. Hundreds and hundreds of terrified families have not left their homes since mid-December ... relying on the community to bring them food and help with rent and other necessities. (Those people are NOT violent drug cartel sex offending murderers, as DHS would tell you. Most are legal residents or citizens.) If anything, things have just become more stressful and intractable (think trench warfare as a suitable metaphor): The resistance is better organized and numerous, but DHS has become more clever and better at disguise... and the county sheriff's office is increasingly supporting them . Do not let anyone tell you that Homans (the new person in charge of the occupation) is making anything better. Do not let anyone tell you that 700 ICE agents leaving the city has made much of a difference; the remaining force (again, ~2,000) is still larger than the entire city's police force (which is legally unable to do anything). Please call your congressional reps ... especially if there is any chance the administration might listen to them.

A desperate plea sent to me by a Minneapolis resident who's been on the front lines since the beginning of the ICE occupation:

A woman and boy (my grandma and dad) pose for a photo

My grandma was pretty fabulous.

Abstract watercolor and words on paper

If you’re like me, you’ve been fretting a lot about items in the news. I decided to make a series of courage cards that can be carried at looked at from time to time. These will be in Art Box! soon. I hope they help in some small way.

Paper lantern on a table

Thank you to the artist who made these lovely lanterns!

Large black cat casually sits on a cat tree

Frank is helping distract a little today.

before you take any of the "Trump is pivoting/lamenting/lowering the temperature after the Pretti murder" stories too seriously, absolutely nothing has changed in Minneapolis: "an absolutely brutal day of raids and abductions" says one friend

Small black cat is transfixed by a flameless candle

I needed a distraction from watching news nonstop. So did Wednesday.

I love that every city has added a new mischief to the anti-ICE work:
LA started the noise outside hotels
Portland started the inflatables
Chicago started the whistles
Minneapolis started not warning them about the weather lol
If ICE comes to your city it’s your duty to out-scamp the last 🫡

Small paintings, a collage, and a piece of pottery on a photo of a flower

ArtBox! is full again, but there’s always room if you have something to bring by!

One person is dead in Minneapolis following a shooting involving ICE, DHS says. It comes after a surge of federal immigration agents in Minnesota. Follow live updates. https://cnn.it/3Z17FC1

Small black cat looks out the window

Miss Wednesday enjoys storm spotting.

Green clay bowl

Thanks to JK for dropping off this lovely bowl to ArtBox!

Mystery box with a yellow guy on the front

What projects do you have going on? Making any gifts for the holidays? This mystery box (and other things) will be dropped off to ArtBox! later this week!

A red electronic piano and sheet music for Let It Be by the Beatles

Derek gave me a red keyboard for an early Christmas gift. He even found a copy of the Beatles songbook I used to have! I stumbled through playing the right hand of Let It Be and am impressed with my high school self for being able to manage those chords!

Three colorful animal stickers

Huge thanks to @kikicody for sending more great stuff to ArtBox! Come check it out before it disappears!

Wednesday appreciates a blanket on a cold night.

Headband with green leaf shapes

This photo doesn’t do justice to how sweet this headband is. Thanks so much to the artist who dropped this off to Art Box!

Two black cats stare at me while I work at my desk

I had some helpers while finishing up editing a photo project today.

Tiny pastoral watercolor paintings

Thank you so much to littlefreeartgallery_oldtown for sending some lovely watercolors to Art Box! We’ll be sending a package back, so please drop off any pieces if you’d like to be included!

Aurora borealis through tall trees

The aurora borealis from my front yard!

Small black cat lies on a striped blanket

Wednesday doesn’t care that it’s Halloween. She’s ready for a nap.

Medium sized drawing of sun on the horizon

Thanks so much to the artist who dropped off this piece to Art Box!

Tim Walz: "People are gonna be lined up out here to get food, and we're talking about a damn ballroom. Don't lose the plot."

Experts Issue Grave Warning as SNAP Benefits Set to Run Out Food banks are unlikely to be able to meet the demand amid the government shutdown, experts tell TIME.

1 in 8 Americans won't be able to afford groceries next week because of the Republican government shutdown and because the Trump regime refuses to use the contingency fund that would have continued the benefits. 1 in 8 people!

One in eight Americans will struggle to put food on the table if the Trump shutdown extends through next week.

Yet Republicans in Congress are nowhere to be found.

Tell them it's time to clock back in—because they work for us:
indivisible.org/campaign/sto...

A human skeleton sitting on the back of a giant cat skeleton. A human skeleton stands nearby

A few last minute additions to the front yard.

Small black cat lies on a striped blanket

Wednesday can’t get enough of the new blanket.

A huuuuuuuge cat skeleton in my front yard

It has the ability to yowl and hiss loudly, so we won’t be making that mistake again. IT. JUST. WOULDN’T. STOP.

I was hoping to get some cleaning done today, but dammit. Sick day. I hate this.