Ellen Chenoweth

I appreciate that this report captures the sense that Fringe season is the best time to be in Philly.

I do not care for the number of cameras I am captured by on any given day. I'm a nice little lady doing no evil deeds but on my walk to the damn library I hear this little voice coming from above saying "You are being recorded" and I feel like I'm in a dystopian teen novel, I hate it.

Tasks for the National Guard in Chicago 1:

Ring the doorbells of every single person staying in Trump International Hotel & Tower, no less than once every ten minutes, and ask them if they feel safe.

A dramatic, extremely worrying moment; over 61,000 people held in ICE detention. That is the highest number ever on record in United States history; roughly 6,000 higher than the previous record set under Trump six years ago, and over 21,000 higher than when Trump took office just seven months ago.

Union station, DC

In Trump’s Ideal Picture of America, Diversity Is Taboo

Is “diversity taboo” or is this a segregationist regime that hopes to reinstate open white supremacy.

It is absolutely wild (and fundamentally dishonest) that media is still reaching for euphemism instead of simply calling this racism.

A ‘Shameful’ Legacy: Texas Has Officially Opened an ICE Detention Facility at Site of WWII Internment Camp Camp East Montana is now the largest immigrant detention facility in U.S. history, but it’s just one of 19 sites that will add a total of 37,649 new beds for ICE detainment — a 105% increase in the st...

Latest from @iamleslierangel.bsky.social —

The new ICE detention facility at Fort Bliss is the largest in U.S. history. It’s also one of five sites where Texas held detainees of Japanese descent — including American-born civilians — during World War II.

thebarbedwire.com/2025/08/18/t...

Philly’s gorgeous skyline as seen from its gorgeous ballpark

perfect night of baseball! and what a view! what a sky!

Also the fact that Cherelle Parker is not out front and center doing everything in her power to protest the SEPTA cuts basically invalidates the entire point of having a mayor. I understand the direct impact she can have is limited but she should still be incessantly denouncing it.

I loved this show so so much in its Philly preview.

former faculty / staff here 👋

As Republicans at the state level in PA threaten to cut the funding for one of our nation’s most vital public transit systems, I’m currently in Copenhagen where the contrast is wild. Public transit in Copenhagen is well funded, fast, clean, and incredibly reliable.

Co-sign

I Watched a Woman Nearly Die in a Cell Across From Mine. Texas Prisons Need Air Conditioning. More than two-thirds of Texas’ 100 prisons don’t have air conditioning — that can mean the difference between life and death.

Please read this first-person essay from Lanae Tipton, an incarcerated journalist in Texas with a desperate plea for air conditioning in prisons. She’s watched women seize on the floor from the heat. As one prison staffer said, “I vomited blood.”

thebarbedwire.com/2025/07/25/t...

interested!

a young Meredith Monk bends over and stares at the camera; also includes a letter to the festival from stationary labeled Merry Monk

took this picture tonight at a fantastic archival exhibit at the American Dance Festival, just an additional receipt for your accurate thesis

this is the level of funding where all the possibilities for American politics that have been described as hyperbolic over the past decades - the comparisons to Nazi Germany and other nightmares of the 20th century - become logistically possible and politically likely

A homemade sign reading "only one orange king in Philly", with a picture of Gritty wearing a crown over his helmet and saying "it me"

A homemade sign with "Liberté, Égalité, Gritté" written in copperplate script

It’s happening: the National Park Service is closing off Dupont Circle for the weekend, which is also when the WorldPride Parade will be taking place.

I would like to offer my copyediting services in conjunction with your workshop.

Six individuals wearing patterned bodysuits that also cover their heads performing together in a park

I just attended Joiri Minaya’s Venus Flytrap performance at Bartram’s Garden in Philadelphia, which is the oldest continuous botanical garden in the United States. It was a visual delight that I can prove with just this one photo.

it is the home of the National Center for Choreography! they often have visiting artists (and flavors named after them at a local ice cream shop) and could connect you with local dance artists there as well.

An Elegy for Links Hall For those in Chicago’s dance, performance art, puppetry, experimental and cross-disciplinary performance worlds—pretty much any theater of the non-kitchen-sink variety—the name Links Hall needs no exp...

grateful to Sharon Hoyer and Newcity for this reporting and history of Chicago's Links Hall. some of the quotes in here are wild! www.newcitystage.com/2025/05/28/l...

Wrote about a new festival in Philly exploring death, a couple of memorials for arts institutions, and lots of cool civic-minded public programming: solidseam.ghost.io/ghost/#/edit...

thank you for skeet-articulating my exact feelings all day 🤪

I’m actually jealous. We’re only at 59 down here 😵‍💫

Anzaldúa started writing fiction in the 70s and revised PRIETA up until her passing. I love the retro vibe of the cover. The collection includes an intro by the editors, a glossary/translations for each story written by Gloria (a rarity for her!), & appendices, incl draft pages from the archive.

My grad school roommate nick, who is an extremely adorable bespeckled and mustacio'd Canadian twink, stands against a brick wall wearing a black t-shirt with the words save our freaks don't mine the deep, with a big strawberry squid sinking a mining ship

These shirts are back by popular demand. I wish it was under better circumstances.

The US government is all in on deep sea mining 🤮
Time for us to get loud about our beloved freaks.

Start a conversation, get a shirt.
Design by @coreydanks.bsky.social

squidfacts.bigcartel.com/product/save...

Links Hall in Chicago will close at the end of June. I wrote about what kind of friend Links would be if it was a person and a few especially memorable performances I got to see there. solidseam.ghost.io/links-hall-e...