Megan Sanks

Amazon is helping fund a $300 million build of a ballroom for the White House.

Independent bookstores are donating to food banks and organizations that help with food insecurity.

They are not the same.

The open mind I'm keeping is not pushing him into the river.

Where to find Chicago-area food pantries if SNAP goes away during the shutdown The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program will be cut off Saturday unless Congress acts. Here’s a list of food pantries across Chicago and the suburbs.

Nearly 2 million people in Illinois could lose SNAP benefits starting Saturday. Here's a list of food pantries in Chicago & the suburbs if you're looking to donate or you need extra food. tinyurl.com/2zxvrxx5

"X shouldn't be political." OK but it is. Now what?

Instead of trying to green cars so much why don't we just invest in trains. city trains. under ground trains. above ground trains. trains between cities. trains between countries. TRAINS

THE PEOPLE CRAVE TRAINS

Do you love the Chicago Public Library? Do you not want to wait weeks for books? Do you still want to be able to go to programs? Send a letter to electeds !

In the budget, Brandon Johnson is proposing 89 cuts to positions, and cutting our book budget in half. actionnetwork.org/letters/no-l...

Library Admins Are Using Public Money to Hire Union Busters Against Workers “We don’t want to be fighting for what we already agreed to,” said a Maryland public library worker.

Why are Maryland public libraries spending public money to depress the wages of public sector workers? My latest for @truthout.org.

truthout.org/articles/lib...

In a speech, Audre Lorde said, "We have huge, enormous work to do."

After noting the importance of cultivating collective strength, she declared, "We are going to survive."

A portion of every dollar spent on Harry Potter merchandise goes to anti-transgender campaigns.

tossing a food bank a couple bucks won’t turn SNAP on.

but you personally can’t turn SNAP on, and you maybe can toss a food bank a couple bucks.

SNAP is administered by states. states agencies determine eligibility and when an individual is approved the state agencies load benefits onto the EBT cards. states can choose to keep the program running with state resources, which is being done in Virginia by executive order

Every one deserves to eat. It’s that simple.

More unemployment and poverty will likely lead to more violence. More police will not stop this.

"Books have always been hard to come by behind bars ... Texas prisons banned the second edition of Merriam-Webster's Visual Dictionary on security grounds because it contained a picture of a gun."

I would like to mention again that menstrual products are covered by FSA funds. fsastore.com - so if you find yourself with money left on the table by the end of the year, consider using those funds and donate the products [pantries, homeless shelters etc...]

"If you reduce anyone’s suffering, if you make anyone feel defended, or aware that they’re not alone, if you make space for hope, if you engage in acts of solidarity instead of stewing in the rancor and alienation that’s killing us—that matters, and it will always matter."

Millionaire Tax That Inspired Mamdani Fuels $5.7 Billion Haul in Massachusetts A millionaire levy in Massachusetts that New York City mayoral frontrunner Zohran Mamdani holds up as a model for taxing the rich has generated $3 billion more in revenue than expected without forcing...

"In the two years since the state started charging a 4% surtax on incomes over $1 million, the effort has created a $5.7 billion windfall, with the surplus being used to fund bridge repairs, bolster literacy programs and address the transportation system’s budget deficit."

Taxing the rich works!

Local Chicago newspaper now about 60% updates on the armed invasion of our city. Yesterday they detained two staff members of an alderman, pointed a gun at a state rep, and snatched a CPS vendor from on front of a school.

Not from this thread specifically, but I've been volunteering with Chicago Books to Women in Prison and also ineedana for almost 3 years now thanks to your work online! So thanks for all you do ❤️

food banks have already been under pressure over the past several years, and with SNAP benefits expiring they're going to be the only safety net for a lot of people

please donate what you can. $100 can feed several families for a month because of the discounts and purchasing power they have

Annual reminder that the correct unit of analysis for municipal budgets is not dollars, but "Cost of Policing (CoP)" hours/days

This would translate to 5.75 million per day. So a city department with a budget of 5 million gets a little less than 1 CoP day

Libraries, Criminalization and Organizing "Loving" Public Libraries is NOT Enough

And my pitch for why the public library is more important than ever as an institution in the U.S. - open.substack.com/pub/prisoncu...

You can now drop off your food scraps at 13 Chicago public library locations: blockclubchi.co/3LdivBa

To different audiences, Audre Lorde would note that she was doing her work and then ask, "Are you doing yours?" I love it. We've all got work to do. No exporting or taking on all the responsibility.

Hand holding a black and white illustrated zine of two people holding signs that say “we marched! Now what?”

No Kings logo: a drawing of a crown with a red x over it

I was commissioned to make a zine for the No Kings 2 protest on Saturday Oct 18th!

If you wonder “what can I do?” this zine is for you. It’s packed with things that you can do from wearing a “no ICE” pin to organizing a visibility brigade with your friends.

drive.google.com/file/d/1TJnH...

Hope folks feel less alone today, that people join with others to take further and deeper actions, and that everyone fights like hell to protect those most vulnerable to this regime.

Y’all here is a fun fact: Portland has a brand new volunteer organization called “operation inflation” that allows people to borrow inflatable costumes for protests. They just started a couple weeks ago and have like a 160 costume library (and counting because people keep donating).

I lowkey doubled down lmaooo

🧵I just called @govpritzker.illinois.gov's office again to express my horror & rage. I also called my State Senator @harmonil.bsky.social & State Rep Camille Lilly.

If you're in IL, please call.

Pritzker's offices:
217-782-6830
217-782-6831
312-814-2121
312-814-2122

Find your IL state electeds ⬇️

When I taught preschool in a fancy UWS school, parents would make themselves and their children sick with anxiety and overprogramming for those tests. Your kid is three. They eat their boogers. Let them be three.