Lisa Ann Cockrel

I love this bit of good old Chicago boosterism mixed in with Fugitive Slave Law defiance. Hope it becomes a regular feature: "The man-stealers will only violate our liberties over my dead body, which would then be interred in scenic Graceland Cemetery."

On this Chairteenth, we celebrate the good folks of Montgomery, especially our guy AquaMayne. Special shout out to the folks who, within 72 hours, recreated this in their apartment complex. A COMMUNITY!! 💀

Books.

Understood. I spent a year dreaming about that hot potato salad.

Have you ever had hot potato salad made with small crispy potato wedges? It’s insane. Which is just to say, your concerns are valid.

EVERYBODY-VS.-PHIL-AT-BOOK-TRIVIAL-PURSUIT

Chicago Public Library is developing its next five year plan and they are collecting feedback via a very long but well-designed survey.

32 years ago, a student asked me how I knew what to read? I revisited my answer.

As big as the Mamdani win is, Landers ascent is in some ways even more significant for the national Democratic Party.

Most Dem electeds know that they don't have what Zohran has. But most can at least imagine themselves as a Lander.

Last night was a good night for NYC and for my beleaguered WNBA teams. (Valks not pictured. And not all that beleaguered.)

Send me deets. ⚔️

Why Christians Should Be Leftists The Sermon on the Mount offers a rousing call to political solidarity—if only we have ears to hear it.    Being a Christian and being a socialist go toge...

Humble Q: How do I get @philipchristman.bsky.social's forthcoming book in the hands of every Dem operative in the country? Even if you're not personally down with JC, being able to cast a POSITIVE vision for leftist politics that resonates with Christian values seems mmm smart. Strategic even.

Really wishing I could listen in on the conversation Edmund White and Walter Brueggemann are having today.

Wow. I chose the best day to check in on Blue Sky. It’s like finding the perfect use for that weird dooohicky you kept in the drawer for years that will justify never getting rid of a doohickey ever again.

Fullness Emerging Writer Series

I am so grateful to @roxanegay.bsky.social for accepting this piece in the Audacity’s Emerging Writer Series, and to @megpillow.bsky.social for her superb edits. Earlier edits from @lacockrel.bsky.social and @laceyj.bsky.social helped make this what it is. Please enjoy.
substack.com/home/post/p-...

We talk a lot about social media radicalizing the population but it's been far more efficient at radicalizing public figures.

mass schooling and mass literacy are beautifully complex and unlikely and easily destroyed things, and, like all beautiful, complex, and easily destroyed things, they arouse a deep atavistic destructive urge in lots of people, across the political spectrum

How to Think (and Act) Like a Dissident Movement AOC, solidarity, and people power.

"The Democratic party has more to learn from Alexei Navalny or the protesters in Serbia than it does from Chuck Schumer or strategists obsessing over message-testing crosstabs."

Important @jvl.bsky.social

www.thebulwark.com/p/how-to-thi...

We are politically a democracy — or should I say that we are an oligarchy with its ranks ever open to talent?

—Rogue Male, Geoffrey Household

This role of Trump that Bouie identifies here—on identity and relational attachment—seems like it has theological valiance. Namely this is what it would mean for Trump to be anti-Christ

Et tu, @southwestairlines.bsky.social?😭 — seen at DEN this morning

Book sales comprised 1% of my earnings last year. This is typical for many writers, especially those traditionally publishing.

At AWP in LA this year, I'm moderating a panel where writers will be transparent about their earnings. Mark your calendars: 10:35 a.m. on Sat, March 29, Bookfair stage.

Life is too chaotic currently to expand the cliche canon I rely on, but one I go back to is that you don’t need to take political strategy advice from individuals who would struggle to put on a dinner party for friends

It’s insane to think that the Trump administration was more welcoming this week to the Tate brothers than to the President of Ukraine.

"fuck you and your entire law school, you bigoted hack" is the kind of energy we need more of, good on Judge Reyes

You don’t have to report to social media what organizing you are doing! That might not be the smart or secure thing to do!!

I repeat:
You don’t have to report to social media what organizing you are doing!!

the single most un-american and anti-constitutional statement ever uttered by an american president

A watercolor painting of a laundromat at night. The interior is illuminated brightly by fluorescent lighting that reflects of washing machines and orange pillars. The outline of the building is pitch black and frames the large glass windows and entrance. A sign above the entrance is illuminated and reads “Laundryland” in orange lettering

Laundryland
3052 W Diversey Ave
Chicago

"I think too how really miraculous it is, every moment we don't have our hands at one another's throats, every spot of ground that isn't...being drenched with blood, how precious any form of life that lets us extend another instant the suspension of violence"

Small Rain, Garth Greenwell