Andy Marfia

Cowards die many times before their deaths,
The valiant never taste of death but once.

A windy & snowy night on Wacker Drive

How about we shut down the government for this very popular and specific goal and then, hear me out, we hold out for like a month and a half and then, ok this part is important, after a watershed election where we ran the table, ONLY THEN, fold and don't get the one thing we said we wanted.

Night photo of a corner two-story 1920s store building, clad on the second floor and parapet in white terra cotta, above a ground floor with a facade of what look like black shiny blocks. Lights illuminate terra cotta pilasters, lintels, cornice, and tips of parapet. Sign says Bar-B-Q TONIGHT. There are snow flurries and snow visible on surfaces.

Virulently opposed to November snow except for scenes like this

Members of the community argue with federal officers during an immigration enforcement action in the Little Village neighborhood Saturday in Chicago.

View of Chicago skyline from the roof of the Field Museum of Natural History. // Image captured at: 2025-11-09 15:24:37 UTC (about 12 min. prior to this post) // Current Temp in Chicago: 31.90 F | -.06 C // Precip: light snow // Wind: N at 21.855 mph | 35.17 kph // Humidity: 84%

Current* conditions near Chicago, IL:

Something I’ve noticed is there seems to be a sort of pervasive assumption that the status quo has gravity. That there’s a natural, comfortable way things should be and that deviations from the normal state of the world will correct themselves in time.

But as a paleontologist, I know this is false.

Ellis: "This is the Chicagoland I see. From Aurora to Cicero, and Chicago to Evanston to Waukegan. This is a vibrant place, brimming with vitality and hope. Striving to move forward from its complicated history."

Large arched read sculpture on a plaza. Behind it is a one-story glass and metal building. In the background are several skyscrapers, mostly clad in gray stone. The one at the right has large arched openings just below the cornice.

Calder in the front, Mies behind it, D. H. Burnham & Co. at the right. Adams and Dearborn, Chicago

This story makes me think more about how many families in Chicago of deported residents need support and also need to feel they can share their stories. They need to feel safe. This is one story I'm sure of many many more.

i’m at damen/belle plaine in chicago’s north center neighborhood for an emergency anti-ice rally.

around 7 a.m. this morning, masked federal agents chased a preschool teacher *into* nearby rayito del sol and abducted her—in front of traumatized children, parents, and coworkers.

To be fair, in the US now, it is hard to distinguish between the bad guys and the bad guys.

Daycare Teacher Pulled Out Of Preschool By Armed Federal Agents, 'Traumatizing,' Parents Say The incident happened in front of parents and children at Rayito de Sol in North Center, a parent said. They believe the employee is legally allowed to work in the United States.

Unbelievable.
Daycare Teacher Pulled Out Of Preschool By Armed Federal Agents, 'Traumatizing,' Parents Say blockclubchicago.org/2025/11/05/d...

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Everyone is hope scrolling now

Normal People Don’t Want This Shit is running away with the vote tonight

Not-quite-full Moon against a black sky

Last night's Moon

happy baseball to all who celebrate

With SNAP benefits in doubt this month, a reminder that the Greater Chicago Food Depository is a fantastic organization to support if you can afford it. (photo from Wikipedia) www.chicagosfoodbank.org

Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino makes small talk with a concrete worker after his agents questioned the man for his citizenship documents on Oct. 31, 2025, in Chicago's Edison Park neighborhood. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)

A neighbor yells as U.S. Border Patrol agents detain a man they found painting a house in Chicago’s Edison Park neighborhood on Oct. 31, 2025, during immigration enforcement operations. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)

Members of the community film Border Patrol officers while they detain a person in the Albany Park neighborhood on Oct. 31, 2025, in Chicago. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)

U.S. Border Patrol agents question and detain a man they found painting a house in Chicago’s Edison Park neighborhood on Oct. 31, 2025, during immigration enforcement operations. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)

Despite pleas from Gov. JB Pritzker to pause federal immigration enforcement operations while children celebrate Halloween, teams of Border Patrol agents — including one led by Cmdr. Greg Bovino — tore through Chicago’s Northwest Side and nearby suburbs.

www.chicagotribune.com/2025/10/31/c...

Another week of being so proud of the great work by the @blockclubchi.bsky.social team:

This Week In Photos: Bovino's Day In Court, Feds Continue To Tear Gas Neighbors blockclubchicago.org/2025/10/31/t...

A line of four pumpkins sitting on the ledge of a porch, each carved with one six-pointed star like the ones on the Chicago city flag.

Chicago star pumpkins on Southport

Clouds over the now open protected beach at Montrose. There was one single Horned Lark.

The Montrose Beach Important Bird Area viewed from the concessions building.

Montrose Beach this morning. Great clouds to infinity!

There’s a @briancassella.bsky.social shot for this from just today!!

Ellis is REALLY mad about the Irving Park incident in which kids were tear gassed on the way to a Halloween parade

The earliest known example of ‘brain rot’ comes from Henry David Thoreau in his 1854 book “Walden.”

“While England endeavors to cure the potato-rot, will not any endeavor to cure the brain-rot, which prevails so much more widely and fatally?”

This is the most obscenely wealthy, grotesquely cruel, offensively under qualified and incompetent, outrageously & blatantly corrupt, callously indifferent, brazenly self-serving, shamelessly deceitful administration in our country’s history. A hollow gold-plated autocracy destined to collapse.

ICE's detention of a Chicago father to a teenage daughter battling cancer is illegal, a federal judge ruled.
blockclubchicago.org/2025/10/26/i...

Updating my LEGO White House

A color photograph from the No Kings protest in downtown Chicago on October 18, 2025. In this picture two people are holding up signs that read "Hands Off Chicago" while protesters stream past them on Michigan Avenue. The Art Institute in on the left.

A color photograph from the No Kings protest in downtown Chicago on October 18, 2025. In this picture, protesters are seen marching north on Michgan Avenue towards Wacker Drive. The Wrigley Building and Tribune Towers dominate the background.

A color photograph from the No Kings protest in downtown Chicago on October 18, 2025. In this picture, a person in a frog costume is seen giving the middle finger to Trump Tower (not pictured, to the right).

A color photograph from the No Kings protest in downtown Chicago on October 18, 2025. In this picture, A large effigy of President Trump is carried down Clark St with a sign that says "King Baby".

A few of my own photos from Saturday's No Kings protest, in Chicago, October 18, 2025. flic.kr/p/2rAgUcs

#Chicago #photography #nokings