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chowleen.bsky.social
eileen chengyin chow
@chowleen.bsky.social
8.4K followers 710 following 12K posts
@chowleen most elsewhere; my old tweets reappear here at odd times.

Duke prof, APSI Dir+DGS, Duke Story Lab founder. DUP Sinotheory, LAReviewOfBooks board. Shewo Institute 舍我紀念館 Director, Biographical Lit 傳記文學 publisher
周成蔭 #everynightapoem
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chowleen.bsky.social
eileen chengyin chow @chowleen.bsky.social · Jun 22
After every war
someone has to tidy up.
Things won’t pick
themselves up, after all.

Someone has to shove
the rubble to the roadsides
so the carts loaded with corpses
can get by.

-Wisława Szymborska, “The End and the Beginning” (t. Cavanagh & Barańczak)
#everynightapoem #war
The End and the beginning After every war someone has to tidy up. Things won't pick themselves up, after all. Someone has to shove the rubble to the roadsides so the carts loaded with corpses can get by. Someone has to trudge through sludge and ashes, through the sofa springs, the shards of glass, the bloody rags. Someone has to lug the post to prop the wall, someone has to glaze the window, set the door in its frame. No sound bites, no photo opportunities, and it takes years. All the cameras have gone to other wars. The bridges need to be rebuilt, the railroad stations, too. Shirtsleeves will be rolled to shreds. 286 Someone, broom in hand, still remembers how it was. Someone else listens, nodding his unshattered head. But others are bound to be bustling nearby who'll find all that a little boring. From time to time someone still must dig up a rusted argument from underneath a bush and haul it off to the dump. Those who knew what this was all about must make way for those who know little. And less than that. And at last nothing less than nothing. Someone has to lie there in the grass that covers up the causes and effects with a cornstalk in his teeth, gawking at clouds.
chowleen.bsky.social
Thank you thank you thank you.
viamarsala18.bsky.social Elle Ess @viamarsala18.bsky.social · 3h
I need people to wrap their minds around the fact that here in Minneapolis, ICE broke the window of a vehicle yesterday, pepper sprayed the occupants, and arrested them, and shot another observer in the face today, and OBSERVERS ARE STILL GOING OUT TO PROTECT THEIR NEIGHBORS AT MASSIVE PERSONAL RISK
wellgoshacs.bsky.social AC @wellgoshacs.bsky.social · 4h
I’m eating lunch, I’m having a panic attack, I’m charging my phone, and then I’m going back out to try and keep my neighborhood safe.
January 7, 2026 at 9:06 PM
Reposted by eileen chengyin chow
chowleen.bsky.social
this isn't a Russian poem, this is not somewhere else but here,
our country moving closer to its own truth and dread,
its own ways of making people disappear.

-Adrienne Rich, What Kind of Times Are These

#everynightapoem
it's necessary to talk about trees.
What Kind of Times Are These by Adrienne Rich There's a place between two stands of trees where the grass grows uphill and the old revolutionary road breaks off into shadows near a meeting-house abandoned by the persecuted who disappeared into those shadows. I've walked there picking mushrooms at the edge of dread, but don't be fooled this isn't a Russian poem, this is not somewhere else but here, our country moving closer to its own truth and dread, its own ways of making people disappear. I won't tell you where the place is, the dark mesh of the woods meeting the unmarked strip of light— ghost-ridden crossroads, leafmold paradise: I know already who wants to buy it, sell it, make it disappear. And I won't tell you where it is, so why do I tell you anything? Because you still listen, because in times like these to have you listen at all, it's necessary to talk about trees.
November 27, 2025 at 7:24 PM
Reposted by eileen chengyin chow
chowleen.bsky.social
After every war
someone has to tidy up.
Things won’t pick
themselves up, after all.

Someone has to shove
the rubble to the roadsides
so the carts loaded with corpses
can get by.

-Wisława Szymborska, “The End and the Beginning” (t. Cavanagh & Barańczak)
#everynightapoem #war
The End and the beginning After every war someone has to tidy up. Things won't pick themselves up, after all. Someone has to shove the rubble to the roadsides so the carts loaded with corpses can get by. Someone has to trudge through sludge and ashes, through the sofa springs, the shards of glass, the bloody rags. Someone has to lug the post to prop the wall, someone has to glaze the window, set the door in its frame. No sound bites, no photo opportunities, and it takes years. All the cameras have gone to other wars. The bridges need to be rebuilt, the railroad stations, too. Shirtsleeves will be rolled to shreds. 286 Someone, broom in hand, still remembers how it was. Someone else listens, nodding his unshattered head. But others are bound to be bustling nearby who'll find all that a little boring. From time to time someone still must dig up a rusted argument from underneath a bush and haul it off to the dump. Those who knew what this was all about must make way for those who know little. And less than that. And at last nothing less than nothing. Someone has to lie there in the grass that covers up the causes and effects with a cornstalk in his teeth, gawking at clouds.
June 22, 2025 at 2:17 AM
Reposted by eileen chengyin chow
clarajeffery.bsky.social
"You gonna murder someone else? You can't kill us all, Nazis."
jcollins.bsky.social Jon Collins @jcollins.bsky.social · 4h
ICE agents stopped by protesters after the shooting an observer in Minneapolis, according to witnesse. ICE deployed pepper spray and tear gas.
January 7, 2026 at 5:25 PM
Reposted by eileen chengyin chow
bencollins.bsky.social
Absolutely horrific details about an ICE shooting in Minneapolis.

A witness says a woman was trying to drive away from an ICE operation and the ICE agent "reached across the hood of the car and shot her in the face like three, four times."

Bovino was there.

www.mprnews.org/story/2026/0...
Emily Heller lives near 33rd and Portland and said she woke up to a commotion outside her home. She said she saw a car blocking traffic on Portland Avenue that appeared to be part of a protest against federal law enforcement operations. Heller said she heard ICE agents telling the driver, a woman, to “get out of here.” “She was trying to turn around, and the ICE agent was in front of her car, and he pulled out a gun and put it right in — like, his midriff was on her bumper — and he reached across the hood of the car and shot her in the face like three, four times,” Heller said. Heller said it appeared the woman then accelerated and traveled about 100 feet before striking a utility pole and some other vehicles. She could be seen slumped over inside her car.
January 7, 2026 at 5:21 PM
Reposted by eileen chengyin chow
propcazhpm.bsky.social
Jason Reynolds and Dr. Tressie McMillan Cottom join Urban Consulate in Detroit for a live conversation with Orlando P. Baile @ "Daring Ideas for the Future Series" Nov 2025

Video by JP Leong of Afrochine.

youtu.be/UwwnjdXMhco?...
December 19, 2025 at 2:48 PM
Reposted by eileen chengyin chow
sam.northsky.social
I think I hit a point where I’m using reality as an escape from the internet rather than the internet as an escape from reality
January 6, 2026 at 5:30 PM
Reposted by eileen chengyin chow
jacqbetula.bsky.social
Well, January just keeps getting worse. What a loss.
One of the greatest ever film directors, Béla Tarr, has died.

www.theguardian.com/film/2026/ja...
Béla Tarr, Hungarian director of Sátántangó and Werckmeister Harmonies, dies aged 70
The internationally acclaimed film-maker was renowned for beautifully shot cinematic epics
www.theguardian.com
January 6, 2026 at 5:36 PM
Reposted by eileen chengyin chow
chowleen.bsky.social
Today marks the beginning of "Lesser Cold" #小寒 in the lunisolar #microseason for the chilliest period of the year (小寒大寒，滴水成冰). More precisely, we are in Lesser Cold's first pentad, "When Wild Geese Fly Northward" #雁北鄉.

[Detail from 芦雁図 Reeds and Geese, 鉄舟徳済 Tesshū Tokusai, 1343 @metmuseum.org]
Detail from a triptych of scrolls, of geese in flight. The Metropolitan Museum description reads: "once formed part of a triptych flanking a central scroll that depicted the Daoist immortal Lu Dongbin (now in the Nelson-Atkins Museum, Kansas City). This schema, cultivated and popular in Zen temples in Japan, reflected the desire to express the underlying unity of the natural and spiritual worlds. The flying, calling, sleeping, and feeding geese reference the four fundamental aspects of monastic life."
January 6, 2026 at 12:57 AM
Reposted by eileen chengyin chow
saschatrippe.bsky.social
Can confirm goose migration in Korea.
January 6, 2026 at 3:12 AM
chowleen.bsky.social
Today marks the beginning of "Lesser Cold" #小寒 in the lunisolar #microseason for the chilliest period of the year (小寒大寒，滴水成冰). More precisely, we are in Lesser Cold's first pentad, "When Wild Geese Fly Northward" #雁北鄉.

[Detail from 芦雁図 Reeds and Geese, 鉄舟徳済 Tesshū Tokusai, 1343 @metmuseum.org]
Detail from a triptych of scrolls, of geese in flight. The Metropolitan Museum description reads: "once formed part of a triptych flanking a central scroll that depicted the Daoist immortal Lu Dongbin (now in the Nelson-Atkins Museum, Kansas City). This schema, cultivated and popular in Zen temples in Japan, reflected the desire to express the underlying unity of the natural and spiritual worlds. The flying, calling, sleeping, and feeding geese reference the four fundamental aspects of monastic life."
January 6, 2026 at 12:57 AM
Reposted by eileen chengyin chow
markanthonyneal.bsky.social
‘This is where it all started’: Nina Simone’s childhood home gets long-awaited rehabilitation

'North Carolina home preserved to commemorate legendary musician and civil rights activist, and to serve as arts hub'

www.theguardian.com/music/2026/j...
‘This is where it all started’: Nina Simone’s childhood home gets long-awaited rehabilitation
North Carolina home preserved to commemorate legendary musician and civil rights activist, and to serve as arts hub
www.theguardian.com
January 4, 2026 at 9:36 PM
Reposted by eileen chengyin chow
chowleen.bsky.social
“And now let us believe in a long year that is given to us, new, untouched, full of things that have never been…”

Rainer Maria Rilke, in a letter to his wife, the sculptor Clara Rilke, on January 1, 1907
(Translated by Jane Bannard Greene and M.D. Herter Norton)
#everynightapoem #january
“And now let us believe in a long year that is given to us, new, untouched, full of things that have never been, full of work that has never been done, full of tasks, claims, and demands; and let us see that we learn to take it without letting fall too much of what it has to bestow upon those who demand of it necessary, serious, and great things.“ Rainer Maria Rilke, in a letter to his wife, the sculptor Clara Rilke, on January 1, 1907 (Translated by Jane Bannard Greene and M.D. Herter Norton)
January 1, 2026 at 6:37 PM
Reposted by eileen chengyin chow
chowleen.bsky.social
The South Korean Ministry of Defense has awarded medals of merit to 11 officers for disobeying direct orders of superiors during the martial law fiasco, orders that they deemed to be contrary to the constitution and endangerment to democracy.
www.chosun.com/english/nati...
National Defense Ministry Honors 11 Soldiers for Refusing Illegal Orders
National Defense Ministry Honors 11 Soldiers for Refusing Illegal Orders Honored for rejecting illegal orders during martial law, Marine death probe
www.chosun.com
September 27, 2025 at 6:44 PM
Reposted by eileen chengyin chow
tulletilsynet.bsky.social
Randomly re-upping one of the excellent examples the Republic of Korea provided last year of how to be a republic ..
chowleen.bsky.social eileen chengyin chow @chowleen.bsky.social · Sep 27
The South Korean Ministry of Defense has awarded medals of merit to 11 officers for disobeying direct orders of superiors during the martial law fiasco, orders that they deemed to be contrary to the constitution and endangerment to democracy.
www.chosun.com/english/nati...
National Defense Ministry Honors 11 Soldiers for Refusing Illegal Orders
National Defense Ministry Honors 11 Soldiers for Refusing Illegal Orders Honored for rejecting illegal orders during martial law, Marine death probe
www.chosun.com
January 5, 2026 at 4:43 AM
Reposted by eileen chengyin chow
chowleen.bsky.social
This year is already catastrophic so you might as well join me in my plan to practice Baduanjin (#八段錦 “Eight sections of brocade”) every morning

Note: I do not do so quite as energetically as the Shaolin monks I saw perform last summer
January 3, 2026 at 7:02 PM
Reposted by eileen chengyin chow
josie.zone
nooooo
catconlan.net Catherine Partsch Conlan @catconlan.net · 3d
oh shit tomorrow is circle back day already
January 4, 2026 at 7:35 PM
Reposted by eileen chengyin chow
gregpak.net
Anti-war march in NYC, organized overnight. Happening right now, 8th Ave.

People care.
January 3, 2026 at 8:28 PM
chowleen.bsky.social
This year is already catastrophic so you might as well join me in my plan to practice Baduanjin (#八段錦 “Eight sections of brocade”) every morning

Note: I do not do so quite as energetically as the Shaolin monks I saw perform last summer
January 3, 2026 at 7:02 PM
Reposted by eileen chengyin chow
chowleen.bsky.social
John Berger, most beloved, passed away on January 2, 2017.

"What reconciles me to my own death more than anything else is the image of a place: a place where your bones and mine are buried...With you I can imagine a place where to be phosphate of calcium is enough.”

#everynightapoem #ofsorts
What reconciles me to my own death more than anything else is the image of a place: a place where your bones and mine are buried, thrown, uncovered, together. They are strewn there pell-mell. One of your ribs leans against my skull. A metacarpal of my left hand lies inside your pelvis. (Against my broken ribs your breast like a flower.) The hundred bones of our feet are scattered like gravel. It is strange that this image of our proximity, concerning as it does mere phosphate of calcium, should bestow a sense of peace. Yet it does. With you I can imagine a place where to be phosphate of calcium is enough.
January 2, 2025 at 10:59 PM
chowleen.bsky.social
Ah yes. And the future is 2026.
film still from Metropolis, depicting interconnected skyscrapers
January 1, 2026 at 10:49 PM
chowleen.bsky.social
“And now let us believe in a long year that is given to us, new, untouched, full of things that have never been…”

Rainer Maria Rilke, in a letter to his wife, the sculptor Clara Rilke, on January 1, 1907
(Translated by Jane Bannard Greene and M.D. Herter Norton)
#everynightapoem #january
“And now let us believe in a long year that is given to us, new, untouched, full of things that have never been, full of work that has never been done, full of tasks, claims, and demands; and let us see that we learn to take it without letting fall too much of what it has to bestow upon those who demand of it necessary, serious, and great things.“ Rainer Maria Rilke, in a letter to his wife, the sculptor Clara Rilke, on January 1, 1907 (Translated by Jane Bannard Greene and M.D. Herter Norton)
January 1, 2026 at 6:37 PM
chowleen.bsky.social
January 1st park run - happy new year
January 1, 2026 at 2:39 PM
Reposted by eileen chengyin chow
peterkhill.bsky.social
Thank you

“Ring out false pride in place and blood,
The civic slander and the spite;
Ring in the love of truth and right,
Ring in the common love of good.”
January 1, 2026 at 2:45 AM
Reposted by eileen chengyin chow
chowleen.bsky.social
A pair of happy hammerhead sharks
(ca. 1735 Edo period Japan)
Paintings of hammerhead sharks depicted in the "Oki National Products Illustration Notes". From Japan, Edo Period, ca 1735
December 28, 2025 at 5:57 PM