Joe Cothrel
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cothrel.bsky.social
Joe Cothrel
@cothrel.bsky.social
Culture, tech, public policy and (almost) all things Chicago.
Reposted by Joe Cothrel
They counted on making Chicago mad and provoking violence but what they did instead was viscerally disgust any human with even the slightest sense of morality and it’s not gonna go the way they want
Easily several hundred people have packed into this plaza in Chicago's North Center tonight in response to ICE abducting a daycare worker early this morning.

This is a neighborhood that has largely been spared until now from the "Midway Blitz" terror campaign. But everyone knows someone affected.
November 6, 2025 at 1:11 AM
Reposted by Joe Cothrel
Pilot had a massive ad spread in a jp newspaper with "make AI jealous" and "write what AI can't touch" written on it

Anyway I think everyone should own a Pilot kakuno pen
November 5, 2025 at 4:42 AM
Reposted by Joe Cothrel
"Nobody can get fired from the AACM. You can't even resign voluntarily! Once you're in, you're in, and even if you say you're out, you're still in. They can't get fired. What are you going to do? Are you going to fire yourself? It's a collective. Who's going to fire you?"
October 29, 2025 at 8:28 AM
Reposted by Joe Cothrel
Venice Bakery is remembering those that have died in ICE custody this year by adding them to their community altar for Dia de Los Muertos.

By @eltragon.bsky.social
October 27, 2025 at 10:03 PM
Reposted by Joe Cothrel
Helicopter view of Chicago #NoKings in Grant Park via @cbschicago.bsky.social
October 18, 2025 at 5:50 PM
Even art is not sure if love is enough anymore. (Artist: Lindsey Liss)
October 14, 2025 at 3:56 PM
Also called "stick-ups."
Wow, wow, wow. This has always been legally possible but the law has virtually never been enforced — and now this is the SECOND case I've heard of in the last month (first involving a person with a green card) of a noncitizen being charged for failure to carry their papers.
NEWS: ICE gave a Rogers Park man a $130 ticket for not having his papers on him. They rounded him up last week and eventually let him go, but not without a fine that some critics say is un-American. Trump admin enforcing little-used law
www.chicagotribune.com/2025/10/13/i...
October 13, 2025 at 8:28 PM
Elimination games concentrate the mind wonderfully. #cubs #tigers #mlb
October 8, 2025 at 9:31 PM
"For the first time in living memory, every inch of Grand Central’s advertising has been replaced with art."
The Creator of ‘Humans of New York’ Has Transformed All of Grand Central Into a Public Art Installation
Brandon Stanton’s Dear New York turns Grand Central into a vast public art installation celebrating the city’s people and stories.
www.artnews.com
October 8, 2025 at 12:20 PM
Reposted by Joe Cothrel
This has nothing to do with crime. This is an attempt to crush political dissent.

Never before, in our entire 250 year history, has the military or immigration agents been used like this. It's dystopian, illegal, and it should stop.
October 7, 2025 at 7:51 PM
Reposted by Joe Cothrel
Chicagoans & neighbors, if you haven’t already, now is the time to save the ICIRR hotline in your phone: 1 (855) 435-7693

And read their advice for documenting ICE or Federal Agents - posted with alt text here. We can see how much documentation matters.
October 7, 2025 at 1:38 PM
Reposted by Joe Cothrel
So this is really it. We’re very close to a line being crossed that is going to be clarifying for a lot of people who have either not been paying attention or who have been in denial.
This morning, the Trump Administration’s Department of War gave me an ultimatum: call up your troops, or we will. It is absolutely outrageous and un-American to demand a Governor send military troops within our own borders and against our will.
October 4, 2025 at 6:52 PM
💯
Makaya McCraven at Thalia Hall. Along with Tom Skinner opening, this was the best night of live music I’ve attended so far this year. Exuberant, powerful performances by wonderfully talented musicians.
October 2, 2025 at 2:58 PM
Reposted by Joe Cothrel
The lessons offered by Kremer Pigments weren’t just about how to work with color, but how to experience the connection between the physical world and one’s own artistic practice.
Remembering the Pigment Shop That Taught Me How to See
Kremer’s New York City location, a painter’s paradise and key resource for conservators, is closing in November. For artists, the loss goes far beyond a storefront.
hyperallergic.com
September 25, 2025 at 6:19 PM
Good piece on what's happened/happening with the Roger Brown house and contents.
September 22, 2025 at 2:21 PM
I think Art Newspaper not long ago reported AIC was planning to reopen Roger Brown's Home and Studio, but I guess now they are planning to sell it?
Roger Brown's Home And Studio For Sale | New Chicago Architecture Events | Taste Returns To July
Today in Chicago culture: Monday, September 15, 2025.
www.newcity.com
September 15, 2025 at 3:38 PM
Had the opportunity to write brief profiles of a few Chicago-based artists I love, in the latest Newcity.
Art 50 2025: Chicago’s Artists’ Artists | Newcity Art
Nothing can stifle the extraordinary creative force of Chicago artists. The city and its environs are an ever-fertile ground for great art.
art.newcity.com
September 9, 2025 at 4:07 PM
Enjoyed @marcissist.bsky.social's chat with the author of "Everything Is Now," which I'm reading at the moment.
066 J. Hoberman on 1960's New York
Podcast Episode · The Music Book Podcast · 08/05/2025 · 45m
podcasts.apple.com
September 9, 2025 at 2:38 AM
"Satie as a Gallic exemplar of the famous British
sense of humour? Why not? His mother was English, and with his bowler hat, velveteen suits and collection of hundreds of umbrellas, he resembles no one so much as John Steed in The Avengers ..."
Jonathan Coe · Don’t we all want to be happy? Satie against Solemnity
Erik Satie is the progenitor of torch songs and lounge music, systems music and minimalism, even (with his later...
www.lrb.co.uk
August 27, 2025 at 8:20 PM
Reposted by Joe Cothrel
today in global reading news!

@versobooks.bsky.social just sold rights for a Romanian edition of IMMEDIACY

Portuguese publication coming soon from @boitempo.bsky.social, with German, Russian, Korean, Chinese in process.

interested translators, get in touch!

www.versobooks.com/products/303...
Immediacy, or The Style of Too Late Capitalism
Contemporary cultural style boosts transparency and instantaneity. These are values absorbed from our current economic conditions of "disintermediation": cutting out the middleman. Like Uber, but for ...
www.versobooks.com
July 30, 2025 at 5:36 PM
Busy removing items from my home that are mentioned in Latronico's Perfection. www.nyrb.com/products/per...
Perfection
A scathing, provocative novel about contemporary existence by a rising star in Italian literature.
www.nyrb.com
July 29, 2025 at 3:15 PM
Business genius here doesn't even know how to fail correctly. You're supposed to blame lack of foot traffic. www.chicagobusiness.com/retail/marcu...
TV's Marcus Lemonis closing Gold Coast boutique, pointing to Chicago crime concerns
“It’s too difficult to do business in the city of Chicago. The crime continues to be a problem,” the celebrity entrepreneur and TV personality said.
www.chicagobusiness.com
July 25, 2025 at 8:04 PM
Neat discussion of this diagram on The Art Angle today. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...
The Field of Contemporary Art: A Diagram
Andrea Fraser www.e-flux.com/notes/634540...
July 25, 2025 at 3:56 AM
Looking forward to these folks at MCA this week. #mcachicago #stepney
July 20, 2025 at 11:55 PM