Jesse Raber
@jraber.bsky.social
Working on a literary history of Chicago - Author of Progressivism's Aesthetic Education: bit.ly/2AhdjaH - Co-creator of the Chicago Writing Gallery at the American Writers Museum - let's talk about cooking, ceramics, ebikes
Thanks @backwardsriver.bsky.social for writing this, on 1850s Fugitive Slave Law resistance:
"The [slave-catchers] complained that some in 'the mob came up to us and told us to leave, saying that we, or anybody else, could not take a negro from Chicago.'”
chicagoreader.com/city-life/ch...
"The [slave-catchers] complained that some in 'the mob came up to us and told us to leave, saying that we, or anybody else, could not take a negro from Chicago.'”
chicagoreader.com/city-life/ch...
Chicago has always defied kidnappings of our neighbors - Chicago Reader
Even after the passage of the 1850 Fugitive Slave Act, local officials and everyday people resisted the legalized abductions of men, women, and children who had escaped slavery
chicagoreader.com
November 14, 2025 at 3:34 PM
Thanks @backwardsriver.bsky.social for writing this, on 1850s Fugitive Slave Law resistance:
"The [slave-catchers] complained that some in 'the mob came up to us and told us to leave, saying that we, or anybody else, could not take a negro from Chicago.'”
chicagoreader.com/city-life/ch...
"The [slave-catchers] complained that some in 'the mob came up to us and told us to leave, saying that we, or anybody else, could not take a negro from Chicago.'”
chicagoreader.com/city-life/ch...
I should probably keep my mouth shut but I have to say this.
I work for Poetry in America, the project founded by Elisa New that's come up in connection w Epstein emails. I won't comment on those emails.
But PiA has grown a lot since then, is now the work of many hands, and I'm proud of our work.
I work for Poetry in America, the project founded by Elisa New that's come up in connection w Epstein emails. I won't comment on those emails.
But PiA has grown a lot since then, is now the work of many hands, and I'm proud of our work.
November 13, 2025 at 3:21 PM
I should probably keep my mouth shut but I have to say this.
I work for Poetry in America, the project founded by Elisa New that's come up in connection w Epstein emails. I won't comment on those emails.
But PiA has grown a lot since then, is now the work of many hands, and I'm proud of our work.
I work for Poetry in America, the project founded by Elisa New that's come up in connection w Epstein emails. I won't comment on those emails.
But PiA has grown a lot since then, is now the work of many hands, and I'm proud of our work.
Reposted by Jesse Raber
jeffrey epstein donated to and supported enough science that there are entire lines of research that were apparently pursued largely because he liked them. one of them is evo psych
August 20, 2025 at 1:15 PM
jeffrey epstein donated to and supported enough science that there are entire lines of research that were apparently pursued largely because he liked them. one of them is evo psych
Reposted by Jesse Raber
Giving a lecture on the drafts of The Waste Land tomorrow and all the strange and haunting lines that Eliot and Pound decided to cut
November 12, 2025 at 8:08 PM
Giving a lecture on the drafts of The Waste Land tomorrow and all the strange and haunting lines that Eliot and Pound decided to cut
Yup, I know we're kind of over Yarvin but he is once again useful by making this explicit in his writings, in an essay called "Why I'm Not a White Supremacist." In his world, blackness = low IQ = high crime rate and high birthrate, crowding out better races including Asians/Jews. This is Vance too.
To be honest I’m pretty sure the “sincere“ eugenicists - i.e., people who are in favor of immigration from China or wherever - are simply racists whose fixation is specifically ANTI-BLACK RACISM instead of strict white supremacy
there are a few sincere eugenicists like Richard Hannania and they are meaningfully different than just garden-variety racists (no, this is not me saying "they're great! I love them! no problems!"). in theory it's an elitist but not necessarily racist mindset. in practice it like 90% is.
November 12, 2025 at 9:02 PM
Yup, I know we're kind of over Yarvin but he is once again useful by making this explicit in his writings, in an essay called "Why I'm Not a White Supremacist." In his world, blackness = low IQ = high crime rate and high birthrate, crowding out better races including Asians/Jews. This is Vance too.
After months of intermittent kiln access and etc, finally got these votives glazed and fired. Let there be light!
November 12, 2025 at 12:43 AM
After months of intermittent kiln access and etc, finally got these votives glazed and fired. Let there be light!
Reposted by Jesse Raber
Happening now: a small demonstration is getting underway in front of Chicago Police Department HQ, protesting cooperation between CPD and federal immigration agents.
One demonstrator is holding up a photo of Border Patrol Chief Greg Bovino shaking hands with a CPD officer.
One demonstrator is holding up a photo of Border Patrol Chief Greg Bovino shaking hands with a CPD officer.
November 12, 2025 at 12:16 AM
Happening now: a small demonstration is getting underway in front of Chicago Police Department HQ, protesting cooperation between CPD and federal immigration agents.
One demonstrator is holding up a photo of Border Patrol Chief Greg Bovino shaking hands with a CPD officer.
One demonstrator is holding up a photo of Border Patrol Chief Greg Bovino shaking hands with a CPD officer.
1000 agents. 4x the current number. Plus, probably, National Guard once SCOTUS overturns lower court orders preventing their deployment. We're gonna need a bigger whistle.
"Another source with direct knowledge said the number of Border Patrol agents currently operating in the Chicago area will go from 250 down to 100. But in March, that number could increase to 1,000 agents."
chicago.suntimes.com/public-safet... w/ @jonseidel.bsky.social
chicago.suntimes.com/public-safet... w/ @jonseidel.bsky.social
U.S. Border Patrol boss Greg Bovino, fellow agents expected to leave Chicago soon
Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin insists “we aren’t leaving Chicago,” but the feds' immigration campaign is expected to begin winding down. However, one source said they could b...
chicago.suntimes.com
November 11, 2025 at 9:28 PM
1000 agents. 4x the current number. Plus, probably, National Guard once SCOTUS overturns lower court orders preventing their deployment. We're gonna need a bigger whistle.
People are saying they're leaving because of the cold, as if they're wimps. Sorry but that ain't it. The cold drives people indoors and makes their kidnapping less efficient. So they'll economize by flying south for the winter, then come back here when the park bathrooms reopen.
I understand the impulse but I don't really feel celebratory about the idea of the feds leaving Chicago if they're just going to take this terror campaign to another community somewhere else
November 11, 2025 at 3:20 PM
People are saying they're leaving because of the cold, as if they're wimps. Sorry but that ain't it. The cold drives people indoors and makes their kidnapping less efficient. So they'll economize by flying south for the winter, then come back here when the park bathrooms reopen.
Suburban shoppers avoiding downtown bc of crime fears was a real thing in the Urban Renewal era, and maybe that's what year it is in his mind today. (Now of course the vacancies are post-covid WFH malaise afflicting downtowns everywhere.)
Call in the troops to solve the commercial real estate crisis in our swanky downtown cores
You can’t make this shit up, folks
You can’t make this shit up, folks
November 11, 2025 at 2:01 PM
Suburban shoppers avoiding downtown bc of crime fears was a real thing in the Urban Renewal era, and maybe that's what year it is in his mind today. (Now of course the vacancies are post-covid WFH malaise afflicting downtowns everywhere.)
Which way I fly is hell; myself am hell;
And in the lowest deep a lower deep,
Still threat'ning to devour me, opens wide,
To which the hell I suffer seems a heaven.
And in the lowest deep a lower deep,
Still threat'ning to devour me, opens wide,
To which the hell I suffer seems a heaven.
![Joyce Carol Oates quoting a tweet that says “wherever he [Elon Musk] goes, he wants to leave”:
"wherever he goes, he wants to leave"-- that's because when he gets there, he has brought his own self along; & whatever club he's invited to join has been devalued by the invitation.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:buy3qvqcj3o76leo6ap7pn2p/bafkreifilfbsxemfsambf4kqwolr24ld2ekqcrz4ybgv3bv7kzi5e6kppm@jpeg)
November 11, 2025 at 3:12 AM
Which way I fly is hell; myself am hell;
And in the lowest deep a lower deep,
Still threat'ning to devour me, opens wide,
To which the hell I suffer seems a heaven.
And in the lowest deep a lower deep,
Still threat'ning to devour me, opens wide,
To which the hell I suffer seems a heaven.
Eavesdropping on elders around Hyde Park:
"They used to have a jazz jukebox, so the clientele was intellectual losers. Then they changed it to a top 40 jukebox and it was stupid losers. Some of whom are my friends by the way!"
"They used to have a jazz jukebox, so the clientele was intellectual losers. Then they changed it to a top 40 jukebox and it was stupid losers. Some of whom are my friends by the way!"
November 10, 2025 at 10:23 PM
Eavesdropping on elders around Hyde Park:
"They used to have a jazz jukebox, so the clientele was intellectual losers. Then they changed it to a top 40 jukebox and it was stupid losers. Some of whom are my friends by the way!"
"They used to have a jazz jukebox, so the clientele was intellectual losers. Then they changed it to a top 40 jukebox and it was stupid losers. Some of whom are my friends by the way!"
Rewatched Casablanca last night and found this on the apps this morning. (In the movie the line is "New York": the Nazi says "Are you one of those people who cannot imagine the Germans in their beloved Paris? ... How about New York?")
November 10, 2025 at 5:43 PM
Rewatched Casablanca last night and found this on the apps this morning. (In the movie the line is "New York": the Nazi says "Are you one of those people who cannot imagine the Germans in their beloved Paris? ... How about New York?")
Reposted by Jesse Raber
Huh!
"Telling the bees is a Western European tradition in which bees are told of important events ... in the keeper's household. ... If the custom was omitted or forgotten and the bees were not 'put into mourning,' then it was believed a penalty would be paid."
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telling...
"Telling the bees is a Western European tradition in which bees are told of important events ... in the keeper's household. ... If the custom was omitted or forgotten and the bees were not 'put into mourning,' then it was believed a penalty would be paid."
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telling...
Telling the bees - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
November 10, 2025 at 5:10 PM
Huh!
"Telling the bees is a Western European tradition in which bees are told of important events ... in the keeper's household. ... If the custom was omitted or forgotten and the bees were not 'put into mourning,' then it was believed a penalty would be paid."
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telling...
"Telling the bees is a Western European tradition in which bees are told of important events ... in the keeper's household. ... If the custom was omitted or forgotten and the bees were not 'put into mourning,' then it was believed a penalty would be paid."
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telling...
The chess better have so many fuckin dimensions man
November 10, 2025 at 6:21 AM
The chess better have so many fuckin dimensions man
For work I have to review a few hours of video containing myself talking and I think I would literally rather have a root canal. Objectively I think I'm a good speaker. But kill me now.
November 9, 2025 at 5:46 PM
For work I have to review a few hours of video containing myself talking and I think I would literally rather have a root canal. Objectively I think I'm a good speaker. But kill me now.
Reposted by Jesse Raber
You shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns. You shall not crucify mankind upon ... whatever the fuck this is.
It’s like he’s trying to piss off William Jennings Bryan specifically
Just a little more gold and it will be perfect
November 8, 2025 at 9:19 PM
You shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns. You shall not crucify mankind upon ... whatever the fuck this is.
Reposted by Jesse Raber
If the pattern follows B-18 here in LA, DHS is clearing out Broadview to hide the human rights abuses.
The magistrate will visit an empty facility.
And three days later DHS will have it packed again.
The magistrate will visit an empty facility.
And three days later DHS will have it packed again.
ANOTHER UPDATE: Photo sent to me from a faith leader on the ground outside the Broadview ICE detention center this morning shows several buses now parked outside the facility.
This, the leader says, is an unusual occurrence.
Also: a magistrate is set to visit the facility next week.
This, the leader says, is an unusual occurrence.
Also: a magistrate is set to visit the facility next week.
November 8, 2025 at 6:35 PM
If the pattern follows B-18 here in LA, DHS is clearing out Broadview to hide the human rights abuses.
The magistrate will visit an empty facility.
And three days later DHS will have it packed again.
The magistrate will visit an empty facility.
And three days later DHS will have it packed again.
Local news doing the lord's work. Following through on one of these stories over weeks, beyond the initial abduction, through the whole sordid process, and looking at the wake left behind.
www.hpherald.com/evening_dige...
www.hpherald.com/evening_dige...
ICE detention shatters local family
The last time Beatriz Pedrozo saw her husband, José, he had just finished lunch with her and their three daughters at their Hyde Park home. Moments later, as he stepped
www.hpherald.com
November 8, 2025 at 1:27 AM
Local news doing the lord's work. Following through on one of these stories over weeks, beyond the initial abduction, through the whole sordid process, and looking at the wake left behind.
www.hpherald.com/evening_dige...
www.hpherald.com/evening_dige...
Reposted by Jesse Raber
The Nazis have finally arrived in Skokie
CBP has been hitting Skokie, outside of Chicago, hard today. At 10:45 today, they jumped out of their vehicles and arrested a man on Lincoln Ave.
November 7, 2025 at 6:13 PM
The Nazis have finally arrived in Skokie
Reposted by Jesse Raber
A family friend was telling us about what her husband shared about his experience in Broadview before he was deported back to Mexico. She's been sharing to friends and family because she's just in disbelief & horror what her husband told her. She wasn't able to talk to him until he was in Mexico.
November 7, 2025 at 3:08 AM
A family friend was telling us about what her husband shared about his experience in Broadview before he was deported back to Mexico. She's been sharing to friends and family because she's just in disbelief & horror what her husband told her. She wasn't able to talk to him until he was in Mexico.