Lex
lexberko.bsky.social
Lex
@lexberko.bsky.social
i like sounds and dogs and quilts.
used to work in media (atlas obscura, citylab). now i’m your friendly neighborhood audiologist.
chicago.
Reposted by Lex
If you’ve spent time with LOUD AND CLEAR, let me again say thanks. If you haven’t yet, that’s cool too—it’s there for when the time is right. And if you’re looking for a chill holiday gift for that one heady relative, grab a copy here: static.macmillan.com/static/smp/l...
Loud and Clear
The full, untold story of the Grateful Dead’s “Wall of Sound,” an unprecedented and since unparalleled speaker system.
static.macmillan.com
November 2, 2025 at 10:48 PM
Reposted by Lex
"ICE" is often used as a catch-all in casual conversation, but CBP are the ones who've been tear gassing neighborhoods. They're the ones who shot a community member in Brighton Park. They're the ones who paraded around the Loop with a camera crew. Making ICE operate more like CBP could be horrific.
NBC has a story on this as well already, and they've got an indicative quote as to how things will go:

"'The mentality is CBP does what they’re told, and the administration thinks ICE isn’t getting the job done,;' one of the DHS officials said. 'So CBP will do it." www.nbcnews.com/politics/imm...
Trump plans to install Border Patrol officials to lead a more aggressive migrant crackdown
The White House has approved a list of ICE leaders to be replaced by Border Patrol officials in coming days amid disappointment with arrest numbers.
www.nbcnews.com
October 28, 2025 at 1:18 AM
Reposted by Lex
If you would like to support some of the families of people who have been abducted by ICE in my area during the recent federal attacks on our community that I've written about, local organizers have put together this trusted list of crowd funds.
Rogers Park Immigrant Families Need Your Support
Please give as you are able AND share this page! If you have friends and family asking how they can support Chicago in this difficult time, this is a way to directly support families. Go FundMe Link...
docs.google.com
October 23, 2025 at 4:13 PM
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It’s hard to convey just how much Chicagoans are mobilizing against ICE. Don’t want to downplay the harm, or make it seem like a fair fight. But in neighborhoods across this city, ICE is getting chased by people blowing whistles and shouting. People are running TOWARD ICE to protect their neighbors.
October 22, 2025 at 12:12 PM
Reposted by Lex
Chicago, stay strong and take care of one another.

For help for your family or to report ICE activities, call 1-855-435-7693 (HELP-MY-FAMILY)

Para ayuda para su familia ó para reportar actividades de ICE, llame al: 1-855-435-7693

National Lawyers Guild Chicago Legal Support Hotline: 872-465-4244
October 4, 2025 at 6:21 PM
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what the fuck. i still can't get over we have fucking nazis rolling around chicago kidnapping people and handcuffing kids, beating protestors, breaking into buildings and throwing gas grenades like every fucking day now. i love this city and they are fucking terrorizing it
October 3, 2025 at 9:00 PM
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If anything good can come from my arrest, I hope it's that more people demand the shutdown of the Broadview ICE facility, where humans are treated like poorly kept animals. Stop the deportations. Demand the truth about Silverio's death at ICE's hands.
September 28, 2025 at 3:58 PM
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as someone with a lot of organizing experience, i can promise you that misinformation like this makes actual organizing more difficult. people don’t know what information to trust, and they’re also disincentivized to show up because they think there are blockades that aren’t actually there
September 7, 2025 at 6:20 PM
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With credible reports that there will soon be a major increase in federal immigration enforcement activity in Chicago, I want to once again highlight the Family Support Network - a rapid response resource run by the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR). Use it if you spot ICE.
September 1, 2025 at 9:43 PM
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It's really hard not to earnest post right now about how much we love this city and how infuriating it is to see it under threat at the whims of a senile, racist lunatic
August 28, 2025 at 1:08 AM
chicago’s lookin really fucking beautiful this morning
August 21, 2025 at 11:39 AM
i laughed out loud when i saw the quote that leads this interview.
Sat down with Bill from Three Point Four to chat about the economics and process of writing a book, teaching journalism in the year 2025, and how to convert a Dead skeptic.

theloop.substack.com/p/i-always-t...
“I always tell my students that media has been in a state of crisis forever.”
The TPF Q&A with New York Times bestselling author Brian Anderson
theloop.substack.com
July 26, 2025 at 3:26 PM
Reposted by Lex
The way that I was raised, being Jewish meant believing that every human life was sacred; to save a single human life meant saving all of humanity. That no law or ritual was more important than saving a single human life.

It's unfathomable that any Jew can accept what Israel is doing in Gaza.
July 25, 2025 at 3:15 AM
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It’s worse than “Gaza is being starved and destroyed and no one cares.” It’s that hundreds of millions *do* care and are powerless to stop it. We need a world where that can never happen, where the masses actually have political power.
July 22, 2025 at 2:41 PM
vvvv pleased that someone is doing emergency & i
14. The Dismemberment Plan’s Emergency & I by Daniel Aaron
15. The Hold Steady’s Separation Sunday by Keegan Bradford and Levi Bradford

We hope you're excited to see some of these published in the series!
July 14, 2025 at 4:38 PM
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I was knocked out by @thebanderson.bsky.social’s new Dead book
The Grateful Dead’s innovative sound system—the "wall of sound"—made them sound better than ever. It was also complex and expensive to maintain, catalyzing their first serious brush with burnout, writes John Hendrickson:
How the Grateful Dead Nearly Solved the Problem With Live Music
The band’s innovative sound system made them sound better than ever. It also nearly broke them.
bit.ly
July 10, 2025 at 4:38 PM
my person is a new york times best-selling author 🥹
Pinching myself. LOUD AND CLEAR made the New York Times Best Seller List for Nonfiction. I’m grateful beyond words. If you purchased a copy, know it means the world.

www.nytimes.com/books/best-s...
June 26, 2025 at 1:03 AM
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not sure why only the worst bastards alive are allowed to be in charge of everything. but i guess it's been like six or seven thousand years of that so who am i to argue
June 18, 2025 at 5:30 PM
Reposted by Lex
CLARIFICATION :

The Trevor Project's hotline will still be live. But basically this means LGBTQ people can no longer be connected to it through the US national 988 suicide prevention hotline.

They will need to be contacted DIRECTLY

So spread this around

They can be texted. They can be called.
June 18, 2025 at 5:48 PM
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I’ve been thinking about this day for a long time. I’ve been thinking about what to *say* about this day for a long time.
June 17, 2025 at 2:23 PM