Jennifer Messner
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occasionallyzen.bsky.social
Jennifer Messner
@occasionallyzen.bsky.social
Books, coffee, photos, nonprofit grant writer, Southside Chicago
Pinned
Once upon a Chicago morning
Good morning city
Good morning lake

#chicago
November 16, 2025 at 3:17 PM
The city never really slept; it endured white nights and fitful slumbers. Its breakfast was cigarettes, black coffee and aspirin, and it would feel like death warmed up for hours.

One more #SundaySentence from Mick Herron, Slow Horses #booksky
Maybe this was what age did...Confirmed you in your image of yourself even while it unpicked the reality, leaving you the tattered remnant of the person you'd once been.

Mick Herron, Slow Horses #sundaysentence #booksky
November 16, 2025 at 12:34 PM
We have had at least three of four seasons this week

#chicago
November 15, 2025 at 7:05 PM
We made this the other night and it was so easy and delicious we are making it again

*may I add I am neither vegetarian nor vegan.

**Yer regular old lentil will be just fine

#cooking

jessicainthekitchen.com/red-lentil-c...
Easy Vegan Red Lentil Curry – A Flavor-Packed One-Pot Meal!
This red lentil curry is classic vegan comfort food! It’s a flavorful one-pot recipe that comes together in under an hour. Perfect for meal prep too!
jessicainthekitchen.com
November 13, 2025 at 12:25 AM
Goodnight, city
November 11, 2025 at 4:02 AM
Flamingo in the snow ❄️
#calder #chicago
November 10, 2025 at 8:27 PM
Maybe this was what age did...Confirmed you in your image of yourself even while it unpicked the reality, leaving you the tattered remnant of the person you'd once been.

Mick Herron, Slow Horses #sundaysentence #booksky
November 9, 2025 at 1:55 PM
Pumpkins in trees? yes, please.

Relishing the last of fall colors as first snow alerts of the season are issued 🍁🍂❄️

#chicago #hydepark #trees
November 8, 2025 at 5:50 PM
The assistant at work
November 7, 2025 at 8:09 PM
"the eye like the eye of faith believes"

AO Scott's poem explorations are such a joy

www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
This Poem About Monet’s “Water Lilies” Reflects on the Powers and Limits of Art (Gift Article)
“Monet’s ‘Waterlilies,’” by Robert Hayden, reflects on what art can (and can’t) do in tumultuous times. Our critic A.O. Scott shows you why he loves it.
www.nytimes.com
November 7, 2025 at 1:03 PM
Reposted by Jennifer Messner
UPDATE: U.S. District Court Judge Sara Ellis said she will issue a sweeping injunction limiting the use of force by federal immigration agents in the Chicago area after she found a litany of violations were committed in recent weeks.
Federal Judge Says Border Patrol Chief Greg Bovino Lied About Being Hit With a Rock Before Deploying Tear Gas in Chicago
U.S. District Court Judge Sara Ellis said Border Patrol chief Greg Bovino admitted to lying about whether a rock hit him before he used tear gas on Chicagoans in Little Village last month.
news.wttw.com
November 6, 2025 at 5:39 PM
Reposted by Jennifer Messner
Greetings from the Dirksen federal courthouse, where U.S. District Court Judge Sara Ellis has just taken the bench to rule on federal agents actions' during a series of increasingly aggressive raids across Chicago and the suburbs.
Background, for @wttw.bsky.social from @bymattmasterson.bsky.social
Judge Set to Rule Thursday in Case Centering on Federal Immigration Agents’ Use of Force: ‘I Could See Inside the Barrel’
Protesters, clergy members and others who say they’ve been directly impacted by a series of increasingly aggressive raids across Chicago and the suburbs will testify before a federal judge weighing wh...
news.wttw.com
November 6, 2025 at 4:13 PM
Chicago skies being dramatic #chicago #Loop
November 4, 2025 at 2:07 PM
Reposted by Jennifer Messner
boom. leaves. promontory point. chicago.
November 3, 2025 at 8:31 PM
Hyde Park looking fine
#chicago #trees
November 2, 2025 at 6:47 PM
Now the vast throng of crows rose out of Highgate Cemetery in unison, and the ghosts with them, their dark dresses and winding sheets flapping wing-like in the sky.

Audrey Niffeneger, Her Fearful Symmetry #SundaySentence
Time for a reread of one of my very favorite ghost stories #booksky #amreading
November 2, 2025 at 2:22 PM
We had a million bajillion trick or treaters ❤️

Halloween you surpassed all expectations 👻🎃☺️❤️
November 1, 2025 at 2:47 AM
Halloweeny 🎃
October 29, 2025 at 11:47 PM
@nytgames.bsky.social

May I suggest an addition, ty #spellingbee
October 28, 2025 at 1:58 AM
Time for a reread of one of my very favorite ghost stories #booksky #amreading
October 26, 2025 at 10:57 PM
Reposted by Jennifer Messner
The treatment of religious demonstrators at the facility has become a political flashpoint and, ultimately, a legal one.
religionnews.com/2025/10/21/a...
After clergy arrests, religious pushback to ICE expands in Chicago
(RNS) — More than 210 mostly Chicago-area clergy, representing a range of liberal and conservative traditions, have signed a letter criticizing ICE titled ‘Jesus is Being Tear Gassed at Broadview.’
religionnews.com
October 26, 2025 at 5:01 PM
Reposted by Jennifer Messner
In Addison, Illinois an immigration agent using an American flag as a mask smashes a woman’s car window while her family sits in the vehicle. Video from social media.
October 26, 2025 at 4:40 PM
Dusk, a deserted room, a scrap of black silk on a marble table, darkening waters beyond.

John Banville, Venetian Vespers
#sundaysentence #booksky
October 26, 2025 at 2:49 PM
Sunday morning out and about #chicago
October 26, 2025 at 2:42 PM