carmen aiken
LightNews LightNews
banner
caiken.bsky.social
carmen aiken
@caiken.bsky.social
710 followers 240 following 1.1K posts
Writer, Chicago, infrastructure weirdo. I mean well.

carmenalicia.beehiiv.com. "hotspur" from Spuyten Duvil press now available @ https://bookshop.org/p/books/hotspur-carmen-a-aiken/5967fbe460007214?ean=9781963908725&next=t or your local!
Posts Replies Media Videos
caiken.bsky.social
cheers, queers etc and make sure you control your descents down the gravel, signed, all city single speed cyclocross participant 2019
A person in bike shorts, sports bra, and decorative harness situation stands in a grassy field in front of a fieldhouse and kiddie pool. They have a yellow helmet and bike cap, and a cub scout shirt on. They are hoisting a NATURAL LIGHT NATURDAYS hand up from a bike race. They are also covered in dirt and scratched up on their belly and knee, because bike racing. They are dressed as a Bear Cub Scout and look grim.
November 19, 2025 at 5:51 PM
caiken.bsky.social
also you too can buy these shirts and wear them around and be pro not being a cruel asshole and also salt
it's hard for me to alt text photos of myself (a person, drinking a beer in the photo booth, with a shaggy haircut in black and white) so most importantly there's a photo in a photo booth strip of the Morton salt girl that says protect migrants and salt ice
October 26, 2025 at 8:51 PM
caiken.bsky.social
past few days of wandering around and sun and eyes open biking down Racine and Damen and up California and around the empty parks that break your heart and this was after work Friday on the way to the Skylark and Chicago is not going to stop and we are going to stay here
golden hour on the Halsted bridge over the river south of the shelters and Truong Enterprises, North of the Orange line, wrought iron bridge over reflective rippled water, cold coal plant in the background, shifting trees, golden hour.
October 26, 2025 at 8:46 PM
caiken.bsky.social
anyway this is in two weeks! Book release and reading at @skunkcabbagebooks.bsky.social with the incredible Ola Faleti and Tori Rego. come on out - and please order it from a great local like Skunk Cabbage!
A grey flyer has a book cover in the center. The cover is a decorative horse armor covering with "hotspur", the title, to the left. Underneath the title is the authors name, Carmen A Aiken. On the top left of the flier says: release and reading, Carmen Aiken, Ola Faleti, and Tori Rego. In the bottom right corner says Skunk Cabbage Books 2816 N Milwaukee Ave October 9th at 630 PM
September 26, 2025 at 9:58 PM
caiken.bsky.social
the city, the people.
A group of protestors against fascism stands off Columbus Drive near Grant Park listening to speakers. The sky is blue and full of cottony clouds, there are many signs including ICE OUT OF ILLINOIS and a young black person in a blue hoodie, a white person with a hat, and another white person in a pink hoodie in the foreground. There are many many other people standing and listening with signs.
September 7, 2025 at 2:19 AM
caiken.bsky.social
apply and share with your networks please!
A red square flyer with a megaphone in opposite corners has the GAPA Government Alliance for Police Accountability logo on a white stripe. Below that is a smaller header that says, Do you believe police accountability is a public safety issue? Below that says WE ARE HIRING, and then GAPA CAMPAIGN COORDINATOR. Below that is a QR code to scan, with the address: www.chicagogapacoalition.com and applications submitted by September 5th will be prioritized in smaller white font.
August 27, 2025 at 3:21 PM
caiken.bsky.social
Have you subscribed to @hkappklote.bsky.social's newsletter? You absolutely should.
Why It Matters: Trump is SO SCARED of Chicago, and SO SCARED of Illinois. All of these federal cowards are. He can’t control Chicago or Illinois, and he’s so, so scared about that. Trying to manufacture a crisis and legitimate more takeovers is disturbing on every level but it’s also a sign of his deep, deep fear. This is a region he doesn’t run and can’t fully bully on every political level: city, county, state, House, Senate. In many ways, in particular when it comes to deportation, his attempts to retaliate create real horrifying suffering. But it’s also where he’s most likely to overextend and lose. Chicago is a city of haters first and foremost, united by this across neighborhood, race, class, and opinion on the Bean. Whatever bickering or criticism around everything else in politics here, it will take more than posturing for Trump to actually challenge that power. Try it.
August 14, 2025 at 2:02 AM
caiken.bsky.social
just having a really rare feel good block party house music our kids are alive we're still here we still ride bikes and give a shit moment so here we were once at ciclo post and why here but why not
some queers who are white and Latina and have cool hair are all working on bikes in a crowded workshop with bikes on end truing and fixing wheels and there's a big yellow banner and we will all be so far away but we will all have been there
August 10, 2025 at 4:48 AM
caiken.bsky.social
ok but why is the 78 rezkoville former trainyard rave venue like this and why aren't we doing bandit cross there!
a long shot of wells st just south of Roosevelt Rd. In Chicago, a great, empty expanse of faded asphalt and adolescent trees on the parkway in a row, sparse light posts, the hint of clean, smooth bike pavement running parallel. there is no one there. perhaps there Courbosier would dream of housing here. perhaps the ghosts of rezkoville raves haunt the private pickleball courts. it is blocked by a gate unseen. a road to nowhere, we know where we're going, we know where we've been.
August 6, 2025 at 4:30 PM
caiken.bsky.social
anyway here's a cool video of Afterglow at Big Marsh Park! it was like 100F heat index! lots of OTHER PEOPLE WHO RIDE BIKES ARE COOL! it made me forget lots of things for the day!
June 23, 2025 at 2:52 PM
caiken.bsky.social
aspirational rising sign:
A white building with shingled roof in the desert behind a backdrop of a blue sky and wispy clouds. The sign above the roof says WINE AND ROCK SHOP
May 14, 2025 at 5:41 PM
caiken.bsky.social
May 14, 2025 at 5:39 PM
caiken.bsky.social
CBOT April 5, Chicago
A crowd of protesters on a gray day with many signs in front of the beige limestone Chicago Board of Trade Building. It feels very prescient.
April 5, 2025 at 7:23 PM
caiken.bsky.social
NEGRONI SEASON!!
A page that reads: "True Crime. Negroni Season. By Sara Vilkomerson. It was the spring of 2005 and I was living with the man that I, a bit stubbornly perhaps, had decided was the love of my life. The thing about choosing to live with a rapidly-approaching-bottom alcoholic is taht there are just so many ways to distory reality and find seemingly logical explanations to make your slowly spiraling out of control life look and feel somewhat reasonable (just ask Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse!). This is true even though you aren't the one who is drunk all the time. So, anyway, when I wasn't Googling "codependent" and "enabler," I was busy coming up with incrasingly bizarre ideas to set the train back on the tracks. Like when I tried to institute a thing called 'Sober Sundays'. That's right, Sober Sundays. It was exactly what it sounds like. And was, awesomely, a giant failure once I figured out that the Gatorade bottle the Boyfriend always had with him was, in fact, mostly vodka with perhaps a splash of Lemon-Lime. By the time May rolled around, I had given up trying for"
March 12, 2025 at 11:18 PM
caiken.bsky.social
really needed this today. thank you @flaminghydra.com

also... i think it's almost NEGRONI SEASON
a brown haired extremely tired non profit salt miner with lucite reading glasses has their face behind a white book. The Cover is white with a blue square title reading: "THE AWL". Beneath it is a black title with, "An Anthology of Writing from the Internet's Best Publication (2009 - 2018), edited by Carrie Frye." They are very happy despite being very despondent.
March 12, 2025 at 11:15 PM
caiken.bsky.social
you know what are cool? any other normal sunglasses. aviators went to the MOON. apollo 11 and you out here being some jock version of Starship Trooper on an Allez. lol. these dudes also think you are dorky AF. these sunglasses are in the Smithsonian.
The dope ass crew of motherfucking Apollo 11 (Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong) side hug each other, smiling, wearing cool aviator sunglasses. There are navy folks around them.
March 6, 2025 at 3:18 PM
caiken.bsky.social
If you see this, quote post with a photo you took of a sunset
Looking west into the sunset towards the city of San Francisco standing on the Rockridge BART platform
March 1, 2025 at 7:14 PM
caiken.bsky.social
The beautiful Jared Harris as Lane Pryce with waistcoat and red tie and bloodied knuckles reclines very tiredly on a 60s couch. The subtitles say [knocking] - I'm Busy
January 27, 2025 at 8:04 PM
caiken.bsky.social
Plant Chicago market, Back of the Yards, in the Plant firehouse
A yellow paper says Plant Chicago with a circle logo. Below that is Mercado De Intercambio Feb. 08 - mar. 08 - April. 12 10 AM - 2 PM. 4432 S. Ashland *Entrada por El estacionmento*. There is a drawing of a building and underneath: join us every Saturday this winter to shop local and sustainable: Fresh produce, honey, salsas & prepared food! "Shop" our free clothing swap, check out community resources, contribute to our weekly compost station, and a collective art weave. Compre y conozca de negocios locales y sostenibles: Productos frescos, miel, salsas, y comida preperada (opciones veganas!) tambien, visite nuestra tiendita gratis, recursos comunitarios, estacion de compostaje, y contribuye a un tejido artistico colectivo. We match LINK dollars: aceptamos igualamos compras con su tarjeta de LINK. there's logos of Linkup Illinois, nowhere collective, Experimental Station, and Southside Local. There are also Link Match dollars and coupons.
January 27, 2025 at 12:39 AM
caiken.bsky.social
Chicago Archives Zine Event, bb in Cadinho McKinley Park
A white piece of paper on a bulletin board has large type saying NUESTRO CHICAGO ARCHIVES ZINE EVENT next to text reading Feb 9th. Below this is a circle with text that says Join us in scamming your family photo that will be a part of our first zone series in documenting Latine history in Chicago. * Please bring in one photo per family. There is a print photo of a Latino family below this. Another circle says Sun 2-6 PM location 1928 W 21st St. Next to that says Vendors/Vending: Flower arrangements by Lila (@lila_tlalli) La Servan,(@_laserva_) pre loved goods StitchedTemptation (@stitched.temptations.) YouAreBeloved Jewelry (@dear.you.are.beloved)
January 27, 2025 at 12:39 AM
caiken.bsky.social
trying real hard not to clown on this book too much but "greatest accomplishments" w/r/t CHA and the Plan for Transformation is a real choice, Mr. Claypool!!!!
An excerpt from Forrest Claypool's book, "The Daley Show". The page reads: "Among the younger Daley's greatest accomplishments, for example, was the razing of the Chicago public-housing high rises his father had built to contain the African American community." There is a footnote but I don't know what it is.
January 22, 2025 at 2:59 PM
caiken.bsky.social
yes yes this series sort of sucked but i did really like the Speedy as red hood sort of thing! we still love Roy. duh.
a short person in a red hood, with diamond mask and long black gloves pulls back the string of a red bow. They look determined, and very cool.
January 17, 2025 at 3:52 PM
caiken.bsky.social
Brought to you by my temp foster Grateful who if you know someone who would like an extremely loving and chill and beautiful doggo, should give her a forever home! She's wonderful.
A brindle pittie dog sits in snow in front of a frozen lake. An extremely good girl. A beautiful brown eyed pit bull stands in snow beneath a blue and rainbow colored blanket looking at the camera. She is paused and ready to keep exploring.
January 11, 2025 at 4:16 PM
caiken.bsky.social
'lets talk about all our friends who lost the war and all of the novels that have yet to be written about them'
A blue sky with end of season cotton clouds over bare trees and a brick tower in the background. The foreground is a snow covered frozen lake.
January 11, 2025 at 4:13 PM
caiken.bsky.social
terrible photo resolution image I remembered I had on tumblr!
cut off drawing from a page from Anne Carson's "Antigonick": a black and white body of a horse being tangled up in red thread and capital handwritten print at the bottom that says: HERE COMES TEIRESIAS
January 10, 2025 at 2:54 PM