Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Sarah Kokernot @sarahkokernot.bsky.social · 17m

Thrilled to be teaching a class next week! “In Praise of Decay, Compost & Renewal” will be at Greenspell Herbal Academy in Chicago on 10/22. We‘ll be observing the natural world as it transitions to winter, then write in praise of our ancestors, kin, & whatever else continues to nourish us.

Sarah Kokernot @sarahkokernot.bsky.social · 20h

May all beings be free from dumbfuckery. By @fulmerford.com

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Reposted by Sarah Kokernot

jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 2d

federal agents stealing children and sending them south. where have i heard about that before?

Caitlin G. DeAngelis @caitlindeangelis.bsky.social · 2d

ICE kidnapped a 7th-grader with a pending asylum claim and spirited him out of state without notifying his parents, seemingly with the cooperation of the local police in Everett, MA.

www.bostonglobe.com/2025/10/12/m...

Everett 13-year-old arrested by ICE and sent to Virginia detention facility
By Marcela Rodrigues Globe Staff,Updated October 12, 2025, 44 minutes ago

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A 13-year-old boy was arrested by ICE in Everett and sent to a juvenile detention facility in Virginia.
A 13-year-old boy was arrested by ICE in Everett and sent to a juvenile detention facility in Virginia.
A 13-year-old boy was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Everett after an interaction with members of the Everett Police Department and sent to a juvenile detention facility in Virginia, according to his mother and immigration lawyer Andrew Lattarulo.

The boy’s mother, Josiele Berto, was called to pick her son up from the Everett Police Department on Thursday, the day he was arrested. After waiting for about an hour and a half, she was told her son was taken by ICE, Berto told the Globe in a phone interview.

“My world collapsed,” Berto said in Portuguese.

From the police department, the boy was taken to ICE’s holding facility in Burlington on Thursday evening, where he spent a night before being transferred by car to the Northwestern Regional Juvenile Detention Center in Winchester, Va., on Friday morning, his mother said. The juvenile facility is more than 500 miles away from Everett.

The boy is a 7th-grader at Albert N. Parlin School in Everett, his mother said. The teen and his family, who are Brazilian nationals, have a pending asylum case and are authorized to work legally in the United States, Lattarulo said.

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Sarah Kokernot @sarahkokernot.bsky.social · 3d

Happy to report that in the last three days I have raised $120 for the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant & Refugees Rights through newsletter subscriptions! All paid subscriptions this month will be donated in full to the ICIRR.

Sarah Kokernot @sarahkokernot.bsky.social · 6d

I wrote about supporting immigrants while ICE invades Chicago & its suburbs, finding spiritual resilience in the living world, and the witch & yogini. Also: angels with pigeon feathers. #dharma #witchsky #pagansky

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Sarah Kokernot @sarahkokernot.bsky.social · 3d

I couldn‘t ever have imagined a state governor saying this when I was in high school. That the world has become a more inclusive place Is why the far right is so afraid. We already made the change.

Governor JB Pritzker @govpritzker.illinois.gov · 4d

On National Coming Out Day, know that I will always be an ally to you — no matter where you are on your journey.

I know that times may be scary, but you are seen, safe, supported, and loved here in Illinois.

Sarah Kokernot @sarahkokernot.bsky.social · 6d

Thank you so much for sharing, Greg! 💙 Proud of Chicago.

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Sarah Kokernot @sarahkokernot.bsky.social · 6d

I wrote about supporting immigrants while ICE invades Chicago & its suburbs, finding spiritual resilience in the living world, and the witch & yogini. Also: angels with pigeon feathers. #dharma #witchsky #pagansky

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Reposted by Sarah Kokernot

Rebecca Makkai @rebeccamakkai.bsky.social · 8d

This sounds so fun: Create an oracle to get creatively “unstuck” and build more meaningful patterns in @sarahkokernot.bsky.social's @storystudiochicago.bsky.social class… One class, in person, starts October 29!
www.storystudiochicago.org/classes/clas...

Genre Series: The Answer Is Already Here: Make Your Own Writing Oracle with Sarah Kokernot - StoryStudio Chicago

In this class, we'll explore the oracles of inquiry, collage, and bibliomancy to gather inspiration for new ideas, get "unstuck” on creative projects, build more meaningful patterns in your work, and ...

www.storystudiochicago.org

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Sarah Kokernot @sarahkokernot.bsky.social · 7d

Thanks for sharing!

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Sarah Kokernot @sarahkokernot.bsky.social · 10d

I spent 8 years of my career teaching the children of immigrant parents in Chicago and Texas, and I’m horrified that this is happening to them. It is state-sanctioned child abuse. I hope this small act of fundraising will help the much larger effort to protect immigrant communities from ICE.

Sarah Kokernot @sarahkokernot.bsky.social · 10d

Your paid subscription will grant you access to recorded creative writing classes and mini-salons, and I will also provide you with one free creative coaching email.
And: If you’re not interested in my newsletter, please consider donating to ICIR anyway. icirr.org

Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights

ICIRR is dedicated to promoting the rights of immigrants and refugees to full and equal participation in the civic, cultural, social, and political life of our diverse society.

icirr.org

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Sarah Kokernot @sarahkokernot.bsky.social · 10d

Here’s the link to my newsletter sarahkokernot.substack.com

Your Wild and Radiant Mind | Sarah Kokernot | Substack

Buddhism but make it wild and witchy. A newsletter on creative practice, ecospirituality, and dharma. Click to read Your Wild and Radiant Mind, by Sarah Kokernot, a Substack publication with hundreds ...

sarahkokernot.substack.com

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Sarah Kokernot @sarahkokernot.bsky.social · 10d

For the next month I’m raising money for the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant Rights (ICIRR). This October, anyone who pays in full ($30 for the year) for a paid subscription to my newsletter will have their full payment donated to ICIRR which is protecting immigrant families and children.

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Reposted by Sarah Kokernot

George Conway 🇺🇸🚫👑🐸 @gtconway.bsky.social · 11d

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Sarah Kokernot @sarahkokernot.bsky.social · 11d

We’re all hypocrites in this world but the least we can do is to minimize harm, and minimizing harm also means breaking our addiction to efficiency. Which is what AI really is: a neoliberal efficiency machine.

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Sarah Kokernot @sarahkokernot.bsky.social · 11d

This isn’t to say that AI doesn’t have very real or very helpful applications. But so did fossil fuels. And now we have such a dependence on them that they are endangering all forms of life on earth. What kind of dependence are we creating here with supporting AI? Is it worth it?

Sarah Kokernot @sarahkokernot.bsky.social · 11d

So much of convo around AI ethics seems to be focused on the intelligence & authorship aspect. That feels minuscule compared to creating a form of non-sentient intelligence which harms and jeopardizes actual living beings.

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Sarah Kokernot @sarahkokernot.bsky.social · 11d

I honestly don’t understand how someone could say “water is sacred” or “water is life” and then support AI, whose servers extract & waste tons and tons of water, and endanger poor, Black, & Latinx communities.

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Sarah Kokernot @sarahkokernot.bsky.social · 12d

Horrified by what ICE is doing to Chicago and especially to children. I spent years of my career teaching the children of immigrant parents. What ICE did to those families in the South Side apartment last night is nothing less than child abuse. We have to resist.

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Reposted by Sarah Kokernot

Governor JB Pritzker @govpritzker.illinois.gov · 12d

ICE is running around Chicago harassing people for not being white.

Just a year ago, that was illegal in the United States and now it’s commonplace.

That’s not making America great again.

South Shore Residents Return To Ransacked Apartments After ICE Raid: 'It Looks Like Hell'

A "now renting" sign outside touts granite countertops. Inside, residents are trying to make sense of the raid that made their already neglected building even worse.

blockclubchicago.org

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Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 12d

Gov. Pritzker has said all the right things, but now he needs to act and get these state troopers out of there.

unraveled @unraveledpress.com · 12d

A protester with a mobility aid (cane) was sitting in the road. Illinois state troopers dragged them to the grass and arrested them.

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Chris Hayes @chrislhayes.bsky.social · 12d

According to eyewitnesses, armed ICE agents dragged kids out of their beds in the middle of the night, zip tied them and put them in rented vans while raiding an * entire apartment building* on the South Side of Chicago.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOXO...

‘F--- them kids’: ICE agents drag children out of bed, ransack Chicago building

YouTube video by MSNBC

www.youtube.com

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eileen chengyin chow @chowleen.bsky.social · 13d

I have been younger in October /
than in all the months of spring

-W.S. Merwin, who understands (we share a birthday — the last day of September)

“The Love for October”
#everynightapoem #October1st

have been younger in October /
than in all the months of spring

-W.S. Merwin, who understands

“The Love for October”
#everynightapoem #October1st

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Reposted by Sarah Kokernot

Juan Martinez @fulmerford.com · 14d

Can 100% confirm that @sarahkokernot.bsky.social is excellent at all kinds of writing advice & is singularly good at listening and clarifying tricky craft bits AND writing-life challenges

Sarah Kokernot @sarahkokernot.bsky.social · 15d

Excited to offer writing coaching over email. The first email is free, no strings attached. If you want to keep going you’ll receive 5 more emails for $100 w/ a sliding scale for those who need it. Your pace, no expiration date. Get practical guidance from someone who has been there.

Need writing advice? Send me your question and I’ll send you a free personalized email.

What do people ask me about: I’m stuck in the middle of a long project. What do I do? I just faced a huge rejection. How do I recover? How do I balance work, life, & my writing practice? Am I ready to publish?

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