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Soren Spicknall

@sorenspicknall.bsky.social

5.8K followers 1.3K following 19K posts

Chicago. Interested in how places are shaped. Friend to alley cats. I don't speak on behalf of my affiliations. he/him "We know this world is good enough because it has to be."

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Soren Spicknall @sorenspicknall.bsky.social · Nov 16

Turning all my new cat friend posts into a thread that I can update as I add new cat friends

Soren Spicknall @sorenspicknall.bsky.social · Jul 27

new friend alert

A photo of a cat lying down calmly on the sidewalk just outside the door to a store

A photo of the same cat, a shorthair tortie with a fluffy tail, walking up to the camera lens

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Reposted by Soren Spicknall

Alex Harrison @alexhairysun.bsky.social · 8h

🧵Just got some records back today on the NIPAS deployment to Broadview last Friday, including two interesting letters dated that very same day which shed some light on the decision-making behind the "Unified Command" deployment vis-à-vis the IL TRUST Act. See below ⬇️

unraveled @unraveledpress.com · 7d

Cops with NIPAS—Northern IL Police Alarm System—just arrived to switch out with state troopers.

This is our first time seeing them out here; they're cop "mutual aid," assorted officers from other suburban departments called up specifically to assist Broadview PD.

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Soren Spicknall @sorenspicknall.bsky.social · 3h

Which gives rise to a less individualistic framing than I came in with. That maybe it's not so much something to welcome or refuse, but something that can afflict you. Something that seems perfectly rational from within, without realizing how out of sorts you've become. That needs deep care to heal.

Soren Spicknall @sorenspicknall.bsky.social · 3h

I sometimes wonder whether the thing I'm talking about, that I've struggled with in people I care about, is maybe best described as a form of depression since it functions much that way. It is fundamentally separated from the contents of any given day, a pall over everything that can't be dismissed.

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Soren Spicknall @sorenspicknall.bsky.social · 3h

A healthy amount of cynicism can be clarifying, protective, even empowering. But letting it form the core of yourself endangers making it a calcifying force instead, rendering you unable to interpret people and experiences beyond an intrinsic impulse for distrust and preemptive dismissal.

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Soren Spicknall @sorenspicknall.bsky.social · 3h

I am not trying to describe you, just reflecting on some recent personal experiences. But if you think that some of the patterns I'm talking about might apply to you, I hope you have trusted people to provide comfort and joy and relief from everything that's happening, and to help navigate it all.

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Soren Spicknall @sorenspicknall.bsky.social · 3h

I've known a couple people who've fallen into a pit like this, and it hurts to see them go through it. So jaded that they come to view almost anyone else as beneath them simply for not being in the same pit, and just sink further and further by rejecting anyone who names or challenges that pattern.

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Soren Spicknall @sorenspicknall.bsky.social · 4h

I refuse to become a person who drowns in such deep cynicism that they lose all ability to discern anything useful about what's happening around them. Defenses formed from harm can protect our energy and prevent future harm, but they can easily tip into deeply unhealthy, isolating conspiracism.

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Soren Spicknall @sorenspicknall.bsky.social · 4h

Don't ask me why the hell they did the living room window of the one house like that when they replaced it

Soren Spicknall @sorenspicknall.bsky.social · 4h

A newly possible view, previously obscured by a big old tree that fell apart during a storm earlier this year and was ground down to a stump this week.

A photo of a set of two story 1880s red brick rowhouses, each about 15 feet wide with a door on one side of the main floor facade and a wide double window on the other side. Above, on the top floor, is a big mansard roof with two small dormer windows poking out.

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Soren Spicknall @sorenspicknall.bsky.social · 4h

This is absolutely true. I have qualms with PSL, but a group of their members are rooted in immigration justice work and have done a great job of focusing the org on response actions that can actually help people instead of just posturing.

Reposted by Soren Spicknall

Jeremy Glover @jgrantglover.bsky.social · 5h

Y’all need to see this sign.

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Soren Spicknall @sorenspicknall.bsky.social · 10h

Opening tomorrow night! Come see some impressive art and artifacts from the studio of a man who deeply influenced the visual vernacular of Chicago during the early 20th century.

The annual Historic Pullman House Tour is also happening this weekend, so you can make a full day of it on Saturday.

A photo of an art gallery whose walls are filled with framed design documents for Art Deco figurines and buildings, with additional objects shown in display cases.

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Reposted by Soren Spicknall

metal dot txt @metaltxt.bsky.social · 11h

I'm looking at more photos of this place and it does sort of resemble mexican food and also lol this looks like about 20lbs of food

What appears to be two giant burritos on top of a rice bowl

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Soren Spicknall @sorenspicknall.bsky.social · 12h

Tacticool is the kind of guy who wishes he was Tentacruel, but in reality he's just Tentacool with a bunch of gear he bought on Amazon

Soren Spicknall @sorenspicknall.bsky.social · 14h

I can't draw well, but imagine a Pokemon named Tacticool that's a Tentacool wearing a bulletproof vest with a million pockets for flashlights and stuff, plus the worst mirrored wraparound sunglasses you've ever seen

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Soren Spicknall @sorenspicknall.bsky.social · 16h

Still isn't quite as funny as the Pedway / Macy's basement Starbucks that used to be located directly underneath the Macy's sidewalk Starbucks in the Loop

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Soren Spicknall @sorenspicknall.bsky.social · 17h

In Orland Park, there's a standalone Starbucks across the street from the Target Starbucks across the street from the Jewel Starbucks

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Reposted by Soren Spicknall

Eric Allix Rogers @ericallixrogers.com · 19h

This is the perfect use case for AI: to immiserate the people whose jobs, which they do only because they need paychecks, is to churn out vast quantities of shit that no one actually wants or values.

Joseph Cox @josephcox.bsky.social · 19h

New from 404 Media: an internal Meta message we obtained tells employees on its metaverse team that they should be using AI to “go 5x faster”. That's 5 times faster, not 5 percent more.

www.404media.co/meta-tells-w...

Meta Tells Workers Building Metaverse to Use AI to ‘Go 5x Faster’

Meta says that its coders should be working five times faster and that it expects "a 5x leap in productivity."

www.404media.co

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Soren Spicknall @sorenspicknall.bsky.social · 1d

Yep!

Soren Spicknall @sorenspicknall.bsky.social · 1d

Also it was accompanied by this photo

A darkly lit, suit-wearing Billy Corgan is photographed in an alley making a metal fist in one hand and holding a dark Erewhon smoothie in the other

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Soren Spicknall @sorenspicknall.bsky.social · 1d

It costs $19.79

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Soren Spicknall @sorenspicknall.bsky.social · 1d

The Smashing Pumpkins Announce Goth Erewhon Smoothie

The Smashing Pumpkins Announce Goth Erewhon Smoothie

The Smashing Pumpkins Announce Goth Erewhon Smoothie

The Smashing Pumpkins Announce Goth Erewhon Smoothie

The Smashing Pumpkins Announce Goth Erewhon Smoothie

The Smashing Pumpkins Announce

The Smashing Pumpkins Announce Goth Erewhon Smoothie

A lot of musicians have collaborated with Erewhon for signature smoothies, like Kacey Musgraves, Travis Scott, and Kali Uchis. Now, the Smashing Pumpkins are joining forces with the grocery store to l...

www.stereogum.com

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Reposted by Soren Spicknall

Lake Michigan! Live! @lake-michigan.live · 1d

Current* conditions near Michigan City, IN:

Western view of Washington Park Beach and the inlet to Michigan City Harbor in Michigan City with Lake Michigan beyond. // Image captured at: 2025-10-09 21:37:14 UTC (about 1 min. prior to this post) // Current Temp in Michigan City: 61.57 F | 16.43 C // Precip: clear sky // Wind: SE at 2.997 mph | 4.82 kph // Humidity: 58%

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Reposted by Soren Spicknall

Conrail Twitty @grenadine.bsky.social · 2d

BRO IT’S THE VINTAGE ROCKET WITH A FACE PLAYGROUND OH MY GOD

Every Lot St Louis @everylotstlouis.bsky.social · 2d

2947 DR MARTIN LUTHER KING DR, ST LOUIS, MO, 63106

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Soren Spicknall @sorenspicknall.bsky.social · 1d

For anyone unfamiliar with the neighborhood, I wrote a series of short blog posts about Miller Beach last year. This one talks about what Miller Beach is to Gary today - the only consistently economically stable, racially integrated neighborhood in the city - and how it got there.

Miller Beach, Part 3: A Center of Gravity in Gary

Part 3 of a series of blog posts about community history, urban planning, and the built environment in the Miller Beach community of Gary, Indiana

www.spicknall.us

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