Zac Whittenburg
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trailerpilot.bsky.social
Zac Whittenburg
@trailerpilot.bsky.social
Chicagoan, Coloradan, cyclist, grantmaker, shutterbug, writer, and a few other things. Posts are mine alone, he / him, reskeet ≠ “I think”
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Cross-posting from LinkedIn 🇺🇸 → 🇸🇪
Reposted by Zac Whittenburg
Honored to be a first-time contributor to C-print’s annual Best Exhibitions List — I feel fortunate to have caught Miriam Cahn at MAAT, Camille Henrot at Hauser & Wirth, and Carlos H. Matos at PEANA this year bit.ly/4jgjEoA
The 2025 Best Exhibitions List
As per tradition, C-print closes a year of travels and extensive exhibition visits with the annual best exhibitions list, this being the 11th edition since our start in 2013. This year, the C-print te...
bit.ly
December 31, 2025 at 3:24 PM
Reposted by Zac Whittenburg
Partie de Stockholm (Clair de Lune)

Alfred Wahlberg, 1892
January 2, 2026 at 9:29 AM
Honored to be a first-time contributor to C-print’s annual Best Exhibitions List — I feel fortunate to have caught Miriam Cahn at MAAT, Camille Henrot at Hauser & Wirth, and Carlos H. Matos at PEANA this year bit.ly/4jgjEoA
The 2025 Best Exhibitions List
As per tradition, C-print closes a year of travels and extensive exhibition visits with the annual best exhibitions list, this being the 11th edition since our start in 2013. This year, the C-print te...
bit.ly
December 31, 2025 at 3:24 PM
Carmen de Lavallade “beguiled audiences for seven decades, drawing reviews that often were rhapsodies of superlatives.” t.ly/phaXg
Carmen de Lavallade, mesmerizing dancer and choreographer, dies at 94
She helped lay the foundation for modern dance in the U.S., collaborating with Alvin Ailey as well as her husband, Geoffrey Holder.
t.ly
December 31, 2025 at 9:36 AM
Reposted by Zac Whittenburg
President Trump promised punishment for Colorado. And delivered.

Relocating Space Command
Denying disaster funding for wildfires and floods
Planning to dismantle NCAR
DOJ investigation of Colorado's prisons
Vetoing a clean drinking water project
👇👇👇
December 31, 2025 at 5:01 AM
“Maxwell regularly visited the Mar-a-Lago spa, where she booked Epstein’s in-home appointments and charged services for herself to the account in Epstein’s name.… Maxwell also used the spa to recruit young spa workers for side jobs, which weren’t authorized by the club.” t.ly/38z1H
Exclusive | The Incident That Prompted Trump to Ban Epstein From Mar-a-Lago’s Spa
Mar-a-Lago sent an 18-year-old spa worker on a house call to Jeffrey Epstein in 2003. She complained to her bosses that Epstein pressured her for sex.
t.ly
December 31, 2025 at 4:59 AM
Reposted by Zac Whittenburg
The nonprofit owner of the Chicago Sun-Times and WBEZ paid its outgoing CEO more than $900,000 in 2024, new tax filings show, as it engaged in staff cuts and other measures to deal with declining revenue.
Ex-CEO of Chicago Public Media saw $900,000 payout in 2024, IRS filings show
chicago.suntimes.com
December 31, 2025 at 2:46 AM
“Monument to the Unknown Bureaucrat” in Reykjavík, Magnús Tómasson, 1994
December 30, 2025 at 3:24 PM
Growing up in Boulder, I visited NCAR a number of times on school field trips. Not only did the science and technology amaze my classmates (and teachers) and me, its I. M. Pei–designed campus was a formative architectural experience. It was hallowed ground. bit.ly/3XZs0aC
Trump moves to dismantle major US climate research center in Colorado
The Trump administration is breaking up the National Center for Atmospheric Research, taking aim at one of the world's leading climate research labs.
bit.ly
December 17, 2025 at 5:45 AM
Reposted by Zac Whittenburg
Dennis Scott is a true midwestern vaudevillian! Joshua Minsoo Kim interviews the longtime @musicboxtheatre.bsky.social organist for the Reader. https://bit.ly/4oRqkuO
An interview with Dennis Scott, Music Box Theatre organist - Chicago Reader
Midwestern vaudevillian Dennis Scott discusses his early memories of music, his mentor, and the joys of playing during the holiday season.
chicagoreader.com
December 11, 2025 at 9:30 PM
Smart conversation on today’s @blockclubchi.bsky.social podcast about the roles local media, agency propaganda, public messaging, and fatigue and forgetfulness play in conflicts over immigration bit.ly/3XGoH87
‘Lying Constantly’ - How The Feds Used Propaganda During Midway Blitz | The Block Club Chicago Podcast
Homeland Security has sought to reshape violent encounters into triumphant narratives — even as judges, journalists and experts said the agency has repeatedly distorted facts, misled the public and at...
bit.ly
December 9, 2025 at 5:42 PM
Reposted by Zac Whittenburg
TIL about a memorial ceremony in Iceland in 2019 to mark the end of a glacier, changing the place name from Okjökull to Ok (jökull = glacier). Uncompromising wording on the bronze plaque:
"This is to acknowledge that we know what is happening and what needs to be done. Only you know if we did it".
December 7, 2025 at 5:17 PM
The first time I visited Washington DC was in November 2008. I attended the last rally of Barack Obama’s campaign in Manassas VA. The second time I visited was in November 2016, when I watched Hillary Clinton’s concession speech from a DCA concourse. My third visit was this week.
December 7, 2025 at 10:00 PM
“While some are aspirational, reliant on their founders securing hard-to-come-by special economic zone status, there are now about 120 ‘start-up societies’ in the works, according to an open-source database shared by [Balaji] Srinivasan.” on.ft.com/4pPs9cj
Tech elites are starting their own for-profit cities
They want to escape from regulation and ‘failing’ democracy — but are they more opportunistic than libertarian?
on.ft.com
December 7, 2025 at 5:23 PM
It felt good in December 2025 to stand in the same spot at 4th Street NW and Madison Drive NW in Washington, DC where, in January 1989, my dad stood and took a photograph of the East Building of the National Gallery of Art (I. M. Pei & Partners, 1978)
December 7, 2025 at 3:30 PM
“The dance field has not been in a moment of incredible glory and surplus in my entire lifetime.” bit.ly/48BvG79
She was a dancer who leapt to the top of her field — then the Trump administration fired her
Ousted from her position as Kennedy Center dance director Jane Raleigh is still trying to choreograph her next steps.
bit.ly
December 6, 2025 at 1:51 PM
While Frank Gehry is not generally in my pantheon of contemporary architects, I’ve had many great experiences in and around his buildings and referenced them often in my writing about dance.
December 6, 2025 at 1:18 AM
“Several artists say the [Kennedy Center] has been stiffing them on their fees.” bit.ly/4pLlzDK
Kennedy Center to Artists: Your Checks Are In the Mail
According to reps for several performers, the beleaguered arts institution isn’t showing them the money.
bit.ly
December 5, 2025 at 3:05 PM
“They operate as highly optimized machines for converting geopolitical upheaval, public spending, and professional labor into predictable returns.” bit.ly/4oFyF4u
Trump’s new ballroom architect, Shalom Baranes, is a self-described “refugee” who publicly challenged the president on immigration
“My work would be impossible without my fellow immigrants,” he wrote in 2017
bit.ly
December 5, 2025 at 2:53 PM
Reposted by Zac Whittenburg
forty-one minutes is a long time to spend premeditating
December 5, 2025 at 2:44 AM
Reposted by Zac Whittenburg
The fact that a second strike like that in an armed conflict is definitely a war crime should not completely negate the fact that *there is no war* and ALL the strikes are cold-blooded murder. The whole chain of command are murderers.
December 5, 2025 at 1:20 AM
What does it mean when Pete Hegseth publicly states that Andrew Kolvet’s wish is a military command? In case of conflict between Kolvet and Trump, whose wish prevails? What does “command” mean?
December 5, 2025 at 2:17 AM
Reposted by Zac Whittenburg
@helenshaw.bsky.social is a genius & a mensch & this is a huge gain for the New York Times! Bummed for us but very excited to read her in their pages… www.nytco.com/press/helen-...
Helen Shaw Joins Culture | The New York Times Company
www.nytco.com
December 3, 2025 at 4:15 PM
“In her lawsuit, the bulk of Dulaney’s complaints stem from what she calls a ‘misuse of funds’ and concerns about ‘budget transparency.’ …The lawsuit also states that she was asked to ‘falsify reporting’ on grants” bit.ly/3Y6aTDQ
DuSable Black History Museum, CEO misused public funds, whistleblower alleges
A lawsuit, which also alleges bullying, was filed in Cook County by Kim Dulaney, a former director and vice president at the museum.
bit.ly
December 3, 2025 at 4:04 PM