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Marc Fischer

@marc-fischer.bsky.social

4.4K followers 1.1K following 2.7K posts

Artist publisher living in Chicago with Public Collectors, Half Letter Press, Temporary Services. Finds cultural voids; fills them. He/him www.publiccollectors.org, https://halfletterpress.com, www.temporaryservices.org, https://hardcorearchitecture.blog

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Marc Fischer @marc-fischer.bsky.social · 7d

Public Collectors publication #105 combines almost a year of my Bluesky posts about self-publishing, some messy studio photos, and the text from Why Self-Publish Under Fascism? This just came back from the printer and is available to order. Just $6.00 + shipping halfletterpress.com/PCpublic-pub....

Back cover:

After many years on other social media platforms, in October 2024 I decided to see what Bluesky is all about. People described it as like Twitter without the nazis, and I liked the lack of advertising and algorhythmic excess. I enjoy telling stories and do this a lot elsewhere online but was cool with the 300-character limit and found it helpful for condensing my writing into tight chunks of thought. If I needed more space, I could always say more in the replies, but mostly I tried to see what I could say with a single post.

I began writing about my self-publishing practice and quickly found a different and far more diverse audience than I have on other platforms. This booklet is a diary created through posts from near the beginning of my time on Bluesky until mid-September, 2025—almost a year.

2024-2025 has been a prolific time of making new publications for me, and some of those publications—particularly my text Why Self-Publish Under Fascism?—attracted many readers and new social media followers. That booklet was initially published on May 1, 2025. It came out of an invitation from Mariame Kaba to participate in a panel discussion titled: Why Make Zines in 2025: Information Control Under Fascism at the space Walls Turned Sideways in Chicago. I workshopped some of the text in a thread Mariame started on Bluesky. After making over 1,750 copies of that booklet by hand (I still might make more that way), I decided to fold that text into this publication since the diary content comes from a similar place of thinking and making. I’ve also added photos of my messy studio taken in September 2025, which became messier through printing, initialling, rubber stamping, and clipping the corners of so many copies of that popular booklet.

I love when a book or zine inspires me to make more of my own publications and I hope this little collection of short thoughts will motivate others to publish new things in their own way.

Marc Fischer / Public Collectors

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Marc Fischer @marc-fischer.bsky.social · 2h

Emergency Protest Today, 10/8/2025 in Chicago: 5:30 PM at Michigan and Ida B. Wells. We're demanding that ICE and the National Guard get out of our city. I'll attend this.

A flyer credited to Coalition Against the Trump Agenda announcing an Emergency Protest Today, 10/8/2025 in Chicago: 5:30 PM at Michigan and Ida B. Wells, demanding that ICE and the National Guard leave Chicago. A large crowd is shown marching in downtown Chicago.

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Marc Fischer @marc-fischer.bsky.social · 2h

Watching my dog fumbling around, acting like he doesn’t know that there are a ton of french fries on the ground, after he had already snagged one or two earlier this morning.

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Marc Fischer @marc-fischer.bsky.social · 13h

Will they be served deep dish MRE's?

Marc Fischer @marc-fischer.bsky.social · 15h

Hopefully the only toilets anyone allows them to use.

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Marc Fischer @marc-fischer.bsky.social · 17h

It me! And many collaborators.

Marc Fischer @marc-fischer.bsky.social · 22h

This record is achingly sad. It's hard for me to explain why Roy Montgomery strumming away is so affecting for me, but it has that impact almost immediately in many songs. One of those people who both sounds like he's not doing too much with his instrument, and also like he's doing EVERYTHING.

Marc Fischer @marc-fischer.bsky.social · 22h

I love everything by Roy Montgomery that I've heard but there are a bunch of his records I don't know. I picked up "Camera Melancholia" over the weekend and just started listening. It's gorgeous guitar music, and moving in ways I expected it probably would be. youtu.be/BwPS0chCexk

First Exposure

YouTube video by Roy Montgomery - Topic

youtu.be

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Marc Fischer @marc-fischer.bsky.social · 22h

I'm on very friendly terms with others in this home but our communication is limited by a language barrier. I just want the best for everyone living there.

Marc Fischer @marc-fischer.bsky.social · 23h

Can't they just go have a circle jerk with ICE and spray each other with chemical weapons until everyone gets what they came for?

Marc Fischer @marc-fischer.bsky.social · 23h

I'm mad that my little dog had to see that when he could have been peeing on something and making better use of my time.

Marc Fischer @marc-fischer.bsky.social · 23h

I can tell you it's bad for my mental health because I have to see 8 cars worth of cops mostly standing around with their fingers in their asses doing a whole lot of nothing.

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Marc Fischer @marc-fischer.bsky.social · 23h

I wonder if anyone who calls 911 specifies how many cop cars they would like? "Hello, someone is parked illegally and they are blocking my driveway by 6 inches and I can't get out without my car's tire dropping down over a curb. Please send 9.5 cop cars."

Marc Fischer @marc-fischer.bsky.social · 23h

And a slew of people in stopped cars that are unable to get down my street because they have blocked it off and passersby asking what the hell is going on. So calming.

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Marc Fischer @marc-fischer.bsky.social · 23h

southsideweekly.com/despite-cris...

Despite Crisis Training, Many Chicago Police Officers Still Resort to Force in Mental Health Crises

Last year, 169 police officers who received training used force at least once during a mental health-related incident in Chicago.

southsideweekly.com

Marc Fischer @marc-fischer.bsky.social · 23h

A young man at the end of my block seemed to have been having a mental health episode (this has happened before) and I suspect his parents or landlord called the cops. EIGHT fucking squad cars showed up. He was standing outside looking quite calm considering 8 FUCKING SQUAD CARS were there. Vomit!

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Marc Fischer @marc-fischer.bsky.social · 1d

It's a big enough show - about 250 photos plus other objects and ephemera, that it might be worth a road trip. There were a couple Roy DeCarava photos I had never seen before that blew me away. I love his work and wasn't expecting to see it in this exhibit.

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Marc Fischer @marc-fischer.bsky.social · 1d

They produced a hefty catalog for it, which I didn’t buy, but it looked really nice.

Marc Fischer @marc-fischer.bsky.social · 1d

There's a fantastic Black Photo-Journalism exhibit at the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh now and there's a microfilm reader that people can use in the exhibit. Loved seeing that!

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Reposted by Marc Fischer

jessie spano's "the life of showgirls" streaming now @anem0ne.net · 1d

i think that just means the rest of y'all should get on our level

Asawin Suebsaeng @swin24.bsky.social · 1d

The people in Chicago who hate trump politically hate him in a way that is foreign to most other places in the nation, even other deep blue strongholds, it’s kind of mesmerizing

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Marc Fischer @marc-fischer.bsky.social · 1d

Maybe Kurowski can give you some bones and you can carve those into whistles after you suck out the marrow?

Marc Fischer @marc-fischer.bsky.social · 1d

I’m looking forward to seeing the results in a few months!

Marc Fischer @marc-fischer.bsky.social · 2d

Thank you!

Marc Fischer @marc-fischer.bsky.social · 2d

I normally do but in this case I linked to a PDF of the entire text including what’s shown in the image that a computer should be able to read. The only difference is that the image shows burgundy text on light blue paper and the PDF is black text on a white background.

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Marc Fischer @marc-fischer.bsky.social · 2d

Please keep posting links to cheap whistle options you find. Others will use them.

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Marc Fischer @marc-fischer.bsky.social · 2d

On September 17th I bought 100 whistles from one seller for $23.03. They are now charging $120.88 for the same 100 plastic whistles.

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