A smattering of photos from life in an Icey time

Oh! Good news ! ! ! (Wut ? ? ?)

QUICK UPDATE: You'll have seen by now--a friend just texted me---the Border ICE commander is leaving!!! Gregory Bovino has been "specially created title of 'commander at large'”.

AND... Trump “agreed to look into reducing the number of federal agents in Minnesota and working with the state in a more coordinated fashion on immigration enforcement regarding violent criminals”.
--theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/27/gregory-bovino-minneapolis-minnesota-alex-pretti-shooting

There is joy in the land!!!

I know this isn't over, but no one should ever say protesting and resistance don't work! 

I don't feel much personal anger at the goons and thugs of ICE.  They are on some dark, dark trajectory I can hardly imagine.

I do feel some bitterness toward people on "our" side who undercut efforts with their negativity ("there's no point" or "this is the end of our country") and bystanders. 

To the rest of us, I say:

Never give up! Never surrender!

[--Galaxy Quest, ya know.]
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I'd emailed a friend this morning:

Hello my longtime Nefarious friend!

This morning I am not less hopeful, but I am feeling less perky than usual. A little more frazzled.
Not surprisingly.

I'd gone out for coffee with a friend yesterday morning and was commenting on how calm I've been feeling.

Then I saw a masked man coming into the coffee shop wearing a big camo coat and a black face mask, and my heart thudded into RED ALERT.

He looked like ICE, but he was just a customer on another below-zero morning. 

Ha. So. Not so calm. Constantly vigilant. It's tiring.

Thank you for kindly passing along the Episcopal bishop's letter. *

 I love the letter's opening line, 
"Like Jesus, we live in frightening times."
I suppose all times are frightening, but there are times of heightened drama and awareness, and our time, now, certainly fits the bill.
I HOPE it may be an opportunity we take to wake up a bit.

Be well, my friend! Love you!

[end email]

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I want to share this smattering of photos, for a little feel of life here in the past three weeks, since the surge of ICE came to town...
Very little:I haven't taken many--
mostly because it's been so cold, also sometimes because my hands have been holding a sign or a candle at gatherings. 

ABOVE: Whistle kits hang on the exit-way bulletin board at my workplace.
 bink's neighborhood group puts together hundreds of these kits, and she passes some on to me.
They always get taken right away.

The baggies include  a whistle on a neck cord,  
instructions (but don't worry about it, just blow the thing),
and a pin saying I STAND WITH IMMIGRANTS. 
The pins' inverted blue triangle, "once a classification mark Nazis forced onto migrants in concentration camps, has been adopted as a symbol of solidarity and resistance."
--via Witness at the Border witnessattheborder.org

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Above: "I fight despair with resilience and light" --
poster by Abigail E. Penner abigailep.com 
in the window of an indie vintage shop. 

I stopped in the shop with my "stop killing people" sign to warm up, after signing on the corner. The young store-owner gave me a big hug. I commented how nice people are being, and she said,

"Yeah.. I've been telling people, I can't wait till we go back to hating each other, like normal."

We laughed.

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Above: A Bearcat armored vehicle, (left, red lights on top) and other vehicles from ATF have blocked off the street in front of the thrift store. They are searching (fruitlessly) for weapons stolen from an ICE vehicle the night before.
Right:  87-year old store volunteer, Mildred, walks toward a city cop, who is advising her on how to drive out of the parking lot. It is slippery out, and he walks her to her car.

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Above:  A pal at work shows me the sign he made at our workplace before he heads out to the first big protest here, the Saturday after ICE murdered Renee Nicole Good on January 7, 2026. 
(That's only three weeks ago, tomorrow.)
The volunteer says the Vampire is Stephen Miller,  
and the Evil Witch is Kristi Noem.
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Above: A pink hearts package at my door greets me when I return home. Inside is my old stuffed bear, Bed Bear, returned from Duluth where he's been living with Marz, to keep me company.
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Above: A sunrise from friend's morning walk.
She sent it to me as a color reference for the God's eyes I've been making at the request of a different friend--
a reminder that the world keeps going... 

And so do we.

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* From the bishop's letter my friend sent:

"Jesus knew what happens when earthly powers persuade human beings to fear one another, regard one another as strangers, and believe that there is not enough to go around. 
In Jesus’ time, the power of these divisions motivated John’s beheading and Jesus’ own death on the cross at the hands of Roman authorities. 

"In our time, the deadly power of those divisions is on display on the streets of Minneapolis, in other places across the United States, and in other countries around the world. 

As has too often been the case throughout history, the most vulnerable among us are bearing the burden, shouldering the greatest share of risk and loss, and enduring the violation of their very humanity.

"But we do not grieve without hope."

--From Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe: "Death and despair do not have the last word",  January 25, 2026, 
episcopalchurch.org/publicaffairs/from-presiding-bishop-sean-rowe-death-and-despair-do-not-have-the-last-word