This newsletter reads differently than if I had sent it six hours ago. The hope that I felt last night as I read the words below to a bar filled with friends and strangers has been tested.

Over the past two weeks there have been verified state sanctioned kidnappings from the parking lot of the Target near my home. The Target that I have spent way too much money over the almost 20 years it has been open. Something snapped in me last week when I heard about the latest one. In my smart mouth manner I said, “Someone should stand outside the Target to warn shoppers,” because this Target has the parking lot under the store and you can’t tell if ICE might be there until it is too late. Can you imagine running in at 8 am to pickup that thing your kid needs for school and being kidnapped?

This morning, after getting on the train to head into work my phone blew up. ICE was using Target again. They hit my neighborhood hard. Two people were taken as they were working on a roof near a friend’s house. I felt helpless being so far away. I felt defeated. Not 24 hours after our collective action ICE hit RIGHT THERE as if to say, “Fuck you. We’ll do what we want.” And from the chats my neighbors rose to the occasion, as they have for weeks.

I normally do not share what I read at storytelling events. I’ve had friends miss a show and I tell them that those stories live in that moment. I also don’t always give permission to shows that record. But last night I knew I needed to share this to spread the message to those who need to hear it. And right now it is me who needs to hear it. They will not let up, so we can’t either.

20 ×2 - What Do You Know?

Preface: 20×2 Chicago is a show that gives 20 people 2 minutes to answer the same question. We are given the question in advance. This is one of my favorite shows because it is part storytelling, part talent show, part public spectacle.

I was riding my sparkly purple scooter to work. Just as I was crossing Kedzie & Lawrence I heard the horns. Then the whistles. The clear signal that ICE is in the area. I pulled over and saw agents had a 30-something white man in their hands. People were yelling at them. I was blowing on my whistle. Straddling my scooter while taking video, my helmet still on.

What do you know... Weeks into this federal invasion and the crowds have only grown. People driving past slowed to honk. People ran out of businesses yelling “GO HOME! GET THE FUCK OUTTA MY CITY! GET A REAL JOB!”

It was heartbreaking. It was traumatizing. It was beautiful.

It was beautiful because WE ARE WINNING.

I am so fucking proud to be a Chicagoan. Federal agents have terrorized this city for weeks. Snatching tamale vendors, nannies, landscapers, and ride-share drivers from our community. But why us?

Because we are winning.

We may not have power - Congress, Supreme Court, White House - but my friends we are fucking winning.

More than half of transgender and nonbinary young people found their school to be gender-affirming, and because of that have lower rates of attempted suicide. We did that. We are the adults who said, “Respect our kids.”

The backlash is fierce and filled with hate. And it feels more powerful because hate packs a punch. But anyone who has had their breath taken away by the sight of their beloved knows so can love.

As I stood on Lawrence with fear of tear gas and a racing heart, I saw community in the heartbreak as people stood in front of a SUV trying to keep their friend from being disappeared. Chants of “Let them go” roared throughout the street.

A few winters ago Texas sent us 51,000 migrants because we are a welcoming city. Their Governor looked at our love and said, “Prove it.”

Illinois said we would be a haven for abortion access, for trans youth, for immigrants.

Friends, the days are dark. The work is relentless. But we are winning. We have people on our side. They have thugs.

We are winning.

And they hate it.

They hate it that we love by buying overpriced candy from the kid on the train.

They are scared of our love. And that’s a shame. Cause what do you know, we just want them to also feel the overwhelmingness of love, of being your full self, of being free.

We love this city more than they hate us.

And that is why, no matter what we will.