#chicago usps

[techtechonmymind]

might write onew a letter now that i can lol

[soft-serve-soymilk]

The problem with having puppers is that you start scolding everything out of habit:

Aus post who is keeping my package in customs for 387903 million years? No :(

C-ptsd induced emotional flashbacks with the classic flinch response? No 😓

youtube who paused my song RIGHT before the best part to ask ‘time to take a break ^^?’ even though I never set such a thing and I bet it’s choosing to be annoying on purpose bc I deleted it last week to prevent distractions and it has since been reinstated: Nooo 😡

[artistsonthelam]

Look how much the cost of my little PO box (which is for Dreams of a City) has gone up over the years 😵‍💫

2023: $176

2022: $166

2021: $134

2020: $106

2019: $92

2018: $82

2017: $76

2016: $70

2015: $66

2014: $62

2013: $60

2012: $58

(If anyone would like to help support this city-wide interactive public art and mapping project (because I pre-stamp all the handmade postcards I leave for folks to find and that costs quite a bit too!), consider becoming a patron of Artists on the Lam here, or collect an artwork or two here! <3)

Dreams of a City © Jenny Lam 2008-2023

[copperbadge]

For NaClYoHo you recommend putting on a 20 to 40 minute podcast episodes to clean to. Can you make any recommendations? The majority of mine run well over an hour for each episode.

I feel like podcasts have kind of gotten longer in general, is that just me? Maybe it's the pandemic, or maybe just my tastes shifting. In any case, a lot of mine run long now too, but looking at my playlist here are some shorter podcasts I recommend:

PEMcast -- put on by the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, MA, they cover a wide variety of artistic and local cultural topics (their latest is about the bats the museum is hosting!)

99% Invisible -- about "invisible" designs that shape our world. "Used To Be A Pizza Hut" is a great episode, and their partnership with Articles Of Interest about Hawaiian shirts was brilliant.

Criminal -- True crime reported on by an extremely smart woman with a beautiful voice. It's not the typical true crime podcast in that she approaches it more like longform journalism, and sometimes the crimes themselves are very whimsical. She also does "Phoebe Reads A Mystery" where she reads one chapter of a public domain mystery novel each day; I recommend Dracula and The Portrait Of Dorian Gray, although there's a variety of lengths on those.

Bridgewater -- A fiction podcast featuring Misha Collins as a skeptical specialist in mythology who delves into the mystery of his father's death many years before. I stopped listening after season one, a bit disappointed in the denoument, but most of season one is great and I am actually going to try to listen to S2 as part of NaNo.

"City Cast" Your Local City -- not every city has them, but City Cast is a locally hosted show in most major cities about what's happening. City Cast Chicago is EXCELLENT.

Mailin' It -- the official podcast of the USPS, which sure is....something. It's fascinating to listen to in an anthropological sense, but also the subject matter is occasionally quite compelling. I especially like episode 7, "Stamps, An American Obsession".

The Allusionist -- all about how words shape our lives. I got into it with 145, "Parents", about gender identity and pregnancy/birth, which informed both Infinite Jes and Royals/Ramblers.

Levar Burton Reads -- Levar Burton reads SFF short stories charmingly. (This is on the longer side but most are still under an hour.)

Cautionary Tales -- Tim Hartford looks to history and what it can teach us; I run hot and cold but I stick with it because of gems like "The Art Forger, The Nazi, and the Pope", "Wrong Tools Cost Lives" and most recently "Photographing Fairies" (about the Cottingley Fairies and how Elsie Wright was, actually, the photoshop genius of her day.)

Mob Queens -- I will forever recommend Mob Queens, a single-run series about Anna Genovese, who dunned in her mobster husband, took over some of his business, and lived a queer and fabulous life with her butch partner as a gay nightclub doyenne in midcentury America.

Also most don't include lengths but the Participation Form Results Sheet has a spot for "what media are you going to use" and people have been putting suggestions. Readers, feel free to add your own suggestions in comments or reblogs. (Remember, I don't repost asks sent in response to other asks!)

Happy listening everyone!

[frankenstein-ate-my-left-shoe]

@steddieangstyaugust Day 18 - Sobbing Sunday: Right Person, Wrong Time

i’m challenging myself to keep all these at either 127 or 1,270 words each, see day one for more of an explanation!

Hi. Dustin gave us all your address way back when you first got back to the States. Hope you at least had a say in that. I’ve heard all about your adventures over the last few years, seen you in the checkout aisles too.. Fame looks good on you I never thought I’d ever reach out, but here we are. And it’s for selfish reasons, too. I wanted to apologize first, I shouldn’t have said all those things to you. You didn’t deserve it. I was hurt, I was confused, I was in love didn’t want things to change…. You’ve always deserved more than that. Maybe we could try again sometime, if you’d ever forgive me. I still see us growing old together, do you? Steve 555-1812

the stamp, the circular usps location stamp, and the barcode are all added onto a blank postcard from 1996 (or later) from three different postcards i found for sale on ebay

the blank postcard back i used (also found on ebay) had the back side photocopied instead of photographed so i had to make the stamp i cut in also in B&W

can you believe i found a usps stamp that actually says Chicago?? me either lmao i just copied over a 6 from the 606 to make it seem like it'd been 10 years.

the house eddie "lives in" is a brownstone for sale on Zillow rn for $3.3 million and i liked that it had such a NY sounding address; like, ofc there's a Manhattan Ave and ofc famous eddie lives there 😅

i was going to make this worse by adding a return to sender stamp but i'll leave it up to you if eddie actually gets this/calls steve or just ignores it >:)

[thecodywanzine]

THE ZINES HAVE ARRIVED!!!

The zines have arrived and they are absolutely gorgeous!!!

Now the the zines are finally in our (Chicago based) hands, we can start to prepare for shipment!!!

Packaging should begin this weekend with the first packages dropped off at USPS by next Wednesday (July 5th).

Please note that Tuesday, July 4th is a Federal Holiday in the US. The US Postal Service is closed and Mod Travis and assistant Mod Percy will be taking a little R&R that day.

Nevertheless, our goal is to get a good chunk of orders mailed out next week! Please stay tuned for updates. It might take a couple weeks to fully finish, as there were 500+ orders!!!

REMINDER: This Friday, June 30th is the last day to submit an address change.

Thank you to everyone, from our contributors to our supporters! This wouldn't have been possible without all of you!!

[amtrak-official]

I'm in a good mood and thinking about some of the good things in our terrible government. While yes, usually it is a shitshow of Hate and Harm, there are some good parts. So here is a poll on America things I enjoy

[munchboxart]

Chicago USPS has made an enemy out of me

[mappingthemoon]

Zines Read 2023

Unemployment / Aaron Lake Smith

Behind the Zines #14 / ed. Billy McCall

Zisk #31 / ed. Mike Faloon & Mike Fournier

Zisk #32: Remembering Bob Gibson / ed. Mike Faloon & Mike Fournier

Zisk #33: Bartolo Colon: Hall of Famer? / ed. Mike Faloon & Mike Fournier

Brief Text Descriptions of Everyday Events / Keith Helt

Flotation Device #18 / Keith Helt

Denacola: Menagerie / Dena Zilber

Nothing Spinning #1: Hydrogen / Lindsey Richter

Nothing Spinning #2: Helium / Lindsey Richter

Scenes from the Late Devonian Period / Lindsey Richter

Stoneybrook Looks / Lindsey E. Richter

sixteen years sober and i was thinking about relapsing / enola dismay

A Cookbook Christmas #5 / Peter & Ansley

QRK5 #6 / Ed Tillman

Save the USPS: A small business’s love letter to an essential American institution / Danny Caine

How to Resist Amazon and Why (rev. 2nd ed.) / Danny Caine

The Paruretic #1: The story of a guy who’s pee shy / Mark Cunning

The Paruretic #2: College / Mark Cunning

The Paruretic #3 Vacation / Mark Cunning

The Paruretic #4: The Search for Help / Mark Cunning

The Paruretic #5: Dating

I Could’ve Killed Alex Jones / Mark Cunning

Gut Bucket Research #10 / David Tighe

I Want an Army Out of Caves… #12/Unclassifiables #3 / ed. David Tighe

Unclassifiables #13 / ed. David Tighe

The Secret of the Moon’s Rotation #33 / ed. David Tighe

Behind the Zines #15 / ed. Billy McCall

Brides of the Mystery / Lydian Brambila

zines in libraries: collecting, cataloging, community / Zine Librarians Interest Group ; Joshua Barton, Violet Fox, Anissa Malady, Kelly McElroy, Matthew Moyer, Sarah G. Wenzel

Zine Librarians Code of Ethics Zine / Heidy Berthoud, Joshua Barton, Jeremy Brett, Lisa Darms, Violet Fox, Jenna Freedman, Jennifer LaSuprema Hecker, Lillian Karabaic, Rhonda Kauffman, Kelly McElroy, Milo Miller, Honor Moody, Jude Vachon, Madeline Veitch, Celina Williams, Kelly Wooten

Ornery Cuss / K Ratticus

Against the Logic of the Guillotine / crimethInc.

Bound to Struggle: Where Kink and Radical Politics Meet #1 / ed. simon strikeback

Bound to Struggle: Where Kink and Radical Politics Meet #2 / ed. simon strikeback

Bound to Struggle: Where Kink and Radical Politics Meet #3: Language / ed. simon strikeback

Bound to Struggle: Where Kink and Radical Politics Meet #5: Praxis / ed. simon strikeback

Men I Think Are the Same Man: Men I Have Mistaken For Each Other (and some women) / aggie

Every Thug Is a Lady: Adventures Without Gender / Julia Eff

tear the petals off of you / Julia Eff

People Like Us: David Byrne’s 1986 Cult Film True Stories as a Search for Autistic Connection / Lewis Attilio Franco

Tracing this Body: Transsexuality, pharmaceuticals & capitalism & New Flesh, New Struggles self discovery thru porn & kink / michelle o’brien

Brides of the Mystery / Lydian Brambila & Ariel Ackerly

An Otherworldly Light #1 / R. P. Schneider (ed.), ChatGPT, Stable Diffusion

An Otherworldly Light #2 / R. P. Schneider (ed.), ChatGPT, Stable Diffusion

Welcome to Our Dimension Party (2nd ed.) / Samantha Hensley

Behind the Zines #16: Zines Saved My Life! / ed. Billy McCall

Weirdo du Jour #3: “Line Cook Love” / K Ratticus

Cathode Ray Mission #1: A Horror and Sci-Fi Fanzine / K Ratticus

Cathode Ray Mission #2: A Horror and Sci-Fi Fanzine / K Ratticus

Testimony, v. 1 / ed. Ryan Avery

Postcards from Irving, v. 5 / Tyler

The Desert Sun #51 / Billy

Proof I Exist #42: Five Days in Chicago / Billy McCall

Zisk #34: If Ichiro Journaled Like Henry Rollins / ed. Mike Faloon & Mike Fournier

Selected list of zine distros and other places to find most of these titles:

Antiquated Future

Behind the Zines Distro (Billy McCall)

Bound to Struggle (simon strikeback)

Crapandemic (Julia Eff)

Dena Zilber

Flotation Device (Keith Helt)

Gut Bucket Research (David Tighe)

Honeycraft (Lindsey Richter)

Lydian Brambila

Policymaker (Mike Fournier)

Related Records (Ryan Avery)

SAMSKETCHBOOK (Sam Hensley)

Weirdo du Jour (K Ratticus)

ZineLibraries.info

PS I'm moonmoth on LibraryThing.

[beardedmrbean]

A postal worker was shot dead on Friday while working on her route in Chicago, according to officials.

Octavia Redmond, 48, of Chicago, was shot at around 11.40pm local time by an unknown shooter, who then jumped in a vehicle and sped away, according to police.

Redmond suffered several gunshot wounds, including to her chest, and was taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn in critical condition. She was later pronounced dead at 12.20pm, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

According to Fox 32, the killer may have trailed Redmond before attacking her. The attacker’s white Dodge Durango was discovered torched on Saturday.

Redmond had delivered mail along the block where she was shot for around two years.

Witness Meda Robinson, 68, was in her house when she heard about 10 shots. She said she often stopped to chat with Redmond.

“She was a really nice person, she was a beautiful person,” Robinson told the Chicago Sun-Times. “I can’t understand who would come at her like that.”

The motive for the attack has not been established and no arrests have yet been made.

US Postal inspectors are investigating alongside police, according to spokesperson Michael Martel, and a $250,000 reward has been offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the attacker.

The US Rep Jonathan Jackson made a statement on Saturday, calling for a summit with law enforcement agencies to address the “crisis” of postal workers killed or assaulted on the job.

Redmond was a “wife, mother, grandmother, and citizen who was simply going about her normal day on the job to contribute to what makes our city work for all of us,” said Jackson.

“We must embrace the Redmond family and take immediate action to assure Chicago postal workers that we will do what it takes to make their jobs safer,” Jackson wrote.

There has been growing concern about an increase in crimes against postal workers. The number of postal carriers robbed in 2023 rose on the previous year and the number of injuries nearly doubled, despite USPS pledging a crackdown.

The number of postal workers who were injured nearly doubled.

An armed robbery of a postal worker was caught on CCTV in California in May, and last month a Pennsylvania postal worker needed 16 stitches after a dog attack.

[annacaffeina]

I am a habitual package tracker, for better or worse. Yesterday morning it was in Massachusetts about 2hrs from me. Yesterday afternoon it was in Chicago. Today it's with the USPS in my town and apparently out for delivery.

Who needs a fulfilling life full of travel when you can live vicariously through pakige

[catladyofficial]

I signed up for stitchfix because i want to curate a more purposeful/curated/adult wardrobe. they use a fucking gig economy shipping service to deliver in chicago. this service has had my package for nearly 4 days and it still hasn’t made it to me.

i already emailed stitchfix to be like - unless you can use USPS/UPS, i’m canceling after this box because this is insane.

this is my current delivery window?? hello?

also the package has allegedly been out for believe for 16 hours at this point. what the hell.

[skaldish]

I don't know if you check the tracking information on the stuff you send from LM so I'm anonymising myself, but I bought a witches' ladder from your store and proceeded to watch in hilarious fascination as USPS told me it was going around and around in circles in Chicago. It was like something was constantly punking the sorting machines and it was pinged back and forth between Chicago's regional and international distribution centers, like the world's slowest game of parcel tennis. It has been a hilarious few days watching the emails come in, and I actually had to email USPS to let them know my poor parcel was stuck in the end. It was the Loki witches ladder, for the record. I don't take things as omens if they have another possible explaination (I'm not a US citizen, my address might have confused the machine) but... I can't help but think. It's been a draining season, and this was one brief bit of levity 👀

Fjskfhdhfkdncjsfj he just...does this kind of thing sometimes. For enrichment purposes.

I'm glad your witch ladder found its way home in the end!

[babblingpipit]

It is what it is

Sedang di United Club lounge gara-gara flight terusanku dari Chicago ke Aspen di cancel. Kalo dipikir-pikir lumayan banyak drama yang mengikuti trip yang bahkan baru dimulai ini. Aku ke Aspen, Colorado ini dalam rangka konferens tentang debu, topik PhD yang udah 3 tahun terakhir ini ga aku kerjain lagi (masih sih, tapi sebagai project students S1 tahun lalu sama high schoolers tahun ini, intinya itu model sejak terakhir dipublish di 2020-2022 udah gaada update lagilah). Tapi berhubung debu adalah salah satu cinta pertama w di astronomi, ini topik akan selalu deket di hati dan penasaran aja orang-orang ngerjain udah sampe mana. Dan kangen juga ngobrolin debu sama orang yang beneran excited tentang debu. Long story short aku kirim abstrak terus keterima yay!

Konferensnya tanggal 3 Maret nih mulainya, talknya mulai senin pagi terus minggu malem ada reception. Jadi aku booking pesawat Minggu pagi banget dari Boston, layover 45 menit di Chicago, terus harusnya langsung terbang Chicago - Aspen nyampe sekitar jam makan siang. Jadi kupikir bisa lunch dan boci dulu di hotel sebelum siap-siap reception.

Nah, kebetulan paspor Adit tuh abis tengah Februari, jadi kita trip ke DC buat perpanjang paspor. Pasporku abisnya masih Juli tapi yaudah sekalian aja mumpung udah di DC aku perpanjang. Waktu itu kita appointment paspornya masih H-3minggu dari trip ke Aspen ini jadi kupikir masih amanlah ya paspor seminggu juga jadi, terus kirim pake pos ekspres paling 2-3 hari nyampe. Ternyata mepet dong setres kirain gaakan berangkat. Sampe hari Senin di 2 minggu setelah appointment belum dikirim juga sama KBRI, udah aku telponin hampir tiap hari dari Selasa seminggu setelah appointment padahal. Terus baru dikirim hari Selasa degdegann secara teori harusnya nyampe Kamis-Jumat tapi kalo ada apa-apa udah aja aku hari Minggu ga berangkat huhu. Panik tiap detik ngupdatein status pengiriman di website USPS. Alhamdulillah Kamis beneran nyampe ya Allah.

Akhirnya aku Jumat baru bikin slides buat talknya. EH aku lupa dong bentuk abstrak yang kukirim 5 bulan lalu kayak gimana WKWK badut. Biasanya bakal di post di konferens program apa websitenya tapi ini tuh konferens kecil yang ga seterbuka itu gitu loh huhu. Akhirnya email ke komite konferensnya minta copy abstrak sendiri WKWK BADUT semoga ane ga dijudge.

Lanjut terbang tadi pagi jam 6am banget dari Boston, bangun jam 3.45 tapi tidurnya yang ga nyenyak gituloh kalo flight pagi. Udah khawatir banget harus lari-lari di Chicago geret koper (karena ane team Carry On all the way). Eh alhamdulillah nyampe Chicago setengah jam lebih cepet. Dengan chill melenggang keluar pesawat dan ngaktifin mobile service cuma untuk mendapat SMS bahwa flight dari Chicago ke Aspennya DICANCEL??? Yang bener aja dong u united yaAllahhh. Mana dapet rebookingnya buat besok pagi (?) terus pilihan lainnya masa flight via LA (?) sore ini. Yakaleee ane ke west coast dulu udh nyampe Chicago yg tinggal sekali flight ke Aspen.

Terus ke customer servicenya United dan GAADA ORANG gile, akhirnya scan QR code buat nelepon service agentnya terus dibookingin flight yg ke Aspen jam 3pm dan standby di flight yang jam 1pm. Mind you ini tuh masih jam 8am waktu setempat ya. Buset lama bgt ane ngetem di Chicago kan. Mau keluar airport males, tapi airportnya juga bukan yang fancy gimana gitu. Akhirnya setelah berpikir panjangg, kita beli day pass ke lounge aja mayan mam AYCE dan bisa ngetem dingin ga berisik. Asalnya mau ngetem di restoran beli sarapan tapi diitung-itung abisnya ga jauh lebih dikit dan kayanya lebih nyaman lounge.

Terus ya pas aku buka appnya ada pilihan buat pindah flight dengan pasti ke yang jam 1pm terus pas aku pencet keluar nomor kursi dan boarding passnya! (gaada tulisan standby lagi) TAPI ini boarding pass gabisa kesimpen di apple wallet ahahahah jujur takut baru pertama kali standby flight begini. Doakan aku yah geng semoga bener ini dapet flightnya bismillahh.

[ifelllikeastar]

Though workers in many states started throwing Labor Day parades throughout the 1880s, it might never have become a national holiday if not for a historic strike and boycott that started in May 1894, when employees of a railcar manufacturer called Pullman Palace Car Company suffered deep wage cuts. They were joined in a sympathy boycott by the American Railway Union, which had around 150,000 members.

This huge coalition disrupted the nation; the USPS couldn't deliver mail in certain parts of the country. Railway transportation was an essential service, and essential workers were demanding better treatment.

In the midst of this unrest, President Grover Cleveland signed a law making Labor Day an official holiday, which some historians say was a move to make workers less hostile and to calm the waters during a period of continued labor discontent.

On July 4th, Cleveland sent 10,000 federal troops to Chicago to brutally end the strike. Thirteen workers were killed and 53 seriously injured there, with more than 30 killed throughout the nation that summer. The strike ended in failure for the Pullman workers, who won none of their demands.

Railway companies started to hire nonunion workers to restart business. By the time the strike ended, it had cost the railroads millions of dollars in lost revenue and in looted and damaged property. Striking workers had lost more than $1 million in wages.

On July 20, 1894, the strike ended. Less than two weeks later, the Pullman Company reopened their doors, agreeing to rehire the striking workers on one condition — they would sign a pledge to never join a union.

[amtrak-official]

I have done a lot of polls over this blog' tenure. Which one had the best winner