Jonathan Stegall

@jonathanstegall.bsky.social

3323 Followers 908 Following

User experience designer. Faith-rooted organizer and abolitionist. Love design, theology, justice, grace. Enjoy coffee, beer, goth, metal. He/him. Live in Minneapolis. https://jonathanstegall.com is my oft-ignored website.

numbness is a way we cope. but staying in that place for too long can make us feel disconnected from the tenderness in each of us that is the source of our greatest strength. we won't let the authoritarians and billionaires responsible for this violence take away our humanity, too.
"Sarah: When we're facing really big hard challenges like we are facing right now in our country, and have been for a long time, it can be easy to feel like isolated, or "I don't really know what to do about that," like, "What could I do as one person?" So, part of a practice of community organizing is helping people understand our conditions and understand our own experiences, our own experiences as not individual, but actually, collective, and then training people on how can we come together and build something that's more powerful than any one of us could do on our own."
Count von Count says: "Today is 6/26/26. Now, read that backwards! 6/26/26. Incredible! Ah ah ah!" Followed by a purple heart emoji and a bat emoji
“Jared Brewington is bringing Square Roots into the Coliseum building. The Afro-Creole restaurant will open in August. As founder and community director, Brewington is part of a non-profit group that includes former Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo and former Minneapolis Downtown Council CEO Steve Cramer on the board.“ https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1DDgBR2vMQ/?mibextid=wwXIfr
Cookie Monster is about to swallow the nba finals trophy
A Wikipedia screenshot where the notes section includes a quote of this very post, which was used to update the marriage date in the quick facts section.
He said something I’m still sitting with: that what Edith and I are doing at Eloheh is what Thoreau was reaching for but couldn’t quite get to. That the Harmony Way — this ancient Indigenous understanding of living in right relationship with land, Creator, community, and all creation — is the thing Western seekers have been circling for two hundred years without finding, because they kept looking for it inside the same worldview that made them lost in the first place.
autie-j: Bugs Bunny could have simply walked into Mordor. He would have shown up at the gates of Mordor in a disguise and been like "Evil volcano inspection unit and flashed a fake ID badge to the confused orc. themodernmaccabee: Love the implication here that the one ring would have little to no effect on Bugs tyrantistterror: To be fair, it's canonically established in Lord of the Rings that Tom Bombadil, an inexplicable magical trickster, is unaffected by the ring, and the only reason they don't give the job to him is because Tom Bombadil is a silly little man who's easily distracted and just wants to spend time with his hot wife. Bugs Bunny, on the other hand, loves nothing more than fucking over self-important dickheads, and is also an inexplicable magical trickster, so he would in fact be perfect for this mission. unassimilatedsoul: The One Ring may not tempt Bugs, but he'd have other problems with the mission: he'd get lost halfway there (*1 knew | should've made a left turn at Albuquerque) and get distracted enough to hand the One Ring to Elmer Fudd or Yosemite Sam as a prank, only for it to be stolen by Daffy Duck, leading to an ever- increasing number of characters on an increasingly-destructive chase across Middle Earth as everyone keeps stealing it from each other, (Bugs would definitely pull the "evil volcano inspector" gag to get into Mordor, and he'd then immediately turn around and pose as a customs agent stopping whoever currently has the ring at the border and relieving them of it as "contraband") culminating in an all-out brawl at Mount Doom. Bugs manages to reclaim the ring one last time as everyone else is busy fighting each other, only for Daffy to come out of nowhere and grab it out of his hands. Laughing maniacally, Daffy doesn't realize that his victory dance has taken him right off the edge off a cliff - until Bugs points it out, at which point gravity reasserts itself, and Daffy and the ring both plunge to the fiery depths below
One of those toy police cars kids can ride in. This one has been caved in and written all over and plants are growing out of it. It’s also surrounded by a hedge.
A person painted green and dressed in a bird costume with their wings spread. A big crowd and eventually a lake is behind them.
A 3/3/2011 tweet from Dave McClure reads: quotable @veen: "The web is spilling out into the real world... so let's not fuck it up."
A WPBP coffee mug that says “abolition is not absence, it is presence. What the world will become already exists in fragments & pieces and experiments” which is a Ruth Wilson Gilmore quote. It’s $15.
A black tshirt with a cool bird illustration and a book illustration. The text says “love + solidarity” and “until we’re all free” and women’s prison book project
a pink flyer that says: Annual pancake breakfast & book sale Saturday, April 25 8am-12pm New City Center 3104 16h Ave S, Minneapolis There's also a fun illustration of a smiling stack of pancakes, and some stars. Because it's an instagram screenshot there are also other people's avatars who shared it or whatever.
“In the first four film adaptations, President Snow is portrayed by Donald Sutherland. He asked to be involved in the series as he believed it would engage young viewers in the politics of revolution. Tom Blyth was cast as the younger Snow in the film The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (2023): he saw the character as progressing through three stages, from naive and ambitious to the more reserved, Sutherland-like character.” (From the Wikipedia page for Coriolanus Snow)
A turkey turning its back feathers toward us. They look like a big fan.
THIS IS MY BODY Luke 22:17-19 All bread must be broken so it can be shared. Together we eat this earth. MARGARET ATWOOD, "ALL BREAD" There is nothing so abundant and yet so withheld. Grocery shelves spill with this wonder. Stomachs rumble everywhere, wondering where the bread is. So many varieties other than white, which has no nutritional value, yet somehow is most often found in the cupboards of the pour Give me the bread that looks like It's spent some time in the sun— like melanin has risen to the surface of its dough. This is my body. This is all bodies.
"The Constitution grants Congress the sole power to declare war. Congress has declared war on 11 occasions, including its first declaration of war with Great Britain in 1812. Congress approved its last formal declaration of war during World War II. Since that time it has agreed to resolutions authorizing the use of military force and continues to shape U.S. military policy through appropriations and oversight."
Dear Jonathan, In a podcast episode featured in today's Digest, local organizer and Minneapolis Families for Public Schools member Anne Kosseff-Jones speaks to how some of the most radical work being done in our cities is taking place in and around public school communities. "I have a long-held belief that organizing around public schools or in parent organizations in neighborhood schools is a very fruitful place for community building, because I think it's one of the places where everyone really does come together and share experiences," she says. "Having lived in cities all my life, public neighborhood schools are often where I see the most truly diverse community being built." During a time when there is so much horror unfolding on a local, national, and global scale, I find this to be a crucial reminder - we have to start small, within our own hyper-local communities. Though I don't have kids of my own, I draw immense hope from the public school parents in my life who have and continue to step up in this moment.
How to distinguish between moths and goths — a diagram. There is a circle labeled as a light source with arrows pointing toward and away from it. The arrows are labeled as direction of travel, and goths go away from the light source and moths go toward it.
A group of dancers in regalia with the Whipple building in the background
The ice building in the background. In the foreground is a crowd and various protest signs,like your signing bonus can’t repay moral debt
Woke up one morning, and ICE was knocking... Bella Ciao! Bella Ciao! Bella Ciao! Ciao! Ciao! Woke up one morning, and ICE was knocking... For the invasion had begun... Come join your neighbors, we fight together... Bella Ciao! Bella Ciao! Bella Ciao! Ciao! Ciao! Come join your neighbors, we fight together... Now is the time to get shit done! From the Mississippi, to the Redwoods Bella Ciao! Bella Ciao! Bella Ciao! Ciao! Ciao! From the Mississippi, to the Redwoods... Of this resistance they will tell... How with our whistles, and our voices... Bella Ciao! Bella Ciao! Bella Ciao! Ciao! Ciao! How with our whistles, and our voices... We sent ICE right back to Hell! Then someday soon we'll, be planting gardens... Bella Ciao! Bella Ciao! Bella Ciao! Ciao! Ciao! Then someday soon well, be planting gardens... Still with our voices lifted high... We tell the stories, of our comrades... Bella Ciao! Bella Ciao! Bella Ciao! Ciao! Ciao! We tell the stories, of our comrades... For our martyrs never die!
Fb post from this day in 2019: I was listening to José Francisco Morales Torres talk more about wonder on the Theopoetics Podcast and it's a powerful episode. He talks about how we can't generate wonder because it lives outside us; it lives in the space between us and the excess of the other, and I found that to be a beautiful articulation of how mutuality works. Later he says this gem, too, and it tied the excess of the other, of God, of creation to their generosity toward us: "The church is aiming at wonder. But what makes wonder possible is generosity."
IKEA sign says “it’s ok to change your mind” but instead of quitting your state violence job it’s about having 365 days to return your ikea purchase
a facebook post from Ashon Crawley on February 13, 2021. It reads: i am sympathetic to folks that say *the* reason why the black panther party of self defense was a threat was because of the breakfast program. i am also sympathetic to the folks that say that is too reductive, that they were more than a breakfast progrum.* i think it’s in the middle: the BPP was a threat because they practiced care. and care showed up *as* a breakfast program, yes, but also as health clinics, as armed defense, as reading groups. care work as political organizing. care as the grounds for its emergence. care. one reason i’ve focused on care in my own work for years now is because black feminist thought informs my own, and black queer critique. and because care is often considered the antithesis of “serious things” and i’m just fundamentally against this. if care is soft or frilly or whatever, we need to have a preferential option for softness. care is something white supremacist capitalist patriarchy cannot give nor withhold, even when it tries to privatize care as an industry that is primarily about making money and exploiting workers. care is not private property, it only exists when it is shared. care is the antithesis and alternative to white supremacy, to riff on cedric robinson, because it must be. but it is so much more. it exceeds the logic of reactive response to practices of violence. it precedes the violence and political economy of extraction and exploitation. care, even if soft, ain’t easy. it takes courage. and conviction. and clarity. (i’m a former preacher, so the alliteration is a throwback lol.) you only have care when you share it. and sharing it is difficult precisely because the political economy of racial capitalism wants us to privatize and hoard what we consider it to be. care. let it flower and bloom. selah. 🌸💕
I keep describing Bovino as this bully who both worked on inflaming the pain in our Cities and then gleefully took a giant hat pin, looking for the most swollen and hurting part, and then jammed it in, crowing happily as pus flew everywhere. Homan is not a schoolyard bully of the same form. Instead it feels like he is ramping up shit because I would guess he wants to prove his prowess and also get out of here as quickly as possible. Bovino is likely a first or second generation bully, I mean good god, his Italian great grandparents entered the US the same year that the concept of Border Patrol was established and months before a strict quota was put on Italian immigrants. Holman, on the other hand, has many lines who are first wave colonizers, Dutch, French and English, mixed with more recent Irish and German but not that recent. His bullying is marinated, systemic, cold. Practiced and deemed necessary rather than gleeful. The two of them together are a study of different forms of white supremacy, different shapes of disdain, different public expressions of attachment to power over others. To a large degree, who cares…. for folks on the ground, the tone might have changed but the aggression and force used to terrorize and kidnap families has not.
I keep describing Bovino as this bully who both worked on inflaming the pain in our Cities and then gleefully took a giant hat pin, looking for the most swollen and hurting part, and then jammed it in, crowing happily as pus flew everywhere. Homan is not a schoolyard bully of the same form. Instead it feels like he is ramping up shit because I would guess he wants to prove his prowess and also get out of here as quickly as possible. Bovino is likely a first or second generation bully, I mean good god, his Italian great grandparents entered the US the same year that the concept of Border Patrol was established and months before a strict quota was put on Italian immigrants. Holman, on the other hand, has many lines who are first wave colonizers, Dutch, French and English, mixed with more recent Irish and German but not that recent. His bullying is marinated, systemic, cold. Practiced and deemed necessary rather than gleeful. The two of them together are a study of different forms of white supremacy, different shapes of disdain, different public expressions of attachment to power over others. To a large degree, who cares…. for folks on the ground, the tone might have changed but the aggression and force used to terrorize and kidnap families has not.
MMIR March honoring missing and murdered indigenous women, girls, men, boys, two spirit, and LGBTQI+ relatives February 14, 2026 11am-2pm Minneapolis American Indian Center 1530 E Franklin Ave Minneapolis There’s also a list of many organizations logos, including AIM
Every year monarch butterflies drift silently and peacefully across the militarized borders between nation-states - defiant and beautifully free. But they don't do it alone! Monarchs must move as a group, sharing the heat of their small bodies in order to survive the coldest nights. Just like the monarchs, our survival cannot be separated from our reliance on each other. Our entanglement is essential to our collective survival. ICE exists to enforce arbitrary borders and violently remove those who the state has deemed disposable. We dream of a world free of these carceral systems, borders, and the empires that enforce them. Abolition is a proposal for ushering in this new world. It is our map, our hammer, and our paintbrush. "Abolish ICE" is a rallying cry for a world free from state-sanctioned violence and for the collective visioning of a meaningfully entangled world. In the weeks since "Operation Metro Surge" sent thousands of ICE agents to Minnesota, we have experienced overwhelming, daily state violence. We have witnessed people abducted from bus stops on their way to work, adults stolen from their homes and torn from their children. We have washed pepper spray from the eyes of friends, and had our eyes washed out by strangers. We watched an agent carelessly murder our neighbor, shooting her multiple times for peacefully protecting her neighbors. Amidst the tragedy of her death, we have no choice but to continue to do exactly what Renée was doing that morning: compassionately reinforcing our commitment to one another, even in the face of increasing fascist violence. We must remember, oppression rages hardest when it is most desperate. As Gramsci reminds us "the old world is dying, and the new world struggles to be born. Now is the time of monsters." The good news is that abolition is everywhere. Look around you! It lives in the art and the people who've chosen to come out on the coldest of days. It occurs in a trip to the grocery store for your neighbor too sca…
The monarch butterflies say migration is natural, protect immigrants abolish ice, and chinga la migra
A 2/1/14 Sara Miles fb post that reads: It's the day of St. Brigid of Kildare, abbess, Wonderworker, keeper of the Fire, patron saint of brewers and dairymaids, who said: "I should like a great lake of beer for the King of Kings. I should like the angels of Heaven to be drinking it through time eternal. I should like excellent meats of belief and pure piety. I should like the angels of Heaven at my house I should like barrels of peace at their disposal. I should like for them cellars of mercy, and cheerfulness to be their drinking. I should like Jesus to be there among us I should like the three Marys of illustrious renown to be with us. I should like the people of Heaven, the poor, to be gathered around from all parts. Amen.”
But the one thing that I think it's hard for us to keep in mind is that, when you boil it down, there's two founding principles of this country that has been in the DNA of every of every event. One is demanding liberty, and the other is embracing white supremacy. Those things are in the founding fathers. They're in they're in at every stage of our history. And those two impulses we see in the streets of Minneapolis right now. Those are the contending forces, and each one is just as American as the other. Each one is and that is sort of the fatal flaw in the heart of this nation, is its inability to reconcile those two things.
Screenshot that shows recent calls to the MN offices of Tina Smith and Amy Klobuchar.
the Border Patrol agents seemed more hardened and the street violence, the snatch and grab kidnappings, that all seemed like second nature to them. And part of the reason for that, I think, is that Border Patrol routinely gets away with extreme violence and cruelty that the broader public never sees, targeting people who are trying to enter this country or have just arrived. This is what they do, and how they treat people. We’re just not used to seeing it out in the open in our neighborhoods.
An Instagram post by @d.jacksonpoetics. It’s a poem called Contemplation. It reads: The world is on fire. As it always is. The world is still beautiful. As it always is.
As my friend told me on the phone a couple nights ago, people can only believe what their bodies are able to hold at the moment. And many of us were not psychologically or physiologically prepared for the reality of a military occupation by our own government. Of course, people of color, trans folk, and other communities have long been forced to hold state violence physically and mentally. Unfortunately, many of us are only just now starting to listen to and believe those stories. A friend of mine recently posted how their Somali neighbor felt so bad for the white Americans going through this, because Somali refugees know what it’s like to experience civil war, but this type of domestic terror is a new experience to most white Americans.
You are not the first to say I just want to protect and serve my community, and then, out of the many thousands of ways one could truly do that—teacher, builder, healer, artist, farmer—instead, pull chains like intestines from your belly, wrap them around your neighbors’ wrists, around your own neck, around that tattered, empty balloon that used to be an imagination. You know you don’t have to do this, right?
a tweet from Hend Amry that reads: "My fifth grader just started talking about 'my dark friend at school', & I was so upset, sat her down and gently started explaining to her how bigotry manifests and she looked confused then said 'mama I mean she's like a goth.'"
An illustrated poster that says "Welcome to Minnesota" over some trees. Then there's a loon with laser eyes melting some ice that's sitting in a lake, and there's a banner that says "Our lakes may freeze in winter but our hearts are warm & we love our neighbors! Abolish ICE" There's also a cool fish sticking out of the o in abolish.
Our people have some experience with federal agents showing up uninvited. Indigenous peoples have been watching for five hundred years. We remember what happens when the government decides certain people don't belong. So as I’ve been watching for the past 10 years, warning, and seeing what's happening now, I recognize it. Renee Good—Minneapolis. A mother shot in her car after dropping her son at school, standing with her neighbors. Silverio Villegas González—Chicago. A father, a cook, shot at close range after dropping his kids at daycare. Jaime Alanís García—California. A farmworker who fell from a roof fleeing agents and broke his neck. Thirty-two people died in ICE detention last year—the deadliest since 2004. They've rescinded the policies that kept agents out of schools, churches, hospitals. Children afraid to go to class. Families afraid to seek medical care. Agents at doors without warrants. The weapons change. The badges change. The target communities change. But we've seen this spirit before, but it is now barely disguising itself with rhetoric. But we've seen the other spirit too—the one that made Renee Good say, "These are my neighbors." The courage to see your neighbor—really see them—that's sacred ground. We remember her. We remember all of them. And we keep standing.
A Tumblr post gathering different sports headlines. —— northshorewave Apr 2, 2023 Darius Slay says he was "this close" to becoming a Raver Reading sports headlines while pretending sports doesn't exist suggests a fascinating world of magic and whimsy. northshorewave Apr 3, 2023 David Montgomery was pursued by Vikings, Bears dinosaur-unicorns Арг 5, 2023 Transfer Portal Created in Good Faith, But is Out of Control By Bryan Clinton Wolf Enters Transfer Portal fulda-gap-express Dec 14, 2023 Giants still alive 82,392 notes
I've been part of movements calling for the abolition of ICE since 2003, so of course its meaningful when a position that was seemingly fringe is gaining traction and more people are organizing against the tragic and horrific violence of ICE unfolding. And, yet, like most things that gain popular legitimacy, it can mean incomplete or distorted understandings, so three things: 1. ICE is a relatively new enforcement apparatus (2003, post 9/11). It has become the most visible terrorizing arm of immigration enforcement, but the calls to Abolish ICE can't be separated from the calls to end all detentions and all deportations, including at the border where Border Patrol operates. Did you know that over 17,600 !!!) federal, state & other government agencies in the US can have enforcement jurisdiction against migrants?!? It's not just ICE, it's a whole apparatus to be dismantled
A 2025 last.fm summary for @jonathanstegall. Scrobbles: 13,116 (36 days, 18 hours) Artists: 1,220 Albums: 2,250 Tracks: 8,300 Artists with a photo: mewithoutYou, August Burns Red, Tom Morello: the Nightwatchman, The Awakening Top artist: mewithoutYou Top album: Move BHC’s “Black Radical Love” Top track: Immortal Bird’s “Bioluminescent Toxins” Top tags: metalcore, hardcore, black metal, punk, folk
Facebook post from Sesame street. Caption says "Dreams really do come true. 🍪 🚀 🧑‍🚀 One frame is Cookie Monster looking at a cookie shaped like a rocket, and the other is Cookie Monster inside a big cookie colored rocket.
The letter carriers holding their chapter’s banner. Next to it a person holds a sign that says postal workers demand ICE off postal property.
Screenshot of a text message: “Hi, my name is Jenn from Partners in Peace. I'm reaching out to understand how people view Israel. Do you have a moment to chat? Stop2End”
Swirly green and red aurora
Kelly Latimore’s icon of Dorothy Day welcoming a holy family. Overlaying it on Latimore’s Instagram story is a quote from Day, “It is no use to say that we are born 2000 years too late to give room to Christ. Nor will those who live at the end of the world have been born too late. Christ is always with us, always asking for room in our hearts.”
A list of things happening at an event: - trivia - prizes - bonfires - beverages - hot potato bar - live screen printing
A half sheet of paper with these words: Reclaim the Block: Fund communities, not cops Mayor Frey's proposed 2019 Budget prioritizes funding the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) above the needs of the people living in our city. We've invested in criminalizing our communities instead of supporting them for too long—it's time for a change. We call on the City Council to: • Fund our communities, not more cops. The proposed budget includes more than $1 million to hire new civilian MPD employees in order to put eight more officers on our streets, while failing to renew funding for a series of innovative 2018 community-led safety programs. • Invest in affordable housing instead of covering up police violence. The budget would double funding for a "Community and Collaborative Advancement Program" at MPD. But MPD has had 150 years to build trust in our city, and hasn't succeeded yet. Let's put that money towards the most urgent needs in our community, like housing and addiction services. • Divest 5% from MPD's budget and chart a new course for community safety. The budget invests about 3x more money in police than in affordable housing and health combined, while our city faces colossal racial disparities in housing, education, and economic opportunity. #fundcommunitiesnotcops #reclaimtheblock
Screenshot of a tweet from October 26, 2021. It reads “Vampires are bad at project management because they’re afraid of stakeholders.”
A large weird sack of some kind on the grass of a Minneapolis boulevard. It’s mostly dark gray but faded or worn out in some spots. It has googly eyes that make it look like it’s a creature looking toward the camera. There’s also a Soren Stevenson yard sign in view.
FB post from Osagyefo Sekou that reads: "The task of the organizer is not to be right. It is to be in right relationship with the people. Then and only then will they trust us enough to believe that revolution is possible because experienced revolution in their loving relationship with us."
“I am convinced by my own life and by wide observation of children that mystical experience is much more common than is usually supposed . . . They have more room for surprise and wonder. They are more sensitive to intimations, flashes, openings. The invisible impinges on their souls and they feel its reality as something quite natural.” — Rufus Jones
Protest graphic posted by MN Christians for a Free Palestine. The graphic shows a crowd with Palestine flags and signs. The text says “two years on, end the genocide! Tuesday, October 7 at 5pm; Federal Building 300 S 4th St Minneapolis”
A cartoon of four horses ridden by hooded creatures with no visible faces looking at two humans. The creatures are wearing hoods of yellow, purple, red, and green and carrying banners that say hope, justice, empathy, and just basically not being a dick. There’s a speech bubble over them that says “the whole apocalypse thing got a bit too depressing so we’ve reinvented ourselves as the four horsemen of working together to get us all out of the mess that we’re in.”