Author | Lightnews

Sarah Daniel Rasher

@rasher.bsky.social

770 followers 410 following 2.2K posts

Writer, Star Trek: DS9 Podcaster, film nerd, amateur bartender, cat wrangler, Chicagoan, erstwhile Shakespeare professor. Writing about music a lot lately. Education evaluator trying to save the world using math. (they/them, él/elle/-o).

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

Sarah Daniel Rasher @rasher.bsky.social · Nov 9

A bunch of new people are following me! That's cool!

I'm transmasc and nonbinary. I have ADHD, heavy on the H. I post about music, fancy sports, and my cats. I have been extremely online for 30 years.

I work in education research. Government funding is good, actually.

Sarah Daniel Rasher @rasher.bsky.social · 6h

HM1: Prewn - System (2025, USA, NK✅)

For my featured honorable mentions, I'm going to share my nearest misses. This cello-driven angry girl ramble is so new to me that I wasn't ready to put it in my top 50, but I hope it'll keep growing on me. #TheTwen2ie5

1 4

Sarah Daniel Rasher @rasher.bsky.social · 20h

There's also at least one grassroots effort to distribute food to people who cannot travel to food banks safely because of ICE. Here's their Amazon wishlist. bit.ly/distributefo...

Amazon.com

bit.ly

1 6 8

Sarah Daniel Rasher @rasher.bsky.social · 20h

The Greater Chicago Food Depository coordinates food banks throughout the Chicago area. www.chicagosfoodbank.org

Food Depository in Chicago | Greater Chicago Food Depository

Hunger affects communities throughout Chicago and Cook County and we’re working to put an end to it. Get help or take action to support our efforts.

www.chicagosfoodbank.org

1 3 9

Reposted by Sarah Daniel Rasher

Art by Emily K @museum.of.emilyk.art · 21h

"Tzefardea Tzedek" (Frog of Righteousness)

As soon as the Portland Frog became a meme, Jewish social media blew up with jokes about the 2nd Passover plague - tzefarde'a (frogs) - and the Rabbinical commentary around it. I knew I had to make a calligraphy piece encompassing all of it. (more in alt.)

Hebrew calligraphy in dark green stretches in lines across the image. Negative space makes room for a simple representation of an inflatable frog costume with a blue bandana. That shape consists of the English translation of the Hebrew, in a lighter green, and in much smaller text.
--
Famously, the Egyptian tyrant causes Egypt to be overrun with frogs because he refuses to free the Hebrew people, but there are additional details that make this a fun one to ponder. For one, the Hebrew says "the frog came up" - ONE frog - even though the rest of the time it says "frogs." So there are a few explanations rabbis have come up with to explain this. One is that a single frog multiplied to create swarms. A more creative explanation is that there was a singular giant frog who traveled and brought destruction. Jewish social media was sharing videos of the Portland Frog protester with the caption, "One Big Frog! One Big Frog!" Of course the frog protesters did multiply, and many were seen in crowds all over the world on "No Kings" Day. This calligraphic work takes the verses addressing the frog plague and combines them to form a simple rendering of the Portland Frog protester. The frog figure itself is made up of the English translations of the Hebrew around it. At the bottom left my signature is in the shape of a lily pad.

150 1.9K 6.4K

Reposted by Sarah Daniel Rasher

GymCastic @gymcastic.com · 1d

International Gymnastics Federation’s ‘neutral status’ is a sham that legitimizes Russian pro-war athletes | Kyiv Independent kyivindependent.com/internationa...

International Gymnastics Federation’s ‘neutral status’ is a sham that legitimizes Russian pro-war athletes

A lot happened this week. Russia hit a kindergarten in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, where 48 children were sheltering. A Russian fighter jet violated Lithuanian airspace. And a former political cand...

kyivindependent.com

1 2 12

Sarah Daniel Rasher @rasher.bsky.social · 23h

My Saturday has pretty much been, ignore all previous instructions and watch Spy X Family with wife.

Reposted by Sarah Daniel Rasher

Luis Aguasvivas 🔜 PAX U @aguaspoints.bsky.social · 1d

No thanks to the "cozy" game!

Great article by @im.giovanh.com.

blog.giovanh.com/blog/2025/10...

1 7

Reposted by Sarah Daniel Rasher

armando l sanchez @mandophotos.bsky.social · 1d

Border patrol agents deployed tear gas on the 3700 block of North Kildare where residents say a landscape worker, a resident, and a woman on a bike were detained. Video from a resident.

130 1.7K 3.5K

Reposted by Sarah Daniel Rasher

Stephanie Kollmann @slkollmann.bsky.social · 1d

Most ppl know that Chicago (home of modern urban segregation) is a very segregated place but I don't think most outside Chicago (+many Chicagoans!) understand how the *distances* involved and *depth* of segregation mean most white ppl have ZERO visibility into many Black and Latine neighborhoods

+

map of chicago population by race, showing extreme segregation with Black and Latino people largely in clusters on the South and West Sides and White people clustered along the central-northern lakefront, with only a few diverse/mixed-race areas in between

Closeup of neighborhoods on the West and Southwest side showing extremely stark racial clusters, some continuing for miles, of Black vs Latino vs Asian vs White vs small mixed-race housing areas

1 65 230

Sarah Daniel Rasher @rasher.bsky.social · 1d

Day 25: The Beaches - Blame Brett (2023, Canada, NK✅)

Wrapping up the first half of the challenge with an *11 POINT BONUS* for this shoutable drunk girl anthem. Impossibly infectious and a little too psychologically real. #TheTwen2ie5

Reposted by Sarah Daniel Rasher

dan sinker @dansinker.com · 2d

ICE has been cracking down hard across the vast expanse of the greater Chicago area, and I wrote a little bit about what you need to understand about what it’s like here now. Plus, I compiled some resources for locals to get alerts and whistles. dansinker.com/posts/202…

17 460 980

Reposted by Sarah Daniel Rasher

The Fig Economy @figgityfigs.bsky.social · 3d

Gotta say, “put dick out” is a dangerous thing to say to Amelia Bedelia.

"Throw it to first base,"
yelled the boys. "Put Dick out."
So Amelia Bedelia threw the ball to first base.
25

5 54 320

Reposted by Sarah Daniel Rasher

Adam Bonica @adambonica.bsky.social · 2d

Look. It would be great if there was one simple trick for winning elections. But 'just be more moderate' isn't it.

In fact, you can use the NYT's exact method to 'prove' a 'Progressive Advantage' of +1.4 pts.

This piece shows what's really going on: funded candidates do better than unfunded ones.

The New York Times’ “Moderation Advantage” Is a Statistical Illusion

After accounting for money and incumbency the supposed electoral bonus for moderate candidates vanishes entirely.

open.substack.com

15 120 380

Reposted by Sarah Daniel Rasher

US Out Of Chicago @raucousdukakis.bsky.social · 2d

All I'm saying is that clark the cub has never served this much cunt

Southpaw at Pride, wearing nothing but a rainbow fanny pack & gym shoes, gym shorts and a backwards Sox hat

Southpaw holding a rainbow Sox flag while wearing a full rainbow tiger-pattern suit

6 32

Reposted by Sarah Daniel Rasher

Jake Cole @jakecole.bsky.social · 2d

Also I’d like to give a shoutout to his audiobook recording of Moby Dick, a truly fantastic performance for every character but esp Ishmael, whom he 100% correctly plays as if he were three flagons deep in a tavern and subjecting all within earshot to the longest fish tale of all time

Andy “The Action Guy” Gorham @andrewmgorham.bsky.social · 3d

RIP William Hootkins. Thanks for all the memories!

4 34 93

Sarah Daniel Rasher @rasher.bsky.social · 2d

Day 24: Curse of Lono - Shoot the Pain (2023, UK, NK✅)

An alt-country meditation on addiction and grief with watery synths washing underneath the gravelly vocal. #TheTwen2ie5

Reposted by Sarah Daniel Rasher

Mat 🇨🇦 Role Play Chat @roleplaychat.bsky.social · 2d

TTRPG thoughts:

Running a homebrew setting can really be such an intimate thing. You’re saying to your friends, here’s this world filled with my own imagination, I want to share it with you and if you’re feeling up to it, come join me and create it with me.

2 10 53

Reposted by Sarah Daniel Rasher

Tim Price @timprice.bsky.social · 2d

A moth got into the shelter tonight and it was the event of the season.

Two cats sitting on top of cages and looking at the ceiling

Two cars on the floor staring up at the ceiling

Two young kittens in a cage taking notice

A cat standing on her hind legs to reach for a moth

110 2.5K 13K

Reposted by Sarah Daniel Rasher

Jes @jwolfe73.bsky.social · 3d

We are doing this again tomorrow if you can join us.

Whistle Zine Folding Party
Fridays @ 5:30 pm
Nighthawk (4744 N Kimball)
Help keep our neighbors safe from ICE by assembling and distributing whistles + instructional zines. Show up Friday evenings to fold, then take whistles to share. Whistle donations appreciated! Bring them on Fridays or drop off at the bar during business hours.

1 9 12

Reposted by Sarah Daniel Rasher

Heather Cherone @heathercherone.bsky.social · 3d

BREAKING: Federal agents fired tear gas at a crowd during an aggressive raid in Little Village with no warning, Ald. Byron Sigcho Lopez told @wttw.bsky.social.
If agents deployed tear gas without a warning, that would violate an order issued by a federal judge two weeks ago.

Border Patrol Agents Fired Tear Gas at Little Village Crowd with No Warning, Ald. Sigcho-Lopez Says

If agents deployed tear gas without a warning, that would violate an order issued by U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis two weeks ago.

news.wttw.com

3 33 50

Reposted by Sarah Daniel Rasher

Jack McGovan @jackmcgovan.bsky.social · 3d

"In the two years since the state started charging a 4% surtax on incomes over $1 million, the effort has created a $5.7 billion windfall, with the surplus being used to fund bridge repairs, bolster literacy programs and address the transportation system’s budget deficit."

Taxing the rich works!

Millionaire Tax That Inspired Mamdani Fuels $5.7 Billion Haul in Massachusetts

A millionaire levy in Massachusetts that New York City mayoral frontrunner Zohran Mamdani holds up as a model for taxing the rich has generated $3 billion more in revenue than expected without forcing...

www.bloomberg.com

20 720 2.1K

Reposted by Sarah Daniel Rasher

Art bot @art-institute.bsky.social · 3d

The Dan Ryan Expressway, by Wesley Willis
American, 1963-2003
1986

More info: https://www.artic.edu/artworks/204579

Wesley Willis
American, 1963-2003, The Dan Ryan Expressway, A work made of blue ballpoint pen and colored felt-tipped markers, on ivory illustration board.

8 91 330

Reposted by Sarah Daniel Rasher

billboard @billboard.com · 3d

Chappell Roan Unveils Midwest Princess Fund for Trans Youth — and She’s Already Raised $400K

Chappell Roan has announced her Midwest Princess Project for trans and LGBTQ+ youth, and the fund has already raised $400K.

bit.ly

33 2.2K 6.4K

Sarah Daniel Rasher @rasher.bsky.social · 3d

My rainbow unicorn onesie finally arrived, so I will have something dashing to wear to my friends' Halloween party this weekend.

1 1

Sarah Daniel Rasher @rasher.bsky.social · 3d

Sounds a bit like The Amazing Race, especially the airport one. Which means there are people who would be very into it.