Happy Gay Christmas (Halloween) for all who celebrate! I kind of let Halloween fly past me this year, which is a bit of a bummer. There's just so much going on and it's so easy to just let the time pass by. Why spend your precious spare time dealing with decorations when you can just rest? That was my thought process, until suddenly it was the week of Halloween weekend and I had wished I had put in more effort. i wish I had been waking up to an apartment covered in spooky decorations, and I wish a had a basket of candy prepped for trick-or-treaters that won't come because i think I'm the youngest person in my building by a long shot. The world is especially busy, and it sucks because of that and other fun reasons. SNAP benefits are disappearing for folks and this government shutdown is putting a lot on hold for folks who need anything from the government right now. We can't all change the world all the time, and even when we help out it might still suck in the grand scheme. That's probably why it's important to cherish those small things and to celebrate the moments that mark our path to the end of another year.

News to Know

OpenAI Says Hundreds of Thousands of ChatGPT Users May Show Signs of Manic or Psychotic Crisis Every Week (Wired): This is a great reminder to think twice about making use of AI like ChatGPT. This is just one of many stories I've read in the past 6 months on the effect it's had on people's mental health and relationships. Hundreds of thousands is honestly more people than I ever imagined though, so let's just hope this AI bubble bursts sometime soon...
No one was helping Black transgender youth. So these parents stepped in. (19th News and Capital B News): Another amazing reminder that there are good folks doing good work for our queer youth! Black trans youth have to deal with marginalization and discrimination from so many angles, so it's awesome to hear about the network being created to support parents of Black trans kids that can help guide them through these challenges and into brighter futures.
Sean Grayson trial concludes with a guilty verdict in Sonya Massey shooting death. (Peoria Journal Star): This is a full rundown of the surprisingly short trial of Sean Grayson, the police officer who killed Sonya Massey last Summer. If you want the short version, he was convicted of second degree murder, which can garner a sentence somewhere from 4 to 20 years. Sentencing is scheduled for January 2026. It's hard to say how to feel about this, especially as someone who is a prison abolitionist. It's always hard to know how to feel about these things. It's like you want a prison sentence to heal the hurt, but prison doesn't really reform folks and while I wish I could say a sentence helps heal the hurt, none of this will bring Sonya Massey, a fellow Central Illinoisian, back. Complicated feelings on this for sure.
Lawmakers approve $1.5B transit funding package without statewide tax increases (Capitol News Illinois): Finally lawmakers have pushed through this transit funding package! This isn't just about Chicago though, this article has important info on downstate transit as well. We didn't get as many wins as some downstate legislators were hoping for, and the funding we were expecting for our transit projects is about 80 million dollars less than we were hoping for. So definitely a mixed bag, but read through for more info!

Lavender Vibes

Hundred Acres by Noname - If you aren't from Chicagoland then I'll forgive you not knowing one of the best lyricists and rappers of the last decade, but now you know her so there's no excuse. As someone from the south suburbs of Chicago, I've been thinking a lot about Summer 2016, which was easily one of the best summers in living memory. Noname and the Chicago musicians of that era (Chance the Rapper, Ravyn Lenae, Jamila Woods) are a large part of the reason that summer was fire. This song is good as most Noname records are, but it stands more so as a reminder to give her discography another listen. It's not everyday you get to listen to a leftist musician who is vocal about their views and actually does the work too! (Check out Noname's book club for more info on that).