A somber reflection, Trump-proofing Illinois and a new ‘border czar’
plus, The Message by Ta Ne-Hisis Coates
Welcome back to ‘In the Loop’! It’s your newsletter team Lauren, Noah, Audrey, Sam, Annabelle, Varun and Meredith. We’ve got a good one for you today.
To start, we have a reflection on President-elect Donald Trump’s second win and a new episode of the B-Side. Then, we have information on a $2.5 million gift for DePaul’s new athletic facility, the end of Pitchfork music festival in Chicago and Trump’s first cabinet picks. Finally, we have the city’s plan to get resident input on an abandoned railway and a relevant book recommendation.
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With that, let’s get into it!
A Letter to my Eighth Grade Self
By Lauren Sheperd
Dear Lauren (14),
It is currently November 11, 2024. You just turned 22, you live in Chicago and you just watched Donald Trump get elected president for the second time.
It is hard to say which time hurt more: I remember being your age, hearing the Access Hollywood tapes for the first time. This was the first time you realized men in the 21st century still talk about women in such a way, even behind closed doors. I do not know if it is my full access to the internet now, but in the last week and in the last eight years, it unfortunately feels like these thoughts of women and conversations have become mainstream, taking over my X (formerly Twitter) and TikTok feeds especially in this solemn week following the election.
Last time when Trump won, you felt helpless. You went to Shaker Heights Middle School that morning and cried with your friends. It was the unknown that was terrifying. The morning of November 9, 2016, no one predicted that Roe v. Wade would be overturned. COVID-19 was not even a possibility, nor was the mishandling of the pandemic. But even at your young age —you had just turned 14 —you knew something was deeply wrong.
The hardest part of the 2016 election for you was a feeling of helplessness. You could not vote, but you did what you could. You phonebanked, and even though maybe five of the close to 100 calls you made were answered – it made you feel better. That was until Election Night. As states turned red, your worst nightmare unfolded, and you went to bed.
This year, you watched the election all night. This year was different. As the election season unfolded, you did what you could to make a difference. You went through the grueling process of getting an Ohio absentee ballot sent to your mailbox in Chicago — a process that took over a month. It was hard for you, so you wrote a story for other students in the same position. Prior to and on Election Night, you were surrounded by an incredible team of reporters whose work informed people on how to vote, the issues that mattered and more. And you finally felt like you were doing something.
The morning of Election Day, you woke up prepared for a long day. You went for a run — some things never change. As you ran, you went over a checklist in your head for the day. It was purely professional, and you were ready.
As the results came in, you sat in the SPARK Center, yet again surrounded by a team of incredible journalists and advisors. You all worked together to get out information as quickly as you could while remaining accurate. We accomplished our goals that night and the months leading up to it, and you have never been more proud to lead such an incredible, dedicated team.
The night continued and the mood shifted. In a room full of journalists, a sense of fear crept in. Just two days prior to the election Trump – who was on the verge of winning again – said he wouldn't "mind that so much" if reporters at a rally were shot. Above the overwhelming sense to remain professional and do our jobs was a feeling of fear: how would our careers change in the next four years?
You stayed up until the results were called that night. After a panicked call to your dad, you finally felt the exhaustion from the day wash over you. As you drifted to sleep, a sense of deja vu washed over you. Not much has changed since 2016.
The next day was hard. You cried. It was no longer the fear of the unknown you felt, but the fear of the known. You tried your hardest to find joy in the day, but even Chicago itself was gloomy; the city was grieving. But you got up, you washed Election Night out of your hair and off of your body, and you gave yourself the day to mourn.
It has been almost a week now, though it feels like eternity. You have gotten in touch with your support systems, and you do not feel quite as helpless anymore. This time around, you actually feel like you can do something, like you can make a change. In our staff meeting last week, one of the staff members reminded all of us to continue to do what we do best: write.
And that is really the key to navigating everything: to never stop writing.
Best of luck, and always keep writing,
Lauren (22)
The B-Side: The Risk Trump Poses to the Free Press
14 East editor in chief Sam Freeman shares her perspective on another Trump administration’s impact on the free press.
Written and narrated by Sam Freeman
Produced by Audrey Leib
Music by Andrew Vucsko-Cameron
DePaul News
By Noah Tomko-Jones
Jewish students struck on campus — Two DePaul students displaying Israeli flags in front of the Student Center were “punched and pushed” by two masked individuals on November 6, according to the Chicago Police Department and DePaul. The incident is now being investigated as a hate crime. “We are outraged that this occurred on our campus and will do all we can to hold those responsible accountable for these hateful acts,” said DePaul University Public Safety in a statement released on November 7. A video of the incident was also posted on the Chicago Jewish Alliance Instagram account. Read more about it here in the DePaulia.
DePaul receives 2.5 million dollar gift for new athletic facility — Jennifer Steans and James Kastenholz – two longtime donors and DePaul community members – have announced a 2.5 million dollar gift for the planned athletics facility on campus. Both have a previous history of giving to the school. Steans is a DePaul Board of Trustees member, as well as a trustee for the The Steans Family Foundation, which supports the North Lawndale community. Her father is also the namesake of the Steans Center at DePaul. Kastenholz is the CEO of Kastenholz Construction Services, which specializes in large-scale building projects. According to DePaul Newsline, “The couple’s dedication embraces DePaul’s Vincentian mission to empower all communities through service and access to education.” Read more about it in DePaul Newsline.
DePaul Women’s Basketball wins on Field Trip Day — The Women’s team continued their strong start this season with a 74-53 victory at Wintrust Arena over the Mercyhurst University Lakers. This is their third game and third win of the season, and they got to celebrate with the Wintrust Junior Savers Club, which sponsored a field trip to the game for thousands of Chicago schoolchildren. The event, which has been done since 2008, provided kids with a glimpse into college life and free hats and shirts. Read more about it in DePaul Newsline here.
Chicago Headlines
By Audrey Leib
Officials bolstering Illinois protections before 2nd Trump term — Illinois representatives are looking closely at Project 2025 and Trump policy proposals to evaluate what protections they can enact in Illinois in the coming months. One of these gaps is to better protect medical data to ensure privacy, Rep. Kelly Cassidy said. Reproductive rights and gender-affirming care were enshrined in state laws in January of 2023. Fourteen states and Washington, D.C. have laws to protect gender-affirming care, but Minnesota and Illinois are the only ones in the Midwest. The Chicago Sun-Times’ Violet Miller has the rest of the story here.
Pitchfork music festival won’t return to Chicago — Pitchfork announced on Monday that it will not return to Union Park after 19 years there. Organizers said that the “decision was not made lightly.” They did not give a specific reason why the music festival will not return to the city of Chicago, but said they were grateful for their nearly two decades spent in Union Park. The statement released by Pitchfork said “As the music festival landscape continues to evolve rapidly, we have made the difficult decision to not host Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago in 2025.” Organizers have said that they will continue to host the music festival in 2025, but have not announced where. To read more, ABC7’s Digital Team has the scoop.
Seven counties in southern Illinois vote to secede from Cook County — Seven counties in southern Illinois voted to secede from Cook County. The counties – Iroquois, Calhoun, Clinton, Green, Jersey, Madison and Perry — all passed the measure in their local elections. Supporters of the issue say that Chicago and Cook County overpower the priorities of rural and downstate voters in the state legislature. The ballot measure has no legally binding effect, as any secession and state creation would need approval from Congress. Fox59’s John Clark and Alix Martichoux have more here.
Community group demands dismissal of Chicago cops with Oath Keeper ties — Community activists, residents and elected officials called on Mayor Brandon Johnson to fire Chicago Police Department (CPD) officers with ties to the far-right extremist group the Oath Keepers. They also asked for a task force to be created, as they do not trust the CPD investigation. Eight CPD officers were found to have ties to the extremist group in 2023. CPD investigated these officers starting in October of 2023, but none were punished after the investigation ended in the spring of this year. “When the worm investigates its tail what does it find? A worm,” said activist Frank Chapman of the CPD investigation. WBEZ’s Emmanuel Camarillo coverage can be found here for more.
National Headlines
By Sam Freeman
The Wisconsin high court will hear arguments on whether an 1849 abortion ban remains valid — The Wisconsin Supreme Court heard arguments today on whether a law that was adopted more than a decade before the Civil War bans abortion and can be enforced today. The state’s first prohibition on abortion was passed in 1849. The law stated that anyone who killed a fetus — unless the act was to save the mother’s life — was guilty of manslaughter. About a decade later, legislators passed statutes that prohibited a woman from attempting to achieve her own miscarriage. Lawmakers revised the law’s language in the 1950s to make killing an unborn child or killing the mother with the intent of destroying her unborn child a felony. The changes allowed a doctor, along with two other physicians, to give an abortion to save the mother’s life. When Roe v. Wade was implemented in 1973, it nullified the Wisconsin ban, but legislators never repealed it. Now that Roe is overturned, conservatives say that the Wisconsin ban is enforceable again. Todd Richmond of the Associated Press has the story.
Trump selects Elise Stefani for U.N. Ambassador — President-elect Donald J. Trump offered Representative Elise Stefanik (R-NY) the position of U.N. ambassador. She represents an upstate New York District in the House and is also a member of the Republican leadership in the chamber. She voiced her support of Trump and emerged as a key ally to Trump during his first impeachment proceeding. She’s had limited experience in foreign policy and national security. Stefanik has voiced her support for Israel and been a key figure in congressional hearings that led to the resignations of several university presidents over their handling of campus unrest after the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel. Stefanik’s office said she accepted the offer of U.N. ambassador, meaning she will represent U.S. interests and keep the U.S. State Department informed of events at the United Nations. Maggie Haberman of the New York Times has more information.
Man killed in the Tuskegee University shooting was identified — The individual killed in a shooting at Tuskegee University in Alabama was identified as 18-year-old La’Tavion Johnson. The shooting took place on Sunday and injured 16 other people, a dozen of them by gunfire, according to authorities. Many of the injured were students; Johnson was not. Jacquez Myrick, 25, was taken into custody while leaving the scene and was found with a handgun with a machine gun conversion device, the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency said. He faces federal charges of possession of a machine gun. The charges did not accuse him of using the gun in the shooting. The agency also did not say whether Myrick was a student at the historically Black university, where the shooting occurred. The FBI joined the investigation in addition to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Jeff Martin of the Associated Press has more information.
Trump names Thomas Homan ‘Border Czar’ — President-elect Donald Trump said late Sunday that he named Thomas D. Homan as the “border czar” in charge of the nation’s borders, maritime and aviation security. Trump announced the decision in a post on his social media platform, Truth Social: “I’ve known Tom for a long time, and there is nobody better at policing and controlling our Borders. Likewise, Tom Homan will be in charge of all Deportation of Illegal Aliens back to their Country of Origin.” Homan, a senior immigration official in the last Trump Administration, said that workplace raids would restart under the new government. Homan has decades of experience in immigration enforcement: he was acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in 2017 and before that, he was a police officer, a United States Border Patrol agent and a special agent with the former Immigration and Naturalization Service. Mike Ives from the New York Times has more information.
14 East Pueblo: City seeks community help improving Pilsen’s abandoned rail line
By Annabelle Rivera
Pilsen’s abandoned railway could be getting an upgrade — and residents are invited to pitch ideas.
A community meeting is scheduled for this Wednesday from 6-8 p.m. at Joseph Jungman Stem Magnet School, 1746 S. Miller St. The city wants neighbors to pitch potential improvements in the infrastructure of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe rail line (BNSF), which runs through Pilsen.
The line runs along the formerly-proposed El Paseo Trail, which would have added a 4.2 mile stretch of greenway between Pilsen and Little Village. The project was paused in 2022 due to potential safety concerns of the trail’s proximity to industrial sites.
This is the city’s first community meeting about the rail line. Residents are invited to attend anytime between 6-8 p.m.
Hey, Check This Out!
With Featured Columnist Varun Khushalani
A few weeks ago, I found myself rewatching this clip of author Ta Ne-Hisis Coates engaging in a tense verbal exchange with an anchor on a CBS morning show. I had been familiar with Coates’ name and work, I had read Between the World and Me in high school. I fear a lot of it didn’t stick. I didn’t really have the experience in life to truly let his words grasp me in the way in which it was intended. But now, after a 3 and a bit years of University experience, I felt I owed it to my high school self to go back and hear what Coates had to say
***
It’s been a weird week. In the days following the election, I kept on sticking myself in the tangles of arbitrary hypotheticals, hoping that if I wind myself up tightly enough I won’t have to deal with the tonnage of shit about to hit the fan. Losing myself in social media didn’t help either because when everyone has an opinion, everyone else’s opinion is wrong. It really made a lot of people feel better about yelling at each other, day after day, tweet after tweet. There’s a certain helplessness in this situation, one that vents easily through anger. In the age when a billionaire can buy prestigious platforms to air whatever opinions they please, how do we speak out against the injustices to come?
I understand that overwhelming urge to stand up at a desk and shout out the point that I think is right and why it’s right and why you’re wrong. All that bickering was very funny for a while, we all needed it. But the situation today is still the same as it was yesterday. All that is in our control is how we respond, how we fight back against a system that is working its hardest to obstruct and dismantle the truth.
That same system went up against Coates, but what made that interaction stand out was the resounding clarity Coates spoke with, a clarity that elevates his writing in such a way that you can’t help but get pulled into the next sentence. It’s a type of honesty and earnestness that shapes his point clearly — painstakingly as well, but in the end, unimaginably clear. I had to read it every so often to maintain a level of clarity within myself, but that was before the election.
I didn’t want to get too angry, I didn’t want to turn into that person who sits down and types just because someone has to. I didn’t want to upset the Order I knew everyone wanted to maintain until the moment polls closed on the West Coast. Turns out that Order just gave us another four years of Donald Trump in the White House. Turns out that Order doesn’t know what the hell was going on in the first place. I’m not sure what to think, I don’t know what’s going to happen next. But I do know that the gloves are coming off — it’s high time. Read The Message, written by Ta Ne-Hisi Coates, anywhere where books are sold.
Resources
Need resources regarding cooling centers, rental assistance, abortion access, COVID-19 testing and vaccines or mental health? Check out our complete list here.
That’s it for today! See you next Monday.
The 14 East Newsletter Team