Fight Night
George Dale loved a fight. He loved getting in them, with the Klan, for sure, but with anyone really. And he loved watching them. This is a little work-in-progress about both.
Dan Sinker's Blog
This is a blog by Dan Sinker.
Latest posts
Foundational Texts: Puzzle Pieces
The fifth installment in my monthly Foundational Texts series looks at The Westing Game, puzzles, and not lying to kids.
It's Not Done
Today the Arsenal, the 180-year-old British football club won the Premier League after 22 years. The lesson I took away from it was that it's never ever done.
The Zombie Revival of Dead Confederates
The Confederacy is everywhere right now, including in the new season of Rebel Spirit, out today.
A pep talk in the face of despair (or: trying redux)
Everything sucks right now, but things can *always* get better, but it doesn't happen via inertia. It happens because a lot of people tried.
Foundational Texts: Forks and Branches
The fourth installment in the monthly Foundational Texts series looks at the first book in the Choose-Your-Own-Adventure series, and how new choices are always possible.
A Short Post In Defense of Libraries
What it says on the tin. Libraries are amazing. Never ever forget.
A Well-Aimed Potato: The Klan, Notre Dame, and Today
With the Trump administration embracing anti-Catholic rhetoric, I wrote about a time a hundred years ago when Catholic students from Notre Dame beat the shit out of the Klan. A feel good story for the ages.
Foundational Texts: Raised by the Channel Five News Team
The third installment in the monthly Foundational Texts series looks at the iconic 1980s Channel 5 News Team, and the things they taught me when I was young and now that I am old.
Porous Barriers That Divide Then From Now
I came to Muncie, Indiana this week for this moment: March 24th, the night that George Dale's life changed forever. Even 104 years later, the reverberations of history stay close.
Record for tomorrow the stories that today's victors would prefer we forget
A former student of mine ended up spending six months in a Malaysian prison. He's told his story in an incredible web comic.
Foundational Texts: Goonies Never Say Die
The second installment in the monthly Foundational Texts series looks at the message I took from The Goonies when I was ten and is still just as relevant today.
On Joy and Resistance
Today the crew of weirdo printers that I call the whistle goblins passed a half-million whistles printed and shipped. I wrote about how we got there and how you can start printing whistles yourself.
Whistle Up 2: Rise of the Whistle Goblins
Today the crew of weirdo printers that I call the whistle goblins passed a half-million whistles printed and shipped. I wrote about how we got there and how you can start printing whistles yourself.
Foundational Texts: Jenny Holzer's Truisms
The first installment in the monthly Foundational Texts series looks at artist Jenny Holzer's Truisms, what they meant to a 14-year-old me and how they still resonate today.
We Are All We Have
From Chicago to Minneapolis to wherever is next, more and more it's very clear that we are all we have. And maybe that's enough.
Strength and Hope Amid the Year’s Cold Start
This year has started hard. There's a line from the Mountain Goats song 'Cold at Night' that I keep coming back to.
2025: The Exit Interview
There's only one word I can use to describe 2025: unrelenting. My contract on the year finally runs out today and so I requested an exit interview with HR.
I've got a feeling / This year's for me and you
I wrote a little thing about "Fairytale of New York" and about hope for a better year, but mostly I wanted to share the rendition of the song played at Shane MacGowan's funeral in 2023 because it's so beautiful. Happy Christmas, I love ya baby.
A note in defense of Doing The Work, written on the shortest day of the longest year
In a year where so many insist that we take shortcuts, I wrote a short note in defense of Doing The Work.
Announcing the Inaugural Snooping Newsie Awards for Excellence in Independent Journalism
Small-scale, fiercely independent journalism rarely gets recognition when awards are handed out. Yet it plays a vital role in our communities, especially this year. So I made an award and am thrilled to announce the inaugural winners.
'Tis the season or whatever - some more gifts, this time from me
I've made a lot of merch, maybe you want some. Also, a new zine to preorder as an experiment.
All Rad, No Bad
I put together a little gift guide of cool artists, makers, authors and other good stuff I like a lot. All rad, no bad.
Whistle Up
In Chicago, whistles proved to be a super effective alert system when ICE is near. With these goons spreading out across the country, I wanted to put together a resource guide for buying, printing, and distributing whistles. I wrote as full a brain dump as I could muster. Whistle up.
The Pugilist at Rest
It's been reported that Greg Bovino and 250 of his goons will be leaving Chicago. But it's also been reported that he'll be back. Chicago is a boxer, tired but unbowed. I wrote about how we'll be ready.
Ghosts in the Graveyard
I spent Halloween chasing ghosts. Not kids in costumes, or jumpscares in a haunted house. I spent Halloween chasing ghosts of a different kind: careening from one ICE spotting to another. I wrote an essay about it, and about other ghosts we're chasing.
Halloween a Hundred Years Ago
Everything is very hard right now, so travel back in time with me for a few minutes and look at how Halloween was advertised 100 years ago.
What I Need You To Understand, Notes from Chicago in Late October
ICE has been cracking down on Chicago, and I wrote a little bit about what you need to understand about what it's like here in late October. Plus, I compiled some resources for alerts and whistles.
A Brilliant Mistake
Says Who was supposed to be 8 episodes long, marking the final eight weeks of the 2016 election. We just passed the 400 mark, overshooting our goal by nearly 5000% It was a mistake, but a brilliant one.
I'm Writing a Book!
Yooooooooooooooo. I can't even believe it. I mean, I can because I'm doing it, but still.
The Fog of War
ICE unleashed tear gas on the street in Chicago's Logan Square today. I tried to find meaning among the fog and my own anger about, well everything.
Disasters, Invisible and Visible
ICE has been sweeping through Chicago for weeks now, yet coverage of it is still really hard to find. I wanted to compile both my go-to places that I turn to, as well as offer some ideas to news orgs on how to cover the onslaught better.
The Good Things
Hey, things aren't so hot right now, so I decided to collect a few of the good things and share them with you.
A Benediction for Chicago on the Eve of Occupation
With the Trump Administration about to roll its ugly occupation into Chicago, I wanted to write a little lyrical love letter to the city.
The Amazing Art of the Video Game Marquee
During this long, hot, difficult summer I took a trip to a huge video game arcade and ended up completely in love with the art of the game marquee.
Six Scenes of Hulk Hogan, in Reverse
Hulk Hogan died this week. He transformed professional wrestling and he was a virulent racist who played a part in destroying free press in America and aided the rise of Donald Trump, brother.
A Visit With The Stamp King
I took my dad's modest stamp collection to Chicago's last stamp dealer. The money wasn't good, but it was a perfect end.
Three Escapes
Sometimes you need to step out for a second, to take yourself out of the here and now and go somewhere else. With everything so *waves hands in all directions* right now, here are three places I'm going, if only for a moment.
Gathering Grief
A meditation on death, grief, and the card game Magic: The Gathering.
Things End: Punk Planet, Year 13
For more than a year, I've been writing essays about Punk Planet, the influential, incredible, miracle of a magazine I worked on for 13 years. For more than a year I've been dreading writing this ending, because the reality is this: Sometimes things end and you never, totally get over it.
The Who Cares Era
We're living through the Who Cares Era, where completely disposable things are shoddily produced for people to mostly ignore, while the government stomps its uncaring boot on our necks.
Things Fall Apart: Punk Planet, Year 12
Memory is a real son of a bitch. I thought I remembered the last painful years of Punk Planet vividly. Looking across the wreckage of Year 12, our next-to-last year, it turns out there was a lot I didn't remember.
Take a Look, It's in a Book
On Independent Bookstore Day, a look at how a bookstore changed my life and why indie bookstores are so vital right now.
Taking Things Apart (in three parts)
I wrote about how you can learn by taking things apart, about how geeky electronics were transformed by the global supply chain, and about how nothing happening in in the administration right now is about fixing broken things.
Old Growth: Punk Planet, Year 11
It's sort of impossible to believe just how many things we did in the 11th year of Punk Planet. Issues! Books! A whole new magazine! A look back at a year of explosive growth.
Do One Thing
Right now it feels impossible to get anything done, but we all have to. So I wrote about how I'm trying to break my doom spiral by doing one thing.
Leading and Following: Punk Planet, Year 10
Everything is so shitty right now. Let's talk about the unexpected connection between Punk Planet and the Gilmore Girls.
What Felt Impossible Became Possible
A post about how the KKK in the 1920s felt unstoppable, about the people that fought against them anyway, and about how fascism always fails.
Write it Down
At a moment where so much insane shit is happening, writing it down is a radical act.
Building, breaking, rebuilding: Punk Planet, Year Nine
Seeing Chicago stand up against ICE this week reminded me of why I love this city so much, and gave me a focal point for a reflection on the 50th issue of Punk Planet, which was dedicated to the city.