iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Certified Illinois Expert @mrillinois.bsky.social · 4h

Presented at St. Charles Library in papal jersey and mitre tonight, will continue to do so until the Sox win the World Series and/or I am elected pope

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Certified Illinois Expert @mrillinois.bsky.social · 12h

Presenting on cemeteries at the gorgeously updated/expanded St. Charles Public Library this evening. See u at 7!

Old Carnegie building, now the side of the expanded building. A brick building with white columns

View from the mezzanine looking down at chairs, shelves, and tables

The new modern entrance, which includes a delightfully colorful below grade patio/window well.

The modern, two story fireplace with seats arranged around it. The Carnegie wing also has a fireplace I believe.

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Certified Illinois Expert @mrillinois.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

ah meant to say "and Addison" next week!

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Certified Illinois Expert @mrillinois.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

I will be presenting my Route 66 in Illinois lecture ONLINE tonight for Wheaton's library. I think there will be a LOT of cyberattendees, wish me luck. Join me at the link below. OR hear me talk cemeteries in person in StCharles tomorrow, Geneva and next week!

repurposed muffler man holding chicken wing and hot sauce atop roof, blue sky

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Certified Illinois Expert @mrillinois.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

A very successful, very well respected friend of mine, he calls me Sir, sent me this image from Peoria requesting the lore behind it.

An abstract clown maybe in some sort of frilly collar? Or a sundae dish?

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Certified Illinois Expert @mrillinois.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

The nameless grave of Victor Lawson, publisher of the Chicago Daily News, supported by the great Loredo Taft. I will be presenting on Illinois cemeteries tonight in Wauconda and Thursday in St. Charles!

The Crusader. A somewhat modern, slightly abstracted depiction of a knight with shield, helmet, and chain mail

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Certified Illinois Expert @mrillinois.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Sullivan’s grave and the Getty tomb he created, both at Graceland

Sullivans face from side surrounded by an encircled 6-point star

Ornate door with nice patina under a semicircular arch. Lots of repeating swirly patterns

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Certified Illinois Expert @mrillinois.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Schoenhoffen pyramid at Graceland Cemetery. A glorious day for a walk.

Pyramid with angel and sphinx on a sunny autumn afternoon

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Certified Illinois Expert @mrillinois.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Very cool dome imagery at Ascension showing the apostles and Mary around Jesus and the Father, who sports a rare triangular halo here.

The post says it all. Done in a kind of Byzantine style. The father is handing the cross down to Jesus (or maybe the reverse is true).

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Certified Illinois Expert @mrillinois.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Somehow i am unaware of this gent. Looked him up, very intriguing!

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Certified Illinois Expert @mrillinois.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

I will be in Naperville at their 95th St. library branch giving my phenomenal Great Graves of Illinois lecture at 1 p.m. tomorrow (Thursday). C'mon down and say hello! Pictured below is Springdale in Peoria, one of my featured cemetery picks.

rows of military grave markers and a tall monument with a soldier on top. Flags waving: US and POW

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Certified Illinois Expert @mrillinois.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

we need an account 😩 what is this! good survey tho

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Certified Illinois Expert @mrillinois.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

I've been considering how best to tackle the question of sex/gender, as originally the avatar was supposed to just be me (Mr Illinois), and ideally you'd be able to click "me" to hear facts. So I am more of a helper than an avatar. But I may want to create some new characters & a more diverse 'team'

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Certified Illinois Expert @mrillinois.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Perhaps the only time i have felt some form of national pride in six years or so, sounds great and feels right

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Certified Illinois Expert @mrillinois.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

I’m really pleased to announce my county/town naming game now has an addiction reduction mode. Colors turn to grayscale, and you’re prompted to take a break if you are playing too much. This is how my website is different than every other trash website on the internet. Play safe!

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Certified Illinois Expert @mrillinois.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Forgot to reshare the game: johnkokoris.com/experimental-module. It's really more of an intense geographic training module than a game, though I am trying my best to make it fun.

johnkokoris.com

Experimental Module

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Certified Illinois Expert @mrillinois.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

New updates to my Illinois county/town naming game include 67 Illinois Lore Relics that you win for entering certain town names, as well as new outfits like this Frank Lloyd Wright sweater and ISU clown pants. (I have also debugged the White Sox Pope Hat to be in correct color.)

pope hat, FLW sweater, red and white clown pants, glasses.

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Certified Illinois Expert @mrillinois.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

not bad at all for someone who is not obsessively memorizing place names and regularly lecturing on illinois travel! Throw some founding fathers's names into the mix and pretty soon you'll be cooking with gas

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Certified Illinois Expert @mrillinois.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Great news. My popular Illinois county-naming game now has a character builder so you can suit up your Mr. Illinois avatar before playing. Check it out at johnkokoris.com/experimental-module.

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Certified Illinois Expert @mrillinois.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Forgive me followers, for I have sinned. I have used vibes coding to make an amazing learning module to help our youth train to become the next Mr. Illinois. Practice memorizing counties, county seats, and municipalities at johnkokoris.com/experimental-module.

johnkokoris.com

Experimental Module

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Certified Illinois Expert @mrillinois.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Putnam County Library is hosting my famous talk on Route 66 in Illinois ONLINE! It will begin at 6. Grab your brown bag dinner and/or popcorn and settle in for an hour of fun; link below.

three fiberglass giants or muffler men outside the American Giants museum in Atlanta IL.

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Certified Illinois Expert @mrillinois.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Can u pretend to be a comed employee and just go in

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Certified Illinois Expert @mrillinois.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Yes I saw that and I’ve gotta assume there are so many people who just have them rolled up in their house. I have a chance to get the bands’ autographs so I want something a) cool and Chicago-y and b) light in color enough to be signed. Sadly the two posters I own don’t fit the bill.

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Certified Illinois Expert @mrillinois.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Does anyone know how to get one’s mitts on an old Wilco poster? Their site has a few and I have looked up the artist as well. Surely there is some secret network of Chicago based Wilco poster dealers?

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Certified Illinois Expert @mrillinois.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

I agree, even the pump house was done very tastefully

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Certified Illinois Expert @mrillinois.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Mr. Illinois has entered Palos Heights ahead of tonight’s performance at their esteemed library. (Just enough time to confirm our local waterway is being properly oxygenated at the SEPA station pictured below.)

A rounded cascading waterfall feature at this MWRD site. Surrounded by greenery and a white fence

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Certified Illinois Expert @mrillinois.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

St Dennis in Lockport, finished in 1879. Congregation dates back to 1846 which is pretty darn old for a Catholic Church in northern IL.

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Certified Illinois Expert @mrillinois.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Aha—yes they could get a pretty good road trip together going from lodge to lodge, very good food at some of them too!

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Certified Illinois Expert @mrillinois.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Another nice one in Flora if your friend is into Moose Lodges

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Certified Illinois Expert @mrillinois.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Waterfall Glen in DuPage County, which is somehow named for a man named Bud Waterfall.

Looking up at pine trees on a cloudy evening

Path through a Mostly green forest but there are some leaves on it

Water falling over a dam constructed by the CCC

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Certified Illinois Expert @mrillinois.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Folks, we’ve got a real good Moose sign on our hands in Lockport

Neon moose sign extended from a yellow brick building

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Certified Illinois Expert @mrillinois.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Very nice strangely shaped tower on this Lockport funeral home

White Victorian building with tower that is hard to describe

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Certified Illinois Expert @mrillinois.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

i was gonna say i know exactly where this is, but i consulted my own photo and it is slightly different! Multiple buildings in OP or simply multiple doors??

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Certified Illinois Expert @mrillinois.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Oops, forgot to mention the Palos Heights program tomorrow is Great Graves of Illinois (not about the Revolution). One of my best lectures! palosheights.librarycalendar.com/event/great-...

palosheights.librarycalendar.com

Great Graves of Illinois | Palos Heights Public Library

Travel through Illinois history with traveler and storyteller John Kokoris as he visits the graves and monuments of notable Illinoisans.

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Certified Illinois Expert @mrillinois.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Speaking on Revolutionary Illinois in Lockport tonight and in Palos Heights tomorrow. Come see me! I had to cancel/reschedule this Lockport one for a funeral, so I would love a few extra people to show up to make up for my unprofessionalism. Link below!

reenactors' tents outside the george rogers clark monument in Vincennes IN.

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Certified Illinois Expert @mrillinois.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

West suburban parishes to have spawned from St. Francis Xavier in La Grange.

a kind of funky map from an anniversary history book of st francis showing its dome and surrounding churches represented by steeples, between roosevelt rd, belmont station, joliet rd, and the des plaines river

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