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Sarah Kokernot

@sarahkokernot.bsky.social
243 followers 463 following 197 posts

Writer | Grant writer & consultant at StoryStudio | Words in NYT, Best American Short Stories, Tricycle, EPOCH | Above my raisin’ Fiction writer, essayist, secret poet sarahkokernot.com A newsletter on Buddhism’s wild side 🍃 sarahkokernot.substack.com

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Sarah Kokernot @sarahkokernot.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
1/2 I wrote about a stunning 15th century thangka painting of Medicine Buddha and how to redefine healing when so many wellness and dharma spaces shame people who are chronically ill and disabled. substack.com/home/post/p-...
substack.com
“Medicine Buddha,” Tibet
On re-visioning healing
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Sarah Kokernot @sarahkokernot.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
Pretty sure my Jungian animus is convinced he’s David Bowie.
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Sarah Kokernot @sarahkokernot.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
The day before the smoke from the wildfires drifted south, I saw this fawn on my walk. They belong to this world as much as we do. May more people stop looking away and see all that we’re losing.
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Juan Martinez @fulmerford.com · 16/07/2026
Lorenzo Salgado Araujo & Joan Sebastian Guerrero.
the names of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo & Joan Sebastian Guerrero on circlesa white square, a black background: the words ICE OUT
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David Atkinson @davidatkinsonpoet.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
This weekend our daughter moved out. We were excited to see her begin a new chapter, but there is also the parental instinct of wanting to be there for her, to hold her hand I still remember that 1st time, as a child, when I reached for her hand and she shrugged it away #poetry #poemoftheday
Poem - 'Sentimental moment or why did the baguette cross the road ' by Robert Hershon
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Juan Martinez @fulmerford.com · 12/07/2026
“Napoleon Crossing the Alps,” David (left) & “Papito On a Duck” R. Martinez-Kokernot (right) H/t to @sarahkokernot.bsky.social for spotting the resemblance
A split frame w David’s napoleon portrait on the left and a 5yo’s line drawing of an enormous duck w a rider
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Sarah Kokernot @sarahkokernot.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
Thrilled to have a new essay out in Tricycle magazine’s Substack. I wrote about losing my mother before becoming one myself, the fierce & tender female Buddhas, & how grief and loss led me to find a nurturing, powerful awareness in spiritual practice. tricyclemag.substack.com/p/the-fierce...
tricyclemag.substack.com
The Fierce and Tender Mother
Inspired by Tibetan Buddhist teachings, a new parent asks how we can be mothers to ourselves in moments of anger and overwhelm.
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Juan Martinez @fulmerford.com · 24/05/2026
the biggest argument I can make for Art and its attendant liberality is that it is joyful and that conservatism is so sad & dour & deeply afraid of everything & everyone
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Sarah Kokernot @sarahkokernot.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
Midwesterners are like let's put a sculpture of a whale next to this lake so that we can look at this freshwater glory while remembering all that it lacks
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Cynthia Pelayo @cynthiapelayo.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
I’m very honored to have this opportunity, to write through this story from a female perspective, a mother’s perspective. Mary Shelley wrote a novel as a way to process the death of a child she so loved, and she ensured that very love would be remembered by all of humanity.
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Sarah Kokernot @sarahkokernot.bsky.social · 30/05/2026
It’s hard for me to feel jaded or disillusioned about anything when I pay attention to the beauty of the natural world. Here are some frogs singing and tadpoles swimming. I could have listened and watched all morning. May all beings know wonder and awe! 💚
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Sarah Kokernot @sarahkokernot.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
It's gorgeous outside, so let's write outside! Come join me and herbalist Alex Williams for a plant walk & writing class next Tuesday 6/2 at Greenspell in Chicago. We'll learn about native plants & their uses, then write love letters & odes to the more-than-human, natural world 🍃
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Sarah Kokernot @sarahkokernot.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
I never get tired of Neolithic goddess art. Those folks had taste.
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Juan Martinez @fulmerford.com · 29/05/2026
Behold! All the dances you were not invited to this week!
Collage of four doodles of various critters dancing
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Greg Zimmerman @gregzimmerman.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
At least once a week at the bookstore: "How are you guys doing? It must be tough to be an independent bookstore these days." Us: "WELL, ACTUALLY...." www.chicagotribune.com/2026/05/27/i...
chicagotribune.com
Independent bookstores are multiplying, although many people still think they’re dying out
The decline of physical bookstores ended years ago, and the latest numbers from the American Booksellers Association show independent stores are expanding at a pace not seen this century.
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Good Trailcams @goodtrailcams.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
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StoryStudio Chicago @storystudiochicago.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
We're doing a new thing this summer -- a PAY WHAT YOU CAN online class! One of our star instructors, Sheree L. Greer, is teaching "Welcome to the Party: Intro to Creative Writing." This class happens Wednesday, July 15. More details and register here: buff.ly/w27mouO #writingcommunity
storystudiochicago.org
Welcome to the Party: Intro to Creative Writing with Sheree L. Greer - StoryStudio Chicago
This class is Pay What You Can! Pay $1 or $50 - whatever works for your budget!  Welcome to the Party, a single-session, cross-genre introduction to creative writing, asks participants to embrace…
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Sarah Kokernot @sarahkokernot.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
Writing about the hard things in our lives can be strangely freeing, joyful, and transformative. Come join me on Thursday 5/14 for a class on how you can write about life's less-than-wonderful moments in a way that feels empowering and supportive. events.humanitix.com/writing-abou...
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Qasim Rashid, Esq. @qasimrashid.com · 26/01/2026
You know Alex Pretti & Renee Good—the 2 white people ICE killed. ICE has also killed Keith Porter, a Black man, Parady La, a Cambodian man, & 5 Latinos—Heber Sanchaz Domínguez, Victor Manuel Diaz, Luis Beltran Yanez-Cruz, Luis Gustavo Nunez Caceres, and Geraldo Lunas Campos. 9 TOTAL. ABOLISH ICE.
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Memento (spooky) Morty 🌙 @mementomorty.bsky.social · 25/01/2026
I am seeing quite a few nurses calling for a nationwide strike over the killing of Alex Pretti. I think we are seeing one of the largest workforces being radicalized before our very eyes.
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Taniel @taniel.bsky.social · 24/01/2026
Alex Pretti’s dad: “He cared about people deeply & was very upset with what was happening...He thought it was terrible, you know, kidnapping children, just grabbing people off the street. He cared about those people, he knew it was wrong, so he did participate in protests” apnews.com/article/immi...
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eileen chengyin chow @chowleen.bsky.social · 24/01/2026
"The children are always ours, every single one of them, all over the globe; and I am beginning to suspect that whoever is incapable of recognizing this may be incapable of morality." -James Baldwin, from Notes on the House of Bondage (The Nation, 1980) #everynightapoem #ofsorts
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Jeff VanderMeer @jeffvandermeer.bsky.social · 24/01/2026
your second moment of calm
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Costa Samaras @costasamaras.com · 24/01/2026
Immigrants are great and make our country great
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Juan Martinez @fulmerford.com · 24/01/2026
Just because we’re living through it doesn’t mean it’s normal. Please keep living through it. Keep resisting. Keep showing up. There are more of us than them.
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Sarah Kokernot @sarahkokernot.bsky.social · 23/01/2026
This is a child. This is a child. This is a child.
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Logan (they/them) @lighthive.bsky.social · 23/01/2026
Until we remember we’re all fallible, cycles of violence will continue. Imagine being unable to articulate anything outside the grammar of fear and hatred. Imagine how sad one must be to look at a child and see someone to deport. That’s not power, that’s extreme trauma. Compassion is a practice.
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Sarah Kokernot @sarahkokernot.bsky.social · 19/01/2026
If you can, please consider donating to this fundraiser that’s helping immigrant families have access to clean laundry. They’re trapped indoors because of ICE and can’t get their basic needs without endangering themselves: gofund.me/46325bd2d
gofund.me
Donate to Help Families Access Clean Laundry, organized by Cindy H
As many of you may be aware, our immigrant community in the Twin Cities is currently facing… Cindy H needs your support for Help Families Access Clean Laundry
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Juan Martinez @fulmerford.com · 19/01/2026
Just because we’re living through it doesn’t mean it’s normal.
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Juan Martinez @fulmerford.com · 18/01/2026
one room in the house led right into the 1970s
Tentacled critter admiring a door w the yellow orange and brown pattern prevalent in the seventies
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Matthew Sheffield @matthew.flux.community · 18/01/2026
This is literally what I've been writing and podcasting about for years. I was planning to do an essay on this, but here's a 🧵. The main reason is psychology. Due to personal, family, and cultural histories, some people are inherently scared of the world.
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 18/01/2026
For some reason, very few people these days will stand up and say it, but: the US federal bureaucracy is one of the great wonders of the world, staffed with incredibly diligent people who do their jobs well and care deeply. Trump's destruction of the federal apparaus was a historic crime.
theatlantic.com
The Purged
Donald Trump’s destruction of the civil service is a tragedy not just for the roughly 300,000 workers who have been discarded, but for an entire nation.
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Ebony Elizabeth Thomas @ebonyteach.blacksky.app · 17/01/2026
It is Love that we're seeing from the good people in MN, and all over this sick and beleaguered nation right now, in those streets, out in the cold. There is no greater love than to love your neighbor... it's love as a verb. And one day, maybe not in our time, but if we do the work... one day...
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Sarah Kokernot @sarahkokernot.bsky.social · 17/01/2026
I will continue to believe that fighting like hell and loving your enemy are not contradictions.
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Juan Martinez @fulmerford.com · 17/01/2026
HAMLET (aside): A little more than kin and less than kind. KING: What's that? HAMLET: What? KING: I heard you. HAMLET: ... KING: Been workshopping that one, have you? Working away at that little dig? Squirreling away, working on little insults? How is it that the clouds still hang on you?
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Ethan Nichtern @ethannichtern.com · 17/01/2026
Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. -Dr. King, 1967
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Sarah Kokernot @sarahkokernot.bsky.social · 17/01/2026
Things are terrible but I’m also overflowing with gratitude for everyone in Minneapolis. @maiaduerr.bsky.social sent this to a bunch of folks & I thought I’d share it here. www.marchminnesota.org
marchminnesota.org
MARCH
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Juan Martinez @fulmerford.com · 16/01/2026
say what you will about cats but ours has been right by our 4yo’s side through the worst of a pretty bad flu
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Juan Martinez @fulmerford.com · 16/01/2026
the 4yo is on the mend but still not 100% & the cat still refuses to leave her side despite stuff like this
Cat in (a brief) chokehold while the 4yo plucks at his whiskers
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StoryStudio Chicago @storystudiochicago.bsky.social · 16/01/2026
Good news for your Friday! The full schedule for Pub Crawl 2026 is now available. Head over to the Pub Crawl website to check out the full lineup of panels, classes, and more. buff.ly/UugMsJi #writingcommunity
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Sarah Kokernot @sarahkokernot.bsky.social · 16/01/2026
May all beings be happy and free without exception! 🤍
A picture of a sunrise at Lake Michigan north of Chicago taken by Sarah Kokernot.
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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 16/01/2026
"Worse than Bush after Katrina" is a polling benchmark that I thought that partisan polarization had made impossible
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A Dandelion @onedandelion.bsky.social · 14/01/2026
Their mission is #Fear and #Intimidation💥 bsky.app/profile/vict...
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Ken Caldeira @kencaldeira.com · 14/01/2026
Right now is a good time to remind ourselves about George Saunders wise and superb 2013 graduation speech at Syracuse University: "What I regret most in my life are failures of kindness." archive.nytimes.com/6thfloor.blo...
From George Saunders great speech:

What I regret most in my life are failures of kindness.

Those moments when another human being was there, in front of me, suffering, and I responded . . . sensibly. Reservedly. Mildly.

https://archive.nytimes.com/6thfloor.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/07/31/george-saunderss-advice-to-graduates/
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Sarah Kokernot @sarahkokernot.bsky.social · 14/01/2026
Just learned that one of the oldest organisms on earth is a scraggly creosote plant in California which is 11,000+ years old. How poetic that endurance is so humble looking.
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ashley fairbanks @ziibiing.com · 14/01/2026
made some updates to the list. if you want to give to a gofundme, the ones in spanish are getting way less than other, and they are asking for much less
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Sarah Kokernot @sarahkokernot.bsky.social · 14/01/2026
“No one is above criticism. But I see more extreme versions of this online all the time—furious attacks on people who share the vast majority of the attacker’s political outlook and goals.”
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Jesse Locker @jessemlocker.bsky.social · 10/01/2026
Coptic spell to Acquire a Beautiful Voice, 6th–7th century CE, Egypt, ink on papyrus, 37.3 x 25.4 cm (Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University, New Haven) archives.yale.edu/repositories...
Worn papyrus with drawings of figures, symbols, and writing in Coptic. More here https://smarthistory.org/coptic-magical-text/
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Juan Martinez @fulmerford.com · 13/01/2026
Today’s #lunchbagdoodle is the Lesser Demon of Elaborate Revenge Schemes.
Sharpie doodle of a horned and spiked moose boar hybrid thing
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