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A.A. Balaskovits

@aabalaskovits

Author: Strange Folk You'll Never Meet and Magic For Unlucky Girls (SFWP). Fairy Tale Enthusiast. She/Her

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03.09.2023
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Latest posts by A.A. Balaskovits @aabalaskovits

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Thank you @clmporg.bsky.social for including MAGIC FOR UNLUCKY GIRLS by @aabalaskovits.bsky.social and Jessica Danger's upcoming memoir, NO HEROIC MEASURES, in your Women’s History Month reading list! buff.ly/1y5lnI2

08.03.2026 14:40 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Waymo commercial: "remove the error of human choice." Bleak

05.02.2026 04:02 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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10.01.2026 20:52 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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This opens with God shoving his tongue down the throats of Adam and Eve. 10/10

06.01.2026 00:39 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Cheers to my mother who always buys the most perfect gifts

25.12.2025 14:25 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

I have no candies to send :(

06.12.2025 16:15 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

I Want You to Understand Chicago
Politics Chicago
2025-11-08

I want you to understand what it is like to live in Chicago during this time.

Every day my phone buzzes. It is a neighborhood group: four people were kidnapped at the corner drugstore. A friend a mile away sends a Slack message: she was at the scene when masked men assaulted and abducted two people on the street. A plumber working on my pipes is distraught, and I find out that two of his employees were kidnapped that morning. A week later it happens again.

An email arrives. Agents with guns have chased a teacher into the school where she works. They did not have a warrant. They dragged her away, ignoring her and her colleagues’ pleas to show proof of her documentation. That evening I stand a few feet from the parents of Rayito de Sol and listen to them describe, with anguish, how good Ms. Diana was to their children. What it is like to have strangers with guns traumatize your kids. For a teacher to hide a three-year-old child for fear they might be killed. How their relatives will no longer leave the house. I hear the pain and fury in their voices, and I wonder who will be next.

Understand what it is to pray in Chicago. On September 19th, Reverend David Black, lead pastor at First Presbyterian Church of Chicago, was praying outside the ICE detention center in Broadview when a DHS agent shot him in the head with pepper balls. Pepper balls are never supposed to be fired at the head because they can seriously injure, or even kill. β€œWe could hear them laughing as they were shooting us from the roof,” Black recalled. He is not the only member of the clergy ICE has assaulted. Methodist pastor Hannah Kardon was violently arrested on October 17th, and Baptist pastor Michael Woolf was shot with pepper balls on November 1st.

Understand what it is to sleep in Chicago. On the night of September 30th, federal agents rappelled from a Black Hawk helicopter to execute a raid on an apartment building on the South Sho…

I Want You to Understand Chicago Politics Chicago 2025-11-08 I want you to understand what it is like to live in Chicago during this time. Every day my phone buzzes. It is a neighborhood group: four people were kidnapped at the corner drugstore. A friend a mile away sends a Slack message: she was at the scene when masked men assaulted and abducted two people on the street. A plumber working on my pipes is distraught, and I find out that two of his employees were kidnapped that morning. A week later it happens again. An email arrives. Agents with guns have chased a teacher into the school where she works. They did not have a warrant. They dragged her away, ignoring her and her colleagues’ pleas to show proof of her documentation. That evening I stand a few feet from the parents of Rayito de Sol and listen to them describe, with anguish, how good Ms. Diana was to their children. What it is like to have strangers with guns traumatize your kids. For a teacher to hide a three-year-old child for fear they might be killed. How their relatives will no longer leave the house. I hear the pain and fury in their voices, and I wonder who will be next. Understand what it is to pray in Chicago. On September 19th, Reverend David Black, lead pastor at First Presbyterian Church of Chicago, was praying outside the ICE detention center in Broadview when a DHS agent shot him in the head with pepper balls. Pepper balls are never supposed to be fired at the head because they can seriously injure, or even kill. β€œWe could hear them laughing as they were shooting us from the roof,” Black recalled. He is not the only member of the clergy ICE has assaulted. Methodist pastor Hannah Kardon was violently arrested on October 17th, and Baptist pastor Michael Woolf was shot with pepper balls on November 1st. Understand what it is to sleep in Chicago. On the night of September 30th, federal agents rappelled from a Black Hawk helicopter to execute a raid on an apartment building on the South Sho…

Kyle Kingsbury is not a journalist. He is not an op-ed writer.

He is a computer safety researcher.

And he has written one of the most compelling, comprehensive accounts of the ongoing hell in Chicago that you could possibly imagine.

In under 1600 words.

aphyr.com/posts/397-i-...

09.11.2025 20:49 πŸ‘ 10351 πŸ” 5680 πŸ’¬ 119 πŸ“Œ 338

It's biblically accurate gourd season, motherfuckers

24.10.2025 03:08 πŸ‘ 59 πŸ” 9 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 0
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18.10.2025 21:21 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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18.10.2025 20:46 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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18.10.2025 20:45 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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18.10.2025 20:44 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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18.10.2025 16:46 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Feels bad when the hospital asks

17.10.2025 23:16 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
The Prince of Egypt (1998) - Playing with the Big Boys Scene (4/10) | Movieclips
The Prince of Egypt (1998) - Playing with the Big Boys Scene (4/10) | Movieclips YouTube video by Movieclips

To be fair, these fallacious court wizards can pull off a full choreo and song whenever a wandering monotheist arrives, so they earned their paycheck

08.10.2025 16:53 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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12.09.2025 21:14 πŸ‘ 573 πŸ” 196 πŸ’¬ 26 πŸ“Œ 17
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Hobbits getting into the graffiti game

04.09.2025 17:45 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Learn about @aabalaskovits.bsky.social‬'s writing process and inspirations for STRANGE FOLK YOU'LL NEVER MEET, and more, in this interview with @thirdcoastmagazine.com‬! buff.ly/9SmDWrJ

Get STRANGE FOLK YOU'LL NEVER MEET here: buff.ly/0WIEWKj
@susanschulman.bsky.social‬
@ipgbook.bsky.social‬

21.06.2025 18:51 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

So honored to be interviewed by Third Coast! We discussed many lovely topics, including but not limited to violence and defecation

16.06.2025 22:05 πŸ‘ 4 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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No kings, no fascists

14.06.2025 20:09 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
Quote from Balaskovits: "In this Shirley Jackson-like fable, A. A. Balaskovits gives us a glimpse into collective cruelty and our age-old fear of, and fascination with, difference."

Quote from Balaskovits: "In this Shirley Jackson-like fable, A. A. Balaskovits gives us a glimpse into collective cruelty and our age-old fear of, and fascination with, difference."

A. A. Balaskovits, a white woman with long blue hair and purple glasses, looks into the camera. She's standing in a park-like setting.

A. A. Balaskovits, a white woman with long blue hair and purple glasses, looks into the camera. She's standing in a park-like setting.

"They pass her skin from one hand to another. A lesson for the wide-eyed children present: Good people share among themselves."

In this week's miCRo, A. A. Balaskovits gives us a glimpse into collective cruelty and our age-old fear of, and fascination with, difference. buff.ly/uEryOGQ

11.06.2025 11:45 πŸ‘ 10 πŸ” 3 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 2
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miCRo: "A Village Tries On Her Skin," by A. A. Balaskovits In this Shirley Jackson-like fable, A. A. Balaskovits gives us a glimpse into collective cruelty and our age-old fear of, and fascination with, difference.

Deeply honored to have my latest flash, about a selkie and her skin, in the Cincinnati Review miCRo: www.cincinnatireview.com/micro/micro-...

11.06.2025 14:53 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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"would you like some erotica I found on the street?" Is a real thing I asked today

10.06.2025 18:44 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Everything that’s happened over the past six months has been a response to an imaginary crisis. There is no immigrant invasion. No trade crisis. No scientific or governance crisis. Just people completely high off their own supply trying to fundamentally reorder society. None of this had to happen.

09.06.2025 00:39 πŸ‘ 56109 πŸ” 17083 πŸ’¬ 885 πŸ“Œ 826
Dust storm, low visibility buildings

Dust storm, low visibility buildings

Dust storm in Chicago. Repeating all the great hits of the 1920s

16.05.2025 23:47 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Chicago is now Silent Hill :(

13.05.2025 20:25 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
Grey cat in a sidewalk. He appears to be pissed but he is actually just a cat.

Grey cat in a sidewalk. He appears to be pissed but he is actually just a cat.

Made a street friend today

12.05.2025 13:34 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Woke up to my two cats laying on me, licking each other's assholes. Life comes at you fast

10.05.2025 22:41 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

β€œWhat if we replicated the atrocities of Abu Ghraib every day, in startling clarity, for the express purpose of letting the world know that we enjoy kidnapping and torturing people en masse” is a pretty goddamn grim agenda to set for your political party.

16.04.2025 18:04 πŸ‘ 37 πŸ” 4 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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Make the weekend magical when you read @aabalaskovits.bsky.social's #fracturedfairytale collections, STRANGE FOLK YOU'LL NEVER MEET, and MAGIC FOR UNLUCKY GIRLS! buff.ly/d7sMLN3

Strange Folk You'll Never Meet: buff.ly/0bZf9i2
Magic for Unlucky Girls: buff.ly/kyYwCpa

12.04.2025 18:51 πŸ‘ 5 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0