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Nick Fesette

@nfesette

Associate prof of theater at Oxford College of Emory University. Abolition, critical prison studies, performance studies, drama. http://nickfesette.net/

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Latest posts by Nick Fesette @nfesette

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GUEST ROOM | What Will Save Us From Ourselves? Not Another Engineering Building Professor Bruce Levitt argues that it is not engineering, but the arts that will ultimately save humanity from its most dangerous threat: itself.
09.03.2026 14:19 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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β€œWe Belong to Each Other Now”: Lessons from Minneapolis β€œThis extreme closeness, togetherness and intimacy β€” you cannot infiltrate your way into a space where you'll understand that," says May, a rapid responder in Minneapolis.

After months of relentless rapid response in Minneapolis, members of Defend the 612 had a moment to breathe and reflect on the lessons they’ve learned, the grief they carry, and the citywide fellowship they hope will endure. The crisis is not over, and I’m grateful they made time to speak with me.

22.02.2026 13:33 πŸ‘ 1502 πŸ” 570 πŸ’¬ 9 πŸ“Œ 60

We're going to win because their side has no good art and they know it.

28.01.2026 17:48 πŸ‘ 1365 πŸ” 261 πŸ’¬ 23 πŸ“Œ 0

At the end of the day, the Black Lives Matter era was about whether people should be killed in the street, and lots of people decided yeah and put those little blue flags on their cars. It spread to everyone because it stopped for no one.

24.01.2026 16:45 πŸ‘ 20108 πŸ” 6982 πŸ’¬ 80 πŸ“Œ 183

🚨HOLY CRAP. An ICE whistleblower just revealed a secret memo authorizing ICE officers to break into homes without a judicial warrant, which DHS's own legal training materials say is unconstitutional!

ICE then hid the memo from the public, passing it along by word of mouth and private conversation.

21.01.2026 22:00 πŸ‘ 27089 πŸ” 16054 πŸ’¬ 1138 πŸ“Œ 1634
A Border Patrol agent in a balaclava and green tactical uniform is falling backwards onto the icy pavement. His tailbone is hitting the ground, his boots are up in the air and his arms are splayed out in a V shape to break his fall. The photo looks to be taken from about 5ft from the agent

A Border Patrol agent in a balaclava and green tactical uniform is falling backwards onto the icy pavement. His tailbone is hitting the ground, his boots are up in the air and his arms are splayed out in a V shape to break his fall. The photo looks to be taken from about 5ft from the agent

πŸ“Έ by Christopher Katsarov

11.01.2026 23:14 πŸ‘ 1881 πŸ” 346 πŸ’¬ 57 πŸ“Œ 125

Human brains feed off of negativity. Negative thoughts are easily digested and play in a loop in your mind all of the time. The reality, however, is that there is also A LOT OF GOOD happening every single minute. You have to do more work to pay attention to the good but it's worth it.

07.01.2026 23:03 πŸ‘ 2348 πŸ” 708 πŸ’¬ 13 πŸ“Œ 0

"You gonna murder someone else? You can't kill us all, Nazis."

07.01.2026 17:25 πŸ‘ 8190 πŸ” 2703 πŸ’¬ 104 πŸ“Œ 73
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Son of Georgia Woman Who Gave Birth While Brain Dead Is β€˜Underdeveloped,’ Still Hospitalized: β€˜Not Coming Home Soon’ Adriana Smith was declared brain dead in February, but kept alive to deliver her baby in June due to Georgia’s strict ban on abortion. After nearly six months, Smith’s baby, Chance, is still hospitali...

Another update on baby Chance, the child of Adriana Smith, a Georgia woman who was brain dead and turned into an incubator because of abortion bans.

He’s still hospitalized and not going home anytime soon.

What’s worse? His family are footing the bill.

people.com/georgia-baby...

05.12.2025 11:30 πŸ‘ 132 πŸ” 72 πŸ’¬ 8 πŸ“Œ 2

I named my fists Pozzo and Lucky because given the existence as uttered forth in the public works of Puncher and Wattmann of a personal God quaquaquaqua with white beard quaquaquaqua outside time without extension who from the heights of divine apathia divine athambia divine aphasia loves us dearly

01.12.2025 02:33 πŸ‘ 26 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
Infographic with text: Data and facts to help you push back against 7 false claims about mass incarceration and crime

Infographic with text: Data and facts to help you push back against 7 false claims about mass incarceration and crime

Don’t worry! If your Thanksgiving dinner conversation turns from pie to prisons, or from cranberries to crime, we’ve got you covered. 🧡

27.11.2025 14:15 πŸ‘ 46 πŸ” 26 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 1
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two anime characters are standing next to each other in a grassy field ALT: two anime characters are standing next to each other in a grassy field
26.11.2025 13:25 πŸ‘ 9 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

A lot of people are going to walk away from the Ghislaine Maxwell coverage with the impression that our prison system isn’t punitive enough but I’d say it highlights how most everyone else is treated with *deliberate* cruelty.

14.11.2025 13:27 πŸ‘ 1999 πŸ” 509 πŸ’¬ 28 πŸ“Œ 8
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05.11.2025 02:45 πŸ‘ 3071 πŸ” 511 πŸ’¬ 4 πŸ“Œ 2

In my Chicago neighborhood this weekend: candy drive for kids who can't safely go out to trick or treat because of ICE; big visible letter-writing campaign at an outdoor block party; low-flying Blackhawk helicopter over a children's baseball game; whistle brigades everywhere. #chicagostrong

27.10.2025 14:11 πŸ‘ 728 πŸ” 226 πŸ’¬ 11 πŸ“Œ 13

Regarding the question β€œWell, what can I do?β€œ Ruth Wilson Gilmore said, β€œGo into something that already exists, and do that work towards the end of helping to tip it away from reinforcing the system towards weakening the system. That’s infiltrating. Or innovate. If something doesn't exist, make it."

22.10.2025 18:50 πŸ‘ 141 πŸ” 56 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 1
NEW ISSUE OUT NOW
American Quarterly
Volume 77, Number 3, September 2025

CONTRIBUTORS 
Jason Ruiz
Joseph Keith
Justine Frerichs
Kendall Gordon Artz
Joseph D. Martin
Jason Ezell
Nicholas Fesette
Naomi Fair
Eunhye Grace Lee
Yi-hung Liu
Bethany Swann

NEW ISSUE OUT NOW American Quarterly Volume 77, Number 3, September 2025 CONTRIBUTORS Jason Ruiz Joseph Keith Justine Frerichs Kendall Gordon Artz Joseph D. Martin Jason Ezell Nicholas Fesette Naomi Fair Eunhye Grace Lee Yi-hung Liu Bethany Swann

NEW ISSUE OUT NOW
American Quarterly
Volume 77, Number 3, September 2025
tinyurl.com/3cp8rvax

CONTRIBUTORS
Jason Ruiz
Joseph Keith
Justine Frerichs
Kendall Gordon Artz
Joseph D. Martin
Jason Ezell
Nicholas Fesette
Naomi Fair
Eunhye Grace Lee
Yi-hung Liu
Bethany Swann

11.09.2025 13:05 πŸ‘ 4 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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The Ten Demands for Justice provides the roadmap to abolition β€” with each action chipping away at an inherently, intentionally unjust system.

Read all 10 here, and print this PDF to bring to your city council members.

drive.google.com/file/d/1MKG3...

web.archive.org/web/20240622...

14.10.2025 14:24 πŸ‘ 118 πŸ” 93 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 5

THREAD. Did you know that at about 1/3 of all stranger homicides in the U.S. are perpetrated by police? But there's something hidden here that is important to understand in this authoritarian moment.

12.10.2025 16:56 πŸ‘ 747 πŸ” 318 πŸ’¬ 5 πŸ“Œ 26

an experience I think about a lot: I was visiting a class in DC Jail shortly after Kim Kardashian visited and had brought in her camera team. I relayed critiques of her "performative", "virtue signalling" acts I had heard on the outside. the response was somewhere between a shrug and an eye roll

11.10.2025 18:11 πŸ‘ 726 πŸ” 88 πŸ’¬ 13 πŸ“Œ 3
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According the victim's attorney, body camera footage captured the officer saying, β€œDo something, bitch,” before leaping out of the car and shooting her multiple times. Another officer asked, β€œHey, what happened?” The first pointed to his camera, β€œHey, don’t speak. You’re good.”
trib.al/2RfPYXK

07.10.2025 22:40 πŸ‘ 820 πŸ” 392 πŸ’¬ 19 πŸ“Œ 17

thread: atlanta-area journalist Mario Guevara was arrested June 14 while livestreaming a protest. one of the charges? β€œpedestrian in the roadway” -- he stepped off a curb as police cleared the street. it’s on his livestream. he was wearing a press vest, and identified himself as media.

03.10.2025 19:42 πŸ‘ 21 πŸ” 7 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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Reshaping a Rural College Theatre Program |Jayme KilburnSince her arrival at a small liberal arts college in Kentucky, Jayme Kilburn has grown its theatre program into a valued local cultural institution. By positioning theatre as a social se...

Since her arrival at a small liberal arts college in Kentucky, Jayme Kilburn has grown its theatre program into a valued local cultural institution. By positioning theatre as a social service, she writes, she has cultivated a community that wants to show up. #theatre
howlround.com/reshaping-ru...

29.09.2025 13:43 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Ta-Nehisi Coates: β€œWhat of the writers, the thinkers, and the pundits who cannot separate the great crime of Kirk’s death from the malignancy of his public life? Can they truly be so ignorant to the words of a man they have so rushed to memorialize? I don’t know.”

16.09.2025 21:30 πŸ‘ 1665 πŸ” 409 πŸ’¬ 28 πŸ“Œ 14
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Charlie Kirk’s Legacy Deserves No Mourning The white Christian nationalist provocateur wasn't a promoter of civil discourse. He preached hate, bigotry, and division

I wrote my own Charlie Kirk obituary, and about valuing truth over manners: www.thenation.com/article/poli...

12.09.2025 20:42 πŸ‘ 8249 πŸ” 2374 πŸ’¬ 380 πŸ“Œ 378

it’s early but it seems like maybe this is relevant again (wrote it last week fml)

12.09.2025 14:37 πŸ‘ 2308 πŸ” 675 πŸ’¬ 21 πŸ“Œ 40

🧡

11.09.2025 19:19 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

ATLANTA (AP) β€” Judge says he'll toss the racketeering case against 61 people tied to protests over a training center called β€œCop City.”

09.09.2025 17:09 πŸ‘ 3498 πŸ” 785 πŸ’¬ 25 πŸ“Œ 116

I just attended a Community Defense and ICE Watch training, & I’d encourage others to take one--bc no matter your expertise, unless you’ve been trained in this work, it’s easy to rely on assumptions. These trainings share proven strategies that actually minimize harm & strengthen community safety.

07.09.2025 20:34 πŸ‘ 201 πŸ” 82 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 2