This, my first collage of the new year, did not come easily, and in fact took several drafts, which doesn't usually happen. I am still not satisfied with it, but I have not been doing particularly well the past couple of days, and it's the best I can do.

Compare the first collage of 2021, Betrayal.

The past several days have been hovering both above and below freezing. The temperature gets up to the mid to high 30s, melting the piles of snow, and then plunges down, freezing overnight. As a result, sidewalks and streets everywhere are covered with thick layers of bumpy ice.

When I first heard the news about Renée Good, I felt numb. I took an ice chopping tool and went outside to chip away at the coating on the sidewalk and steps in front of my house, as I thought about what I had learned so far. I wasn't aware of much other than it felt good to physically pulverize the dangerous layer of frozen water that made everything treacherous in every direction.

I came in and saw the Venn diagram that naomikritzer had published on Bluesky:


It seemed fitting.

SUV trucks with out-of-state and blank license plates and tinted windows have been speeding around the streets of my city, like barracudas. I get text message reports several times a day: they've now been spotted at a construction site in Blaine. Now they're at the Minnetonka library. Now at a day care center. Now at an elementary school.

And now this.

Renee Good was killed a couple of miles from my home, on a street that I used every time I came home from work. Later that afternoon, ICE agents swarmed a high school eight blocks from my home as it was letting out, seizing two staff members and pepper-spraying students.

Minneapolis Public Schools have reacted by closing for the rest of the week.

The President flat-out lied in response to questions about what happened, defending the agent who committed murder and slandering the dead woman (who had just dropped off her kid at school) as a terrorist.

The next couple of days in my neighborhood have had the feeling of being under siege. Helicopters have been circling overhead, bringing back difficult memories from 2020. Many businesses, particularly those run by immigrants, closed the next day.

I went to the site on Portland Avenue today, and I spent some time listening to the speakers and looking out over the heaps of flowers, stuffed animals, and candles.

Then I came home and talked with two women from my block club, who came to my door to get me connected with Signal groups and warn me that ICE is reportedly going door to door, demanding that people tell them 'where the immigrants live.'

I have had difficulty sleeping.

This feels like the worst possible timeline.

Image description: A virtual sea of memorial flowers and candles. Center: a square sign with a stylized blue butterfly and the word "Remember." Foreground: two gold star balloons and a heart-shaped balloon with the word "Renee." Lower right corner: a blue plastic whistle. Background, behind flowers: an open peach rose (the flower I bought and left at the memorial.)

Renée Good



Click on the links to see the 2026, 2025, 2024, 2023, 2022 and 2021 52 Card Project galleries.