Stitch-the-News
To process the chaos, I'm spending a few minutes each night stitching a news diary—embroidering tiny icons representing an important story of the day.
And by tiny here, I really do mean tiny. The canvas is only 8.5 inches in diameter, and the largest icons are smaller than a dime, while the smallest are smaller than a pencil eraser.
January 2026
One month in, and it feels like I've already sewn a year's worth of news. But it helps me make sense of it all, so I think I can manage eleven more.
Here’s a rundown so far:
Trident: Indiana University wins the Rose Bowl
Rama Duwaji’s Pointy-Toed Boot: Rama Duwaji faces sexist backlash for wearing $600 boots to Zohran Mamdani’s swearing in as the mayor of NYC
Venezuelan Flag: The US military kidnaps Venezuelan President Maduro, without Congressional knowledge, and at the bidding of President Trump
Peace Sign: In Venezuela and the US, demonstrators call for peace in the wake of Trump’s illegal capture of Maduro
Empty Vaccine: The US Department of Health and Human Services cuts its vaccine recommendations for children
Money Bag: Trump freezes more than $10 billion in funding for aid programs in blue states, based on false allegations of waste fraud and abuse
Memorial Candle: ICE officer Jonathan Ross murders legal observer Renee Good in the midst of Operation Metro Surge in Minneapolis, Minnesota; peaceful protests and vigils follow
Greenland: Trump doubles down on prior statements suggesting his intention to purchase Greenland
Oil Tanker: US military forces seize a fifth Venezuelan oil tanker, as part of a bid to control and profit from Venezuelan oil
Three X Logos: X (formerly known as Twitter) faces pushback for allowing its AI feature to produce explicit and offensive images, including of children
Shattered Ice Cube: ICE Out protests are held in communities across the US
Golden Globe: At the Golden Globe Awards, many attendees wear anti-ICE pins
Federal Reserve Building: Trump threatens the Federal Reserve Board Chairman with criminal indictment related to renovations on the Federal Reserve Building, as a pressure tactic to lower interest rates
Price Tag: Trump claims grocery prices are falling, despite evidence to the contrary
T-Bone Steak: RFK Jr. flips the food pyramid, with an emphasis on beef tallow, based on dubious health claims
Iranian Flag: Protests continue in Iran, and the Iranian government shuts down the internet
Champagne Bottle: Trump threatens to place enormous tariffs on Europe if he isn't allowed to buy Greenland
Taco: ICE officers arrest migrants after eating in the restaurants where they work; also, Trump always chickens out
Graduation Cap: Trump administration delays plans to garnish the wages of federal student loan borrowers who default on their loans (see also TACO above)
Text Message Thread: Text messages between Trump and Norway's Prime Minister are released, showing Trump rebuffing efforts to de-escalate conflict over Greenland
Trans Pride Flag: Congressional Democrats successfully strip anti-trans riders from funding bills for major US programs
Liam Ramos’s Blue Fuzzy Hat: Federal immigration officials detail 5-year-old Liam Ramos and his father in Minneapolis, after using Liam as bait; images of Liam in a fuzzy blue hat with floppy ears go viral, prompting widespread backlash
Snow Shovel: Massive winter storm dumps snow across much of the US, including in southern states
Alex Pretti’s Hat and Sunglasses: ICE Officers in Minneapolis murder legal observer Alex Pretti, who was filming them with his cell phone while helping a woman they knocked to the ground
Macron’s Sunglasses: French President Macron wears blue sunglasses to speak at the World Economic Forum, prompting a spike in demand
Thermostat and Tear Gas: Under Operation Metro Surge, ICE agents attack legal observers and protesters in Minneapolis with tear gas and pepper spray, even when they are already pinned down on the ground in frigid cold
Bovino’s Coat: Border Patrol official Greg Bovino is photographed wearing an overcoat reminiscent of similar ones worn by Nazi officials in Germany
Ring Doorbell: Amazon’s Ring announces a new partnership with Flock, a surveillance technology company, prompting concerns about Ring cameras being used by ICE
Wind Turbine and Airplane: Trump faces a legal setback in his efforts to shut down windfarms; Trump announces on Truth Social that he is de-certifying Canadian-made planes
File Boxes: The Justice Department releases more than 3 million additional documents from the Epstein files, with hundreds of mentions of Trump and more high-profile associates named
Protester with ICE OUT Sign: ICE OUT protests are held in cities across the US
February 2026
February is a short month, but it was still chock-full of news.
Tragedy Mask: After struggling to find artists willing to perform at the renamed Trump-Kennedy Center, Trump, who effectively named himself Chair of the Board, announced that the venue will be closing for two years for "renovations"
Harvard Crest: Trump initially dropped his demand for a $200 million payment from Harvard, but then backtracked and insisted the school pay $1 billion after news reports suggested that Harvard had pressured Trump to cave
Ballot Box: Trump and other Republican officials use unfounded claims of voter fraud to justify calls to "nationalize" elections
Map of California: The Supreme Court rejects California Republicans' efforts to block the state's efforts to draw new congressional maps flavoring Democrats
Pill Bottle: Trump announces the launch of TrumpRx, falsely promising that the service will lower the cost of prescription drugs
Olympic Rings: The 2026 Winter Olympics opens in Italy
Sad Lion: Donald Trump posts a racist video on Truth Social, depicting Barack and Michelle Obama as apes and himself as the "king of the jungle." While Trump ultimately took down the video, he blamed a staffer and refused to apologize
Bad Bunny: Bad Bunny headlines the Super Bowl halftime show, breaking viewership numbers and cultural barriers by performing entirely in Spanish, while simultaneously prompting backlash from the political Right
Rocketship: Known over-promiser Elon Musk announces plans to build a moon-based factory to produce AI-fueled satellites and launch them into space, and also posts on X that we should all stop being so sad, because he's going to make it possible for everyone to travel to the moon
Pride Flag: The Trump administration removes a pride flag from the Stonewall Monument in New York City as part of a larger effort to remove evidence of diversity in US history
Line Graph: After Trump reaches an all-time low of 37 percent approval, Gallup announces that after nearly 90 years of polling, they will no longer track presidential approval ratings
Minnesota Flag: Trump administration officials announce that after months of violent occupation, there will be a "significant drawdown" of ICE agents from Minnesota
Toilet: RFK Jr. downplayed the risk of Covid, saying that he is not scared of germs because he "used to snort cocaine off of toilet seats"
Dart Frog: Investigations conducted by UK and European authorities concluded that the Russian government killed opposition leader Alexei Navalny using a neurotoxin derived from a South American dart frog
Suitcase: With Congress in a fight over funding for ICE, the government goes into partial shutdown affecting the Department of Homeland Security and thus the TSA, leading to projections of airport delays
Alien Spaceship: President Obama says on a podcast that aliens are real, though he clarifies that he has not seen any evidence of their existence
Rainbow Coalition Logo: Civil Rights leader Jesse Jackson dies at age 84
Crayon: Following a Politico investigation, staff at the Dilley concentration camp began confiscating and destroying the letters and drawings made by children being held captive there
Gold Medal: In the run-up to the end of the 2026 Winter Olympics, the US women's hockey team wins the gold medal match against Canada and Alyssa Liu wins gold in figure skating for the US in joyfully brilliant performance
Gavel: In a 6-3 ruling, the Supreme Court strikes down Trump's tariffs
Cargo Ship: Trump announced that despite the Supreme Court's ruling, he will impose new tariffs anyway
TSA PreCheck: Trump declared that the Department of Homeland Security would be shutting down TSA PreCheck and Global Entry during the partial government shutdown, then reversed the decision only a few hours later
Snowflake: A blizzard dumps record levels of snow across much of the northeast
Truth-o-Meter: Trump gives a lie-riddled State of the Union speech
Stethoscope: Wellness influencer and anti-birth control activist Casey Means is grilled by Senators following her nomination to fill the role of Surgeon General
Netflix Logo: Netflix bows out of its bid to buy Warner Bros., leaving the Ellison-owned Paramount to buy all the related properties, instead
Pentagon: Secretary Hegseth throws a hissy fit when Anthropic says its AI isn't ready for use in military strikes, leading the Pentagon to turn to Grok and ChatGPT for solutions instead
(BONUS: Pizza: Hillary Clinton is deposed by the GOP with hours of questions about the Epstein scandal and about UFOs and Pizzagate)Map of Iran: The US launches a military attack on Iran, killing Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
March 2026
March came in like a lion and went out pretty much the same way (at least news-wise).
Computer: The US military used Anthropic's Claude AI to guide its strikes in Iran, just hours after the administration declared a ban on government use of Anthropic, following the company’s assertion that the tool isn’t ready for use in life or death decisions
Gas Pump: As the US attacks on Iran continue, oil prices rise, leading to projections of rising prices for gas, as well
Blood Moon: A total lunar eclipse had people across the US stepping outside before dawn to look at the sky
Missile: The US continues its military assault on Iran, and Republicans in Congress block efforts to halt the campaign
ICE Barbie: Trump fires Kristi Noem from her position as Secretary of Homeland Security, alleging that she produced an ad campaign for the agency, without his approval
Backpacks: Independent investigations confirm that the US is responsible for air strikes on a girls' elementary school in Iran, which killed more than 100 children. Many of the girls were so badly disfigured in the blasts that they had to be identified by their backpacks
Burger: McDonalds CEO makes a cringy video of himself awkwardly eating the chain's new menu item, prompting parody videos from other fast food companies
Casket and Golf Hat: Trump disrespectfully wears a white golf hat during the ceremony honoring the first US military members killed in the Iran War
Oil Barrel: The escalation of the Iran War leads oil prices to surge to their highest levels since mid-2022
Hailey Bieber Smoothie: Trump's granddaughter posts a video of herself shopping at the super expensive Erewohn grocery store and complaining about how she was going to have to declare bankruptcy after spending so much money, including on supplements and a supposedly beauty boosting smoothie
Iranian National Soccer Team Jersey: Iran declares that its soccer team will not be playing in the World Cup in the US this summer, in light of US attacks
Home Under Construction: Trump signs an executive order claiming to remove regulatory barriers to affordable home construction
Lebanese Flag: Israel continues its assault on Beirut and other parts of southern Lebanon, causing widespread death and destruction
Heart Balloon: A Reuters investigation uses old court records to uncover the identity of the beloved but secretive street artist Banksy
Feather Dress: Actress Teyana Taylor turns heads at the Oscars, both for her feathery dress and for her flowery praise of her fellow nominees
Topographical Map: Chaos continues in the Strait of Hormuz, with restrictions on the flow of ships disrupting the flow of oil
Baseball Bat: In a bit of athletic poetic justice, Venezuela beats the US in the first World Baseball Classic
Bullhorn: In the wake of sexual assault allegations against labor organizer Cesar Chavez, fellow organizer Dolores Huerta shares her own stories of abuse in corroboration of other survivors’ claims
Basketball: The NCAA tournament kicks off with some nailbiters and surprise upsets
Dark City Scape: Cuba experiences widespread, prolonged power outages as a result of political pressure from the US
TSA Uniform: Trump announces that ICE will “help” TSA to alleviate staffing shortages and long airport lines related to the partial government shutdown
Apple: Scientists engineer a new apple variety, the Sunflare, which is apparently better able to withstand the types of unpredictable weather associated with climate change
Air Canada Logo: An Air Canada jet crashes while landing at La Guardia airport, killing the two pilots and injuring dozens of passengers and crew
Paratrooper: Trump announces that thousands of paratroopers will be deployed to Iran
Robot: Melania Trump appears with a life-sized robot at a press conference, where she declares that "humanoid educators" will replace teachers
Instagram Logo: Judges in California and New Mexico rule that social media companies are liable for designing addicting products and for failing to ensure the safety of child users
Whale: Scientists film the birth of a sperm whale, revealing that humans are not the only species to rally together to assist mothers during delivery
No Kings Symbol: Roughly 8 million people took part in No Kings protests in cities and towns across the US
Cowboy Hat: The annual Conservative Political Action Conference is held in Texas, where attendees debated the post-Trumpian future of the Republican party
Military Helicopter: Two combat helicopters flew over the home of Kid Rock, near Nashville Tennessee, prompting investigations that were quickly dropped
Letter: Trump signs an executive order asserting (without constitutional authority) federal control over mail-in voting