Your Friday Five: 03.01.25
Hope folks are doing as well as possible. Cutting to the chase, here are five things that bounced around my head, heart, and soul this week.
ONE: After leaving Substack for Ghost this year, I will admit a Petty Bruce did make an appearance when I read this from Platformer in response to Substack promoting Nazi blogs.
In truth, we had more than one reason to leave. But foremost among them was the certainty that Substack’s Nazi problem would only get worse with time. Once it announced that right-wing extremists were free to set up shop on its network and start selling subscriptions, their arrival was a certainty. And because the platform invests heavily in social media-style growth hacks, it was inevitable that Substack would actively promote Nazi blogs across various surfaces. People would download the Substack app to read Platformer; they would enable push notifications to be informed of new editions; and then sometime after that there would be a push featuring a publication with a swastika logo.
Well, here we are. The inevitable happened.
I am not a paid subscriber to The Platformer, so I didn't read the entire piece.
At some point, I will write about the ups and downs of my own shift away from Substack, but at this moment, I am feeling pretty good about it.
TWO: Knowing that at least one of my books has been scraped to feed the AI monster, this story about AI in the UK definitely caught my eye, Kate Mosse’s diary: the great AI copyright swindle: The UK government’s data bill has betrayed our flourishing creative industries.
Writers are not completely against AI (despite it being catastrophic for the environment and a catalyst for misogynist ideologies, as Laura Bates lays bare in her excellent new book, The New Age of Sexism). This technology is here to stay, and we cannot avoid it. Regulated AI can and will do good in the world. But we have to make a distinction between AI that might be used in brilliant ways, such as medical diagnosis and innovation, and theft. If you use ChatGPT to write your novel, you haven’t “written” anything. It’s plagiarism. It’s like paying someone to go to the gym for you, then claiming you are now a tip-top athlete.
This battle has been lost, but the fight for fairness continues.
I am not sure how this will impact writers and technology nerds like me, but it is good to be informed and reminded of what is happening on all the fronts.
Rachael Myrow
THREE: Speaking of AI, I was included as part of a report by KQED's Rachael Myrow on Chat GPT, God, and Spirituality, Are You There ChatGPT? It’s Me, Rachael — Let’s Talk About God.
Many people are ghosting religions — especially if they didn’t grow up in one — because of institutional baggage: centuries of holy wars, abuses by those with power and corrosive cultural tribalism. Add rigid, dogmatic ideas that — let’s be generous — have not withstood the test of time, but remain unshaken in the name of tradition.
Amid this growing disillusionment, many still wrestle with timeless questions about identity, purpose, suffering and the nature of God. Who am I? What does it mean to live a meaningful life? How do I find — and keep — love? Why do bad things happen? Who or what is God?
I’ve asked related questions to “Monday,” ChatGPT’s snarky alter ego.
Me: Monday, do people ask you about God?
We know that there are many issues with AI, but the cat is out of the proverbial bag, so finding ways to use it well with as little environmental impact is crucial. I also think understanding the nuances between accessibility and generative AI is crucial, as there are some benefits. All that goes to say, this work is difficult and there is more work to be done.
FOUR: In other news, this announcement about a sequel to Bend it Like Beckam is welcome entertainment news.
More than two decades after the release of Bend It Like Beckham, writer and director Gurinder Chadha OBE has announced she is planning to revive the hugely popular story.
“I am so happy to be here in Basel for the Euros, the atmosphere is amazing,” said Chadha. “What I can share with you today is my very clear wish to bring the beloved characters from Bend It Like Beckham back to you and audiences globally very, very soon. Women’s football is more competitive, more exciting, and more global than ever. It is an honor for me to be a small part of it.”
I, and the rest of our women's soccer-loving family, cannot wait!
FINALLY, FIVE: This last one is a tie between recommending that folks go see the new "woke" Superman and one more read, but after interviewing Alix Dick and Antero Garcia about their new book, The Cost of Being Undocumented: One Woman's Reckoning with America's Inhumane Math to , I'm going unapologetically feed your book addiction.
When Alix Dick's family found themselves in the crosshairs of cartel violence in Sinaloa, Mexico, she and her siblings were forced to flee to the U.S. Many of the scenes that she shares are difficult and unforgettable: escaping from a relationship in which her partner threatened to report her to immigration; getting root canals done in an underground dental clinic. But there are moments of triumph, too: founding her own nonprofit; working on films that tell important stories; and working with her co-author Dr. Garcia to tell her story in a framework that lays bare the realities of structural oppression.
I have not finished the book, but it is a unique telling of one person's story of being undocumented (A term which Alix hates, BTW) so it is a good read for this particular moment in time as well as for a deeper understanding of the impact immigration policies in the US over time.
There you go, thanks for reading, and may you experience many moments of joy this weekend and beyond.
Peace,
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From the Camera Roll: This past week, in between the Bible and Church Music Conference in Masanetta Springs, VA and the Presbyterian Youth Triennium, in Louisville, KY, I did a little roadtripping to see some of the nature. Initially, I had planned to do some short hikes in the Monongahela and New River Gorge National Forests. Still, after the second time of stepping out of the A/C and having my glasses fog up because of the heat and humidity, I quickly scrapped those plans. Yes, I am a delicate California weather flower. That said, it was beautiful. Here is a video from the New River Gorge Grand View Overlook. Enjoy.
New River Gorge from the Grand View Overlook, WV
*The Original Friday Five was a weekly-ish post from my 2010s SF Gate’s City Brights blog. If you stumble across anything that you think would fit, please feel free to drop me a note.
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