Things I Learned This Week
Voltaire, AI, Jasmine Crockett, Ethan Hawke, Marley, and VOTE!
OK. I’ve been absent. It’s a trope. I’ve stepped back from pottery and blogging so I can focus on my manuscript, plus an overwhelming sense of doom about the world that makes it difficult to sift the joy out of anything. Maybe I should be watching the Olympics, but tuning in for the Bad Bunny Bowl was the most I could do sports-related this semester. It makes me nervous that as I sit at this desk spitting out words that might never mean anything to anyone other than me , my butt grows bigger and bigger, and my soul darkens. But hey, I’m oscillating between optimism and pessimism, and here is some stuff I’ve learned this week to that effect.
College students are using AI. A lot. I mean, a WHOLE lot. In a way that makes it excruciating to grade papers, and even worse, makes me see the coming age of WALL-E in the rearview mirror, quickly gaining speed. I had a dream nightmare last night that my husband and I were in a vast field of the most lovely amber waves of grain, and AI had become so advanced that you could just call out what you wanted and it would appear. I was asking for yellow balloons and hot-dog-shaped balloons that just appeared and floated over the landscape in the most gorgeous way. It was cool at first, but then I realized what would stop someone from asking for a million balloons? Or a zillion balloons. Or a nuclear bomb, and it stopped being cool.
I’ve been reading more than there’s room to tell you about. How have I never seen or read Candide before? Voltaire was freaking nuts. Thick with racism and misogyny, it’s a 1700s satire on optimism with a scathing critique of European colonialism, slavery, and imperialism, that is so on point for our current moment. Rape. Murder. Infidelity. Cannibalism. People having sex with animals. People getting their butt cheeks cut off. People dying and then coming back to life. Hilarious and raunchy, even for today. It has it all and more. The book really looks at how we observe evil in the world in “modern” society. Much like what Talarico said on Colbert… It’s not left to right, it’s up to down. This is a major simplification, because what can you say in one short paragraph? It’s insane in the best possible way. If you are feeling pessimistic, it’s a great read to double down and wallow in.
If you want to wallow further, check out Richard Linklater’s Blue Moon. It’s a really good movie with an excellent script, and Ethan Hawke, as American lyricist Lorenz Hart, gives one of the best and most uplifting/gut-wrenching performances you’ll see all year. Scratch that, if you really wanna feel terrible, watch the spectacular documentary, The Perfect Neighbor, Geeta Gandbhir’s Oscar-nominated meditation on stand your ground laws and racial justice. It’s about AJ” Owens, a mother of four in a tight-knit neighborhood in Florida, who was shot by her neighbor for no good reason. It’s made entirely of body cam footage, and it is heartbreak in real time.
The upshot is that a fellow cohort member in her twenties recently commented that she was more cynical than I am. That she’d lost that bushy tail feeling that I still managed to maintain. At 53, I will take that. If I have anything, it’s my childlike sense of wonder, even if it is encrusted with a lifetime of cynicism and petty judgment. Books and learning still get me going after all these years. On that note, let’s focus on the positive this week, and keep the ball rolling and VOTE! Early voting is happening now, and primary election day is Tuesday, March 3, 2026. Be there.
My husband is going to Jamacia in the next few weeks, so I’ll leave you today with Bob Marley’s Redemption Song. It never gets old.
Quote of the day?
The best way to hold a people down is to make sure they aren't educated. — Jasmine Crockett
‘Til Tuesday, friends.
Burgin
(An MFA grad student at 50+… follow along and read my story here.)