My husband and I recently took a mini road trip through Appalachia, with Asheville, NC and Roanoke, VA among our stops. They’re safe gathering places for the creative, quirky, and progressive—my kind of company.
Among my favorite things about both cities is their art scene. Give me a place with painted pillars, building murals, and local, human-made art decorating businesses, and I’m home. I got to spend a little time in Asheville’s River Arts District, its neighborhood centered around working artists’ studios, and in Roanoke, we made a point to hit up several artists’ collectives. Left of Center Art Space has a special place in my heart because I purchased a piece (and a t-shirt!) there and will commission a piece from one of its artists in the near future.
It was comforting—and inspiring—to spend time around people who value human creativity because, honestly, I’m looking for as much of that as possible.
Old Woman Shakes Fist at Cloud
I am sick of generative AI. I never got sucked into the appeal and have used it minimally for personal entertainment. (I made one of those Ghostface-in-the-background photos and then wondered why I wasted my time.)
While I use generative AI for some of my work tasks, like suggesting email subject lines and helping with coding above my pay grade, I refuse to use it for anything related to my creative life. I’m writing this now to vow to you that I will never use AI to produce my author image, guide me in my story concepts, or revise my text (even though automatic suggestions are everywhere). I am a human, and I am writing. And I am writing for other humans.
I’m disturbed how ubiquitous generative AI is. It’s the go-to now for so many, and it’s showing up in places it doesn’t need to be. For example, a bunch of small businesses I support use generative AI to make images for their social media posts. I understand that generative AI saves time and business expenses, but do we really need to see a busy image of AI-produced cutesy characters to know you’re having an event tomorrow? A post with your logo and a real photo with some overlay text does the job just fine. I want to see your location, your products, and your people.
I know there’s dissent. It’s a majority of what I read when I’m engaging with other creatives’ social media. We’re sick of slop and standards that make slop okay. We’re insulted. We’re bothered by the laziness, the forgetting how to think without asking for a self-validating assistant’s opinion first.
I’ve seen people suggest that the best way to limit interactions with AI is to spend less time online and to go analog with tasks and hobbies. “Touch grass.”
One thing I’ve been doing, and will continue to do, is putting my money and my time toward the people who are doing real creative work. I’ll be doing the work, too, and I hope to have more to share with you in the near future.