This is a copy of my 2025 Q2 edition of The Inbox Variations newsletter. If you’d like to get it in your email, subscribe here.
What Does It Mean to Side With the Humans?
Last month, I learned (along with almost every author I know) that every single one of my books was in the LibGen library of pirated books that Meta used to train their AI large language model. They took not only my books in English, but also in three other languages. The class action suit is in process but if that even pans out, it will only provide a tiny fraction of justice.
Last week, the major funding institution of my day job got DOGEd. I work at our state humanities council and our operating grant, along with the operating grants for councils in the 49 other states, was canceled when DOGE came to the NEH. All options are being looked at to address or reverse or litigate this, but no matter what happens it will have an impact on me personally and on every humanities-related nonprofit in our country.
Other humanities-centric institutions have already been on the chopping block or are (most likely) about to be. This is not about savings and efficiency, as the NEH represents about .003% of the federal budget. This is about punishment and testing the limits of DJT's power, and it's also fundamentally about how this administration views humans.
The arts and humanities work from a worldview that humans are uniquely and inherently valuable. This view may come from a religious humanism perspective--that a divine creator has granted this unique value--or it may come from a secular humanism perspective, that humans are capable of morality and self-fulfiment in a way other animals are not.
All evidence suggests that the president and his closest cohort do not believe this about humans. From their perspective, the measure of human value is how much success, power, or wealth they can project or bestow. And from some of Elon's tweets, it sounds like he doesn't think humans have unique value at all, and are only useful as a precursor to a better, more perfect computer-based intelligence.
As we move forward into this cowardly new world, I think a lot about what it means to side with humanity. We can differ on big and small issues and the correct policy solutions they may or may not have, but it's never been more important to find our common humanity. This our solidarity. I see it in the images from the April 5th protests. I heard it in Cory Booker's 25-hour speech from the Senate floor. I feel it in human-made music, human-made art, human-written words.
The newest issue of IMAGE Journal has a great interview with historian/critic/writer Ted Gioia. It touches on so much of what I'm concerned with and have been thinking lately. When asked a question about dissident music, he says, "It's actually getting easier to create subversive music. Just being a human being is a radical move at this moment in history. ... I fully expect AI to imitate these true songs with its fakery, but it can only do so through pretending and plagiarizing."
Substitute "music" and "songs" with "writing" and "books." What I've been telling myself: Don't lose heart that the publishing landscape seems to favor mindless repetition. Stop caring about the wrong things or expecting publishing or the algorithmic version of the writing community that exists only on social media to fill your soul. Start thinking of yourself as a dissident. Be subversively human.
Elsewhere in the interview, Gioia says:
"Art, the humanities, and spirituality will be our last lines of defense. I see it as part of my life's mission to support their restorative powers."
This is a mission I'm joining, the protest I'm going to try to show up for every day.
Writing & Book News
After a time of rest, the gears of my writing career are beginning to turn again. Writing this year so far has mostly been about pulling the many many pages of 2024's writing into cohesive proposals. That's always a daunting and exciting task--concretizing a mass of creative work into something I can present to the industry and say, "Here, would you like to commit to this and give me some money as a symbol of your commitment please?"
I haven't been on submission since 2015, really, and so much has changed. While the YA market is unfriendly to what I do at the moment, I write what I write and can't help myself. So I've got a new YA proposal out there. I've also been putting in fellowship and grant applications for other projects.
It stood out to me recently that the big round of submissions for my debut work was in 2005. My move from LBYR to Harper was in 2015. This is 2025 and it's time for new moves, which also means I'm embarking on the third decade of my career. That feels a bit surreal.
Speaking of the decades, Story of a Girl was named to Kirkus Reviews Best Books of the 21st Century (So Far) list. Naturally, I'd always rather be on these types of lists than not be on them, but I'm also circumspect about what it all means, especially after my experience serving on an awards judging panel. Over on Instagram, I posted the original review and noted it was not a starred review, so it's nice to know the judgment of the book has increased over time rather than decreased--at least for this panel.
Reading Recs
Blazing Eye Sees All: Love Has Won, False Prophets, and the Fever Dream of the American New Age by Leah Sottile fits into this question of humans and humanity in interesting ways. The New Age (going all the way back to the spiritualism of the 19th century) is a lot about people feeling like being just human isn't enough, that there must be something hidden, something secret, that can make us more than human if we find the right guru to help us access it. Sottile is a great writer and makes so many unexpected connections between seemingly disparate things.
Anne Tyler's most recent novel, Three Days in June, is a concise and tasty slice of how complicated humans are in our everyday relationships. It's under 200 pages, making it a perfect option if you're trying to get back into reading but struggling against the current tidal waves of anxious distractions.
My friend and Roomies collaborator Tara Altabrando has a new short story out in The Sun and I love it. AI could never connect these specific dots the way Tara does so deftly.
I listened to the audio of Careless People, the Sarah Wynn-Williams memoir/cautionary tale that Zuckerberg tried to stop. It and the author's role at FB are certainly not above critique, but I think what it does well is bring a seemingly impenetrable monolith of a tech company down to a human-eye view. And what we see from that level is...not good. Not good.
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