Over the past 2+ years, 5AM StoryTalk has developed a very diverse international readership - equal parts artists and art fanatics. To kick off the new year, I wanted to both reintroduce myself and provide a sort of guide for subscribers about how to get the most out of the arts & culture conversation I’m having here. In addition, I’ve provided a brief manifesto about the perspective I bring to what I’m doing here, including why I’m increasingly describing my work as arts advocacy, which I want to also share here:

Art matters and will matter more as the world inevitably shifts toward chaos and authoritarianism.

What artists do is important.

Art helps us understand ourselves, form a language to challenge and change the world (aka, resist), and, when we’re lucky, also entertain us.

Those who denigrate it, who cheapen it, who reduce it to content are not serious people and should be distrusted.

Fuck AI.

I believe generative AI are all plagiarism machines and, with few exceptions, artists using them to create are plagiarizing others’ art and passing it off as their own.

That said, it is a tool and can be used as such without surrendering your soul, I think.

5AM StoryTalk does not use AI to write any part of its newsletter. However, the podcast recording service it uses learns from my voice and, as such, I do use its AI feature to tweak recordings when sound quality is inadequate. I also use this recording service’s AI to help me generate tips on how to improve SEO searches of my work. Lastly, I will sometimes use a free service such as Google Gemini to modify fonts or alter a color, light source, texture, etc. in an image I provide to it.

I will never use any generative AI program to generate anything original, write for me, or fail to disclose as much to my readers/listeners.

Fuck fascism, white supremacy, misogyny, and transphobia.

These things should be opposed at all levels of our lives, from what we create to on the streets. This newsletter and podcast certainly takes that responsibility seriously, too.

I respect your right to free speech, but that doesn’t mean I have to respect you. I issue one warning for minor offenses, then block. For serious offenses, I block immediately.

StoryTalkers should feel challenged, confronted, and even provoked – but they shouldn’t feel unsafe. There’s a difference.