I was playing around with ChatGPT this week (no, I'm not afraid it will come for my job) and found myself asking it to do some brainstorming for me. One of the hardest parts of content creation is just finding an idea. There are weeks I simply stare at my screen and try to come up with something - anything - worth talking about. 

ChatGPT is quirky (and wrong - a lot) but it does a pretty good job as a brainstorming partner. After a series of prompts that didn't get at what I wanted, I finally asked it to "Write a list of ideas for personal anecdotes to share in a newsletter." 

The results were more than the bullets I wanted, but there were some decent suggestions. Below, is what it told me to write. (I removed the explanations for length.)

• ​A moment of personal triumph

• A funny mishap or embarrassing moment

• A memorable encounter or conversation

• A travel adventure or cultural experience

• A life-changing decision

• A serendipitous event

• A mentor or role model's influence

• A story of resilience

• A lesson from nature

• A family tradition or meaningful ritual

None of these are earth-shattering or innovative ideas... but they are ideas. I think I may work my way through them in this space in coming weeks.

ChatGPT is a tool. As with all tools, you have to use it in a way that works for you.  I find that it's a good sounding board to get the creative juices flowing. 

How would you use generative AI?

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A few days ago, I cracked open Amanda Gorman’s Call Us What We Carry. I can now officially state that I have read more poetry this year than I have in my entire life. I spied this book on a display at our local library branch and was intrigued enough to pick it up. So far, the poems are very reminiscent of Gorman's inaugural poem. They are full of history, power, and emotion.

• A way to taste wine better. [Wine Folly]

• How to make your bread last. [WaPo - gift link]

• Some airports are becoming wildlife refuges. [The Atlantic - may be paywalled]

• We're spending DEI funds the wrong way. [The Atlantic - may be paywalled]

• A year long road trip where the temperatures are always mild. [Bloomberg]

• I need to go on many field trips to these libraries. [Colossal]

• We wouldn't be in this situation if zoning wasn't a thing. Mixed use zoning everywhere! [The Atlantic - may be paywalled]

• Who knew paper airplane history was so cool. [Vox]

• Find your chardonnay style. [Wine Folly]

• Why some people are leaving cities. [The Daily]

• The pillaging of African resources continues to this day. [Throughline]

• Bring back phonics! [The Daily]

• AI wrote this episode. [Planet Money]

• How dinosaurs took over. [Short Wave]

• The far right is breaking voting... again. [Up First]

• I know I've seen Salt before but it's been so long I didn't remember a thing about it. This high-action spy flick is too much. There's too much action, too much plot, and way too many things going on. I felt like I needed to take a break at the end. That said, the stacked cast holds it together. I would watch Liev Schrieber in anything. [Netflix]

• I would watch this movie if it was made. [Curious Refuge]

• Wow. [Great Big Story]

• A few weeks ago, one of the parents at our daycare mentioned that they were having crab cakes and salad for dinner. That sounded like a delicious idea. While their crab cakes were homemade, I went with the boxed variety. They are much less work and rather tasty - even if they didn't crisp up quite right because I used a silpat on the baking sheet. [Phillips]

• When I'm working from home, I almost always grab a snack around 3PM. This week, that snack was the animal crackers that are supposed to be for our kiddo. (She can share.) Animal crackers aren't something we normally kept around pre-kid but I'm glad we do now. There's nothing quite like a blast of nostalgia to get you to the end of the day. [Stauffer's]

DC was one of the cities who had hazy skies and awful air quality due to the wildfire smoke coming down from Canada. Our air quality rating even hit purple one day. NYC had it worse. This image of the Chrysler Building shrouded in smoke speaks to the poor conditions. [The Atlantic - may be paywalled]

With all the smoke in the air, I can’t be the first person to recommend AirNow.gov to you, but I’m going to do it anyway. This website takes local readings to let you know the air quality in your vicinity.

Now that my rash of presentations is over, I need to buckle down on project work. Why is it so hard to focus?