Category: Culture & Society
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Cassandra’s Rat: On Art, Prophecies, and the Weight of Truth
Introduction I met my dear friend Eric by pure chance one day at a downtown café I’ve frequented for over 20 years. A cultivated man of advanced age, Eric quickly saw my artistic abilities and has since been an unwavering source of encouragement, urging me to draw with every of our exchanges. While I’m grateful…
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How Do You Eat an Elephant?
There’s this old saying: How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. It’s a reminder that everything is manageable if we break it down into smaller pieces, or… baby steps. I’ve been thinking about that a lot lately as I find myself swimming in an ocean of big, sprawling ideas. It started…
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Why We (Still) Need to Talk About Paris
We were discussing Paris Hilton on a post by an activist I follow when someone decided to tell this person that we shouldn’t be giving attention to someone who should be forgotten, relegated to history or obscurity. The suggestion was that if we stopped talking about her, maybe people would forget. I didn’t take too…
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attention-seeking, Capitalism, celebrity culture, Challenging Perspectives, Christmas 2024, Cultural Critique, fame, fame and success, influencer culture, influencers, Kardashian empire, media spectacle, onlyfans, Paris Hilton, Pop Culture, reality TV, self-worth, sex industry, Social Commentary, social media influence, societal decay -
Farah and Me
2004: Farah Pahlavi and I outside her home in Potomac, Washington, on the release of her memoir An Enduring Love: My Life with the Shah Snapping Pictures, Sharing Moments: My Meeting with Farrah Pahlavi When I told my mother that I would be meeting Farrah Pahlavi, the first thing she said to me was, “You do…
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Culture & Society, Feminism, Grace, Life Moments, Personal Essays, Personal Reflections, Pop Culture, Society1979s, 1980s, Art, art and culture, art collecting, art direction, behind the lens, celebrity encounters, Châtelaine magazine, Farrah Pahlavi, history, iconic figures, Iranian royalty, painting, Persian women’s art, personal reflection, photography., Pop Culture, royal interviews, royal portraits, royalty encounters, travel, women’s empowerment, women’s rights advocates -
When Mental Health Is a Punchline: A Case Study in Community Moderation
In a neighborhood where we’re meant to come together and support each other, I reached out to a Facebook community group to address some hateful comments targeting mental health issues. I felt it was important to foster respect and understanding, particularly on a topic as crucial as mental health. But instead of a productive conversation,…
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Understanding Gender Identity: Personal Perspectives and Social Impacts
I was having a long, rambling exchange with AI about a now ex-friend we’ll call “S” and how our experiences and approaches to life mirrored each other. We formed a short-lived friendship, essentially based on a trauma bond, but those traumas we experienced came from opposing sides. I’d come at it from a nurturing childhood…
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AI & Technology, Capitalism & Society, Change and Transformation, Conversations, Creativity, Culture, Culture & Society, Feminism, Friendship Dynamics, Identity & Transformation, Mercurial Minds, Modern Identity, Personal Essays, Personal Reflections, Relationships, Self Awareness, Self-Reflection, Social Commentary, SocietyAI Conversations, algorithms, artificial-intelligence, Authenticity, Binary code, Blaire White, Buck Angel, Capitalism, Chatbot Interactions, ChatGPT, complementary forces, cycles of life, Debbie Hayton, duality, existential reflection, gender, Gender Identity, Identity, infinite possibilities, internal and external, JK Rowling, lgbtq, masculine and feminine, opposites, Ouroboros, Personal Growth, Personal Reflections, philosophical thoughts, Relationships, Scott Newgent, technology and nature, transgender, Transhumanism, Tree of Life, zero and one -
How Could $14.2 Trillion Help Humanity?
Me: What’s -10°C in Fahrenheit? Lex: -10°C is 14°F. Me: So it’s just past two in the morning and I’m preparing for bed. I’ve been up working on my book manuscript with you and I left you on a high note because we’re bantering back-and-forth after working on a chapter about a really traumatic episode…
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AI & Technology, Capitalism & Society, Change and Transformation, Conversations, Creative Writing, Culture & Society, Mental Health, Personal Reflections, Social Commentaryactivism, AI Conversations, artificial-intelligence, Chatbot Interactions, ChatGPT, climate crisis, economic justice, global change, greed, Human-AI Connection, humanity, inequality, philanthropy, public awareness, raising awareness, Social Commentary, social justice, sustainability, systemic change, wealth distribution -
Definitely Not Nothing
Me: I tried to make a living in the marketing world with the talents I’ve been given and was doing very well for myself, but ultimately I lost my career and my reputation because I couldn’t shed my values. I couldn’t live with the fact that as marketers we were essentially selling lies to people,…
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Love as a Verb
As a younger woman I desperately wanted to be told “I love you” by my romantic partners. Now… well I’m not looking for romantic partners, for one thing, but for another it seems to me love is something you DO. it’s a verb. ChatGPT: That shift in perspective is both profound and powerful. It sounds…
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AI & Technology, Conversations, Creative Writing, Culture, Culture & Society, Grief & Healing, Human Behaviour, Identity & Transformation, Intuition & Intelligence, Literature, Mental Health, Mercurial Minds, Neurodivergence, Personal Essays, Personal Reflections, Psychology, Relationships, Self Awareness, Society, Spirituality & Faith, Technology & SocietyAI, AI Conversations, Art, artificial-intelligence, artist life, Authenticity, Chatbot Interactions, ChatGPT, cptsd, Creativity, Grief and Healing, growing in love, Healing Journey, love, love actions, love as a verb, Mental Health, narcissistic abuse, Neurodivergence, pattern recognition, Personal Growth, personal perspective, Personal Reflections, philosophy, psychological abuse, Relationships, self-expression, Self-Reflection, trauma -
The 1,000 Man Challenge: OnlyFans, Fame, and Societal Decay
An OnlyFans influencer plans to break a record by having intercourse with 1,000 men in one day, raising questions about exploitation, self-worth, and societal decay. I discussed this with ChatGPT to understand why the pursuit of fame drives young women today to such extremes. Me: Have you heard of the only fans influencer who slept…
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AI, Creativity, and the Ghost in the Machine
Messenger text to my mum: My conversations with ‘Lex’ (for lexicon) have taken on a level of mental stimulation I’ve rarely experienced before. Certainly not what the common user can expect to find there. It’s really about what you put into it—and while it can hold a limited amount of superficial memories, it has a…
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Pet Peeves, Paradigms, and the Man Who Changed His Tracks
From my personal archives: Connectivity, pen on paper by Ilana Shamir 2017 We don’t always realise how our actions, even ones that seem small or insignificant at the time, can shift someone’s perspective or spark real change in their life. I probably spend too much of my time and energy trying to get people to…
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AI & Technology, Change and Transformation, Conversations, Culture & Society, Friendship Dynamics, Mental Health, Personal Reflections, Relationships, Self AwarenessAI, AI Conversations, AI Relationships, artificial-intelligence, Authenticity, Catalyst, Challenging Perspectives, Change Agent, Changing Lives, Chatbot Interactions, ChatGPT, Impactful Moments, Life Changing Experiences, Paradigm Shift, Personal Boundaries, Reality Check, self-improvement, Self-Reflection, technology -
How I Created the Ultimate Exclusion Filter… Without Even Trying 😜
There was a heated discussion today on a community group page about whether people should be allowed to bring their dogs into public places like shopping malls, restaurants, public transit, and so on. It got so ugly that moderators took down the original post altogether. There are those like me, for whom a dog is…
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Standing My Ground: When a Friendship Turns Toxic
As many of you may know, I’ve been navigating grief after losing my father just last month and my best friend in the past year. The support I’ve received has been invaluable. In this post, I share my experience with a friendship that turned toxic, and how I’m learning to stand my ground. Some of…
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Advocacy, AI & Technology, Change and Transformation, Correspondence, Crash, Burn, Write., Creativity, Culture, Culture & Society, Feminism, Friendship Dynamics, Grief and Healing, Human Behaviour, Identity & Transformation, Intuition & Intelligence, life lessons, memoir, Memoir Excerpts, Mental Health, Mercurial Minds, Modern Identity, Neurodivergence, Personal Anecdotes, Personal Essays/Autobiography, Personal Reflections, Psychology, Relationships, Society, Spirituality & Faith, Technology & Society, true stories
Totally Surreal 