Dear Victoria,
I truly enjoyed the November issue of Ojo del Lago. Among my favorites was Herbert Piekow’s rendition of the Nellie Bly story. It was popular history at its finest. Well written, compelling, with a fascinating flow of little known facts smoothly integrated in a seamless narrative. Herbert is one of my favorite authors in your pantheon.
I also very much enjoyed Mark Sconce’s review of my recent book, The Michael Hogan Reader. Wild and unpredictable as always, bringing in other poets and spiritual presences. I know that it was appreciated not only by readers who showed up to my talk at Open Circle on Sunday, but by others who stopped by later at Diane Pearl’s Gallery and picked up a copy there.
Finally, I should note that your rant on technology was the first piece I read and I was tempted to write a long piece in agreement. I agree with everything you wrote, and I noted that for lack of space you did not go into AI. But to give you one example of how this technology has strayed from the original purposes, take Grammarly. Once seen as an editorial aid to writers, it is now being used by students as a way to avoid learning grammar or proper composition. Some students just plug-in ungrammatical sentences, misspelled words, and irrelevant facts, and let Grammarly sort it all out! Not only academic cheating here, but a technology that is having a crippling effect on the students’ actual learning.
Technology may appear neutral but it can often be deadly. The atom that fuels the nuclear reactor, also destroyed thousands of lives. The cell phone, which was supposed to bring us closer, has in fact distanced us from warm conversations and intimacy. The social media apps which were seen as global unifiers, have turned many users into self-obsessed dividers, and even the news we used to trust, has turned out to be fake, or corporate driven, or monetarized.
Keep up the good work, Victoria. This issue kept me entertained, but also set me to thinking. That is what journalism is supposed to do.
Michael Hogan, Ph.D.
Emeritus Humanities Chair
The American School Foundation of Guadalajara, A.C.
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