AI isn’t here to help you

A red street sign reading "wrong way" in white letters, with a warning light atop it

Yeah, AI is a tool, just not the tool you think it is—and what’s being peddled to you isn’t really for your benefit. This is something I’ve been learning and that I hope you will learn as well. So-called artificial intelligence (AI) is sometimes a confusing landscape, and really AI is a broad term that …

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Philanthropy in the era of authoritarianism…do better

drawing of multiracial hands in a circle

While I am known for my writing online (and sometimes for various publications) and for public speaking work as “Black Girl in Maine” (or BGIM) those things are not my job. They are the things I started doing over 20 years ago to keep me sane as a Black woman who had moved to a …

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Black in Maine during an ICE surge

Black woman seeing part of her face reflected in a shard of broken glass

I have long considered myself a reluctant Mainer. I often refer to myself as a Chicagoan exiled in Maine. I never set out to be known for anti-racism work; I never set out to become someone known as a local leader, an activist, an organizer, or even a social justice writer. Rather, life dealt me …

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