SC Weekly – August 2025 – #1
~ a curated selection of discoveries ~
::: The Open :::
Dear Reader,
I hope you enjoy this edition of SC Weekly (published on Sundays).
Please consider sharing with a friend who you think may enjoy this newsletter.
Thank you for reading and for your time.
With Gratitude,
~ Mark
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::: Personal Notes :::
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A recent poem of mine, ‘On All The Time’ appears in the new issue of Mobius: A Journal of Social Change, Vol. 36, No. 3, August 2025.
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::: ONE ART :::
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Visibility and Book Sales: Marketing Your Small Press Book
Instructor: John Sibley Williams
Date: Thursday, August 14
Time: 3:30-6:00pm Eastern
>>> Tickets Available <<<
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Sunday, August 17 at 2pm Eastern
Featured Poets: Julia Caroline Knowlton, Michelle Bitting, Heather Kays, Sonia Greenfield
>>> Tickets Available <<<
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::: The Literary Community & Beyond :::
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A database of the most assigned texts based on college syllabi.
Check out the visualization.
Fun to scroll around.
You might even find texts to add to your “Want to Read” list.
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Humor.
“I am the punctuation mark of human frailty.”
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‘The case for memes as a new form of comics’ (Ars Technica)
"It occurred to me one day that there isn't a whole lot of difference between the single panel comics I'm sharing and the memes. In terms of how they function, how they operate, the connection of the verbal and the visual, there's more continuity than there is difference."
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‘The order and the medium of feedback’ (Seth Godin)
Notable for writers, especially calling attention to those parts of the process when talking about what you’re doing might prevent you from actually following through; or, sharing what you’re doing might derail your intention(s).
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The menu (Seth Godin)
This is also, in a way, an argument for the reason why formal constraints are useful in poetry.
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Updates from Erica Verillo:
36 Writing Contests in August 2025 - No entry fees
33 Awesome Writing Conferences and Workshops in August 2025
65 Calls for Submissions in August 2025 - Paying markets
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‘Return of the Nigerian Prince: A New Twist on Book Marketing Scams’ (Writers Beware)
I believe this is related to a scam I encountered recently and forwarded along to Victoria Strauss.
As you might have noted… the scams are increasing… technology is making it even easier and they can appear more legitimate (especially on first glance). This double-take requires extra time and is a frustration… between calls, texts, emails, LinkedIn InMail, other social media platforms… I encounter several scam attempts on a daily basis now.
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‘Online Scams and Attacks in America Today’ (Pew Research)
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7 Reasons Why You Should Try Using Writing Prompts (Authors Publish)
I'm going to push back a little on the advice to publicly share "your unhinged work". This strikes me as an attention seeking way to try to gain a following and puts the parts of you that are not your best parts (selves) front and center. I would suggest de-centering the parts of you that are problematic.
Sure, share "raw" work — but for good reasons. I worry a lot about sharing clutter and noise. There is so much noise in the world. Why add to it? It can be argued that I am. That I'm not following my own advice here. It's a concern. I have reminders on my desktop to THINK before I share.
Here’s one:
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Hope Clark wrote a short piece in her newsletter titled, ‘The New Reason for Having a Website’. It opens, “The new reason you need a website is going to be different than you might think. Artificial Intelligence - AI.”
She goes on to discuss the frustrations of receiving queries from non-writers who are plainly just use AI chatbots to write for them.
She ends on this note:
“If you have no online presence, you will get rejected by FundsforWriters and most publishing entities out there. If you cannot prove who you are, if you cannot be vetted, you are out. There are dishonest people out there. It's a shame you have to prove your existence these days, but it seems this is the way writing has evolved.”
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Inspirational?
‘This Man Kept a Meticulous List of All 3,599 Books He’d Read Since 1962. When He Died, His Family Published It Online’ (Smithsonian)
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::: Podcasts :::
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Is AI Productivity Worth Our Humanity? with Prof. Michael Sandel
(Your Undivided Attention)
Michael Sandel speaks so well to these subjects, this moment, what is to come.
We are in trouble.
Humans are all too likely to lose a sense of purpose and dignity in work to AI.
Sandel asks us to ask— abundance for the sake of what?
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‘Daniel Kokotajlo Forecasts the End of Human Dominance’
This is depressing… it’s basically a shorter audio overview of the “speculative futurism” story AI 2027. The point of the story is really to warn people of just how quickly AI could slip out of human control. The hope is that more precautions will be taken in the very near term to avoid worst case scenarios.
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Can Democrats Win Back America? — with Gov. Gretchen Whitmer
(The Prof G Pod with Scott Galloway)
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'If You Can Keep It': American Values (1A)
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Hopeful pessimism (The Gray Area with Sean Illing)
Notable point about "optimistic fatalism" being dangerous because it is insidious.
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Sex, drugs, and...gender panic!
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::: Music :::
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Ozzy Osbourne Obituary: For the Back Street Kids (Pitchfork)
A remembrance of Ozzy by John Darnielle (The Mountain Goats).
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::: Health & Wellness :::
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‘Who needs quinoa? 17 overlooked and affordable superfoods’ (Guardian)
Ok… sugar is not a “superfood”… just to be clear. Otherwise, I like the list.
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::: The Trump Regime :::
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Here’s some info about how Trump’s one piece of legislation may play out over the coming years.
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“The average effective tariff rate is estimated to rise to 18.4%, the highest level since 1933. Clothing and shoes will be especially affected, with prices predicted to rise roughly 40% in the short term.” (The Budget Lab, Yale)
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Relatedly, “dynamic” pricing at grocery stores could spell trouble for consumers.
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‘Most Americans say Republican and Democratic voters cannot agree on basic facts’ (Pew Research)
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::: Small Explorations & Deep Dives :::
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We live in a time when you want to know the ways in which forces are trying to coerce you.
Marketing can be dangerous.
After all, we want to believe we make choices because we are choosing for ourselves.
“The new currencies of influence: Attention, relevance, and trust” (Google Business)
“According to a Google-commissioned BCG study of respondents who reported that digital video played a role in their path to purchase, 43% said it got them interested in buying a product, 50% said it made them aware of products or brands, 45% said that it helped them choose which product or brand to purchase, and 34% even said that it prompted them to buy a specific item.”
“An Ipsos study confirmed that surveyed online users are 98% more likely to trust the recommendations of creators on YouTube versus those on other platforms.”
I do not intend to make anyone paranoid beyond the realm of reasonable.
A form of resistance? Let’s work together to avoid Big Tech taking advantage of us more than they already do.
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“ChatGPT receives over 2.5B prompts daily.” (Axios/Carbon Finance)
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Just a friendly reminder about privacy…
You may want to refrain from discussing crimes with AI chatbots.
They will absolutely snitch.
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‘Failing to address climate change could violate the law, UN court says’ (AP News)
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‘The Trouble With Wanting Men’ (The New York Times)
This is a really well-written longform essay about women struggling to date in modern times because boys/men are, well, not ok.
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Elon Musk announces Vine’s return in an 'AI form'
Creepy “X-rated” AI version of TikTok coming soon…
Do not engage.
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‘Confessions of the Working Poor’ (Maclean’s)
This is a really good piece.
I can relate though I’m glad to say I don’t have it this rough.
A lot more people will relate to this experience as AI and automation begins rapidly taking jobs… this will be worth revisiting in a few years. If you aren’t experiencing a variation of this yet… sadly, you might in the not-too-distant future.
Really not trying to scaremonger though I’ll admit to becoming a bit of a Doomer when it comes to AI. It’s becoming clear that, unless serious changes are made, we’re on a dark timeline.
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‘Literacy lag: We start reading too late’ (Erik Hoel)
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‘Here's Why There Are No Monkeys Native to North America’ (ScienceAlert)
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Wonderful as always....and I love your poem!
As always, a thought-provoking list.