#5SmartReads - June 12, 2023

Hitha on AI, censures, and what the postpartum period looks like for a trans man

June 12, 2023

For as much as ChatGPT and Canva’s Magic Suite has captivated our attention and the conversation, there’s a side of this AI conversation that I haven’t seen discussed much.

It’s the mental burden that we face, trying to figure out what’s AI, what’s human generated, and what’s accurate vs misinformation.

One somewhat reassuring thing is that we have precedent for this in a different way:

"We've been here before" — with photography at the turn of the last century and Photoshop in the late '90s — and learned to deal with it, said illusionist Eric Mead at the Nobel Foundation summit. In the long-term, he believes we'll also learn to deal with these new tools and "find our way into using them for our benefit rather than our ruin."

If anything, I feel like the advent of these technologies (with the exception of SmartDreams app) is driving me offline and picking up books and crafts again - something I don’t mind one bit.

“What would it be like to feel neutral about my own body? The problem with body neutrality in my life is that it feels impossible to neutralize the trans body. I have reveled in the freedom to control my body’s destiny, to access fertility care and transition care, but the body I’ve ended up with is not like other postpartum bodies. I look around the gym and see bodies that have their own stories, but none are like mine. It was an act of defiance to transition, and another to birth children.”

The postpartum experience for trans men is one we don’t hear about at all. And I learned so much from Krys’ openness and vulnerability in talking about something that’s as common (finding your way back to yourself after having a baby) as it is rare (on transitioning, on pausing hormone therapy for pregnancy and postpartum).

This is a beautiful essay, and one worth your time. I picked up Krys’ book The Natural Mother of the Child, and can’t wait to read it.

In the past, it was a sign of statesmanship and maturity and doing your elected duty to cross the aisle and pass legislation.

It saddens me that it’s now become a political liability, and this is but one example of it.

Common sense gun safety, codifying LGBTQ+ rights, and comprehensive immigration reform are important issues that I’m heartened to have seen some bipartisan progress on. And while I don’t agree with Senator Tillis on every vote he’s made or some of the legislation he’s introduced, I am immensely grateful for his contributions on the aforementioned issues.

Censuring doesn’t often carry much in terms of consequence, but the statement it makes can carry weight in primary races and sets a bad precedent.

We literally have bigger problems to solve as a country. Manufacturing problems like these to appeal to the loudest and most extreme parts of a base is a distraction - and unfortunately, a more common one.

You likely recognize Misha Japanwala’s name from Lupita Nyong’o’s stunning Tony Awards outfit. And the breastplate Misha created for Lupita carries incredible significance and meaning, and can be explored further in her latest exhibit at Hannah Trarore Gallery.

“Nudity is not the central thesis, but rather what society makes of bodies, specifically marginalized bodies of women, gender non-conforming, and gender-fluid bodies. According to Japanwala, what makes certain people uncomfortable is the way these people carve out spaces for themselves against all odds. “The fact is that these people are surviving despite all of it: despite the dangerous rhetoric, despite the noise, despite what our society and culture tells us we need to do in order to exist and be accepted,” she concludes. “All of the people documented in this body of work are actively existing and doing the work and living their lives in spite of all of that.””

I had no intention of giving the 45th President’s indictment any further oxygen. But this perspective - given that it defines one of the two political parties in this country, and a powerful one at that - is an important one to share.

With the exception of Mitt Romney, Liz Cheney, and Bill Barr, I haven’t seen any Republican leader speak to the charges and the unsealed indictment itself, and rather parrot the witch hunt narrative that the former president has made a central part of his message, and paint President Biden as weaponizing the Justice Department to go after his rival.

The facts are this - archivists and Justice Department officials spent a year trying to get these documents returned, and the former president refused every single time (and in the case of sensitive documents being found in the homes of President Biden and Vice President Pence, both complied with authorities and returned them promptly). Not only did Trump refuse to return them, these highly classified documents that contained national security secrets were stored recklessly and shown to those not authorized to view them.

That one entire party blatantly ignores these facts is so troubling. And while I would love to bury my head in the sand and pray that sanity prevails, I know that we have to be able to call out the paranoia-fueled false narratives for what they are, and for the facts to be heard.

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