Catherine Marshall

Genuinely between the Cleveland AI journalism bullshit and the “get good at AI yesterday or you will be crushed” essay I’m I dunno tripling my meds.

Thank you Schmidt! ☺️

A.I. Is Homogenizing Our Thoughts Recent studies suggest that tools such as ChatGPT make our brains less active and our writing less original.

Older technologies have aided and perhaps enfeebled writers. “But with A.I. we’re so thoroughly able to outsource our thinking that it makes us more average, too,” Kyle Chayka writes.

Vol 10 of our newsletter is packed with travel giveaways, the story behind @zizzyballord.bsky.social’s interview with Dr Jane Goodall, and a spring discount code for the Art of Travel Writing masterclass. Subscribe here: bit.ly/SubscribeArtOf

#travelwriting #writing #writingsky #writingcommunity

Rest in power Dr Jane Goodall. What a legacy you’ve gifted us. 💔 [Photo from my interview with her in June 2017]

#janegoodall #conservation #conservationsky #wildlife #climatechange

Yes, it once took me eight years to organise a press trip - and it was worth every last, lost minute. Read more about this and more in the latest edition of the Art of Travel Writing newsletter.

#writingsky #writingcommunity #travelwriting #writing

We safari-goers miss so much when we focus only on the Big Five. My case for the beguiling cast of supporting characters is in The Africa Edition in this weekend’s Traveller (Sydney Morning Herald and The Age).

#safari #wildlife #conservation #africa #travel

Katrina Lobley and I have released our masterclass in the art of travel writing. Sharpen your creative impulses and hone your skills in this four-part online course - more info in the link below.

#masterclass #travelwriting #travelwriters #writingcommunity #writingsky

I am writing this with a pencil – it could be an author’s last line of defence against AI | Luke Beesley My habit is quaint, I know, and there are downsides – but for those who value literature, the focus will shift to this: how do we prove we didn’t use AI?

‘The drafts of art making will take on a significance … [they] might shield the artist against the threat to literature itself: the dumb cunning of the robot.’ - Luke Beesley

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

#artificialintelligence #writers #writingcommunity

I really look forward to the day AI starts taking over the jobs of its inventors.

#writing #reading #writingcommunity #voiceartists #audible #artificialintelligence #AI

Pope Leo XIV's grandparents were 7th Ward Creoles The newly elected pontiff, born in Chicago, has ancestral ties to the city’s historic Seventh Ward, according to genealogists at The Historic New Orleans Collection.

I didn’t give a wit about new pope coverage, but the first American pope being a man with Black ancestry born in Chicago by way of New Orleans by way of Haiti. Names his self after the pope who condemned slavery? In the Trump era? Oh, baebae, I am HERE for it.

www.wwltv.com/article/news...

Meta's 'fair use' defence for training AI with published books 'won't work in UK', says PA

ICYMI: The ’fair use’ legal defence used by Meta and Anthropic last week against separate allegations of copyright infringement for training AI tools on published books won’t work in UK courts, according to the Publishers Association and Society of Authors 👇

“Eight million dollars to promote LGBTQI+ in the African nation of Lesotho, which nobody has ever heard of.” - Trump.

Hands up everyone who’s heard of Lesotho. 🇱🇸 (Kudos to those who can pronounce its name, high five for those who’ve been there.)

#lesotho #roofofafrica #africa

Are you Joe Hockey?

Do travel writers get paid to travel the world for free? And what's in a font? You’ll find our answers in the latest issue of The Art of Travel Writing newsletter. Not subscribed? Sign up here for free: bit.ly/SubscribeArtOf

#travelwriting #travelwriters #writingcommunity #writingsky #masterclass

The Democrats fought tooth and nail to win the election and insufficient numbers voted for them. Now you’re demanding they fix the mess caused by opposition supporters. Honestly, if I lived in the US I’d be letting those shouting from the sidelines sort this out themselves.

I once boarded a plane for Manila when I was supposed to be flying to Yangon. And lost my library book in the process. Here’s my tale in Traveller (Sydney Morning Herald/The Age).

#travel #travelwriter #travelwriting #writingcommunity #writingsky #writer #writing

We could’ve had Tim 😭

Interesting how the ‘best and the brightest’ just *happen* to be mostly white men.

The 'psychologist' is now a 'journalist'.

I used to love reading dystopian fiction in high school.

Reaaaaally not enjoying living through dystopian reality as an adult.

Lions, elephants & other endemic wildlife have reclaimed tenancy of Kariega, a tract of former farmland 10km (as the African fish eagle flies) upriver from Kenton-on-Sea. My story in the Australian Financial Review.

#southafrica #conservation #travel #writingcommunity

www.afr.com/life-and-lux...

Uitstekend! 😂 (Boer agteruit is an excellent description for an intractable problem; I still revert to Afrikaans when I’m looking for a particularly pithy expression!👌🏼)

I reported on the eradication of wattles in South Africa in the 90s - an almost impossible task! (PS after walking for seven days along the Cape to Cape track in WA and recently revisiting my fam in the Western Cape, I stand by my analogy - though the Cape Floral Kingdom naturally reigns supreme! 😂)

That fynbos is so reminiscent of WA’s coastal foliage!

2025 Travel Destinations: 52 Places to Go This Year Where will the new year take you? Kick-start your travel plans by selecting favorites from our annual list.

I’m not a fan of ‘where to go’ lists but this one is thoughtful - and includes three entries from the woefully overlooked African continent (Angola, Benin and Kilifi in Kenya). Awareness is everything!

#travel #tourism #africa #africaisnotacountry #broadhorizons

I randomly have three of our Southern African plants growing together in a patch my Sydney garden: strelitzias, arum lilies and clivias. A little enclave!

The Globe and Mail, Reuters, The Independent, Forbes, CBS, The Japan Times, the ABC, the SMH, The Australian, the AFR are all reporting the same thing.

Phil Williams: In reporting on hate and extremism, 'while the attacks are personal, so is the cause' Rarely in my nearly 40-year career as a journalist have I felt the target on my back as continuously and intensely as I have in the last 15 months.

"Rarely in my nearly 40-year career as a journalist have I felt the target on my back as continuously and intensely as I have in the last 15 months."