Generative AI is in the news again this week. First, Jacob Coxon, an ex-Anthropic researcher, resigned this week because he said that his employer and other AI companies are not developing the technology responsibly. Second, Anthropic’s CEO Dario Amodei said that AI companies needed to slow their development to give safety measures a chance to catch up. This announcement came a few days after Coxon’s resignation and in the wake of a slew of negative press and consumer pushba

When was the last time you did something hard? I don’t mean hard in the sense of life’s everyday friction—the interruptions at work, the overpacked schedule, or even the twenty-four-seven news cycle. I mean something that you intentionally sought out that was challenging, either intellectually, emotionally, or physically. Can you even remember the last time? Over the past six years, I haven’t challenged myself much. Since the pandemic, I’ve adopted a softer approach to life,

“Are you going to write something again soon?” A sweet friend from church asked me last Sunday. “I hope so. I’ve just been so busy,” I told her, wrapping my arm around her shoulders and giving her a squeeze. She asks me this often, and if I have published something on my blog lately, she always tells me she read it and liked it—which is surprising considering half of what I publish is borderline blasphemous (See “The Gospel in 300 Words”) My answer to her was not entirely t

My mom was an insurance agent (a damn good one) for many years and retired at the end of 2024. She spent the first six to eight months of her retirement working harder than she had at her day job, as she and my dad moved from South Carolina to Virginia. Last year, they landed about twelve minutes up the road from me, and she was finally able to settle into retirement. When she first considered leaving the workforce, I think she was a bit scared. Mom is one of the hardest wor

For our anniversary, my husband and I spent the day exploring a local antique mall. Even before we started dating, visiting antique stores has been one of our favorite activities. As a woman with literary interests, I have always enjoyed looking through paper goods—postcards, letters, photographs, and books. Front cover of book On this particular trip, I found a little book called Oaksmere Mrs. Merrill’s School for Girls. The cover was hanging on by just a few threads, but th