essays - Michael R. Clark

Michael R. Clark

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essays

A collection of 7 posts

The VHS Files: Teaching Machines the Poetry of Steak in Cronenberg's The Fly

The VHS Files: Teaching Machines the Poetry of Steak in Cronenberg's The Fly

In the ‘80s, there was a boom in remakes of great horror movies from the ‘40s and ‘50s (most of these pretty campy, and definitely unscary): The Thing, The Blob, and The Fly all have stood the test of time and are regarded as classics today. (Invaders from Mars and

What's Eating Us? The Stuff, Consumer Culture, and LLMs

What's Eating Us? The Stuff, Consumer Culture, and LLMs

Back in the mid-’80s, Larry Cohen made an over-the-top body horror riff on The Blob called The Stuff, where unsuspecting Americans discover a mysterious white goo bubbling out of the ground that turns out to be both delicious and malevolently sentient. Once you eat it, it takes

Get Real: Seeing, Making, and Resisting AI Slop

Get Real: Seeing, Making, and Resisting AI Slop

Science confirms what I have come to feel in my bones in the last two years: LLMs are making my students less creative. A piece in the New York Times last week clocks the decline in “substance” in student writing (specifically, the notorious college essay) even as the use of

Adding Up to Nothing: "Content" and The Shreds of Context

Adding Up to Nothing: "Content" and The Shreds of Context

I hate the word “content.” Content presupposes and prioritizes the container. It's focusing on the jar, and not the mayonnaise: pass me some of that content to smear on my sandwich. Or be careful with that mug! I don't want to get any content on my

Let Them Read Books, Part III

Let Them Read Books, Part III

The epic conclusion of the braided essay that rivals Rapunzel's locks. If you missed Part I or Part II, follow the links. If you like this essay, and would like regular updates on what I'm publishing here, please consider subscribing. You'll get an email

Let Them Read Books, Part II

Let Them Read Books, Part II

Picking up from the previous post, here's the second part of my manifesto. The Rise of the Screen Apple launched its first iPhone, not coincidental to the death-throes of the book, in 2007. Before the year was out, everyone seemed to have one. I did. In his

Let Them Read Books: A Teacher's Call to Action, Part I

Let Them Read Books: A Teacher's Call to Action, Part I

This extra-long essay began as a write-beside-your-students exercise last year in my AP Lang class and it rapidly snowballed into a manifesto. The assignment was to write a braided essay, a creative and funky version of the old dry synthesis essay that includes anecdotal material and