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The Worst Dystopias Come From Us
Who needs a virus from outer space? AI and the hive mind of "Pluribus"
Jan 6
•
Martha Nichols
5
4
3
Why We Need Brave, Messy, Imperfect Writers
When responding to real life — and death — transcends artificial storytelling
Dec 6, 2025
•
Martha Nichols
14
14
6
History Is a Living Thing
Five years ago, a walk on Election Day conjures my father's fierce questions — and the whirlwind
Nov 4, 2025
•
Martha Nichols
5
11
2
Fun with Signs: Creative Resistance
Make a sign for the No Kings Protests, even if you just hang it in your kitchen
Oct 17, 2025
•
Martha Nichols
5
2
3
Kamala Harris Testifies to What We’ve Lost
Two media critics talk back to the political press about "107 Days"
Published on BordoLines
•
Sep 29, 2025
Inside Reader: there's so much to write and talk about
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Media Talk
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The Worst Dystopias Come From Us
Who needs a virus from outer space? AI and the hive mind of "Pluribus"
Jan 6
•
Martha Nichols
5
4
3
Why We Need Brave, Messy, Imperfect Writers
When responding to real life — and death — transcends artificial storytelling
Dec 6, 2025
•
Martha Nichols
14
14
6
The Age of Artificial Everything
Another nod to Neil Postman and why all self-expression shouldn't be transactional
Sep 22, 2025
•
Martha Nichols
10
5
2
When I Talk to You, I Become Myself
Why conversation — with each other, online, in our heads — makes us human
Jul 23, 2025
•
Martha Nichols
10
2
4
Writers and AI
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Why We Need Brave, Messy, Imperfect Writers
When responding to real life — and death — transcends artificial storytelling
Dec 6, 2025
•
Martha Nichols
14
14
6
How AI Influences Your Point of View
If I let ChatGPT revise my writing, is what it produces mine? Does that matter? Why nobody else can be George Eliot — or me
Sep 5, 2025
•
Martha Nichols
6
13
4
When I Talk to You, I Become Myself
Why conversation — with each other, online, in our heads — makes us human
Jul 23, 2025
•
Martha Nichols
10
2
4
Why I Write in the First-Person Voice
Performing myself may be artificial, but it's also an act of self-creation. AI can't — and shouldn't — do that for us.
Jun 9, 2025
7
10
4
Essays
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Reading Middlemarch in Maine
A year after a serious injury, my sense of time has changed
Aug 9, 2025
•
Martha Nichols
28
19
7
Acts of Generosity
Why kindness is so hard — and such a necessary practice
Dec 27, 2024
•
Martha Nichols
21
19
14
My Theory of Everything
What I learned about almost losing a piece of myself
Aug 19, 2024
•
Martha Nichols
22
35
4
What I Felt When RFK Was Shot
Remembering my terror as a little girl in 1968 — and connecting it to what so many of us are feeling now
Jul 16, 2024
•
Martha Nichols
49
32
14
Stitching Together What I Want
A needlepoint project tests my fear of uncertainty
May 26, 2024
•
Martha Nichols
7
8
2
Memoir
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History Is a Living Thing
Five years ago, a walk on Election Day conjures my father's fierce questions — and the whirlwind
Nov 4, 2025
•
Martha Nichols
5
11
2
A Swarm of Light
Essay Part 10 • Many Men Watching • on learning to see myself
May 12, 2025
•
Martha Nichols
10
11
4
Kisses in the Void
Essay Part 9 • Many Men Watching • on not erasing what you've lost
May 8, 2025
•
Martha Nichols
4
2
2
The Glittering Cave
Essay Part 8 • Many Men Watching • from paranoia to truth in the shadows
May 5, 2025
•
Martha Nichols
5
Imagining a Dumpster
Essay Part 7 • Many Men Watching • throwing away what we love — or not?
May 1, 2025
•
Martha Nichols
6
1
The Human Jumble
Essay Part 6 • Many Men Watching • homage or appropriation — or both?
Apr 28, 2025
•
Martha Nichols
7
4
1
I Transform My Eyebrow
Essay Part 5 • Many Men Watching • confronting my own complicity and rage
Apr 24, 2025
•
Martha Nichols
8
10
1
The Ethics of Copying
Essay Part 4 • Many Men Watching • comparing my mother's painting with the original photo
Apr 21, 2025
•
Martha Nichols
10
7
4
The Right to Copy?
Essay Part 3 • Many Men Watching •the trouble with artistic recycling
Apr 17, 2025
•
Martha Nichols
7
7
1
What I Found in Paris
Essay Part 2 • Many Men Watching • rediscovering Gordon Parks — and my mother
Apr 14, 2025
•
Martha Nichols
15
15
1
My Shock of Recognition
Essay Part 1 • Many Men Watching • introducing my mother, her painting, and my reassembled memories
Apr 10, 2025
•
Martha Nichols
16
19
6
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