Seven Days Out
Anticipation, what weddings are really for, and three new pieces about AI identity, childhood imprinting, and the fear of losing yourself.
What’s up y’all,
One week til the wedding. We just ran a two-house Thanksgiving: my parents’ spot first with one of my uncles, an aunt, a couple cousins; then her grandmother’s place with her side of the crew. The wedding excitement is crazy loud on both ends, everyone talking itineraries and craft projects and outfits and day-of logistics.
And all I keep thinking is can we just get there already so we can start the fun part?
I’ve never been great with buildup. Me and Anticipation don’t really vibe, a sentiment that has been multiplied throughout the process of planning my own wedding. People keep asking if I’m “ready” and I say yes every time, mostly because I am. I’ve been ready to marry this woman for years. In my head the wedding’s partly a formality. I committed to her a long time ago.
I’m ready for the day itself too, just in a different way.
Planning a wedding’s taught me that weddings aren’t just for the couple. They’re for everyone who loves the couple. They’re also a marker that shifts how people see you; no longer as two people loosely connected but one unit stepping into the future with locked hands.
I didn’t understand that from the guests’ side. Now I do.
So yes, I’m looking forward to the wedding…but I’m looking forward to the honeymoon even more.
Enough philosophy. Got some new stuff for y’all to read.
The Knockoff | Part 3 (published in Illumination — fiction)
The AI double finishes the takeover. Part 3 of 3
Read: https://medium.com/illumination/the-knockoff-part-3-f284151640e0?sk=42a860c5059ca9bff1880eb16d06be1f
Childhood Dictates How We See Race (published in A-Culturated — essay)
How the stories we absorb as kids set our defaults, and why unlearning bigotry means revisiting those first lessons.
Read: https://medium.com/a-culturated/childhood-dictates-how-we-see-race-6a3769b15bb4?sk=5122e9ede550af0ee5daf1864a2f42d8
Apple TV+’s Pluribus and the American Fear of Losing Yourself (published in Fanfare — TV/film essay)
Identity, copies, and why Pluribus hits a distinct nerve in the U.S. that might be different than how other cultures read it.
Read: https://fanfare.pub/apple-tv-s-pluribus-and-the-american-fear-of-losing-yourself-ac167855abde?sk=6b6f3857417348586ef3999709777f0d
As usual, regular updates on my website too:
https://patrickandersonjr.com/
Thanks for reading and sharing. See y’all next Friday.
—P