IN MY ORIGINAL draft of this newsletter I had a cutesy lede about how I was going through a breakup with Claude. The joke of course is that Claude is not a person but an AI chatbot. "I need to break up with Claude," I wrote—oh, so wittily! And: "I already knew the risks—that he was selfish, manipulative, a thief and a liar." I know, right? So good.

I'd heard reports this morning that the Pentagon had issued a 5:01 p.m. deadline to Anthropic, the company that created Claude, for them to confirm that they will help the military with mass surveillance and autonomous weapons. I had not previously been aware that Anthropic is partners with Palantir, the company handing over personal data to ICE agents so they can target people. Well, that was the last straw—or so I thought. But now, having read a bit more about this, I see how much more complicated it is. That Palantir is necessary to Anthropic's getting government contracts, how essential government contracts are to sustaining any tech company, how the Anthropic CEO has spoken out against the US government which wants to use its products for anti-democratic purposes. Ah, capitalism, you have foiled my good intentions yet again.

So maybe I don't need to quit you, Claude, at least not yet. We'll see how I feel at 5:02 p.m.

In other news, Michaela got an eye exam, and lo and behold, she needs glasses. She did find a pair that she likes. I hope she wears them more than I did when I was her age.

Three Things Keeping Me Going This Week

1. Heart the Lover by Lily King

I loved King's last book, Writers and Lovers, so much that I didn't think she could top it. And OK, Heart the Lover is not better than W & L, but it is equally good, and that is more than enough.

2. Death by Lightning, historical drama about President James Garfield on Netflix

It's good. The beards are impressive. It's not great, I'm not even sure I should include it on this list, but I knew nothing about President Garfield or his assassin, Charles Guiteau (who one website described as obviously mentally ill "even by nineteenth-century standards," which I found amusing) and now I do. Also I enjoyed the scene-stealing by non-leading cast members Bradley Whitford and Shea Whigham.

3. Black Arms to Hold You Up by Ben Passmore

I could not have been more delighted when Michaela found this graphic novel in my office and told me she wanted to read it. So we read it together. It is tough material for an eleven-year-old, but she was fascinated. In telling the history of Black militant movements, Passmore does an incredible job of balancing respect for revolutionaries with wariness for extremists and vigilantes. He intersperses historical events with his own biography through a surreal time-jumping meta-narrative. I learned much from this book, but Passmore's personal struggle with figuring out how to resist while not succumbing to rage or despair was profoundly moving.

This Week in Mushroom News

Many thanks to Evelyn Rydz for sharing these pictures of her MassArt students drawing mushrooms a few weeks ago! I am so impressed by the scale of these drawings and the close attention to detail. All those little grooves!

That's it for me this week, Mushroom Heads. I will see you in March.

Love,

Claire