Voice in writing is absolutely the writer’s fingerprint on paper. But, it’s also not that easy. I’ve come to terms with the fact that there is no definition to voice in writing. It’s always tone, style, or word choice, but no one knows how to put that into one word so we chose “voice” because it’s something distinct like someone’s voice, so close enough right?
Well no, there’s still a slight difference. People have the ability to manipulate their audible voice (if you’re like me, depends on who you’re talking to), while a writer’s voice has more of a gravitational pull on the writer. It’s almost inseparable to the writer, once they find it. No matter what genre of writing, it’s bound to show itself in some form.
Using ChatGPT in class last week didn’t freak me out the way I thought it would because it was kind of a Google response to our question, but I’m sure that’s just the start of it. The main difference, as I stated in class, was that I wrote my differences down in the form of a letter to someone. There was a lot of ‘you’ because I feel like the college experience is very self-guided compared to high school.
I’ve mentioned it in my last blog, but connection is important to me when I write. So, naturally, it makes sense to write to an invisible someone for me.
James McBride Question: Do you think ChatGPT would be able to emulate the theme of ‘common humanity’ you explore in your novels?
Maybe I got a tear or two while reading James McBride for many reasons. Reading about racism is complex for me, because I grew up in a country full of minorities, the only ones who think they are superior are those with “money” and these are of all races; Also, I consider that I speak from the “privilege” I have not felt in my flesh what it is that someone rejects me because of my skin color, only my siblings for playing, because I have lighter skin than them, but I am in a middle point between indigenous and mestizo. It’s essential to recognize the value of words, what they cause, and how we can use them to help. It is also lovely to see how communities are open to helping others, giving food if they need it, and being there as support when institutions have turned their backs. Reading about how the neighbors brought food reminded me of my house in December, all the neighbors closed the streets, shared food, and ate as if we were a family, I also remember when my parents left and left my brother Rafael and me alone being children, I remember the neighbor in front taking us pots with soup and looking out the window in case we needed something. Kindness changes and forms a precedent in the human being. In Colombia, we often say, this is the country where many are born, but just a few survive, lack of opportunities, delinquency, drug addiction, and many more problems lead young people to have to look for other means to cope with their lives, so I felt very familiar, I studied in a public school and it with people who were in gangs, That they carried weapons inside the school, who sold drugs that I had never heard in my life and the teachers tried to get them to look for other ways, but there came the point where they gave up, because in the same way, when they finished school they could not continue their studies, because there were no opportunities.
We are all good, maybe deep down, but that must be explored, worked on, and exposed, kindness changes live, and opportunities too.
James McBride is a 65-year-old Black American writer and musician. His story is that he grew up in a housing project with eleven siblings and his white Jewish mother. “‘Emphasize The Positive’: James McBride On The Kindness That Shaped Him” is a short yet insightful view into what this man is about. In this, he tells the story of his childhood growing up in a community where people came together and created a sense of being in a village. This life story of his is the major influence and inspiration for his novel ‘Deacon King Kong’, with the setting being a housing project similar to his childhood one.
James McBride’s story is one that is unfortunately not unique to him. Many black people in America have had to grow up in poverty due to racism and capitalism. Those in poverty, of working class, etc., haven’t had the privilege of living in a normal sized house that was fresh and clean, wasn’t filled to the brim with lead, didn’t cost too much, and that they could afford. There is something to be said about how James was able to grow up in a black community despite his black dad dying before his birth and him being predominantly raised by his white mother. About how his mother, despite being white, was welcomed into the community and treated as one of their own.
“There was an innocence to that period. And the reason why I use that word was because when white people talk about the ’60s and the Beatles, they always talk about the innocence as if innocence didn’t exist in black America.” He sums it up perfectly. With the assassinations of MLK JR. and Malcolm X, the civil rights movement took a huge moral hit, and the lack of racial equity and equality the existed already means that white people were going to view black people in much more racist ways. James’s own mother, despite not talking about her whiteness with her son, did make sure that he did good because she knew that people would view him through the lens of him being a black boy. Blackness affects everything we do no matter what, and in a racist society of the 70s, it was a serious problem if a black child was caught making even a minor mistake.
Some questions I have after listening to the 28 min podcast and reading the article pertains to his sentences on the police and his comments about how we in the present should deal with the lingering statues of confederates. In the article, which was published on March 9th 2020, he states his belief that the narrative that dehumanizes policemen is dangerous. He says that most cops are good, they aren’t paid well, and that they aren’t respected or treated well. Which, as another black person in America, I cannot agree with this in good taste at all. Police are one of the most powerful individuals in this state. Out of all legal forces, I can’t think of one that is more respected, more well paid/financed, and more well off than the police. Just in the last few years they’ve been given whose knows how much money as a department alone. According to this page on statistica.com and this police budget breakdown system on costofpolice.org, we can see that the US spends more money on policing than it does on overall community resources. And considering that Cop City is officially a thing, I definitely don’t think caring about the humanity of police of all people is a constructive focus. One thing that I agree with James on is that we should focus on education for children. Free and accessible education for children brings them up properly and influences them to pursue progressive and better opportunities.
I am also a little, for a lack of a better word, confused and weirded out over how he refers to Mary Chestnut, the wife of a confederate commander. She as a white person who married a confederate and had black servants in the household is referred to by James McBride as a good person in the podcast. While it’s one thing for her to be referred to as an interesting person, no one that takes part in any form of white supremacy, even simply by marrying a white supremacist, is anywhere close to being a good person. I also listened to him talk about how he never thought much about the confederate statues earlier in life. He said that he and others just walked past confederate flags and the people holding them up. I wonder just how much the political and social environment he was raised in socialized them to see these things as just something to accept. I always found it important to analyze and learn exactly why these things are allowed to be waved around in society, why is it acceptable in an nation of “freedom and the brave” to openly celebrate white supremacy and chattel slavery and why should we just simply walk by it and not fight against it completely?
Learning about James McBride was an interesting and eye-opening experience. It was important for me to learn about a black musician’s/writer’s journey in life and what he finds important. Looking at his observations and comments, I see what he finds important and what he has grown to believe over time. And while I find him an interesting person, it is obvious that he is from an older generation, and that this fact has a lot to do with what he finds important and what he believes in. I believe that what he has learned from in his life and how that is reflected in these two interviews can teach us what a lot of people can share and what a lot of people still need to learn about.
While reading “Emphasize The Positive” I found a lot of things interesting about this article. From where he grew up, to how he grew up and his outlook on certain things.
What stood out to me the most was his novel Deacon King Kong. McBride making the main character a good cop in my opinion may have caused those of the same race confusion as to why McBride chose to make the police officer the “good guy”. Over the past years, there has been so many negative things happening between police officers and African Americans. Although there Amy be some people that believe that all police officers are ‘bad guys’ that isn’t true.
McBride states, “Most cops are good people. They’re not paid well enough. They’re not respected enough”, I believe this statement to be very true. There are many police officers that do what is right, they protect and serve just as they are supposed to do. There is so much light shining on the police officers that are not protecting a serving but using their “power” to abuse. I think McBride making the character “the good guy” helps people remember that there are good police officers that are protecting and serving their communities the way they are intended to.
Questions for James McBride:
At what point in your life did you realize writing was something you wanted to dive into?
Have you received negative comments about making the police officer in your story the ‘good guy’?
Voice of writing to me has always been – the point! This could come through in the literal message that one is conveying through the written form, the musical nature that transmits from letters to the mind of the reader – whatever! It’s the point, and anyone who disagrees and downplays the abstract force that is any artistic medium, well, they need to either “fix your heart or die.”
It is everything.
What I noticed about the whole high school vs. college exercise from last week’s class is that I really love people, one’s that I think are people. The sort of people that can engage me as moving vessels of connectivity, rather than intentioned fronts putting on a face. I hate those, I suppose some can call them people, but I call them mere vessels. No words that I can throw can fill them up, because they are not quite THERE yet, y’dig? They are prepubescent, perhaps saccharine on the outside – maybe even initially pleasant, but they’re not their own selves.
They are no selves. Empty shells with edgy words.
At least, that’s how I’d probably go about typing this blog if it were Spring 2016, and I was my 2016-self, back when I was in high school. I still relate to that kid very much, he is still me. He just has grown encrusted with many experiential, honest, beautiful, rigid, scarred, and even unexpected layers. These may come in the form of seconds, minutes, days – whatever!
Can a ChatGPT have such layers? Can AI develop such layers?
The answers that the ChatGPT produced in class had nothing. They, with great justice to all of the experiential layers that I and PEOPLE have, are nothing. That collective of words displayed on-screen, via-HDMI or whatever, were not words. They were CENSORSHIP, absence, and death. Of what? Beauty, life, experience.
They were … the deathknell of the muse.
James McBride Questions:
What is your response to my claim that there is an inherit power dynamic between civilian and cop that is destructive to the civilian?
You have been quoted stating the following: “you can’t be a creative person, if you are so cynical about the world” and “you have to emphasize the positive, otherwise, why write about people at all?” Do you not find these ideas restrictive to creativity itself, and exclusionary of the experiences and perspectives of cynical individuals. To what extent were your words expressed hyperbolically, and can you further clarify how cynicism is uncreative?
After reading “‘Emphasize The Positive’: James McBride On The Kindness That Shaped Him” by Terry Gross and listening to The Quarantine Tapes: 092 James McBride (08.05.20) from Dublab, I learned a lot about James McBride’s childhood and his recent life updates from 2020.
In The Quarantine Tapes, McBride made a point to say that we should learn the history of who the statues are so that we can learn from them and correct them in the future. And I agree with that. Each time a confederate statue is torn down, part of me agrees with it, but the academic part of me is curious as to who the person was and why people are so upset. We don’t learn about half of these people in schools and what little we do learn is often whitewashed.
A point that McBride made in ‘Emphasize the Positive’ was that he depicted the police in a positive way. McBride had a positive experience as a child where his sister got lost at a crowded event and came out of the crowd with a White police officer. Growing up, I had a family member that was a local police officer and he often let my younger brother and I play with his police car as if it were a toy. (Really fun memories there.) I understand that not all police officers are bad, but when all you see is the bad, it’s hard to believe anything else.
From this, I have two questions:
What does McBride think of the police now? Or at least the way we see the police depicted on the news now.
How can we be sure we actually learn about the people confederate statues are made of? Yes, we can research, but oftentimes schools are the only place we have immediate constant access to and are where we first hear about them.
But I believe there’s more to life than what’s to come.
As much as the human mind denies it, calling it dumb.
Before we get into detail, how about we take it slow.
As I extend my greeting with a simple hello.
Hi, My name is Javon Harris. As you may know I love to write and draw. My favorite pass times to do is to research articles and look into history. What I hope to learn from this class is about the process of digital writing and how it is affecting the market for readers and writers a lot. As what you may know, the current technology known as ChatGPT which was announced back in November last year. My hopes is to learn about the digital network that comes with writing and be able to establish a connection between traditional writing and digital writing.
Taking a look at the notes from the class discussion last week I see a theme was mainly the topic of Voice in writing. Voice in writing can be interpreted differently by each person. For me it mean to capture what my minds eye is trying to re create into words. The voice in my head is met by paper and pen (or keyboard) and I am able to express my thoughts and feelings more comfortably and effortlessly. It is great as a writer to always feel the need to create and how simple it is to just use my voice to express myself.
The experiment question that was asked in class stated “What is the difference between high school and college?” My answer would be a couple of things. First is academically the work because a bit more demanding in ways, but then in time can be quite effective because you have more time to complete assignments outside of your classes in college. I think responsibilities may change from high school to college. For instance in my high school experience I only focused on sports, cheerleading and volleyball, and school work. When I entered my junior year of college I started working full time and do school full time in college, so my time and responsibility at the time changed.
The ChatGPT offers a great resource to spark inspiration, but it can also take away from the human ability to be create and think of the impossible which makes great literature. I asked it the experience question and it gave the response pictured below:
It gave part of my answer and continued on the point out the classes and how they are more focused and intense with subject. I noticed I went more off of my personal opinion of how I interpreted high school and college differences. This is what I feel we may lose as we continue to grow the AI and Writing culture and learn how to mesh them. Let’s still be able to have our Voice heard, but always have somewhere to go to find out facts without opinion. This coming Thursday the class is going to see James McBride speak on campus. We read an article giving us some of his life facts in his chat he did on the radio. He is from Brooklyn New York and grew up where he was always responsible for him having a lot of siblings. His mother was white, but all of his brothers and sisters were black, which gave him a great outlook on life, and how people treat others. All of this helped him to shape his writing voice and he has some of his best material in works read by a wide audience. He uses his voice to give his opinion on the situations he has experienced, which makes it great for readers to better understand and relate to the author.
The Two Questions I may ask:
Do you believe politics, culture, or bias has a huge impact on the way you chose to write your material?
When did you first develop your true interest in writing?
I’m excited to be hearing him speak this week and can’t wait to hear what we learn.
While it seems that ChatGPT might help to pick up on the pragmatic points in writing on certain topics, there was still a lack of experience to what we compared in class– our own pieces and the list that the AI developed. There’s a major shift in tone, language use, and overall meaning. Sure, what ChatGPT developed has meaning that we can comprehend, but I’m talking about a different kind of meaning here: intention. I spent much of my last blog speaking on that word as well, so I won’t go too much into it specifically here.
Intention often stems from experience. Perhaps this is the word I’ll camp out on today. There was information, but there was no true experience in the writing of the AI, yet we found so many different perspectives on what makes either high school or college better than the other. Below is a screenshot of my own 7-minute comparison between high school and college:
And if I had the chance to go on, I would likely talk about how in high school, we shared a strange but slight bond over that experience of rolling our eyes at that one classic line our teachers would pull about what we should expect our college professors to be like. There isn’t much to bond everyone together like that in college. If you aren’t close to someone, you likely will never talk to them even once about a small thing like that unless you’re a complete extrovert that gets to know everyone on campus. There are two main issues with that though: 1) everyone gets socially exhausted at some point whether it’s recognized by the individual or not and 2) that’s hard to do in larger schools such as Kean which, in Fall 2021, had just an undergrad enrollment of about 10,500. (The second point really depends on the school though, as it was a bit easier to at least know of almost everyone on campus at my freshman year institution with a Fall 2021 enrollment under 3,000.)
AI doesn’t experience, but rather it calculates and stores data. While I’m sure a majority of us have heard the classic “your college professors won’t tolerate this” line from a high school teacher, regardless of where any of us went to high school, it’s not a piece of data that we would typically include in a formal, technical, and calculated comparative piece. It’s more of something we would write about as a subjective experience, even though many of us have heard it– I’m almost certain about that one. It’s similar to the bathroom situations that many of us encountered (though I admit, the experience with that at my high school was quite a bit different for a number of reasons). In high school, we probably all had to ask to use the bathroom or get a hall pass– in my case, we would do that and go figure out which one was unlocked for all the girls to use while the guys rarely had that issue of only one bathroom being unlocked, then likely get in trouble for taking so long.
So while this may be statistically significant data because it’s such a common high school experience, it’s not the kind of data that a school includes on its website, or that reports like GreatSchools.org or US News would typically mention. While ChatGPT utilizes the entirety of the internet as its brain, for comparative or analytical questions especially, it’s reasonable that it would mainly rely on these often-cited resources as its algorithm would then likely deem it as a reliable source on the topic.
And yes, one could argue that the internet is, to some extent, a summation of human experience and knowledge. But lets be real with that even: how much of the real human experience do we actually include on the internet? Even if we could tell ChatGPT to write something based on our own websites for these blog posts (which you can’t, I’ve tried), there is still only so much of our lives shown on here, on Instagram, on TikTok, on Snapchat, or even on BeReal despite the purpose of BeReal being an attempt at breaking that barrier.
And even if our entire experience was some data set that this algorithm could draw from for data, how often does life go in a direction that can be easily, rationally calculated? The number of times that God’s surprised me with money I didn’t know how I’d get to be able to pay for school or my car… the number of times I’ve been overcome with an inexplicable peace in the midst of some of the most chaotic or grievous times in my life… the number of times I’ve been able to speak before a crowd of people despite my mildly crippling social anxiety… you can calculate a prediction, but you cannot calculate an experience.
As for James McBride, while we were first talking about him in class I looked him up and was intrigued by the titles he’s published thus far. I read through the multiple synopses of his books, and the question popped into my head: how has faith– whether in God, people, or just in general– shaped McBride as an author and artist (considering he’s a musician as well)? Even just looking at the titles the question came up– Deacon King Kong… Miracle at St. Anna (and the cover art for this one)… The Good Lord Bird… even looking at the synopsis for The Color of Water I noticed some details involving Christian culture, though McBride was raised by a Jewish mother.
And I suppose that the other would be this: what would you say has been the most formative experience to you as a writer? I’m always one for a good testimony, which is why I think I’ll be checking out The Color of Water once I get the time to sit and read, probably sometime after I finish at least one more of the unread, brand new books I’ve had for about a year now.
Our previous Thursday class was very interesting as we dived into each others voice in writing in comparison to a computer system, Chat GPT. I find it to be very clear that while a computer system as such may be a cool demonstration of what a writing prompt can or should look like, (kind of one of those things where you see this is what you should or should not do) but at the end of the day, it is not authentic, not original, and not creative. It’s missing the most important part, the human, Without that human touch I feel as if though Chat GPT produced generic writing that maybe a more boring and traditional teacher would approve of. But with no personal touch or voice, if you use Chat GPT for one assignment or paper, you would have to keep using it because that would potentially be your “voice,” a computer.
Now diving into James McBride in preparation for his event on Thursday, I had a lot of interest when it came to reading and listening to the quarantine tapes. One thing that resonated most with me was when he said, “…I believe we have more in common than we are different.” In his book, Deacon King Kong McBride makes the cop in his story, the good man. As a Black author, I am sure he must have received some backlash from choosing to do so. I do agree with his statement, on why he chose to make the white cop a good man but it still does raise a question as to why the cop couldn’t be a bad guy to further tell the story that many Blacks do have to struggle and face. Because as we know, with a whole movement be centered towards the subject, seems like there is and never will be enough awareness for it. Because until the problem officially stops, we can’t stop making the conversation.
Questions for James McBride
Considering that you are a big advocate for for arts in school and without it robs children of their creativity, how do you feel about computer systems such as Chat GPT that write papers for students?
Why did you chose to make the white officer a good man instead of a bad man and create a positive outcome for the characters in the book?
The official class site for Dr. Mia Zamora's Spring 2023 "Networked Narratives" course.
