My courses this fall will be getting a major revamp to protect students brains from not being used properly. This time last year, I had a more laissez-faire attitude to students use of AI. It was banned in my classroom, but I told students that I wasn’t going to waste my time policing their work. It was their decision if they wanted to learn. After one year of experimenting with this technology myself, I’ve changed my tune. LLMs are — by and large — a menace to healthy brain use, unless used in extremely narrow and specific ways. But it’s not fair to ask students to recognize that in a world where economic, educational — read, ‘grades’ — and social pressures are all stacked against them to outsource their thinking to AI. My classroom will be technology free, and intentionally designed in a way that promotes the active development of the most rudimentary reading, writing, and thinking skills. The argument that this kind of classroom design will not prepare my students for an AI ladened work-world no longer moves me. It’s not hard to pick up these tools later in life and learn to use them in a work capacity, nor is there any shortage of people teaching the skill. What is hard — and what we are completely failing our students on —is learning how to read, write, and think. The argument that your classroom activities are not imaginative enough if an AI can easily do them, also no longer moves me. I’ve tested the hypothesis. I don’t agree. Possessing the rudimentary skills of reading, writing, and thinking for yourself are essential pre-requisites to using AI in beneficial ways, be that in the workforce or elsewhere. We are not focused enough on those skills today, and far too focused on AI
Republicans: “Can YOU belieeeve THEY want the PUBLIC to have the power instead of the rich elite and the giganto-corps?!”
Of course I’ve seen The Odyssey.
All the little boys from Rosario
Recommended listening: La Revancha del Tango (Gotan Project) I lived in El Puerto de Santa Maria del Buen Aire during the summer of 2009. I was studying, partying, and working (don’t remember in what order), covering midterm elections and fashion(?) for a news agency near…
Now why would I want to do that
I lived in Buenos Aires for the summer of 2009. Saw Messi against Colombia at El Monumental and fell in love. I think the Albiceleste is the only team I support that is properly villainous—trust me when I say I understand why they are so hated. But the passion, belief, and emotion of this team and its fans somehow feels completely pure to me, despite whatever Dark Arts are playing out on the field. Then there’s Messi, who transcends the villain archetype. How lucky we are to have watched him for the past 23 years. And that’s what my feelings are really about: the hope that the dream isn’t over quite yet. A nagging part of me worries that this chapter of the fairytale may not have the ending that will make us happiest on Sunday. The other part of me refuses to write off the power of faith. 🇦🇷 ¡Dale Argentina! 🇦🇷
Tell me, what content do you plan to monetize with your one wild and precious life?
Update: there is an answer and it’s the Pentel P200 series. Made in Japan. Will last you 50 years. Many fond stories from its devotees that have been using it since grade school.
Pretty smitten with the texture and pop of my new wordmark: written by my son, 7, in POSCA paint marker in Michigan, June 2026. Planning to do new versions of this with each kid into the future.
My message for you today:
Indian Point summer
Today’s links come to you from a ranch-style house situated on Indian Point outside Saugatuck, Michigan, on the bank of the Kalamazoo River. It looks out over a vast marsh that is stewarded by the Pottawatomie Gun Club. The Red-wing Black bird, the Common Yellowthroat,…
Late checkout
I miss when the internet was somewhere you visited. I remember typing in individual Xangas, Myspaces, Blogspots, and Tumblrs from muscle memory and surfing away. The experience had edges. It began and ended. The ‘Net had no idea how to get into your pocket, and…
Of short kings and tall girls
I’m solo parenting and keeping it light this week. Enjoy a poem and some links! How to Do Absolutely Nothing Rent a house near the beach, or a cabin but: Do not take your walking shoes. Don’t take any clothes you’d wear anyplace anyone would…
Boring!
Will Rogers’ famous advice was: “Buy land. They ain’t making any more of the stuff.” In this economy , he might as well have been talking about attention. It is the currency we “pay” with, after all. As a ‘90s kid who grew up in…
The ugly business of the beautiful game
Welcome to Shelter’s soccer issue. I make no apologies, because it’s all I can think about right now. Yes, that’s partly on the heels of my pilgrimage to see Arsenal — who, if you haven’t heard, became the English champions on Tuesday for the first…
I'll be your mirror
Still thinking about my trip abroad two weeks later. The scene opens on me, in London listening to the Kooks and flouncing down Greek Street from high culture (the theatre) to lowbrow (the dive). Jump scare to me, at home, sitting on the toilet reading…
All I got to do is to love you
No one could accuse me of being Pollyanna, at least not after reading my most recent letters. But on Tuesday, as I was smoking a cigarette on a night walk through St. James’s Park near Buckingham Palace, cheeks rosy in the afterglow of a martini…
What to do now
Many dark and terrible things have happened since I last wrote to you, headlined by the brutal murder of 37-year-old ICU nurse Alex Pretti, whom seven masked agents subdued and beat after he stood between them and a female observer they had thrown to the…
She was Good
In Chicago, we are remembering Renee Good as a neighbor and an ally, because every day for months, our streets have been invaded by masked, nameless thugs who have been disappearing people based on the color their skin and the language they speak — and…
Do you hear the People sing?
I have seen with my own eyes masked federal agents deploy tear gas and rubber balls without warning on peaceful protestors who posed no physical threat to them, including a pastor who they shot in the head with pepper balls. This is a “political” post.…
Thoughts and prayers
Violence is all I can think about these days. The basic hierarchy of shelter is person > family > neighborhood > city > county > state > country > world. How can I not be riled up by what’s happening in mine ? I have…
Wrong city, jagoffs
Hey, so I don’t have a monologue for you this Friday; we are preparing for the arrival of the National Guard in Chicago, a headache we are ready to face head-on . (Simply put: Wrong city, jagoffs .) With the invasion rumored to begin as…
Isn't it cruel how the summer fades?
I say this as someone who firmly believes that the true privilege of being in a family is that you get to know five, six, seven different people occupying the same body over the course of a lifetime. And that the best days are almost…
How to celebrate a perfect day
This letter is brought to you by the feeling of cannonballing into a lake. Yesterday, I had the privilege of serving as the foreman of a jury. Once we reached a verdict, I got a very kind ovation from my fellow jurors. When I returned…
How I travel now
This letter is brought to you by: the feeling of switching between two movie channels at the commercial break on a hotel TV late at night. Shelter has returned from summer break. We were in Malibu…and Cape Cod! (Of the Midwest, to be clear. That’s…
Look at these architectural abominations
Fresh links for you below because 1) we should all be respecting the apex Summer Friday and 2) I’m writing to you horizontal in bed (0/10 would wish a back injury on an enemy). In lieu of a monologue this week, I have assembled this…
Ink, sweat, and soil
There are three cures to most modern ills: Sweat Soil Ink on a printed page It’s that last one that has saved my life more than once. I started journaling when I was a kid, until I became an adolescent, got embarrassed of my kid…
Is cereal soup?
You know the kind: What do you do, when did you move here, how about this weather, what are the ins and outs of Liam’s travel baseball schedule? The only thing smaller than the talk is my interest. Spare me, I beg you. I am…
The things we own end up owning us
Every direction I turn, I am poked and prodded to buy. Once upon a time, ads broadcast into the void. Now, the Algorithm calls us by name. An ad I heard this morning began with the question, “Who doesn’t want more of… everything?” Me, for…
Are you there, Algorithm? It's me, Seth.
Popsicle-lovers everywhere: what is the BEST ice pop, paleta, or other frozen #treat on a stick?
With all the AI Studio Ghibli chatter, I just keep thinking about how frustrated and hurt Hayao Miyazaki must be — just as an individual creative, given his well-publicized opinion about AI being an insult to humanity. Real they-massacred-my-boy vibes.
Shelter will be written and published from Palm Springs this week. Is there anything I should know before going there? Assume I know less than Jon Snow (nothing).
This didn’t quite make the cut for this week’s newsletter but is delightful & worth 15 minutes of your time this weekend: The Great Backyard Bird Count, a global group project where you log the birds you see in your yard. It really helps scientists. Learn more here: birdcount.org/participate
Pretty bad week for Drake tbh
The politics behind the mainstream social media platforms are repellent, but I bet it would be a lot harder for users to leave if they hadn’t also enshittified the user experience. Substack & TikTok are proving the point by being a delight to use (though there’s plenty to debate about them, too.)
Hell yeah Casey
It seems like all the Nigerian prince scams of yore really should have prepared us better to spot its cousin: the South African prince scam.
the ppl who were very concerned that Joe Brandon wasn't following Congresss rules and thrilled Chevron deference was ending so unelected agency staff couldn't interpret laws seem to have chilled out for some reason
Here you go people.com/525-pound-be...
New issue just dropped on what concrete steps you can take to resist. shelterletter.substack.com It also points you to @mariapopova.bsky.social (on Camus’ antidotes to absurdity); KC Davis (on messy homes); Anita Shah (on voice notes) & Emily Tobin (on a barn in the Cotswolds).
Heard, chef.
Chicago, baby.
You get it!
Oof, better ask for a refund
You can rename stuff all you want, but people are still gonna call it what they want. Ask any Chicagoan.
This week's newsletter points you to excellent stories from: @monteiro.bsky.social @katykelleher.bsky.social @kottke.org ...and some other folks who aren't on Bsky. They deserve your attention! Link above or in bio.
In the newsletter: a dispatch from a weary captain (read: dad) dealing with mutinous deckhands (read: children) after four days of stomach flu. shelterletter.substack.com
Okay pen geeks, maybe an odd query, but what highlighter models do we love? I am a recovering underliner while reading novels, but lately I’ve had my head turned.
Okay pen geeks, maybe an odd query, but what highlighter models do we love? I am a recovering underliner while reading novels, but lately I’ve had my head turned.
“Those who profess to favor freedom and yet depreciate agitation, are people who want crops without ploughing the ground.” —Frederick Douglass (Whom I hear is being recognized more and more.)
The mask is off and it took less time than a TikTok ban. Half his simps saying “he was throwing his heart to the crowd.” The other half: “Get used to it. We’re making the Roman salute great again.” He can’t be the most brilliant entrepreneur in the world AND too dumb/naive to know what this means.
as the rollercoaster crests the top of the initial incline, the ratcheting noise slows and stops, and you can, right before the plunge, observe the entire amusement park
As far as Sunday Scaries go, I must say this is the scariest one in a minute
Welcome, teens coming here from tiktok. I think you’ll find that through the magic of the written word I am able to craft sentences that are as vivid and compelling as any short-form video!
The colors are duller this morning. Breakfast has no taste. Can't smell the coffee. My TikTok has gone...
Wow, the TT ban really did hit you hard eh
Shutting down TikTok early has to be a calculated move, yeah? Accompanied by the direct mention of the hero-president for maximum drama…
You will not be able to stay home, brother. You will not be able to plug in, turn on, and cop out.
Done 🫡
Genuinely: Do you find that Meta products are improving your life? Maybe they once did, but for me, these days it's a hard no.
Happy Severance Day to all who celebrate
Yes. Next question
The homies on my timeline @dansinker.com 🤝 @whetmoser.com
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater Warehouse (2000)
We all wonder from time to time. But it probably chose us in some way, shape or form.
Yup. Frozen and Moana. And now Number Two is bringing them back three years later.
Hard launched on Substack today. If you like stories about architecture, design & spaces that feel like “home,” check it out: shelterletter.substack.com
hey, so this is insane Jordan
what, they're *great* in a crisis /s
you've done a great job with this
beautiful work
That new Hobonichi Techo feeling. I've been keeping a (mostly) consistent journaling practice since 2020, and it sure feels good to have a seasonal & emotional record to go back and look at. (And to see them stacked up like this.) #journaling #hobonichi
Bah, and I'd just found you on the other place! All this makes me wonder if there's any value to occasionally posting on the platforms where the followers are (IG, Threads) vs what impact my leaving will really have. Maybe they're broadcast channels to direct folks to where the content actually is?