I read this with interest. Your town sounds so idyllic. Have you considered running for office yourself? I bet you'd kick ass!! Regardless, I'm pulling for you and your little town.
Despite being British, I was very interested in this. I love the word 'evitable' - it reminds me that with God all things are possible, if we fight with faith!
Thank you for this beautifully written piece. We are just down the road in Alaiedon Township (the corner of it very near the proposed site). The proposed site is in Vevay, but abuts 3 other townships whose residents will all be affected. It's so frustrating, but I am holding on to hope. My disappointment in Gretchen Whitmer is huge. As much as some folks in the City have been assholes (and deserve to be recalled), the State is making meaningful resistance very difficult. In addition to local action, we need to press our state reps and senators to support push-back and moratoriums in Lansing.
Thank you! Thank you for sharing, thank you for advocating for writers, and thank you for advocating for the environment, and for reminding us that we have a voice & must speak up against AI & the politicians who do not speak for their constituents, but for themselves.
Thank you, Erin. I can imagine this coming up at a township meeting in my small, family and farm-oriented area. And I can imagine that there would be voices trying to bully the residents into accepting AI and its corresponding ills into an area that is often referred to as bucolic. And I can imagine the residents, along with residents of other nearby towns, saying NO. Loudly, emphatically and repeatedly.
People should already be on guard everywhere. There are warning signs regarding energy infrastructure and ordinances that signal an unwanted development may be coming, and the earlier residents start fighting against it, the better.
We already had an incident with a pet food processor who wanted to build in our area…processing animal matter into pet food. There are no public water utilities here-everyone is on well water and septic. Obviously, waste disposal was a huge concern. Especially after we found out that the company had also been chased out of Connecticut for violating their agreements on safe handling, noxious smells, and unsanitary site conditions. My town (me included) made it abundantly clear that their tax dollars were not welcome. They stopped trying to buy and develop the parcel their had their eyes on.
I have no doubt that we’d show up the same way to object to a data center. Vigilance, however, is always necessary.
Nice article on many levels! My books were also stolen by Anthropic. I am another author in the lawsuit against Anthropic. I also live in a small town in Washington State in a rural county where we are at risk for land grabs like your small county. Let us all rise up in protest!
Bravo Erin. I feel your pain and wish my family only the best in defeating this monster AI 7 Data Centers) and those people who are making life so miserable as a result of their participation. Best of luck in ousting the politicians who are not working for the people they have been voted in to represent; shame on them.
Bravo!! I can be tempted to bury my head in the sand and hope for the best; this is a powerful argument for staying informed and fighting back. Thank you for your inspiring words.
Thanks for inspiring me, Erin. I'm worried about data centers too as our endless building and population growth in what used to be my sweet little town in the middle of NC.
so my family has lived in Mason for over 100 years, have 3 kids currently in the school system. Once upon a time I had a newspaper downtown about a decade ago, we printed a monthly edition plus daily online stuff. I started it up because I was tired of all the bullshit happening back then with the city council members and the old city manager. I made sure to have a writer at every council meeting and eventually alot of them moved on, even the old city manager got a new job being city manager in traverse city. I was pleased, I thought a new group of people that cared could come in and sadly we got Russ and Deb. I personally interacted with these people before I shut the paper down and definitely did not trust them, even decided shortly after to sell our home in downtown Mason for the country life in Vevey.
As far as the AI stuff goes I've had similar thoughts to you except I decided to see if I could build something that would give my family a leg up in this crazy economy and ended up creating a website tells us if items on Amazon are a good price or not and then if they aren't it watches the prices and sends us an email when it becomes a good price. Saves us, time and money. I understand it doesn't make up for the terrible shit ai companies have done and are doing but I had to try to get something positive out of it.
Anyways, It will be interesting to see how this all plays out. One thing I do know for sure is Deb will see this through to the end. She's crazy like that.
I hate AI. I’m glad you’re fighting against it in the ways you can. It’s pretty much ruined the music industry, and I hope the publishing industry can be smarter about it.
Amen and amen!! Beautifully written, just like your books. I hope your town wins the fight. It's happening in Ohio, too. The people are fighting it here, too. I don't understand how they did that to your books and I'm sorry about that. I have published two non-fiction books so I understand the personal reaction as feeling violated. Keep up the good fight!
I read this with interest. Your town sounds so idyllic. Have you considered running for office yourself? I bet you'd kick ass!! Regardless, I'm pulling for you and your little town.
Thanks, Kristi! Despite being voted most likely to be president in high school, I have no time and no desire to run for public office.
Despite being British, I was very interested in this. I love the word 'evitable' - it reminds me that with God all things are possible, if we fight with faith!
Thanks for your support, Dawn.
Thank you for this beautifully written piece. We are just down the road in Alaiedon Township (the corner of it very near the proposed site). The proposed site is in Vevay, but abuts 3 other townships whose residents will all be affected. It's so frustrating, but I am holding on to hope. My disappointment in Gretchen Whitmer is huge. As much as some folks in the City have been assholes (and deserve to be recalled), the State is making meaningful resistance very difficult. In addition to local action, we need to press our state reps and senators to support push-back and moratoriums in Lansing.
Definitely not a fair fight. But we have no choice but to engage at every level possible.
Thank you! Thank you for sharing, thank you for advocating for writers, and thank you for advocating for the environment, and for reminding us that we have a voice & must speak up against AI & the politicians who do not speak for their constituents, but for themselves.
Thank you for reading!
Thank you, Erin. I can imagine this coming up at a township meeting in my small, family and farm-oriented area. And I can imagine that there would be voices trying to bully the residents into accepting AI and its corresponding ills into an area that is often referred to as bucolic. And I can imagine the residents, along with residents of other nearby towns, saying NO. Loudly, emphatically and repeatedly.
People should already be on guard everywhere. There are warning signs regarding energy infrastructure and ordinances that signal an unwanted development may be coming, and the earlier residents start fighting against it, the better.
We already had an incident with a pet food processor who wanted to build in our area…processing animal matter into pet food. There are no public water utilities here-everyone is on well water and septic. Obviously, waste disposal was a huge concern. Especially after we found out that the company had also been chased out of Connecticut for violating their agreements on safe handling, noxious smells, and unsanitary site conditions. My town (me included) made it abundantly clear that their tax dollars were not welcome. They stopped trying to buy and develop the parcel their had their eyes on.
I have no doubt that we’d show up the same way to object to a data center. Vigilance, however, is always necessary.
Nice article on many levels! My books were also stolen by Anthropic. I am another author in the lawsuit against Anthropic. I also live in a small town in Washington State in a rural county where we are at risk for land grabs like your small county. Let us all rise up in protest!
Bravo Erin. I feel your pain and wish my family only the best in defeating this monster AI 7 Data Centers) and those people who are making life so miserable as a result of their participation. Best of luck in ousting the politicians who are not working for the people they have been voted in to represent; shame on them.
Bravo!! I can be tempted to bury my head in the sand and hope for the best; this is a powerful argument for staying informed and fighting back. Thank you for your inspiring words.
Powerful and moving and true…sharing now!
Thanks for sharing!
🔥 🔥 🔥
Thanks for inspiring me, Erin. I'm worried about data centers too as our endless building and population growth in what used to be my sweet little town in the middle of NC.
so my family has lived in Mason for over 100 years, have 3 kids currently in the school system. Once upon a time I had a newspaper downtown about a decade ago, we printed a monthly edition plus daily online stuff. I started it up because I was tired of all the bullshit happening back then with the city council members and the old city manager. I made sure to have a writer at every council meeting and eventually alot of them moved on, even the old city manager got a new job being city manager in traverse city. I was pleased, I thought a new group of people that cared could come in and sadly we got Russ and Deb. I personally interacted with these people before I shut the paper down and definitely did not trust them, even decided shortly after to sell our home in downtown Mason for the country life in Vevey.
As far as the AI stuff goes I've had similar thoughts to you except I decided to see if I could build something that would give my family a leg up in this crazy economy and ended up creating a website tells us if items on Amazon are a good price or not and then if they aren't it watches the prices and sends us an email when it becomes a good price. Saves us, time and money. I understand it doesn't make up for the terrible shit ai companies have done and are doing but I had to try to get something positive out of it.
Anyways, It will be interesting to see how this all plays out. One thing I do know for sure is Deb will see this through to the end. She's crazy like that.
I hate AI. I’m glad you’re fighting against it in the ways you can. It’s pretty much ruined the music industry, and I hope the publishing industry can be smarter about it.
Amen and amen!! Beautifully written, just like your books. I hope your town wins the fight. It's happening in Ohio, too. The people are fighting it here, too. I don't understand how they did that to your books and I'm sorry about that. I have published two non-fiction books so I understand the personal reaction as feeling violated. Keep up the good fight!