Message to the Reader
– by Mario Crescibene
There have been a number of interesting questions in the comment sections of my last few articles. So I wanted to take the time to address some of them during an off-day…
Do I use AI to Write?
Obviously in today’s world, AI is a major theme in almost everything that we do. And of course, people are going to read my writing and question if it was written by AI. I think that as we travel together into a future that is unknown, communication and transparency is key. We know that we can’t
trust AI. But we should at least be able to trust each other.
As I have said in my responses, AI simply can’t write like me. It’s a predictive model that uses a neural network to calculate predictions of what the most likely next word would be. And that gives us something that is always in this safe, predictable, middle-ground. A world where things sound good, but don’t actually mean anything. And a place where any magic gets buffered out for safety. You rarely find any magic there.
So I can’t use AI to write because it can’t capture the magic that I can. But I do use AI as a sounding board for ideas, sometimes as an editor, or sometimes I say: “I want to say this ___________ but in a different way. Give me 5 options.”
The trap is when we want AI to do the creation process for us. Because it can’t feel that spark of inspiration that makes us want to create something. That’s why the human has to be the creator.
And honestly, the creation process is the best part! So create your own art.
How I Use AI
I usually start forming a concept several weeks in advance. Either following a story that is developing, or working on a unique framing. I use AI to brainstorm different ideas — like where I could run into Gus Marlowe next.
Once I have a concept that I’m happy with — like running into Gus Marlowe at the Mug & Brush in Chagrin Falls — then I work through different scenes and outlines. I can test out different ideas easily and experiment with AI to see what might work and what doesn’t work. But once I have my concept and outline figured out, then I get to writing.
After I’ve written a rough draft, I read through it again, and make edits myself first. After all, I’m not going to ask ChatGPT for it’s opinion of the article before I know what my opinion is. And only once I’ve polished it a bit, do I then ask AI to look at the article and give specific edits.
I don’t like to give it agency over my work, so I don’t ask for an edited version of an entire article. Instead, I have it make a list of suggested edits — with the original version and the edited version, so I can compare them — and then I make my own decision. Sometimes it flags something important that needs to be addressed, and sometimes I think it missed the whole point of the article. But I work with it until I think I have a finished piece.
Once I have the English version done, I have AI translate the piece into Spanish — so I don’t have to re-write an entire article. Then I make edits to the Spanish version so that it has my voice. I’m fluent in Spanish, so I work on the wording where it lost a certain emotional feel, or I might choose a phrasing that lands more poetically. Sometimes there are entire sentences I have in one version that don’t appear in the other.
And sometimes, like with this week’s Professor Saber article, the puns don’t work in Spanish and it’s really hard to figure out a good alternative. —Espero que esté bien, chicos—. The truth is that I don’t get paid for the Spanish articles. It’s a labor of love for my Latino friends. And even if just one Latino prefers to read my articles in their native language… bueno, vale la pena.
And hey… my Larry Doby article made it on to the MLB homepage, in both English and Spanish, for Yahoo! Sports.
Vale la pena.
The important thing is that when using AI, you have to learn how to drive responsibly. It’s a useful tool. And if you don’t use it – I think you’re limiting your creativity. But the most important thing is to create your own art. Don’t ask the machine to do it for you. It can help you create the concept as you work through different ideas. And it can help you buffer it once you’ve created your art. But it’s your art.
Machines are tools that can help us at times, but they don’t have a soul. They don’t have a heart. And it’s connecting with our hearts that allows us to access that source of inspiration that says, “Go… create something…”
Art is the language that our hearts speak with. How could I expect a machine to capture the same magic that I can?… Or that you can?
AI is a tool – you are the artist.
Why I Write
The next topic I would like to cover is why I write in the first place. One comment asked about articles that get syndicated like my Larry Doby piece, and whether articles getting more clicks increases how much I make. Now I’m not going to give away any numbers, but I can tell you that I do not make that much, and I don’t get paid more if an article gets syndicated. But I made a promise to myself a long time ago that money wouldn’t control me. So I don’t think about money when I’m creating my art. Just look at all the art I would have never created if I was worried about monetizing it. That’s not who I am.
The whole reason I started writing for Covering the Corner was because I needed a byline in order to pitch a story I had. It’s the true story of my manhunt through the Peruvian Amazon trying to bring a rogue shaman to justice. I had been apprenticing at a shaman’s retreat center in Iquitos, when a Shipibo shaman who worked for us stole $5,000 from one of our patients. He then went to the house where his 3-year-old daughter was living with her mother, kidnapped the girl, and then disappeared into the jungle.
The patient at our center was understandably furious, the girl’s mother was distraught, and I knew that the Peruvian police weren’t going to do anything… So I had two options: do nothing, or try to track down the rogue shaman myself. And you know me… I couldn’t do nothing. So I set off to capture the shaman, and reunite the little girl with her mother.
I didn’t like the story that was being written, so I did what I could in the moment to try and change it. It was an impossible mission, trying to find a shaman who wanted to disappear into the jungle… but I had to do something. So with 7 days left on my visa, I headed to Pucallpa.
That’s where the shaman was originally from. I figured that if he had his daughter and a newly acquired $5,000 that he would leave Iquitos right away… and go somewhere where he had community. Him returning to Pucallpa seemed the most likely option.
I had been to Pucallpa many times before, and knew where the Shipibos sold their artistic goods in the street. Surely they would know if anyone had seen him. So I got a room at a hostel and walked through the streets of Pucallpa for several days, asking the Shipibos if they had seen my “friend.” Most just glanced at the picture I had and simply shook their heads… before trying to sell me something.
During my first 3 days I purchased a lot of Shipibo goods, but didn’t finding any clues… but as I remained persistent… I slowly started to get positive identifications!
“Oh yes… he does look familiar. But he doesn’t come around this part of Pucallpa much. I think I saw him closer to the plaza.”
Or sometimes, “That picture does look like someone who used to come here… but he hasn’t been here recently…”
I was running out of time quickly. But finally, with just 2 days left on my visa, I got lucky… and someone said they thought he was from a community called Bastimentos. Éxito! And so, with little time left to spare, I hopped on the first boat to Bastimentos.
Suddenly there I was, standing in the front of a speedboat traveling down the Amazon River to a remote Shipibo community, ready to make an arrest and rescue the little girl.
But when I got there, he wasn’t there. The entire community came out to greet me and walked me around. I even talked to the son of the community leader. Some people thought he might be the brother in-law of somebody there, but it was a small community and I talked to everyone. He was nowhere to be found. And so, without any leads and no time left on my visa, my mission failed.
Real-life doesn’t always have a happy ending.
But I knew that I had a good story to share about all the lessons I’d learned along the journey — so I got to writing. I’d never published anything before, so I started by making fan posts on Covering the Corner. With so many games, I had plenty to write about. And as I worked on strengthening my byline, it caught the eye of our editor Quincy Wheeler, who asked if I wanted to write for the site.
He said he didn’t have a paid position open, but I would be the next one in line. Heck, I was just doing fan posts before! The opportunity to say I had an article that was legitimately published — and to be able to work on my byline by publishing weekly articles on a respected site — vale la pena. And later in my first season of writing sports articles, a position did open up, and I signed a contract with Vox Media.
As I said, I don’t get paid to write the Spanish articles — and what I earn for the English articles isn’t much — but what I get from Quincy Wheeler is complete artistic freedom. He gave me a platform when no one else would. And look at all the art I’ve been able to create thanks to him. Just wait until you see my article this Sunday. You don’t want to miss it!
And maybe someday Rolling Stone will want a gonzo series that takes readers through the Amazon on a manhunt for a rogue shaman. We can call it something like: “Gonzo. Shaman. Manhunt” or… “El Mal Chamán.” Publish it in English and Spanish. Obvio.
Who knows where the story will take me next. I never thought I would end up here. But as the great Hunter S. Thompson said, “Buy the ticket, take the ride.”
I don’t worry about money. I would rather go back to writing for free in order to protect the integrity of my art. Because the source of inspiration has always remained the same: I write as an act of love. I write because I have to. Because there is this source of inspiration that I feel in my chest that forces me to create something that has never existed before.
Porque vale la pena.
