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Notes from Southern Alberta

Journal

June 2026

Essay 6 Jun 2026 Lethbridge

How to tell if AI wrote it

Your audience has developed detection skills through exposure, not deliberate study. They can't always articulate what feels off. But they know.

Essay 4 Jun 2026 Lethbridge

Investment attraction is a trust problem

When every region offers roughly comparable incentives and roughly comparable amenities, the differentiating factor isn't the package anymore. It's trust.

Essay 2 Jun 2026 Lethbridge

Your talent attraction video shows the wrong thing

Drone shots over a downtown core. A montage of smiling people at a farmers market. These videos are everywhere. They're expensive to make. And with rare exceptions, they don't work.

Essay 1 Jun 2026 Lethbridge

Wednesday nights in the darkroom

Twelve frames of 120 film, a Wednesday night at the CASA darkroom, and what slow seeing taught me about the hollow parts of fast, AI-assisted work.

Essay 1 Jun 2026 Lethbridge

The friction problem

The real problem isn't AI. It's the friction. And the best use of any tool is to get out of the way so the work that requires you has more room to breathe.

May 2026

Essay 30 May 2026 Lethbridge

The saturation problem

When everyone has access to the same efficiency gains, the gains cancel out. What you're left with is a louder room and a shorter attention span.

Essay 28 May 2026 Lethbridge

The authenticity premium

At the same moment AI-generated content is flooding every platform, consumer trust in branded content is dropping. Those two trends aren't a coincidence.

Essay 26 May 2026 Lethbridge

The RFP process is failing creative work

The creative services vendor pool is shrinking. Not because there's less talent, but because experienced studios are doing the math and opting out.

Essay 24 May 2026 Lethbridge

On posting less, writing more

Why the canonical home matters when the platform moves under your feet.

March 2026

Essay 18 Mar 2026

Why the grain stayed

A short defence of the noisiest layer in every photo I publish here.