IN 1994, SOJOURNERS interviewed award-winning Catholic children’s book author and illustrator Tomie dePaola. He warned against “moral message” books for children, comparing them to propaganda. In this issue, Sojourners multimedia graphic designer and children’s book illustrator Ryan McQuade recalls dePaola’s famous Strega Nona and explores how AI steals artists’ work to produce “slop” children’s books, which can be a new kind of propaganda.
Billionaire tech bros sell “artificial intelligence” as a powerful digital mind to solve human “problems”—even death. But our incarnate life is a gift from God. As Christians, we honor the body that God made, even at its end. Sojourners associate editor Josina Guess writes beautifully on a Christian group in Georgia whose cemetery is a place of radical hospitality, creating “a unique underground community.”
November is a time to remember our saints. We need them to strengthen our hearts and remind us that they still walk with us, especially when we act for the sake of Jesus. So, friends, eat good food, not slop. Honor the wisdom of children, artisans, and saints. Delight in the enfleshed life. This is the Way.
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