Missing Madonna but Finding Claude
Life in the Peaceable Cherifian Kingdom
I missed Madonna in Marrakesh this New Year.
Last year, I was in the Red City, as it’s called. This year, I spent New Year’s Eve in Bordeaux, France—much colder but still fun.
Madonna celebrated in Marrakesh with her family, visiting local souks, enjoying traditional Moroccan meals, and attending Sufi chanting ceremonies. She’s really into Morocco, Amazigh culture, and the occult. In 2018, she spent her 60th birthday in the Red City. She must be about 67 now. Actually, I thought she was younger than me.
At 60 or 67, we all tend to wear down. The last time I saw a picture of Madonna, she looked bloated and botoxed.
But as I landed in Morocco on Sunday, my feed was full of pics of Madonna posing in Marrakesh. And boy, did she look good. Like, real good. Like AI-enhanced good.
It was past the point of photoshopping. She looked like she’d peeled away thirty years of hard living.
Maybe her youthful energy (at least in pictures) owes something to her 29-year-old boyfriend, Akeem Morris. Morris, a Jamaican-born former soccer player and coach, certainly looks like a solid citizen. Could he also be Madonna’s fountain of youth?
Or maybe she’s using Moroccan beauty products. It seems to work—Morocco has beautiful women.
I think the pictures are enhanced. No judgment, of course. We should all seek to be youthful, to explore the technologies and benefits our ancestors didn’t have. Why get stuck in old age and old ways?
“We need to stop talking about aging like it’s something negative,” said the global pop star. “Why can’t we just be the age that we are and look amazing all the time?”
For sure, Madonna has embraced reinvention and defied societal expectations for older women.
“I have no age. I’m all ages.” — Madonna
Just as Madonna may use modern technology to ameliorate her image, I’ve begun using it to improve and refine my output.
I’m shifting some of my old ways when it comes to writing. A good injection of Artificial Intelligence into my writing practice is now a welcome enhancement. AI can’t produce my mind or writing voice, but it does provide me with greater productivity and outreach when it comes to research. I don’t cut and paste anything from my AI sources, but I do paraphrase and re-edit what I find. It helps so much in fleshing out details from long reports. And most importantly, AI allows me to have a copy editor that can check grammar, spelling, and accuracy of content.
My daughter, Lillian, suggested that I try Claude. I put in three prompts related to literature and I loved Claude’s response: informative, inspiring, and with an almost human voice. Mindful.
I texted Lillian back on Whatsapp to say thank you for introducing me to Claude:
Right now, I’m writing a piece about his Majesty King Mohammad VI’s Atlantic Initiative and the massive maritime port being built in Dakhla, a major city in southern Morocco. This region and issue will be my focus as an independent journalist in 2026. It’s a key factor in the future development of Africa.
The Policy Center for the New South (PCNS), a think tank based in Rabat, issued a report that is the basis for my story. PCNS has tremendous influence as an organization that analyzes the political and economic ties between Morocco and its southern neighbors.
Their report was rather short—only nine pages. I was about to go to the local printer and make a copy so I could PRINT it out and SIT DOWN and read it. That’s old school now. I’m trying to adapt to a new reality.
Instead, I loaded it onto my 56-inch Samsung TV/monitor and STOOD at attention with good posture and read that report so I would know what AI may have skimmed over. I guess I’m going digital.
This old dog is still capable of learning new tricks.
So I really admire Madonna for not letting age get in the way of new thinking and a beautiful and productive life.
“I’m all ages too.”
Love how this essay moves from Madonna's ageless photos to embracing Claude. The parallel is sharp: if we're willing to accept AI-enhanced images as part of staying young, why resist AI-enhanced writing practices? I've actually expereinced something similar when I started using tools to speed up research. It's not cheating, it's just expanding what one person can do in a day, same as how GPS doesn't make you less of a driver.
My mental image of "the world" is drastically changing. Now it seems that the Globe of the post war world with the regular power blocks and trade routes and national borders were how it was,how it should be,and how it will be forever more is being swiftly and drastically changed by no negotiation or concensus.