A Passionate Defense of the Em Dash; the Trump Administration Launches a New ‘Health Tracking System’–Coachella Valley Independent’s Indy Digest: July 31, 2025

Indy Digest: July 31, 2025

Today, rather than talking about federal cuts or ICE raids or Jeffrey Epstein or any of that depressing crap, I want to talk about recent news involving a piece of punctuation—the em dash.

I love using the em dash. It’s true—anyone who reads my writing closely knows it.

However, this is 2025—and apparently we can’t have nice things like the em dash anymore.

The Washington Post recently reported:

In recent months, commenters on social media have zeroed in on the humble punctuation mark—or its overuse—as a sign that writing is produced by generative AI tools like OpenAI’s ChatGPT instead of a human. Bad essays are said to have “a GPT amount of em dashes.”

“LuxeGen,” a fashion podcast aimed at Gen Z listeners, called the em dash a “ChatGPT hyphen” while criticizing a brand’s advertising. “Public service announcement: Take out the hyphen,” a host said.

To LuxeGen, I have this to say: Go — yourself. I most certainly do not use Chat GPT or other generative AI tools in my writing—and it’s chock full of em dashes!

The good news is that since these claims about the amazing, versatile, oh-so-helpful em dash started emerging, a number of very smart people and … uh, technologies have jumped to its defense.

One of the defenders is … Chat GPT itself! Rolling Stone recently reported:

ChatGPT itself, which if nothing else should know about the history of its own training, will inform you that em dashes “by themselves are not a reliable sign that a text was AI-generated,” and that the popular misconception to the contrary may be a vestige of earlier, less sophisticated models.

“Some early AI-generated content (especially before 2023) used em dashes more frequently than the average human writer,” the bot says. “It was part of mimicking formal or stylized writing.” Now that ChatGPT and similar tools can fine-tune their cadence and tone based on descriptive prompts, it adds, punctuation will vary based on the writing style requested. 

Back to that forementioned Washington Post piece:

Longer than a hyphen, and named because it is roughly as wide as the letter M, the em dash has long been cherished by writers as a way to pause a sentence or connect ideas with a bit of flair.

“It’s aesthetically elegant,” said J.T. Bushnell, a senior instructor at Oregon State University’s School of Writing, Literature and Film. “It’s a piece of punctuation that’s not out of place in formal context, but it also captures something about natural inflections of speech in a way that other punctuation doesn’t.”

So we have ChatGPT and writing instructors speaking out in defense of the em dash—good!

And now, thanks to McSweeney’s (which is a humor magazine, I feel the need to point out, because the world is so absurd these days that satire is VERY HARD TO DO, dammit), we know what the em dash itself thinks of these AI accusations.

I would like to address the recent slander circulating on social media, in editorial Slack channels, and in the margins of otherwise decent Substack newsletters. Specifically, the baseless, libelous accusation that my usage is a telltale sign of artificial intelligence.

Listen here, my good bitch.

Writers have been using me long before the advent of AI. I am the punctuation equivalent of a cardigan—beloved by MFA grads, used by editors when it’s actually cold, and worn year-round by screenwriters. I am not new here. I am not novel. I’m the cigarette you keep saying you’ll quit.

Long live the em dash—my favorite piece of punctuation!

—Jimmy Boegle

More News

• Donald Trump was impeached twice. No matter what anyone thinks of those impeachments, they happened—but the Smithsonian, at least temporarily, is presenting a version of history in which they didn’t. The Washington Post reports: “The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History in July removed references to President Donald Trump’s two impeachments from an exhibit display. A person familiar with the exhibit plans, who was not authorized to discuss them publicly, said the change came about as part of a content review that the Smithsonian agreed to undertake following pressure from the White House to remove an art museum director. After this story published, the Smithsonian said in a statement that ‘a future and updated exhibit will include all impeachments.’ A temporary label including content about Trump’s impeachments had been on display since September 2021 at the Washington museum, a Smithsonian spokesperson told The Washington Post, adding that it was intended to be a short-term addition to address current events. Now, the exhibit notes that ‘only three presidents have seriously faced removal.’ In addition to describing Trump’s two impeachments, the temporary label—which read ‘Case under redesign (history happens)’—also offered information about the impeachments of presidents Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton, as well as Richard M. Nixon, who would have faced impeachment had he not resigned.”

• In Monday’s Indy Digest, we discussed how Fox News and other right-wing media distort how Trump is viewed by covering some things, and not others. Media Matters for America offers a prime example: “Since Monday, Fox News has spent an hour and 25 minutes covering an American Eagle commercial in which Sydney Sweeney talks about her ‘good jeans,’ devoting over 20 segments to the story. In comparison, Fox has devoted just 3 minutes of coverage to developments in the administration’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein saga. Fox’s focus on Sweeney over Epstein is a notable departure from the stories that other cable news networks have found to be newsworthy this week, after President Donald Trump said that the sex offender ‘stole’ Virginia Giuffre, one of Epstein’s accusers, from his Mar-a-Lago spa. The president also reiterated this week that he is ‘allowed’ to pardon Epstein co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell, who is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence for child sex trafficking. … While Newsmax has also covered the Sweeney ad, it has mentioned Epstein over 4 times as much as it has mentioned Sweeney (180 mentions to 42 mentions). Fox News, on the other hand, has mentioned Sweeney over 4 times more than it’s mentioned Epstein (62 mentions to 14 mentions). CNN has mentioned Epstein over 100 times more than Sweeney (638 to 6), and MSNBC hasn’t mentioned Sweeney at all, while mentioning Epstein 756 times.” (In case you’re wondering what the Sydney Sweeney hubbub is about, here’s an explainer from The Associated Press.)

• The Associated Press reports on a new “health tracking system” being launched by the Trump administration: “The Trump administration announced it is launching a new program that will allow Americans to share personal health data and medical records across health systems and apps run by private tech companies, promising that will make it easier to access health records and monitor wellness. More than 60 companies, including major tech companies like Google, Amazon and Apple as well as health care giants like UnitedHealth Group and CVS Health, have agreed to share patient data in the system. The initiative will focus on diabetes and weight management, conversational artificial intelligence that helps patients, and digital tools such as QR codes and apps that register patients for check-ins or track medications. … The system, spearheaded by an administration that has already freely shared highly personal data about Americans in ways that have tested legal bounds, could put patients’ desires for more convenience at their doctor’s office on a collision course with their expectations that their medical information be kept private.”

• California’s state and national parks are seeing record numbers of visitors—and receiving less funding. The Los Angeles Times says: “Stats from the state and feds show how the drive to be outside has only grown (since the COVID-19 shutdowns), even as the virus has receded and indoor spaces have become welcoming again. That trend has been demonstrated again, as the number of camping reservations for this summer at California state parks jumped 36% over the already elevated figures for June, July and August of 2024. Some parks have seen even bigger increases for that period, led by Henry W. Coe State Park near Silicon Valley-adjacent Morgan Hill, where nearly twice as many camp spots have been reserved; Half Moon Bay State Beach, up 75%, MacKerricher State Park in Mendocino County, up 71%, Bolsa Chica State Beach in Orange County, up 69%. The state’s marquee outdoor space, Yosemite National Park, has experienced a similar boom, with attendance spiraling up 56% in four years, to more than 4.1 million in 2024. That’s all fine and good, but the extra car and foot traffic is not easy to manage. And the government agencies that oversee those spaces will be straining to both welcome the influx and protect those beloved havens, with less help than they had before.”

• Today’s recall news involves … toy kitchens! Yikes! ABC News reports: “Approximately 192,000 model play kitchen sets for children are being voluntarily recalled following one reported death. Backyard Kids, LLC and the Consumer Product Safety Commission announced the recall Thursday, saying the KidKraft Farm to Table Model Play Kitchen sets, manufactured by KidKraft, Inc., could pose a risk of strangulation and asphyxia if a child climbs on the toy set counter or crawls through the play set’s opening in the back. … According to Backyard Kids’ recall announcement, children’s clothing can get caught on the recalled play set’s hooks, which are used to hold toy kitchen accessories ‘such as play pots and pans,’ and there is a risk of serious injury or death.”

• And finally … I’m allergic to penicillin. Or at least I thought I was. After reading this piece in The Conversation, written by a pharmacy professor, I’m going to have a talk with my doctor: “About 10% to 20% of Americans report that they have a penicillin allergy, yet fewer than 1% actually do. … I know from my research that incorrectly being labeled as allergic to penicillin can prevent you from getting the most appropriate, safest treatment for an infection. It can also put you at an increased risk of antimicrobial resistance, which is when an antibiotic no longer works against bacteria. The good news? It’s gotten a lot easier in recent years to pin down the truth of the matter. More and more clinicians now recognize that many penicillin allergy labels are incorrect – and there are safe, simple ways to find out your actual allergy status.”

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