I write science fiction, but I don’t always like living in the future.
Consider the fact that a century ago, many of the innovations we find commonplace were the stuff of dreams.
I do love advances in things like clean air and water, energy, infant mortality, waterproof shoes, effective moisturizers, trash collection, the postal service, public libraries and so much more.
The sci-fi-level post-apocalyptic wildfire situation currently playing out in Southern California? That, I could do without.
I’m not a Californian but I am an American, a North American, and a human being. Extreme weather events also aren’t uncommon anymore. That, plus the fact that one of the fires surrounding Los Angeles is less than two kilometers from the hotel we stayed in for the Writers of the Future workshop helps make these events even more concrete.
I feel for the people in the fire’s path today, and for the risks we all face tomorrow.
It’s also easy to imagine bad outcomes when we see them in the news. It can be harder to remember the good already incorporated into our lives, and what could be waiting for us up ahead.
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The other night, Mr Man and I realized that we’d never seen Bullitt, Steve McQueen’s 1968 classic movie. It was a well-told story but also a trip down memory lane. I spent a good part of the show saying things like “Oh right, you could smoke most everywhere back then” and “Hang on, that’s how they used to track your pulse?” or “Looks like seatbelts were optional” and “So much of this plot revolves around the fact that you had to stop to find a phone” and “Lord, that is a lot of smoke coming out the back of those giant gas guzzlers.”
The movie’s world was certainly recognizable, but in the way your grade school classroom might be, years later.
Things change, much as it doesn’t always feel like it.
Let’s try to make it change for the better.
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J.R. Johnson 
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