What Will The Students of Tomorrow Learn?

I'm going to take a wild guess and say robotics. At least, I think it will happen here in America. My reasoning  is based on an event I recently went to at Gull Lake High School in Richland, Michigan. They were hosting the 2013 FIRST robotics competition in Michigan. I chanced upon the event when I was checking out the local High School flier for the Gull Lake area. FIRST was the cover story and a highlighted upcoming event, and the article promised something akin to the television series Robot Wars I used to love watching as a kid.

Students from all over my state came to the competition with their robots in tow to put the robots they built to the test. These kids spent several months building and testing robots they made, with the help of mentors who are professional engineers and scientists by trade. Each group was excited and living up to FIRST's name which translates to, "For the Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology." Groups had mascots (who danced to pop music in between competitive rounds,) buttons, posters, and stations where you could talk to them. These kids were enthusiastic and ready to do their best in the ring.

Morgan Freeman had it right, "It's the Super Bowl...of smarts!" While not as violent as I may have anticipated it being from my earlier exposure to Robot Wars in early thousands, these competitions were still quite the spectacle sometimes exciting and sometimes downright funny. I had a blast as a spectator, but as a writer and fantastical thinker I couldn't help but wonder whether these teams of high school kids would become more common place as time went on. It seemed possible to me that, The Flying Toasters from South Lyon, MI (who were by far my favorite team) might actually become a supported sports/ mathlete team of the future. I also wondered if it wouldn't become part of regular curriculum over time.

I would venture they will. I hope that programs like this will continue to flourish throughout the U.S. and take kids towards careers that are not only practical, but that will become the superstars of the future. I'll be curious to see how events like these will be incorporated into the books and stories as well. Until then happy writings, and oh, yeah....

GO TOASTERS!!!!

I Found My Groove!

Another Year Another Page by Judyta Murawska

Apparently yesterday's creative reboot was exactly what I needed for my writing. I can hear a thrumming buzz in my ears as new thoughts whiz by for several short stories that take place in a future China. I'd say it's a dystopic collection, but the thing is I think dystopia's are happening all the time. We just don't tend to notice the dark things going on around us in America. Western thinking has made us believe that we are beyond the reaches of losing our civilized nature as a collective. Losing our humanity seems laughable when there's a Walmart, drugstore, hospital, religious house, bank, and Salvation Army down the street. Thing is, take away electricity or introduce something like a plague onto the cities of today and I don't think it would take that long for things to slide out of balance. Societies are meant to eventually fall whether by disaster, war, or internal collapse. No government can last forever.

My government rants aside, the entire time on my two hour car ride home today I was happily thinking of new ideas for short stories. I wasn't trying to weave the characters together so it worked well. If it becomes more later, awesome! If not, I won't be crying about it. Most importantly the stories I'm thinking of make me want to draw. When I feel compelled to create and visualize a character and universe it is extraordinarily refreshing. I feel a bit of my old self reviving. The girl who wanted to take on the world and prove she had something great in her jumps out of the closet like she's been locked in there for a year or two. Though I feel more of an amateur now than before, it's kind of refreshing to know exactly where I stand. That and it makes me feel comfortable enough to start searching for my own writing voice. To craft it beyond the obvious and delve a little more into the details.

Richland, a town nearby, has a writing group and I need to start attending. It meets twice a month and with any luck one of the writers will have been published. I need to meet some people who know the ropes of publishing and acquaint myself with them in person, not just read their articles on my phone and laptop.

I'm excited about what 2013 has pushed me to do this year and with any luck I'll find just enough success to keep me moving forward. That and with all this creative energy flowing around, who knows, I may post some personal art here in the near future.

Until then, Happy Writings!

When Does Fiction Become Reality?

I follow Media Bistro's RSS feed, Galley Cat. They recently released a list of TED Talks that were made by writers. John Green talked about learning communities and his experience with them online. However, the most interesting aspect of his speech was the idea for something immaterial to become material. His example was Agloe, New York. Agloe was a town that only existed on a map as a matter of copyright. However, because the town was printed on so many maps people started to visit the area. Eventually a general store was set up and the town became real.

The idea that what we write or draw may become real someday is not foreign. We have been seeing science fiction become part of our everyday life for years with things like holograms, small computers, better space technology, and medicine. 

I can imagine in a few years a couple fantasy creatures coming to life with the use of biotechnology. The movie Splice really pushed the boundaries of what biotechnology could create, even if it did have a dark twist. We already have glowing cats and rabbits that have been created in labs by taking the genes from luminescent jelly fish. Spider silk is being harvested from the milk of goats who've had spider DNA injected into their code. I imagine eventually you will be able to pick up your very own norwegian ridgeback dragon in the store. Of course it would have a better temperament than the one of J.K. Rowling's imagination and come in toy size, like poodles.

What we create in fiction in any way has the possibility of coming to life. Especially if we find people who have an interest in that fiction. Agloe, New York became a real place because there was business driving through trying to find the town. It made sense to set up shop at the crossroads. There would be a market for dragons I'm sure. Though not ones that could breathe fire! Think of all of the lawsuits that would bring.

I will be curious to see what future minds will imagine for their science fiction stories, and what pieces of fiction will make their way into reality.