Blog 1: "Panic bells, it's red alert. There's something here from somewhere else." 

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​Hello, guys, gals, and non-binary pals! Welcome to the first official blog on this website. In this blog, I’ll be talking about Margaret Atwood’s second book in her MaddAddam Trilogy: The Year of the Flood. Now, I’m assuming anybody reading this blog has also read the book, so I’ll be diving right into my thoughts and analysis.
            First, I do not know for certain if Atwood’s intent was to frighten me with the possibility of an extremely bleak future, but if it was, she has succeeded. Particularly due to the fact we are living in the midst of a global pandemic. Now, I lie awake at night, terrified of the knowledge microorganisms destroying society isn’t as fictitious as we’d like to think. For the kids reading this years in the future (I think this website will still exist), I am relating Crake’s pandemic in Year of the Flood to the COVID-19 pandemic that emerged from Wuhan, China in late 2019.
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Manhasset, N.Y., April 19 - "Eliana Marcela Rendón was comforted by her husband, Edilson Valencia, as her grandmother, Carmen Evelia Toro, 74, lost her battle against Covid-19 at a hospital on Long Island."
 Victor J. Blue for The New York Times
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            Although both wrought destruction upon their worlds, Crake’s pandemic killed the majority of humans and collapsed society. Why is this? Well, I can point to a few reasons. In the book, society already appeared to be crumbling well before the pandemic. Corporations were basically the government, freedom was something to be bought, and the people had divided themselves into their own factions, such as God’s Gardeners, the Pleebrats, the Asian Fusions, etc. From reading the novel, one can infer the global ecosystem was also in shambles. Adam One often condemns humanity for wiping out other species and God’s Gardeners were founded on the principles of environmental conservation. Lastly, the pandemic in Year of the Flood is entirely of human invention.
            Atwood wrote up a man-made disease that brought more ruin upon humanity than any virus borne from nature. Is this a metaphor? I don’t know for certain, but it might as well be. Maybe the reason Atwood wrote such a foreboding novel was to point out not all hope is lost for us. We, as the human race, have the collective power to prevent these things before they happen. We have the means to impact climate change, some have already taken initiative using solar energy or going vegan and whatnot. Although the country appears to be divided, I’d like to think there is more that unites us than separates us. There are ways science can advance without becoming unethical.
            On the topic of science, another recurring subject in Year of the Flood is how much genetic technology has advanced. To me, it’s quite sad Crake believes that he can purge of all human evil and create the ultimate species with gene editing. There are some things not encoded in our DNA, but in our hearts, minds, and souls. Believing a single individual has the power to thwart human nature is folly. Crake's ability to toy with nature and play God is terrifying in fiction. Is it scarier to know such genetic technology actually exists in our present reality?
             I don’t know how much you’ve been reading up on recent science, but if you haven’t, let me introduce you to CRISPR! CRISPR, or Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeat technology, is a new tool for gene editing. Yes, you heard it right folks, we officially have the power to go into our own DNA and target specific genes we want to turn on, turn off, turn left, right, upside down- I think you get the gist. If you want the itty-bitty details, just click the link here to Harvard’s article on it.
            Many scientists plan to use CRISPR for good, curing hereditary diseases, providing better treatment for HIV/AIDS and cancer, and providing immunity to infections. Do I think this is amazing? Yes! Am I still terrified? Absolutely! Let me explain. So let’s say CRISPR becomes greater than modern medicine and cures a lot of disease, hereditary or other. That’s splendid, but when someone says, “I want my baby to be a boy, have green eyes, and blonde hair,” is that still alright? There’s technically no harm. If a scientist alters the genes responsible for aging and paves the path to possible immortality, do we take it? At what point does this process become unethical, and will humanity have the willpower to say “stop”? There’s a great video I’ll link here that explains CRISPR and ponders on more of these questions. That’s all I’ve got for today, guys, gals, and non-binary pals.
 
 Signing off until next time, Samantha Leal.

Blog 2: Who am I? 24601! Wait no-

Hello, and welcome to this week’s blog, in which I’ll be discussing Louise Erdrich’s Future Home of the Living God. This book was… pretty heavy, I’d say. May or may not have cried (do not read after watching “Dead Poets Society”). Although the book largely focuses on women’s reproductive rights, I am not going to be discussing that. This is mostly because I don’t think I am connected enough personally, though I do support a woman’s right to have or not have a child. I am not very interested in having a child or… making a child, anytime soon. I’m 19, it’s not really one of my top 5 priorities. Also, I’m on the ace spectrum, so there’s that.  What I am going to be discussing is fairly personal for me.
            Now, before I delve into this, let me Google the meaning of the word “apocalypse.” Hmm, well according to Google, an apocalypse is: 1. “The complete and final destruction of the world,” or 2. “An event involving destruction or damage on an awesome or catastrophic scale.” If you look a little further you’ll see the word originates from the Greek words ‘apo-‘, meaning ‘un-‘ and ‘kaluptein’, meaning ‘to cover’. The word ‘apocalypse’ literally means ‘uncover’. Remember this.
            Back to Erdrich, the part of the book I felt most connected with was when Cedar discovers her Native American heritage was not all it was made out to be. There was no ‘special powers’ or ‘spirit animals’. The Native part of her family lives, for the most part, like any other American family. Her birth name is more white (Mary Potts) than her adoptive name (Cedar Hawk Songmaker). She tells the audience this deeply upset her when she found, and I believe this small section is often overlooked. You see, I think Cedar had her own ‘mini-apocalypse’ when she found out being Native American wasn’t how she perceived it to be. When Cedar uncovers the truth, it messes with her cultural identity. That is why it upsets her so much.
            I had a similar experience growing up, but in a way, the opposite happened. From the age of 0-7, I grew up near San Jose, California. I was raised in a Filipino household surrounded by my Filipino family and the school I went to had more Asian students than any other color of students. I didn’t know any other culture than the one I grew up in, therefore I didn’t think I was different. I didn’t think I was part of a minority. When my mom and I moved to Ohio to live with my dad (technically stepdad but whatever), I had multiple ‘mini-apocalypses’. There was no constant warm weather, palm trees, or even the same food. I remember throwing a fit one day because I wanted boba tea and there was none around. On top of that, I had to enroll in a new school.
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​California
...to Ohio
This was the source of my largest ‘mini-apocalypse’. Most of the kids were white. I was very clearly not. I began to feel different. This didn’t really upset me until one day when I brought in my very Filipino lunch. I remember the other students looking at me funny, and saying “Why does that smell weird?” and “Does that even taste good?” I asked my mom to start packing me Lunchables after that.
            The difference between Cedar and I was that I did not know how big of a deal my cultural background was to others until I was no longer where it lived. I became sort of ashamed of it for a while, as I did not live up to other kids’ expectations of what it meant to be “Asian”. I was not the smartest at math, my eyes weren’t “squinty”, and I was not pale as porcelain. Of course, now I know all of those are really stupid stereotypes. It took a while for me to balance my Filipino identity with my American one. My ‘culture shock apocalypse’ led to me having a better grasp on my whole identity as a person, and my never-ending appreciation for Filipino things.
            Right now, I think pop culture has been having a ‘mini-apocalypse’ when it comes to Asian and minority representation in all forms of media. Crazy Rich Asians, released in 2018, was one of the first to have an all-Asian cast. What I loved about the movie was it revealed (or uncovered) the truth that ALL ASIAN CULTURES ARE UNIQUE. Chinese-American is different from Chinese is different from Japanese is different from Filipino.
            K-pop is rising to the top of music charts, scaring the American Pop Music Industry. Not only K-pop, but even Latinx music (case in point: “Despacito”). Because of music from other cultures, the Pop Music Industry is trying to tie-in effective musical tools from those cultures to make their music better. And this is not the first time they have done this. Sideways on YouTube dives into this in his analysis video, which you can watch here. I HIGHLY recommend watching.
            Anyways, I guess what I am trying to say is we have all had apocalypses, whether it be the loss of a friend or loved one, moving to a different place, or discovering who you love. I believe because of our ability to overcome our own apocalypses, humanity will overcome any apocalypse. Even the ones we seem to be going through right now. Signing off, Samantha Leal.
 

Blog 3: On the Nature of Daylight

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Hello readers! It is I, Samantha, here once more! This week I’ll be talking about Emily S. J. Mandel’s Station Eleven. In my opinion, it’s my favorite book out of the ones we’ve read so far. Of course, I am biased because I’m a music major, but whatever. I appreciate stories that put a focus on the arts because they remind us of their importance. This novel certainly does that and then some. And yes, I did cry while reading!
            If I had to give this book and its stories a theme it would be “On the Nature of Daylight” by Max Richter. I’ll link it here. From the beginning, the piece resounds a deep, droning sadness. Then it starts to build and build, until the first violin enters and it’s like the dam has broken. To me, the piece sounds like loss, but also emanates a sense of hope. Just like this novel. Though this book, we explore various characters who have lost something.
            Arthur loses his life, Tyler and Kirsten lose their innocence at a young age, Jeevan loses his brother. Basically, the entire world is in a perpetual state of grief. Then we get to read all of those characters deal with that loss. Kirsten becomes a hardened survivor and Tyler becomes the Prophet (which isn’t great). Miranda accepts her death and regrets nothing, opposed to Arthur, who at the time of his death, seems to regret everything.
            Yet through all of this strife, each character finds something they can latch onto. Kirsten and Miranda find comfort in “Station Eleven.” Clark finds his solace by collecting pieces of history. Arthur literally dies performing Shakespeare. The Symphony puts on shows. I don’t think it’s a coincidence most of these characters find sanctuary in the arts. The humanities and fine arts allow us as humans to reach our full emotional vulnerability and gain empathy. I believe empathy is the greatest power we hold as people. It unites us and gives us hope. To quote Mr. Keating, “Medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for.”
            Another prominent theme in the book is remembrance. The book switches from before the Georgia Flu and after, as if we were looking through the memories of these characters. Mandel granting us context leads to a greater sense of loss and even nostalgia. Those who play instruments in the Symphony don’t even call themselves by their name. They call themselves “the 6th guitar’ “the clarinet.” Kirsten and her friends get knife and arrow tattoos to remind themselves of the people they’ve killed. Clark collects relics of a past long gone. Tyler holds on to a page of “Station Eleven.”
            Frank’s brother Jeevan says being remembered makes you immortal. “First we only want to be seen, but once we’re seen, that’s not enough anymore. After that, we want to be remembered.” (Mandel 187). This reminded me (ha) of the movie Coco, where that premise is taken quite literally. In that Pixar film, if you are dead and have people who are alive who remember you, you will ‘live’ in The Land of the Dead for forever. However, if there are no longer people on earth who remember you, you will fade from The Land of the Dead and experience “The Final Death”.
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             Miguel, the protagonist, accidentally travels to the Land of the Dead and meets his dead great-great-grandfather Héctor, who is in danger of fading because his living daughter, Coco, has dementia and is forgetting him. Right when Héctor is about to fade, Miguel travels back to the land of the living and plays Coco a song, which triggers her memory of her father, saving his… life? Soul? Spirit? One of those. In any case, it is Miguel’s ability to play the guitar and sing that keeps the memory of Héctor alive. Music will always hold a special place in my heart, and both Station Eleven and Coco are great examples of why.
Anyways, the lesson is: the humanities and fine arts are needed for humanity to truly live. Until next time, Samantha.

​Blog 4: Leaves From the Vine

PictureKatara, "The Southern Raiders"
Hello again, fellow readers! You know the drill. This week, I’ll be talking about Omar El Akkad’s American War. This book separates itself from the others due to the nature of “apocalypse.” Rather than a virus being the primary reason for the downfall of life, it is a second American Civil War. It is the most real novel I have read this semester, simply because its concepts have been echoed in reality countless times. What struck me as a major theme was the cycle of vengeance perpetuated by war. Of course, because I grew up watching Nickelodeon, I immediately drew a connection to Avatar: The Last Airbender, in which this same cycle is a major theme among its characters.
            At first, I thought Sarat and Katara paralleled each other the most. Both were born during a war, Both suffered a tragic and traumatizing loss at a young age due to war, both of their fathers left to fight the war (except Sarat’s died), and both became important figures on the side they were fighting for. Both desired revenge; Katara against the Fire Nation for taking her mother, and Sarat against the Union, for taking… well, basically everyone she loved, and torturing her. However, after thinking about it more, Katara and Sarat differ from each other strongly in one way: Sarat followed through on her revenge against all of the union, while Katara did not kill her mother’s murderer and eventually reformed her opinion on the Fire Nation. Katara left the war, but Sarat did not.
            After ruminating on it some more, I realized there are 2 characters from Avatar that paralleled Sarat, even more than Katara. The first is a young man named Jet, and the second is an older woman, Hama. As a young boy, Jet lost his entire family to the Fire Nation at 8 years old. This loss drove him to form a group called the Freedom Fighters, whose main function was to destroy anything and anyone associated with the Fire Nation. Even civilians. In his main episode, nicely titled “Jet,” he tricks the Gaang (see what I did there) into helping him wipe out an entire Fire Nation town, but fortunately is stopped at the last minute. His hatred for the entire Fire Nation and a thirst for revenge on a large scale parallels Sarat’s desire for revenge against the Union for taking everyone she loved by releasing the Reunification Plague.
            The second character, Hama, was taken prisoner by the Fire Nation because she was the last known Southern waterbender. In prison, they tortured her, just as the Union guards had
done to Sarat (perhaps not as severely because Avatar is a kids show). Hama broke out by creating a horrifying new waterbending technique: Bloodbending. It’s exactly what you think it is. After escaping, she planted herself in a nice Fire Nation village, where she looked like nothing but a sweet old lady.  Well, that’s what the Gaang thought until they discovered she was using bloodbending to torture and kill Fire Nation villagers. Hama says, “They threw me in prison to rot. Along with my brothers and sisters. They deserve the same.” Her thirst for revenge against her torturers is paralleled by Sarat, who says “Do you think it was just one man who hurt me?... You line up the whole lot of them for me, Joe. Then I’ll have my revenge.”
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Jet, "Jet"
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Hama, "The Puppet Master"
 In both universes, war is the main aggressor, enabling characters who were once innocent victims, to become ruthless, dehumanizing tools of war. Both show the impact of the cycle of war: Loss turns into anger, anger into vengeance, and vengeance becomes loss. The war causes Sarat to lose her family and become tortured, which gives her a thirst to enact vengeance, and so she releases the Reunification Plague. Because of this, her nephew Benjamin loses his family to the plague, and later realizes Sarat is the cause after reading her diaries. Knowing he can’t hurt her due to her being dead, he does the next best thing to get his revenge and burns her diaries, destroying her memory.
            The cycle of war in Avatar is outlined much better in this video. It is important to remember the messages these types of stories give us. We need to remember that although people are capable of doing terrible things, we cannot let their actions drive us to do the same to others. People like to say the opposite of love is hate. I believe the opposite of love is apathy.     In times of war, such emotions can be seen as trivial or distracting. But it is more dangerous to not feel, and allow yourself to be reformed into a being so apathetic, you barely flinch when a life is taken. Note to self: if you want to live after the war, you must be truly alive during it.

​Blog 5: Filmed Before a Live Studio Audience

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Hello readers! Sam again. This week I’ll be talking about Zone One by Colson Whitefield, and surprisingly, WandaVision (which if you haven’t seen it already, I highly recommend). Although I know Zone One is actually a disguised commentary on social and economic issues such as racism and capitalism, I couldn’t help but read some dialogue near the end of the book that reminded me of the Marvel miniseries. On page 261, it reads:

            “It will be nice to watch TV again,” Kaitlyn said.
            “Certainly,” the Lieutenant said. “There’s some idiot in Bubbling Brooks right now thinking up a plague sitcom… Filmed in front                              of a live studio audience. Half-filmed.”

           If you haven’t seen WandaVision yet, then DO NOT continue reading. I’m going to be talking about major spoilers. Many of the characters in Zone One, including Mark Spitz, express the idea that somehow, life will soon return to the way it was. Mark thinks at the beginning of the novel, when entering a law firm, “Maybe I’ll come back and ask for a job when all of this is over.” Kaitlyn, while walking past a shop in the city, says “I used to have all that stuff, I had everything.” Although it is hopeful to have these thoughts during the literal zombie apocalypse, returning to a life that was past is easier said than done. Unless, of course, you’re the Scarlet Witch.
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            In nearly every way possible, Wanda Maximoff has lost everything. She lost her parents at a young age and lost the opportunity to live a normal life untainted by war. After gaining magic powers, she literally lost her home country and her brother in one day. Then, after being on the run from the U.N. for two years, she had to kill her robot boyfriend, Vision, who was subsequently resurrected and murdered in front of her by an evil purple grape. After being dead for five years, she returned only to see Vision being taken apart and experimented on by the government. Agnes was right about Wanda needing therapy.
            After all of that, she finally lost it and created her own bubble of reality where Vision was her husband, she had kids, and oh, she was living a sitcom. I couldn’t be making this up if I tried. The main point is Wanda was so full of grief and trauma and a desire to live in the past, that she created her own reality as an escape. Both Wanda and Mark Spitz (and the rest) want to believe their actual present will not be their reality. It’s funny, because in both WandaVision and Zone One, the main characters eventually accept their present reality: Wanda has to destroy Westview and let go of her family, and Mark is left battling in a sea of stragglers.
            Basically, just remember what Dumbledore said: “It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live.”
 
Bonus End Credits Song!


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Blog 6: Where I Fall

PictureAll of the Doctor's 14 regenerations, the most recent being the first female.
​Well, this is it folks. We’ve reached the end of the line, and it’s time for me to write one last post. I’ll be discussing themes in Tom Sweterlitsch’s The Gone World, a novel about… how do I explain this? A time-traveling, crime-solving federal agent named Shannon Moss tries to prevent the catastrophic end of humanity from occurring in an event called the Terminus by creating alternate timelines. Also, there are tiny nanoparticles that spread like disease and kill people by crucifying them. Upside down. This book was pretty hardcore with the gore.
            Now, you must be thinking what I’m thinking. Time travel? Solving mysteries? Saving humanity and the known universe? A main character who has a plot device which allows them to live multiple lifetimes (and probably has PTSD)?  Isn’t this Doctor Who? There was absolutely no way I was going to read a book about time travel and not think about the “Madman with a Box”.
            If you somehow don’t know what Doctor Who is, it’s an ongoing British TV show started in the 1960s about an alien called ‘The Doctor’ with a time-travelling blue police box called the T.A.R.D.I.S. The Doctor gallivants through time and space along with various they picks up along the way and has to save the Earth (more specifically England) from aliens at least twice a season. The Doctor, being an alien, can also be ‘regenerated’ in near-death situations. What this means is The Doctor literally gets a new body and personality with every regeneration, although their core values, memories, and principles remain the same. Last time I checked, we are on the 13th Doctor (technically 14th regeneration).
            Like Shannon, The Doctor has immense guilt and trauma over their repeated losses and pain. Shannon’s main guilt motivator is the death of her best friend, Courtney. This what drives her to form new IFTs in the first place so she can save Marian Mursult and stop the Terminus from arriving. “LIFE IS GREATER THAN TIME,” she expresses when trying to convince herself Marian is alive and Shannon will save her.
            The Doctor, to end a vicious and long-suffering war between his people, Gallifreyans, and an enemy known as the Daleks, committed double genocide and destroyed his planet. Well, technically they didn’t and Gallifrey’s actually fine, but it’s… “wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey.” The main point is this drives The Doctor to protect the human race at any cost and to be the No.1 Anti-Genocide being in the universe. “Look up ‘genocide’. You’ll see a little picture of me there and the caption will read ‘over my dead body!’”, says the 10th Doctor.
            The theme which ties the two characters together is the concept of rebirth; Shannon in time, and the Doctor in a literal manner. They keep coming back to life in a sense, but why? Shannon had the option to give up her search for Marian and accept the oncoming end of humanity. The Doctor actually has to let themselves regenerate to be reborn, it is possible for an alien of their species to choose death. Yet, both characters don’t submit to these paths even though they inevitably bring more anguish and trauma. These characters, more than anything, embody perseverance powered by hope, powered by grief, powered by love. No matter how futile. If there is one thing I know about our species, it is that we are stubborn. Hope will always exist, and with it exists perseverance. And with perseverance, we shall overcome anything.