So, my last piece was pretty dark, so here's two much lighter pieces:
International Futurology Conference, 2011:
"Our mission is to seek out new horizon. Explore new fields. Search for new ideas to benefit all humanity. We are neither capitalist nor communist. All who seek to help the human race advance further than it ever could are welcomed into our organization."
- Excerpt from Futurist International Manifesto, 2011
The International Futurology Conference, 2011 was the conference that established the organization Futurist International. It was organized by the world's three largest futurist organizations: The Franco-British Party for the Advancement of Mankind, the American Futurist Society, and the Futurist Society (Japan), and was held between March 1st- March 6th, 2011, primarily at the Metropolis Convention Center. Scientists, science fiction writers, futurists, and general enthusiasts of those topic were invited to help establish the organization. The manifesto proclaiming the organization's goals was drawn up, and the proper leading committee (made up of members of the major organizations) was established. They also established the fields and the potential areas of study including robotics, interstellar travel, transhumanism, and AI Computer Cybersyn systems that FI will put in its platform as major fields for funding, with funding levels worked out for each field of study. Economics was largely left out, due to the varying ideologies of the participants. The FI would fund both political paries (FI Japan and American Futurist) and non-profit foundations (FBPAM), in their attempt to bring the future a little
The conference was criticized by those on the extremes of the spectrum. Far-Rightists saw it as a primarily socialist motivated future, while far-Leftists criticized the inclusion of apolitical or capitalist thinkers.
----------------------
A Grape in the Sun
A Grape in the Sun is a play written by Tennessee Williams, first performed in 1948.
The plot is set in a small Mississippi town during the First Cultural Revolution. The Wigfields, once a prominent plantation owning family in the area, have been reduced to a mother Janice and her two children, Thaddeus and Laura. Laura and Janice struggle to deal with the collectivization and the continued social upheaval around them, with their plantation now seized from them. Laura in particular, struggles with mental illness, for which she is treated for by African doctor, Cassius Lincoln, and they now live at a collective home near the facility. Thaddeus, after spending time trying his hand as a poet up North, returns to his hometown to help with his sister's treatment. His now open homosexuality causes friction with his traditional, conservative mother, and both deal with Laura's treatment. The play explores the family's journey through the New South, as class, race, and wealth are being deconstructed, but many still struggle with the old prejudices and attitudes in the wake of this new age.
