If You Survived Summer Camp, You Can Survive the Apocalypse
One cannot read Jess Row's article "What Fiction Can Teach Us About Surviving the Slow Apocalypse" without pausing to think.
Row delves into the post-apocalyptic questions that circle the most trying of times...those times when even the most skeptical must surely begin to think of freeze-dried food.
In his article, Row considers the social construct of "summer camp" as a comparable life-changing experience in which people are removed from the known to be placed into the unknown. Like a disaster that displaces people, the summer camp takes a group of newcomers and puts them into a new "space" in which they must navigate to "survive". This navigation involves learning new rules, skills, and determining who to trust and with whom to align.
As a writer of cli-fi (climate fiction), I was most taken with Row's note of "the dreamer" and "the wisher" as characters in such a setting. When I wrote "The Precious Quest", I placed the novel's timeline in a period 20 years after the beginning of the end. As such, I did not think about dreamers and wishers still existing, only doers. But, perhaps; a dreamer or wisher character could be enabled by doers and survive the harsh climate apocalypse.
Surely, we saw these characters during Covid, which was a shorter three year societal change. Those dreaming of a past of free movement and mall access, and those wishing and waiting for an end to the pandemic restrictions represented basically all of us.
Who else was there?
Yet, there were "doers", people willing to carve out new ways to socialize by shaving the edges off of social restrictions. These people formed new groups or strengthened and learned how to be part of their original group in news ways. For example: Here in Grey Bruce, a farming community in Ontario, neighbours who worked in solitude on farms along one concession joined together for short visits, calling themselves the 10th of Bruce Committee. The committee's job was to share a beer, share their experiences, and combat the loneliness of rural living. Meanwhile, those families stuck in apartments in cities where movement and gathering was more noticeable, and more likely to be condemned by neighbours, had to relearn or discover the social possibilities within their small family unit. This often enriched their interactions through board games, discussions, art, puzzles, and other shared experiences. That's not to say these groups did not hope for a return to the way things were pre-Covid, but I feel those who adapted by enriching new or established social support were more likely to say, "it will never go back to pre-Covid for we are changed" rather than wish for a return to "normal".
As much as a "slow apocalypse" may frighten us, I feel these false starts and short crises can also provide hope for an unknown future as we prove to ourselves that humanity can adapt. Which, is what we continue to show ourselves through film and fiction.
Be heartened by Row's article, when the beginning of the end is finally here, if you could survive summer camp, you have the skills you need to survive the apocalypse.
The Precious Quest: An Epic Journey of Love, Identity and Power
Row delves into the post-apocalyptic questions that circle the most trying of times...those times when even the most skeptical must surely begin to think of freeze-dried food.
In his article, Row considers the social construct of "summer camp" as a comparable life-changing experience in which people are removed from the known to be placed into the unknown. Like a disaster that displaces people, the summer camp takes a group of newcomers and puts them into a new "space" in which they must navigate to "survive". This navigation involves learning new rules, skills, and determining who to trust and with whom to align.
As a writer of cli-fi (climate fiction), I was most taken with Row's note of "the dreamer" and "the wisher" as characters in such a setting. When I wrote "The Precious Quest", I placed the novel's timeline in a period 20 years after the beginning of the end. As such, I did not think about dreamers and wishers still existing, only doers. But, perhaps; a dreamer or wisher character could be enabled by doers and survive the harsh climate apocalypse. Surely, we saw these characters during Covid, which was a shorter three year societal change. Those dreaming of a past of free movement and mall access, and those wishing and waiting for an end to the pandemic restrictions represented basically all of us.
Who else was there?
Yet, there were "doers", people willing to carve out new ways to socialize by shaving the edges off of social restrictions. These people formed new groups or strengthened and learned how to be part of their original group in news ways. For example: Here in Grey Bruce, a farming community in Ontario, neighbours who worked in solitude on farms along one concession joined together for short visits, calling themselves the 10th of Bruce Committee. The committee's job was to share a beer, share their experiences, and combat the loneliness of rural living. Meanwhile, those families stuck in apartments in cities where movement and gathering was more noticeable, and more likely to be condemned by neighbours, had to relearn or discover the social possibilities within their small family unit. This often enriched their interactions through board games, discussions, art, puzzles, and other shared experiences. That's not to say these groups did not hope for a return to the way things were pre-Covid, but I feel those who adapted by enriching new or established social support were more likely to say, "it will never go back to pre-Covid for we are changed" rather than wish for a return to "normal".
As much as a "slow apocalypse" may frighten us, I feel these false starts and short crises can also provide hope for an unknown future as we prove to ourselves that humanity can adapt. Which, is what we continue to show ourselves through film and fiction.
Be heartened by Row's article, when the beginning of the end is finally here, if you could survive summer camp, you have the skills you need to survive the apocalypse.
The Precious Quest: An Epic Journey of Love, Identity and Power
I haven't read a lot of epic fantasies, but I loved this. Laywren is a complicated main character, one of the toughest female warrior characters I have ever read about. The world she inhabits is ours – but not really. It might be an alternate universe, or a post-apocalyptic earth. Doesn’t matter. The setting is as interesting as the characters. The story reaches a natural conclusion, but it’s clear it’s not the end. I’m looking forward to reading the next installment.Award-Winning Author Gloria Ferris
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