Thread by @cprwords

Getting this out now before I forget or get too busy later. This was an 8 am class. Respect to the students who got up early to discuss #solarpunk before coffee really kicked in. We started with an attempt at an ice breaker:

"Tell a believable fiction about yourself." The rest of the class would try to guess who said what. Would have been fun, except the students didn't know each other's names, even in a class of ten people. So spent the first couple of minutes introducing themselves to each other.

The point of the icebreaker, besides a little fun, was to explain that we all live with stories. Stories we tell about ourselves and others. By necessity, most of them our fictions. Some fictions are harmful, some are helpful, some are benign. But exist in a multitude.

Started convo with popular #solarpunk images. None of the students had heard of SP, But came away with the same conclusions: Some of these were cool, but the images didn't really match the stories. Also missing people. 1 side of SP meant to inspire, but missing key ideas.

Moved into #Solarpunk definitions, starting with video of @MichaelJDeLuca followed by my own. Discussed the idea of "Punk" how that meaning changes with the genre and movement. What is the "Punk" in #solarpunk?

I said anti-exploitation rather than anti-capitalist. I have found that many don't really understan capitalism & socialism beyond talking points, & the ideas behind the words have changed drastically over the years in actual function. This was not a fight over their definitions.

Then summarized some commonalities you might find in #Solarpunk fiction characters. I'll explain the use of the phrase "reconstructionist" in a separate thread, because it is meaningful to me and generally used outside of a solarpunk context.

Then how #Solarpunk relates to other genres, in particular as it is a constructive reaction to dystopian mindsets. Then a brief tour of some of the better known anthologies and their different goals and perspectives.

Then the relationships most of these stories have to climate disaster events and the political/economic backdrop of #Solarpunk stories.

After the summary of story setting, character, and milieu, we discussed the assigned reading A Non-Euclidean View of
California as a Cold Place to Be by Ursula K Le Guin

This was a tough read for many of them. The spiraling organization and references were a challenge for most of them. But were able to have a conversation around specific points of confusion and inspiration.

I chose this essay because it asks many of the questions that #Solarpunk is trying to answer, and she asks them well before there was such a thing as the genre. Some got it, some didn't. Think I got at least one new Le Guin fan.

Final part was creative. We ran out of time (tech difficulties & waiting for late students). Each student received the first page of a #solarpunk story & worked to continue the story anyway way they wanted before passing it on to the next student to continue

Before the seminar, I'd assigned a story from Cities of Lights. As I was talking to a group of engineers, I found this book the most useful. It includes both fiction and essays geared towards gaming out and dramatizing specific sustainable technologies. The book is free!

And that was the class. Discussed many things that weren't on the slides. Also, if anybody wants the actual Powerpoint, let me know, we'll figure it out. Probably put it on my website for others to download.

Oh, and thank you @Ahzimandias for the opportunity. There was a lot to cover. Wouldn't mind doing this again.