For my story, I’m looking at a not so distant future. The format will be a text written story, with the potential of having some photos in sections to help the story along as well. This story I essentially picture as several different peaks into this one family, the Clarke family, has to deal with in a day to day scenario. It will look at moments for the members of the family, and collectively become the story. Below I have flushed out two ideas I’m thinking about including right now:

Today, there’s a great deal of political shifting and changes in our country, and I think that will cause some of the most change in our world. One of the things I plan on discussing which is a big problem we’re already seeing is women’s healthcare. As we recently saw with the women’s march, this is a big conflict, and changes could affect many of our population. Through my research, I’ve found sources that suggest that while overturning Roe v. Wade could be possible but not probable, many women could lose access to birth control methods with the repeal of Obamacare. In my story, I envision a character’s friend being unable to afford birth control, which she used for health reasons. Now, she has to deal with missing days of school at a time because she is unable to get out of bed due to the pain and nausea the birth control pills once helped keep at bay.

Another piece I’m looking at is another character from the same family dealing with and thinking about the weakening ozone layer. Unfortunately with the creation of more pipelines, use of fossil fuels and overall lack of helping the environment, the ozone layer has continued to weaken. Due to this, many families encourage their children to stay inside more, for fear of UV damage and skin cancer. In one scene, I see Henry, one of the main characters sitting inside, watching an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. This episode entitled “When the Bough Breaks” is about a planet that has cloaked itself for years, and reveals itself to the Enterprise crew, asking for the children on board, for they are no longer able to reproduce, and the culture is dying. In the end of the episode, the crew discovers it’s radiation poisoning that’s causing the infertility among other problems, and reference this happening to Earth in the 21st Century as well. Henry is baffled and then enraged by this, realizing how much we were warned and how it’s still coming to be. He deals with the feeling of helplessness, anger towards past generations, and resentment for what it’s taken from him already – the ability to enjoy the outdoors without fear.

The two examples above are just a couple of the instances I plan on touching on in this story. To complete this story, I will need to do further research into other issues that are not only feared now, but could very well become a possibility in a not so distant future. I also want to speak to people of a variety of ages in my life to see what things they think about and worry about, and potentially incorporate elements of this into the story. I want each family member (It’s a family of 5) to experience a different aspect of the transitional world in their day to day life, and to record that in this story.

Featured Image Credit: Ask Ziggy About Family Trouble. N.d. N.p.