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Last night, I tried to write a post but came up blank on what I wanted to say. So, I decided to follow my usual routine of doing my homework in the earlier hours of the morning. Bad idea. Parable of the Sower haunted my dreams, and how could it not? That book was probably the most frightening book I have ever read, and not just for its gruesome detail but also for the future it presents us.

Though I would like to concentrate on the ideas Octavia Butler brought to the table, I find it hard to focus on the themes when I have the content pushing itself into my mind. We have spent the first quarter of the semester readily talking about cultural and biological evolution, and embracing, essentially, “The only lasting truth is change…”. But I don’t want to change any more. I know Parable of the Sower is fiction, but, as Prof Grobstein pointed out, how far from our truth is it really? Not enough for comfort. I don’t want to live in a world characterized by poverty, rape, guns, drugs, and death. But don’t we already? Are we just in our own Olivar waiting for the outside to come break our gate?

Which reminds me, when my mother and I drove up and saw Bryn Mawr for the first time on move-in day, the first thing she said is “Where’s the gate? Is the campus just open like this?” Hmmm. I wonder if she noticed this because we have always lived in a gated community or because she really thought a school in a place like Bryn Mawr could need a gate.

So, as for our future, I don’t want to think about it anymore. I’m just going to keep on telling myself the only changes we have coming are the iPhone 5, flying cars, and maybe 2012. I’d take that apocalypse to gradual doom any day.