Returnal
It’s March again, and with the drizzling grey comes the thirty-fifth anniversary of the return of our vessel, the Pursuant. I’ve grown old in the years since, and as I gaze out my window at a world caught between the death of winter and the renewal of spring, it feels important to write down some […]
A Lot Full of Weeds
Sometimes, especially days the air was easy to breathe, I liked to walk all the way down to Golden Gate Park, wander through the trees, maybe get a taco, watch the waves at Ocean Beach, or the roller skaters down by Fulton. Maybe just sit on the playground swings and listen to the birds and […]
Microclimates of the Rich and Famous
On today’s episode, the breathtaking Salish-Pacifica estate of Darien Walton-Musk, biogeneering pioneer and microretail magnate. We’ll speak with Walton-Musk and his architect/companion AI, Pacifica, later in the program, but first enjoy the beautiful landscape of the grounds. The border of Salish-Pacifica is understated, beginning with the five kilometre mist belt, where vapour sprinklers seed the […]
The Smiling Virologist
SAMUEL BURNS is a tall, thin man who seems nervous in front of the cameras. He fiddles with the wire linking the mic that is clipped onto his shirt, and one foot taps quietly but frantically on the floor as he talks. SAMUEL: I suppose you want to talk about what happened to Adam Lewinsky, […]
One Last Bash Before We All Hit the Road
The Ball at the End of the World existed at that narrow intersection of refined taste, decadent excess, and ironic misanthropy where all truly daring social coups occur. Of course it was Salvatore Arravanche’s idea. And because it was an Arravanche event, everyone came. There were no invitations—no illuminated scraps of cardstock, no cloying notifications […]
Things We Do Before We Eat
Danny loved Central Park. Danny’s father, Thomas, hated the walk through the pencil towers that got them there. “Can we please do a boat ride today, Daddy?” “Sure, buddy.” Thomas scanned the sidewalks ahead of him, trying to pick out any areas where they might run across someone Thomas didn’t want to have to explain […]
The Brighter World
The sun was so hot, and the two full wooden buckets weighed so much! No matter how Tallie held them, their hard handles, salvaged Old-Time wire wrapped in rawhide, hurt her fingers or her palms, and every time she stepped carelessly, another gout of the precious water would slop out into the dust and filth […]
Flavours of a Memory
Mists lie over the craggy rocks just off the shore. Sea gulls cry, sea lions bark, kelp crunches underfoot. Cypress and sage bend in the breeze coming off the ocean. Purple wildflowers peek out from dry brown grass. A bent oak shelters crows. A peek into the secluded life of a tidepool: sea anemones, sea […]
Rewilding Indiana
I’m Joanna Appleseed, reseeding native gardens from above. Just a cloud chasing wind, transparent kites to gather the sun, furl them in before the storm. Light as a gull, composites and silk, shift and rise through the layers. The troposphere’s a 3D puzzle, navigation by wind on my cheek. Neutral buoyancy and clean electrons power […]
You Are My Endling
Joni and I got our first biomorph plasty together when we were sixteen. Small changes at first. Cosmetic over functional. Mom and Dad argued constantly, so I didn’t feel too badly that I was probably the final wedge to drive them apart. Dad supported me. He went on about how when he was young, kids […]
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