We the future

we, the future

by Adrian H Molina, Warm Cookies of the Revolution

a live scribe poetry collection

The Universal

The future is happening. It was always now, in a world that is falling apart. (the heart) It was always falling apart, the fragments of universal design, space dust, space junk, fractals of space time, falling…falling…

Can we fall up? Can we spiral higher?

It is happening. We are asking the questions that open doors: what do you think is inevitable? How do we cultivate empathy for those futures? The unimaginable? How do we rewrite them?

Who shares our futures? (plural) A multiverse of possibilities— how could we design for them all?

Questions? How can we better share the planet? How can we become better ancestors?

For if you are alive, you are already among the ancients. Pace yourself.

Question yourself.

What am I building for the next generations?

How can we move from ideas to actions? How can we make the fractions whole? How do we move institutions? How do we reach the streets? How can we create more joy?

As if we could open up the screen and climb into the vibe, when it was all so simple in our minds, just chillin’ and singing and smiling with Elmo, Big Bird, Cookie Monster and the whole fam…

ZOOM OUT. Begin from a place of multiplicity. Start from the perspective that there are countless ways of being in the world, beyond yours.

That’s culture. Humanity, interspecies, interwoven realities, biodiversity.

ZOOM BACK IN

Return to a position and mainframe of One: human species. One interconnected planet (string theory), one shared destiny, a collective past, present, future: Universality. Now ZOOM BACK OUT do the work, unpack it, and remap it… We’re back at it.

Future’s Happening—

Futurist

Face the sociocultural political fears:

What are the dire possible outcomes? (drumbeat) What are the pathways? (many feet) What are the unknowns?

Embody the roles and characters and you will understand the range of potential realities at play. What do you seek to manifest?

Practice storytelling. Put yourself back forward into your imagination. Practice regeneration. Practice. Now teleport forward and see your footsteps imprinted upon the lives of the next seven generations. Develop the toolkits for their liberation and trust that they will re-write and revise the designs. Let them and learn from them.

Question the official futures. Make them dance. Futures by choice. Futures by chance.

Raise up the youth to see clearly that the future is not being done to them. They are co-designing it. We are living manifestos. Start with what you want, what you need, and now practice that, build that, and fight for everyone’s right to have some version of that. Livelihood.

Safe hoods. Colorful hoods. Agency. Bravery. Disrupting complacency. Placehood. Community.

Some kind of unity. Some kind of paradise.

Dare, like my Ecotopian friends, knowing that if we reach sky high that means we land up, somewhere, a bit more gritty— a beautifully rooted future— you and me. Us.

Game Suite Shorties

The spooky future Is also being designed

Face dystopian

Gamify futures

We did it since we were kids

Grab the controller

Role play and dream up Collage, bridge and deconstruct Make the mosaic

Plant a rose garden

Civic imagination

Vote every day

Simple prototype

Let’s design a future where All are relevant

Think Gen Z Democracy Haiku Suite

Think tank the future

It is truly cool to fail

Harvest the lessons

Go beyond the ad

There are many seeds to plant ThinkGenZfor change

The old ways were coo And the new ways will work, too Where are the bridges?

Catalyze spirits

StanfordDemocracyDay

Create years of change

The crisis of fear

A crisis of loneliness

Grow CivicsUnplugged

Stanford d.school…dope

How do we throw out this rope

To the mass student?

Bridge the Future

What would happen if everybody truly showed up?

What sort of magic cosmic chaos would unfold in day-to-day life, in public space, in real time?

Maker, mover, multiplier, meet me at the library and imagine these book palaces as Edge: mental spaceships for the future.

Could you step out onto the ledge, and leap into the citizen unknown, a democracy faith—new ways of culture, new means of ritual— the reintegration of soul into everyday life?

What would you find?

Would you find a new brother? A new sister?

A friend? An ally? A new lover?

Meet me at Civic Saturday.

Bring a friend to Sunday School for Atheists.

Come out to The Huddle. Let’s hop in the DeLorean. Or perhaps a lowrider.

Let’s play a game.

Let’s watch a game at the bar and talk about who owns the stadium?

Ah, but who paid for the stadium? That’s us!

Let’s host Interdependence Day at the park and bridge July 4th and Juneteenth. (Let’s do it at the neighborhood park, not the main park.)

Let’s make main street fun again, welcoming.

Let’s challenge the left, and the right.

Fuck it, let’s invite ‘em all out just to be people, together, beyond politics, beyond affiliation. How would we do that?

Would it involve art, music, childcare, language interpretation, and culturally relevant food?

Would it work? How would we know if we didn’t try?

Would we try again if we failed?

Would we remind ourselves that there is no such thing as “fail?”

Look, we must protect ourselves, and our futures, because we face violence.

And we must also face the reality that an even less cohesive future invites even more violence.

Step into the radical imagination.

Bridge the future.

The Athlete Warrior Haiku Suite

Coach, lead us to wins

The evolution within Would impact the world

Athlete: warrior

Bring your tenacity Now, let’s change the game

Student athlete voice Is the power to give back And lift the people

Sports hold many dreams

Also, cultural levers

Unlimited strength

We, the future, we, the bridges, we, who stand firm on principle, we, who can be nimble in approach, we, who are practice, we, who are process, we, the gardeners, we, the seed planters, liberation in the minds, before the culture wars, collective elevation beyond the culture wars, we, who take up space, we, who share space, we, who utilize time— we need to redesign time; we need to time travel. We want to see beyond our own propaganda. We need to be beyond our own propaganda. We need to accept the diversity of our theories and methods— the multiverse of democracy. The wins come from the multitudes. We, who affirm identity, we who also get trapped and tripped up in identity, we, the red, the blue, black, brown, white, immigrant, citizen Jew, Palestinian, conservative, liberal, libertarian, robot, alien, we, who ask, what is the tipping point?, we, who play roles, we, who question the roles, we, who are re-learning and re-defining our roles, we, the civic, we, the skill builders, we, who are becoming, we, who are emerging, we, who are tired, we, who are energized.

I affirm your personhood. I affirm your spirit.

I affirm your right to be here. I affirm your power, your privilege, your powerlessness, your messiness, your past, your imperfections, your present, your insecurities, your dreams, your imaginations, your futures, our futures. I, you, they, them, us—the future history.

It is a good day to be here. Here is as good as anywhere, today. Tomorrow, we will be working and dreaming in different contexts, with different people, and that will be good, too. We, the citizens, immigrants, humans, students, professors, artists, activists, faith leaders, skeptics, believers, builders, disrupters, athletes, cheerleaders, directors, coordinators, staff members, non-institutionalists, youth organizers, graphic designers, vote drivers, and so on. It goes on and on, and our work is valuable. Each of us. Our time is relevant, and our visions can be realized, we, the people, we, the future.

FUTURE’S HAPPENING