Searching for HOPE AfterAmerica:
The Practopia Project
Battered by decades of political polarization, misinformation, economic and climate chaos, the United States of America died of exhaustion in the early 2030s. The former nation splintered into hundreds of smaller fiefdoms, city-states, and collectives. Most struggle to survive as we near the midpoint of the 21st century. But there are exceptions: communities that are actively reimagining the “good life.”
The Practopia Project was launched in 2047 to highlight these successes in the hope they might become a model for other communities struggling to reinvent themselves Searching for Hope AfterAmerica follows Johnny Darlin, a wandering podcaster for the Project, as he travels across the former nation. Join Johnny as he learns about social, technological, economic, and cultural innovations that counter the prevailing dystopian narratives of our collective future.
EPISODE ONE: LEAVING LA
TRANSMISSION RECORDED 7.10.2042
JOHNNY DARLIN: Cram a couple hundred people onto a platform in the blazing sun with the temp already pushing 100, waiting for a bus that may or may not come, and you get a very distinct fragrance. Anxiety, with notes of baby puke, unwashed bodies, and rapidly spoiling food. The perfume of despair.
Let’s get one thing clear right up front. This is not a gig I wanted. Never, in my most dystopian dreams, did I imagine ending up a vagabond reporter for some do-gooder nonprofit, filing stories about “Signals of Hope.” Does anybody even believe in hope anymore?
Guess I should start at the beginning. My name’s Johnny Darlin.
JOIN THE PRACTOPIA PROJECT
Searching for Hope AfterAmerica is an on-going open collaborative project. The goal is to build a community of storytellers sharing their visions of Hopeful Futures.
My invitation to you is to explore the future described in these first episodes and then create your own story of a community that might arise out of the dust of a fading empire. What would such a community look like? How would people live, play, work, love there? Would it be a radical departure from the past or a return to earlier ideas of community?
Got a story you’d like to tell about your Search for Hope AfterAmerica? I’d love to hear/read it.
HAVE AN IDEA FOR A STORY OR JUST WANT TO CHAT ABOUT COLLABORATING?
CONTACT ME