Following are excerpts and "Works Cited" pages from in-class "research reports" written by Summer 1999 students as part of their final exam. The contents are arranged by general topics.

I see no reason why modern science fiction doesn't completely fill the definition of mythology. The only difference is that the old mythologies served to explain the worlds of the past to the peoples of the past, and the new mythology explains the world we live in today and will live in come tomorrow. . . .

The old mythology has mythical places where demons, gods, or the souls of the dead live. These places are usually high in the sky or deep under ground or other places that are very difficult for men to reach. Examples of these mystical places include Mount Olympus, the home of the Greek gods, and Hades, the home of the dead. These mystical places are seen in today's science fiction as other planets in Red Mars and "Space, the final frontier." And some completely modern, but equally gothic, places like Cyberspace, hyperspace, and the matrix.

Card, Orson Scott. Ender's Game. Tom Doherty Associates, Inc. New York, 1991.

Costello, Robert. American Heritage Dictionary. Dell Publishing. New York,

Fetzer, Scott. The World Book Encyclopedia. World Book Inc. Chicago, 1986.

Gibson, William. Neuromancer.. New York: Berkley Publishing Group, 1986.

Herbert, Frank. Dune. New York: Berkley Publishing Group, 1983.

From scratchings made by jagged rocks on cave walls to today's tap-tap-tap of plastic keyboards or the latest voice-activated, hands-free input, to the magnitude of information stored on a single microchip, a desire for permanence and historical recall is instilled in all of us. Like the cavemen before us and generations that will follow us, interpretations of human thoughts and events compels us to record. The computer age, or Age of Information, is upon us. . . . Our culture has and will be influenced through our literary design. . . .

The Electronic Labyrinth defines the newest medium of reading available, hyperbooks, as a "grouping of electronic texts [hypertexts] which can be considered an entity . . . but lacks the coherence of a unified, bounded object. In other words, hyperbooks have no boundaries because they are nonlinear. The reader now known as the browser navigates and explores different forking paths of literature or information. An example of a hyperbook is 253 . . . . Hyperbooks are altering not only the definition of reading from a linear, eye-to-page ability to a scanned multiple pathway but also the definition of reader to include author. . . .

Works Cited

Atwood, Margaret. The Handmaid's Tale. New York: Ballentine, 1985.

Bellamy, Edward. Looking Backward. New York: Random, 1982.

Bisson, Terry. "Bears Discover Fire." Future Primitive: The New Ecotopias. Ed. Kim Stanley Robinson. New York: Doherty, 1994. 17-28.

Bear, Greg. "Petra." Mirrorshades: the Cyberpunk Anthology. Ed. Bruce Sterling. 1986. NY: Ace, 1988.105-124.

Butler, Octavia E. Parable of the Sower. New York: Warner, 1993.

Butler, Octavia E. and Samuel Delany. Interview with Henry Jenkins. "The Value of Literacy." Media in Transition Project. (29 Aug. 1998): 19 pp. Online. Internet. 14 July, 1999. Available

Callenbach, Ernest. "Chocco." Future Primitive: The New Ecotopias. Ed. Kim Stanley Robinson. New York: Doherty, 1994. 189-213.

Di Filippo, Paul. "Stone Lives." Mirrorshades: the Cyberpunk Anthology. Ed. Bruce Sterling. 1986. NY: Ace, 1988.187-201.

Gates, Bill. The Road Ahead. New York: Penguin, 1995.

- - -. The Road Ahead. CD-ROM. New York: Penguin, 1995.

Gibson, William. "The Gernsback Continuum." Mirrorshades: the Cyberpunk Anthology. Ed. Bruce Sterling. 1986. NY: Ace, 1988.1-11.

Johnny Mnemonic. Screenplay by William Gibson. Dir. Robret Lango. Prod. Don Carmody. Perf. Keanu Reeves, Dolph Lundgren, akeshi, Ice-T, Dina Meyer, Udo Kier, Denis Akiyama, Henry Rollins, and Barbara Sukowa. TriStar Pictures, 1995.

"Read." The Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. Ed. C.T. Onions. London: Oxford UP, 1966.

The Revelation of St. John the Divine. The Holy Bible, King James Version (1611). New York: American Bible Society. 1063-1078.

Robinson, Kim Stanley. Red Mars. New York: Bantam, 1993.

Ryman, Geoff. 253 or Tube Theatre. Online. Internet. 18 July, 1999.

atlweb/aandc/gutenbrg/wschirev.html

Turner, Frederick. "From The New World." Future Primitive: The New

Ecotopias. Ed. Kim Stanley Robinson. New York: Doherty, 1994. 215-228.

Science fiction is a genre of literature that deals with many different aspects of myth, fantasy, or religion. However, most science fiction falls under the romance category as well. . . .

Male and female writers of science fiction incorporate the different facets of romance into their stories so as not to make them completely cluttered with technical and science jargon. . . . The author of The Time Machine, H. G. Wells, had no women in his novel at all. It was a group of men sitting around discussing the scientific aspects of time travel. Male writers also tend to have a male hero give up everything to save the world. This means that, if he had a woman in his life during the beginning of the story, he will probably be standing alone by the end. All ties are severed, and he is left standing alone in society.

Female writers usually go in a different direction than male writers. They show the blossoming and ending of many relationships, and focus is put more on this. Also they tend to incorporate religion or mythology into the science parts more than male writers. . . .

Two examples of male versus female writing are Michael Crichtonís Sphere and Octavia E. Butler's Parable of the Sower. The main hero figure in Sphere is a male named Norman Johnson who happens to be a psychologist. He along with a few other scientists fight off the powers of the alien-like sphere. The one female scientist in the group, Beth Halperin, is labeled as unstable for once trying to kill herself. In the end, a man's suggestion to forget is what saves them all.

Parable of the Sower follows a different pattern. The main hero is a young woman named Lauren who leads a small group through treacherous environments to safety. Relationships develop throughout the novel to make each character appear stronger.

Works Cited

Butler, Octavia E. Parable of the Sower. New York: Warner, 1993.

Coyle, William, ed. Aspects of Fantasy. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood

Press, 1986.

Crichton, Michael. Sphere. NY: Ballantine, 1987.

Some believe science fiction is our societyís new form of myth. Through literature our current authors are making new forms of gods and the like. Star Wars is an example of this. . . .

We all live in our own myths, and we tend to judge other myths based upon our own.

Science fiction, however, draws from many kinds of myth. These include, but are not limited to, Roman, Greek, pre-Christian, Pagan, Christian, and Native American folklore, according to L. Sprague DeCamp (32, 67), who points out that the "origins of modern science fiction lie in the vast body of myths and legends of ancient times and of primitive peoples" (27). . . .

In keeping with DeCampís theme, mythic science fiction contains some frightening creatures, including "demons, witches, and wizards" (234). The Morlocks in The Time Machine certainly fit this description.

Myths are an interesting part of science fiction, and, in a sense, their use can legitimize science fiction. This concept comes from Hillegasís "Science Fiction in the English Department." Hillegas realizes that the genre is new and not all that accepted by scholars of past literature. However, the genre is entering the classroom. . . .

Works Cited

Without the real world and the recognizable genres of literature, science fiction would be entirely alien and alienating to its audience. An audience must be able to relate to science fiction as a genre, which makes its assumption of the future based on what is known in the present. According to Thomas Clareson, "Isaac Asimov must take a condition that will certainly exist in the future" by studying "conditions that prevail today" such as ëair and water pollution and a society more gadget-centered and scientific" (156). In Definitions of Science Fiction, Fredrick Pohl considers sci-fi "the very literature of change" and feels that the future predicted should be obtainable (7). To this end Pohl feels that the author "should be able to convince the reader (and himself) that the wonders he is describing can come true" (7). . . .

Mary Shelleyís novel Frankenstein is the epitome of all science fiction. Her novel uses the gothic hero and situations created by Horace Walpole to go further by adding romance, God, science, and mythology all into one tale. Shelleyís tale, subtitled The Modern Prometheus, is based upon the tragic myth of Prometheus Bound by Aeschylus that was retold by her husband as Prometheus Unbound. . . .

By combining elements of the known and projections of the future we create a genre which can take us to the stars or anywhere else we can conceivably build in our imagination. For proof you need look no further than Lorne Greene. He went from riding horses on the Ponderosa in Bonanza to riding or commandeering the Battlestar Galactica. Not great sci-fi, but nevertheless it did bring a familiar element to an alien world for older viewers.

Works Cited

Clareson, Thomas. Science Fiction Criticism: An Annotated Check List. Ohio: Kent State UP, 1972.

Clute, John, and Peter Nichols. The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. NY: St. Martins Press, 1995.

(1999): 10pp. On line: Internet 25 July, 1999.

Pohl, Frederick, and C. M. Cornbluth. The Space Merchants. 1952. NY: St. Martins Press, 1987.

Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. 1818. NY: Oxford UP. 1969, 1998.

Uchronia or alternate history is a description of an historical "what-if" and its possible consequences. It involves one or more "past" events which happened otherwise. Two examples might be, What if the Nazis won World War 2? And what if the Confederates won the Civil War? With these questions and many others, one can create an "alternate world" story. The language used, precisely to call it "alternate," implies nothing about possible connections between that world and ours. . . .

Believe it or not, this mainstream fiction as at the top of the best seller lists in local book stores. The alternate world is also popular in wargaming magazines. What makes this topic interesting is that a lot of times the ending is left up to the reader. . . .

Some researches say that alternate history / worlds may have been written as guesses or warnings to the reader of crises lurking in the near future. Robert Heinlein's Future History is a sci-fi example written in the 1940-50s. . . . Another book titled Roads Not Taken by Gardner Dozois depicts alternate solutions to events that changed the way we are today.

The only problem is that not enough people know of this type of sci-fi fiction. As a "future" teacher, I would have students explore their imagination and creativity and give them a chance to envision what their future would have been or may look like in their eyes.

"Science fiction-alternate history". Microsoft Encarta 98 Encyclopedia. 1993-1997. Microsoft Corporation.

Octavia Butler, "the first African American woman to gain popularity and critical acclaim as a major science fiction writer," has won science fictionís highest awards and a MacArthur foundation "genius grant." . . .

Ruth Salvaggio writes, "A traditional complaint about science fiction is that it is a male genre, dominated by male authors who create male heroes who control distinctly masculine worlds." . . . Butler's writings use black women as significant characters, and her societies are racially mixed. . . . Also, what makes Butlerís work different from traditional science fiction is that she doesn't just use science and economics but deals with issues most women face: birth, marriage, alienation, prejudice. . . .

Octavia Butler herself sums up her writing best: "I'm not writing for some noble purpose. I just like telling a good story. If what I write about helps others understand this world we live in, so much the better for all of us. Every story I write adds to me a little, changes me a little, forces me to re-examine an attitude or belief, causes me to research and learn, helps me to understand people and grow. . . . Every story I create, creates me" (voices website).

Works Cited

Locher, Frances Carol, ed. Contemporary Authors. Vol. 73-76. Detroit: Gale, 1978.

Salvaggio, Ruth. "Octavia Butler and the Black Science Fiction Heroine." Black American Literature Forum. 18.2 (1984): 78-81.

Some books that envisioned some sort of utopian society would be The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe and Shakespeareís The Tempest. Robinson Crusoe starts a new way of life on a deserted island (as well as Ferdinand in The Tempest) where they are free from the chaos of society.

Works Cited

Atwood, Margaret. The Handmaidís Tale. Boston, Massachusetts: G.K. Hall, 1986.

Robinson combines a 60s attitude toward sex and drugs in the Martian Culture with "an almost reactionary air toward music, tacitly eschewing Anglo-American rock and roll, or any sort of progressive synthesis of musical styles, in favor of folk music from various earth cultures."

Works Cited

Robinson, Kim Stanley. Red Mars. NY: Bantam, 1993.

Robinson, Kim Stanley. Green Mars. NY: Bantam, 1994.

Perkins Gilman's three utopian novels are Moving the Mountain, Herland, and With Her in Ourland. In Herland I discovered many amusing yet relevant perceptions men had of women and how the women in the novel disclaimed these notions. Three men set out to find a land of women only and have an adventure in doing so. Their adventure did not happen until they were captured by the women of a lost valley. The descriptions of these women are surprising to the men. The Herland women are described as having even tempers, perfect patience, good nature, and absence of irritability. . . . Reproduction, you ask? Well, women had "virgin" childbirth. (Kind of a dystopian thought, huh?) These women had no men to fear, so they needed no protection. There were no wars, no priests, no kingsóall had ceased to exist with man. As for religion, they believed in many gods and goddesses thousands of years back, but eventually evolved to a Mother Goddess and had settled to a religion of Maternal Pantheism. Children belonged not to the "birth mother" but to the community, who together raised the children.

The women possessed qualities of deduction and inference that the men thought were masculine, but still possessed traits the men were attracted to. The men expected a dull submissive monotony but found a daring social inventiveness. They thought they would find pettiness and instead found social consciousness.

Works Cited

Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. Herland. NY: Pantheon, 1979.

---. In This Our World. NY: Arno, 1974.

---. The Living of Charlotte Perkins Gilman. NY: Arno, 1972.

Kessler, Carol Farley. Charlotte Perkins Gilman: Her Progress Toward Utopia with Selected Writings. Syracuse University Press, 1995.

Lane, Ann J. To Herland and Beyond. Pantheon, 1990.

New Urbanism refers to a community that focuses its attention on being a community. The idea is to have a community in which homes and businesses are located close together and little to no car driving is necessary. Nature should be relevant to these communities, with trees planted everywhere. I can picture a community that looks very much like the "Leave it to Beaver" subdivision. Looks are a very important part of the community but it is also the ways the people interact. The idea of walking promotes the fact that individuals are more likely to run into one another and have a conversation.

A study done on "Fox News" stated that families living in such a close-knit community are happier as well as more stable than families living outside such communities. In the book Looking Backward, the utopian community is what most new urbanism followers are striving towards.

The biggest disadvantage is the loss of individualism. An individual loses his space and car. A person who likes to be alone and to have his or her own space should not choose a home in a new urbanism community. . . .

Some people would think of it as a utopia while others would think of it as their dystopia. The idea of living in a community that feels like family and is safe for raising children is an appealing thought to me.

Works Cited

Andrews, Charles. "Introduction". Famous Utopias. NY: Tudor.

Bellamy, Edward. Looking Backwards, 2000-1887. 1889. NY: Random House, 1982.

Kelly, Kevin and Heather Tansey. "New Urbanism".

Html. July 29, 1999

"New Urbanism: restoring the sense of community". Plan Baton Rouge.

"New Urbanism Basics". About New Urbanism.

July 26, 1999.

Some of the early settlers of utopian communities left out important considerations, therefore setting up their own demise. One such community would be the shakers, who saw sex as a corrupting influence and forbade it. Unfortunately for them, without sex they could not make any little Shakes and the community all but died out.

Dutch Mennonites, who created their first communal colony in Lewes, Delaware, were in their own way one of the first "countercultures." . . .

Sun City, Arizona [designed by Del Webb, who developed the early Camino South subdivision in Clear Lake], has a large population of senior citizens simply because they chose to settle with people of similar age and background. In its way this "utopia" has a built-in comfort zone for its residents. According to the website "Intentional Communities," many "communes" (or communities) evolve because they want the sense of community, neighborhoods, the sharing of religious beliefs, resources, and cooperative living. . . .

Works Cited

Print sources:

O'Brien, Ellen. "Communes Stage Comeback." Houston Chronicle, 30 October

1996. 2D

Martin, Jay. Harvests of Change: American Literature, 1865-1914. Englewood

Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1967.

Snodgrass, Mary Ellen. Encyclopedia of Utopian Literature. Santa Barbara,

CA: ABC-CLIO, 1995. (Pages used:181-183, 226-231, 329-333, 523-534, 558-571.)

Websites:

Communal Living --

Intentional Communities --

Utopian Literature --

Utopian Philosophy --

Utopian & Utopian Philosophy

The roles of women vary in all situations, but vivid differences are apparent when contrasting utopian societies to dystopian societies. . . . When studying these books and modern-day cultures, the roles range from equality for all to women as sex slaves for genetic engineering. . . .

The Ruskin Colonies in Tennessee and Georgia give women very substantial roles in the community. History tells us that women cooked, cleaned, and raised children while the men went out to hunt. That is not so in this early utopian community. Everyone in the society is in consensus that no role is more important than the other. Everyone is equal. The women also hunt, and the men share in family duties. As Brundage states, "Communal life doesnít free women but adds their role in the labor forceóthey support." . . .

The same is true for modern-day utopian societies. Such societies include the Utopian Eco-Village Network in Ecuador where "they welcome diversity within the community, no matter what your background, spirituality, sexual inclination, age, race, or education." Other utopian societies of today include Twin Oaks in Virginia, The Farm in Tennessee, and the Acorn Community, a sister community to Twin Oaks in Virginia. . . .

The roles of women in dystopias take a different, more negative turn. In The Handmaidís Tale, the women are simply birthing vessels. . . . In The City of the Sun, again childbearing becomes womenís only importance: "Good life for women depends on fertility."

Works Cited

Atwood, Margaret. The Handmaidís Tale. NY: Fawcett Crest, 1985.

Barr, Marleen & Nicholas D. Smith. Women and Utopia: Critical Interpretations.

University Press of America, 1983.

Bellamy, Edward. Looking Backward, 2000-1887. NY: Modern Library College Editions, 1982.

Brundage, W. Fitzhugh. A Socialist Utopia in the New South: The Ruskin Colonies in Tennessee and Georgia. University of Illinois Press, 1996.

Rabkin, Eric S. Martin H Greenberg, and Joseph D Olander. No Place Else: Explorations in Utopian and Dystopian Fiction. Southern Illinois University Press, 1983.

Snodrass, Mary Ellen. Encyclopedia of Utopian Literature. ABC-CLIO. 1995.

An article entitled, "Some Observations about Utopian Thinking" separates "futuring" into three parts: descriptive futuring, utopian futuring, and prescriptive futuring. Descriptive futuring is where utopian or intentional communities set the standards for living, as with mission statements, goals and plans. Utopian futuring is where the community would decide to build "blueprints" for the standards in forms of architecture, education structure, labor force, financial institutions, etc. Prescriptive futuring is where the community would decide to put all the goals, standards, and blueprints into action.

An intentional community that is using these concepts of futuring is the Twin Oaks community, which began in 1967 in Virginia. Their lifestyles reflect values of equality and nonviolence. Their mission statement declares, "We are here to sustain and expand a community which values cooperation; which is not sexist or racist; which treats people in a caring and fair manner; and which provides for the basic needs of our members." . . . An article called "An Ecovillage Evolving" shows Twin Oaksís abilities for prescriptive futuring.

Works Cited

Strictly speaking, utopia means a "nowhere land, some happy island far away, where perfect social relations prevail, and human beings, living under an immaculate constitution and a faultless government, enjoy a simple and happy existence, free from the turmoil, the harassing cares, and endless worries of actual life" (Levitas). . . . However, "the adjective utopian has come into some disrepute and is frequently used contemptuously to mean impractical or impossibly visionary" (New Columbia Encyclopedia). . . .

A new definition of utopia is offered. Utopia is an expression of the desire for a better way of being: "It allows for the form, function, and content to change over time, and it reminds us that, whatever we think of particular utopias, we learn a lot about the experience of living under any set of conditions by reflecting upon those desires which those conditions generate and yet leave unfulfilled" (Levitas).

Works Cited

Eurich, Nell. Science in Utopia. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1967

Levitas, Ruth. The Concept of Utopia. Syracuse University Press, 1990

Mark/ Space: Anachron City: Library: Glossary: Utopia

The New Columbia Encyclopedia. Ed. William H. Harris. NY: Columbia UP, 1975.

NLC- Out of this World: Utopias and Dystopias.

In studying the future, love is a subject that re-appears in many of our texts. Love gives humans hope to continue to live like human beings. IN the future, many controllers try to destroy this hope by outlawing love. In the books Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell and The Handmaidís Tale by Margaret Atwood, the people who are in control of society control people by taking love out of the system. In Ursula Le Guinís story "Newtonís Sleep," people who are in control take out the earthly objects, and try to give society a metallic world. There are also songs about fighting back for this love and hope. In the songs "Fake Plastic Trees" by Radiohead, "Everybody Knows" by Leonard Cohen, and "Push Me, Pull me" by Pearl Jam, the artists fight back to give humans that hope of not becoming metallic, but to stay real as human beings.

In Nineteen Eighty-Four, Big Brother watches every living cell. The people in control ban love from their society, because love gives people hope for freedom. However, love cannot be denied, and Winston and Julia fight for this love to emerge from the society of enslavement. . . . OíBrien breaks the hope and Winston once again becomes like a robot. . . .

In "Everybody Knows," Leonard Cohen sings how the future of love will be. His strongest words in the song are "everybody knows that the naked man and woman / are just the shining artifacts of the past." Her Cohen tells how sex or love has changed in the future. With the rise of sexual disease, AIDS, and birth control, love-making as the form of being earthly will decay. . . . Maybe in the deep future parents will drive through a drive-in, see the childrenís menu, make an order (with static, there will always be static), pay for the child, and get it at the next window. According to Cohen, in the future the feel of a naked body will no longer exist.

Love is similarly repressed in The Handmaidís Tale. . . . However, as the handmaid meets Nick at night, love breaks through their chains and brings hope to these humans. It brings hope to be alive. . . . In the future love will still fight for humans to stay human. . . .

Works Cited

Atwood, Margaret. The Handmaid's Tale. 1985. NY: Ballantine, 1987.

Cohen, Leonard. "Everybody Knows." Iím Your Man. CBS, 1988.

Le Guin, Ursula K. "Newton's Sleep." Future Primitive. Tom Doherty, 1994.

Orwell, George. Nineteen Eighty-Four. NY: New American Library, 1949.

Pearl Jam, "Push me, Pull me." Yield. Sony Music Entertainment, 1998.

Radiohead. "Fake Plastic Trees." The Bends. EMI Records, 1995.

Dreams have been said to be a direct route connecting the human mind to the spiritual realm. In technical terms it is a reaction to a stimulus disturbing sleep. Dreams have also been said to foretell the future. People such as Edgar Cayce and Sigmund Freud have lived their lives studying dreams. Also the "I have a dream" speech by Martin Luther King Jr. has inspired many. . . .

To read your dreams, according to Cayce, you should record them and each to utilize the insights fully. . . .

For Freud, daydreams are usually scenes or events which gratify either egoistic cravings of ambition or thirst for power (Riviere). When you daydream, you dream of good things happening to you. Daydreams connect to the unconscious or subconscious, by which we learn our impulses or desires, which can lead us to the future or give us an idea how we want our future to be. . . .

King's "I have a Dream" speech has given us all the faith that dreams of the future can come true. King spoke like a prophet of God. . . .

Thus a better future can be accomplished with a dream. One must strive for the better, and it all starts with a dream, unconscious or subconscious.

Works Cited

Clute, John and Grant, John. Encyclopedia of Fantasy. NY: St. Martins Press, 1997.

Cone, James H. Martin and Malcolm of America: A Dream or a Nightmare? Maryknoll, NY: Orbis books, 1991. 122-123.

Riverie, Joan. General Introduction to Psychoanalysis. NY: Clarion Books, 1935.

Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. 1818. Ed. Fred Botting. NY: St. Martins Press, 1995.

When thinking about a person's economic status in the U. S. today, three groups automatically come to mind: lower class, middle class, and upper class. But, in truth, it seems that only two remain: the lower and the upper classes. The middle class of America is growing smaller by the year and may virtually disappear one day. The result is a society with two economic groups: rich or poor; affluent or destitute. Youíre either a have or a have-not, and the gap between these two groups is growing larger every day. . . .

Why is this? Conservatives explain it like this: the upper class is not pulling away from the middle class. The upper class is simply growing as the middle-class people move upwards. The fact, according to the New York Times, is that the upper class is pulling away, and that more of America's money is concentrated up the scale. The rich have it really good, and the poor have it really bad. Poor children in the U. S. are poorer than the children in most other western industrialized nations. The reason behind this is because the gap is so large, and also because our welfare system is not as generous as other nations. . . .

Why does this concern me? Probably because I wonder where I fit in. I'm not poor. I work, go to school, have a great two-story townhouse, and eat very well! ;) But I struggle, monthly, with bills, rent, gas money and insurance. Rich people donít struggle with these things. Their accountants do!

Why don't we help out more? Some people choose to ignore this problem, and, as a result, the gap will probably grow even more. I would hope that the lack of help was due to ignorance in that they (the rich) don't see these everyday problems. Not ignorance of the mind. I hope that it is not simply "as long as I'm happy" kind of thinking. But it sort of looks that way, doesn't it?

Works Cited

Bellamy, Edward. Looking Backward. 1889. New York, 1992.

Butler, Octavia. Parable of the Sower. 1992.

Frum, David. "Welcome Nouveaux Riches." New York Times 14 August 1995. A11.

Krugman, Paul. "The Wealth Gap is Real and It's Growing." New York Times 21 August 1995. A 15.

www.dummies.com-business tips and plans

Why is that that the rich get richer while the poor get poorer?

Families of low socioeconomic status tend to view life in a "present time" orientation. They spend their hard-earned money as if each paycheck is their last. Higher socioeconomic families tend to be "future oriented" and save and invest their earnings for later use. . . .

Among other factors, only 3.9% of top professionals have "best friends" who are unskilled, while 74.2% of the top men hang out together. Most "sons" who have fathers in high positions tend to follow in their father's footsteps. This is called succession. . . . The son of a garbage man, for example, has an 11% chance of earning a higher level position; the probability of a male lawyer having a father who did blue collar work is a very low 20%. With these facts, one can see that family generations tend to stay relatively stable across time. . . .

One of several movements of social mobility is "differential reproduction." Because upper-level families generally do not have as many children as the lower level, high positions may sometimes be filled with lower status individuals. Often, however, the more that this group reproduces, the fewer available positions there are to be filled.

Works Cited

Henry,G.B. The Cultural Diversity Inventory. Hampton, VA: Hampton University.

Matiella, A.C. The multicultural caterpillar: Activities in multicultural awareness. Santa Cruz, CA: Network Publishing. (1990).

Nelson, D. Multicultural Mathematics. Oxford, NY: Oxford University Press. (1993).

Nieto, S. Affirming diversity: The Sociopolitical context of multicultural education. New York: Longman Press. (1992).

"Social Class." The New Brittanica Encyclopedia. Chicago, 15 Ed. 1998.

From sea shells and beads to silver and gold, from silver and gold to paper money, from paper money to plastic or credit, where do we go? It is interesting how the writers of the future are obsessed with and divided on the issue of money. Some stay with money as we know it, and others go with credits or tokens. The main factor is see that causes the division is the factor of democratic government. . . . Without a democratic government, money seems to be a thing of the past.

Works Cited

Orwell, George. Nineteen Eighty-Four. 1949. Plume Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc. 1984

Davies, Glyn. A History of Money. University of Wales Press, 1994.

Butler, Octavia E. Parable of The Sower. NY: Warner, 1995.

Atwood Margaret, The Handmaidís Tale. NY: Ballantine, 1985

Bellamy, Edward. Looking Backward. 1889. NY: Modern Library, 1982.

AOL Search: Welfare System and /or Welfare System of the Future.

Welfare System Slavery

Rules I Desire To live By

( All of the above are things written by persons on welfare needless to say they did not leave an authorís name)

In order for Christianity to survive it must be flexible yet authoritative enough to set moral guidelines. Is Christianity able to adapt? . . .

To deny one's religion is, in some cases, denying the entire belief systems of the ones we love most in this world. I would never dream of invalidating the faith of a Muslim or a Hindu, so why should I presume to undermine the beliefs of Christians? But we learn and we discover, and we desire to press on our new-found knowledge. How can we reconcile our discoveries, our faith and our science into creating a better society? It was quite surprising that, try as I may, I could not locate a web site dedicated to discussing the future of Christianity, or of any religion. Specifically I was looking for spiritual support consistent with the goals of Allen Hammond's Transformed World. Ultimately I could find only bickering about dinosaurs, evolution vs. creation, abortion, gays and lesbians. These issues are like so many black flies, when one is looking for direction toward the creation of a transformed world--a world, incidentally, more consistent with Christ's teachings than the one we currently inhabit. . . .

Christianity must adapt and transform itself. If it doesn't, in the future the only outlet we may have to express our spirituality is when we buy Mary Kay.

Works Cited

Brown, Walt, Dr. "Creation Science"

Ferris, Timothy. "How To Predict Everything." New Yorker 12 July 1999: 35-39

Flank, Larry. "Creation 'Science' Debunked"

Hammon, Allen. Which World? Scenarios for the 21st Century. Washington, DC: Island Press/Shearwater Books.

Matthews, Warren. World Religions, 2nd Edition. Minneapolis/St. Paul: West Publishing Co.

Robinson, Kim Stanley. Red Mars. NY: Bantam, 1992.

Shandler, Geoff. "Weather Report." New Yorker 19 July 1999: 30-31

Prophecy through the ages seems to encompass a vast range of religious phenomena. Prophecy involves issues of human choice; it usually maintains a linear progression of events; and it is tied into the well-being of the nation-state.

Biblical prophecy concentrates on the experiences of the prophets with God and their interpretations of God's sovereign will. The prophets predict Godís actions, which are "not an arbitrary vision, but on the basis of His already revealed character and will" (Larousse). . . . In Revelation we are shown that all the events are linear since God himself is the "Alpha and Omega"óthe beginning and the end (22.13). . . . In Daniel 5, we find the hand of God writing on the wall during Belshazzarís feast. Daniel interprets the ultimate destruction of Babylon and Belshazzar is killed that same evening. So here we find prophecy tied into the well-being of the nation-state. . . .

Both the Bible and Greek texts contain prophets who channel prophecy, which is usually riddled with deliberate ambiguity, especially in the Greek texts. In Oedipus Rex Teiresias interprets the "divine recipe" Creon receives from the Oracle at Delphi. Thus, he is forced to interpret the prophecy in these scenarios, whereas prophets such as Daniel have received clear enlightenment: "O Daniel, I have no come forth to give you insight with understanding" (Daniel 9.22).

Granted Teiresias may have a "hotline" to Apollo, but we are led by Oedipusís personality to consider that Teiresias has other motives. As a king, Oedipus is instinctively political, not supernatural. So, if we had a different person, we might have a different outcome. However, we do know Oedipus had a choice at the "crossroads." He did not have to slay Laius. But gain due to Oedipusís personal propensities, he caused his fate to progress as predicted.

We see more of this in Oedipus Colonus; however, we find Oedipus manipulating prophecy because he as gained wisdom. Consequently, we could see the future as being written or self-generating. . . .

In conclusion, both the Bible and Sophocles's writings emphasize prophecy and the linear progression of future events. However, we find a discrepancy with whether or not both agree on whether the future is already written or is being written. There seem to be more complications with a pantheon of gods versus a monotheistic God. We know where the Judeo-Christian God stands. His sovereignty is established, whereas the Greek pantheon of Gods seem to be distant and inaccessible despite figures like Teiresias.

Works Cited

Bell, Robert E. "Prophecy." Dictionary of Classical Mythology. Santa Barbara: ABC-Clio, 1982.

Holy Bible: New American Standard. Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers, 1985.

Howard, Maureen C. Sophoclesí Oedipus Rex. 84.02.03 (1984): 15 pp. Online. Internet. 27 Jul. 1999.

"Prophecy." The Encyclopedia of Religion. Ed. Mircea Eliade. 16 vols. NY: Macmillan, 1987.

"Prophecy." Larousse Dictionary of Beliefs and Religions. Ed. Rosemary Goring. NY: Larousse, 1992.

Sophocles, The Oedipus Cycle: An English Version. Trans. Dudley Fitts and Robert Fitzgerald. NY: Harcourt, Brace & World, 1949.

In the 1970s, interest in the second coming of Christ was fueled by the Jesus movement and by books like The Late Great Planet Earth by Hal Lindsey. This interest spilled over into Christian music and songs like "Wish Weíd All Been Ready" by Larry Norman (which was redone this decade by D. C. Faith); one line of the song says, "There's no time to change your mind / The Son has come and youíve been left behind." In 1988, a book titled 88 Reasons why Christ will return in 88 came out and was followed by another book by the same author in 1989. The discussion of the end times and Christ's return have been a "hot" topic in my lifetime and continues to be. The purpose of this research report is to examine some of the basics of the second return of Christ as revealed in Scripture and within the framework of orthodox evangelicalism. . . .

Many Christians, including those who have read recent Christian fiction and literature, believe in a "secret rapture" (Rice). This idea is popularized by the recent Christian book series called Left Behind (Rice). I read some of it but have not yet finished it. It is intense, just as an apocalyptic story should be. One day, all of a sudden, millions of people disappear and many more are "left behind." The idea that the "Christian Church will be removed from the world, and that the unbelievers who are left behind will not be certain where vast multitudes have gone" is what is meant by "secret rapture" and is the story-line of the book series Left Behind. . . .

Works Cited

Horton, Michael, ed. The Agony of Deceit: What Some TV Preachers are Really Teaching. Chicago: Moody Press, 1990.

Milne, Bruce. Know the Truth: A Handbook of Christian Belief. Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 1982.

Abilities considered beyond the realm of normality perpetually fascinate humans. One of these abilities is prophecy. . . .

Determining the inspiration of prophecy proves challenging; however, other elements assist in discerning the validity of prophecies. According to Sheldon Blank, "The argument . . . most convincing to the greatest number is the argument based upon fulfilled predictions, the propositions that a prophet can be accepted as authentic when what he prophesies comes to pass" (8). . . . Another consideration is the clarity of prophecies. . . .

While prophecy remains fascinating, it may be of value only if it is reviewed with an investigative and yet open mind.

Works Cited

Blank, Sheldon H. "'Of a Truth the Lord Hath Sent Me': An Inquiry into the

Source of the Prophet's Authority." 1955. Interpreting the Prophetic

Tradition. Ed. Harry Orlinsky. The Library of Biblical Studies. Cinn: Hebrew

Union College Press, 1969.

Butler, Octavia E. Parable of the Sower. NY: Warner, 1995.

Morgana's Observatory: Fulfilled Prophecies of Nostradamus.

www.dreamscape.com/morgana/nospast

"Prophet, Prophecy." The Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. 1997 ed.

"Prophecy." Webster's New Universal Unabridged Dictionary. 1996 ed.

The Revelation of St. John the Divine. The Holy Bible, King James Version

(1611). Instructor's Coursepack LITR 4632. 1999.

Is it simply a coincidence that Revelations prophesied the world ending with fire and now we have weapons that could literally do just what it predicted. It could just be a coincidence or maybe it is more a self-fulfilling prophecy. Our culture creates the occurrences that were prophesied in the Bible because we have been told since birth that these atrocities that occur in our everyday world have been foreseen in the bible. One bad thing happens and someone with great hindsight says that it comes straight from the book of Revelations. Someone else begins to look at other things occurring in the world and sees how they can plug them into the Revelations prophecies like premade puzzle pieces. Then they begin to act accordingly, bringing about what they fear: these prophecies.

Works Cited

Atwood, Margeret. The Handmaidís Tale. NY: Fawcett Crest, 1985.

Butler, Octavia E. Parable of the Sower. NY: Warner, 1993.

Clute, John and John Grant. The Encyclopedia of Fantasy. NY: St. Martinís / Griffin, 1999.

The Holy Bible King James Version (1611). New York: American Bible Society.

07/26/99 4:55 PM.

Literature of the afterlife has been a topic widely written for thousands of years. . . .

Throughout the New Testament, the basic instruction for how to obtain everlasting life is given. . . . In the Revelation of John, a surreal and vivid picture of Heaven is painted. . . . This description, though somewhat vague, is a virtual tour of Heaven. It is The Kingdom of God as John sees it, and it is also many peopleís idea of Heaven. In my opinion it is very beautiful but also very scary. If someone were to write this today, he's probably be burned at the stake. It's full of what looks and sounds like opium hallucinations which John probably had access to. Oh, now I have to burned at the stake.

Heaven in The Gates Ajar looks similar to the landscapes in Wordworth's England--geological splendors, a free society. In this heaven, people still marry and raise children in private mansions. Here, scholars find libraries, truckers find golden 18-wheelers, and Indian Jones finds the Holy Grail all over again. Her spiritual world is a beautiful extension of the material world, and hell was out of sight and out of mind. . . .

Future generations will watch and read these visions of the afterlife until we discover what really lies beyond death on our own time.

Works Cited

Holy Bible. King James Version. 1975.

Phelps, Elizabeth Stuart. The Gates Ajar. Ed. Helen Smith. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1964.

Beetlejuice.

The Apocalypse of Peter.

The goal of Nostradamusís predictions was to make people understand the future is not set in stone. Some of his far-future predictions are very frightening. They contain images of Armageddon and Apocalypse.

The genre of prophecy sets people like Nostradamus apart from the rest of us. In essence he is a critic of our society. However, through these revelations about our future we can change it.

Works Cited

Cannon, Delores. Conversations with Nostradamus: Volume One. Huntsville:Ozark, 1989.

A&E Biography: Nostradamus Prophet of Doom. Narr. Jack Perkins. A&E Entertainment Greystone. Copyright.1995.

The Apocalypse has always been a part of my learning and life, from ministers preaching sermons filled with images of hell fire and brimstone. . . .

I interviewed a person in the Hindu faith, who said, "When the Earth is weighed with more sin than good, God will come in the form of the Hindu god Kalki, a looming presence, another incarnation of Vishnu, an apocalyptic figure who will destroy the present cosmos. Kalki is sometimes represented as riding a white horse and carrying a sword." I said that in the Christian belief a white horse is present. . . .

In Looking Backward Julian West has undergone an apocalyptic experience as his house burns down . . . .

Works Cited

Bellamy, Edward. Looking Backward.  1888. NY:  Random House, 1982.

Maheshwari, K. Personal interview. 6 July 1999.

Farred, Baheejah. Personal interview. 30 June 1999.

Georgakas, Dan. "Hiroshima Crewman."Literature. An Introduction to Reading and Writing.   NY: Prentice Hall, 1987. 944.

The government-funded organization called The Human Genome Project has international scientists rapidly working towards mapping the complete human genetic blueprint by 2005 if not sooner. . . . This technology has been used to identify soldiers and unclaimable remains and to determine paternity as a means to collect support as well as to convict criminal suspects. Cases such as O. J. Simpson, the Lewinsky Affair, and the Railroad Killer have brought media attention and exposure to this fledgling field in science. It has been used to exonerate the innocent . . . The movie Gattaca builds its entire civilization on DNA identification, breeding job discrimination. . . .

DNA benefits are already spreading. Parents can request a test to ensure they leave the hospital with the right infant. . . .

The drawback to this ever-advancing field can be found in health coverage. Embryos with pre-existing conditions may be refused coverage. . . .

DNA technology offers a great deal in the way of literary interest. In Jurassic Park Crichton introduced a character who was a mathematician specializing in chaos and catastrophe theory. Readers were exposed to various arrays of scientific fields as well as DNA manipulation. However, in the end the creation of new species brought chaos. H. G. Wells offered his insight through his novel The Island of Dr. Moreau, written in 1896, long before the knowledge of genetic engineering. He foretells of gene splitting and bio-engineering. He also stresses the human nature that is troubled by such experiments. Moreau is portrayed as a father figure to his creations; he ignores morality and ethics, focusing only on his intellectual desire without concern for the state of humanity.

Works Cited

Ackerman, Todd "A brave new world of designer babies." Houston Chronicle

27 June 1999, vol 98, No. 257, late ed.: A1+.

Balling, L. Christian. Revelation. NY: Forge, 1998.

Broad, William J. and Judith Miller, "Defector tells of Soviet and Chinese

Germ Weapons." New York Times 5 April 1999, New York Times Online.

Online, 24 July 1999.

Cook, Robin. Mutation. New Jersey: Berkly, 1990.

Crichton, Michael. Jurassic Park. NY: Knopf, 1990.

Gattaca. dir. Andrew Niccol. Perf. Ethan Hawke. and Uma Thurman, Columbia

Tristar. 1997.

National Institutes of Health Office of Science Education, Science in Cinema,

Presentation Gattaca. Online. 24 July 1999.

Wells, H.G. The Island of Dr. Moreau. 1896. NY: Tor.

Zhu, Yifei. "On Genetic Engineering", San Francisco State University.

Online. 27 Jun 1999.

Comparing and contrasting the religious and eco-apocalyptic writings, they both show a "Hell on Earth" and have false prophets spouting the end-times for their time period. The two also show a world that has gone bad and needs changing.

The difference of the two apocalyptic approaches is that religion says that the times are better ahead and the secular or eco side says that the times were better in the past. Also religion states that morals need to be changed, and ecology says that consumption needs to change. The eco-apocalyptic writing says that nature speaks to people, and the religious say that God speaks to the people. One thing that I thought funny was that religious writing promotes payments and eco doesnít ask for any money.

Claude Rose, Our Changing Weather: Forecast of Disaster? NY: Zebra, 1977.

The Weather Conspiracy: The Coming of the New Ice Age. NY: Ballantine Books, 1977.

Science fiction has filled our minds with fantasies of cloning armies of Hitlers and stages full of Mozarts (Facklam 95). Cloning can, and does, offer medical and social advantages. There would be a never-ending supply of donor organs with no room for rejection because of perfect genetic matches. Scientists could also track the rapid cell growth of cancer, or obesity, or even sexual orientation. There is also the possibility of regenerating damaged cells, muscle or nerve tissue. . . .

The social aspect is the idea of living again, which raises the possibility of eternal youth. However, it is not possible to clone the dead, unless prior to death a cell is frozen so there's no way to clone that "army of Hitlers." There is a risk of a black market of clones for infertile couples. Pictures of the existing child with a brief description of personality could be placed in a catalogue to make it easier for couples shopping for donor clone cells.

These "benefits" and the cloning technique itself have sparked major religious and ethical debates. Roman Catholics believe that "every possible act of cloning humans is intrinsically evil and could never be justified" ("Debate" 2). Humans are created in the image of existing people rather than by a unique act of God; children are treated as objects of manipulation (remember the catalogue?), and it jeopardizes the unique identity of the clone. Christians also oppose cloning based on the theory of the soul, which is unique to each person. . . .

Suppose we engage in a war and an army of clones is created. Is it ethical to send them into battle and let them die for our nation?

Works Cited

"The Cloning Process." Biology Online. 8 April 1998.

Facklam, Howard and Margery. "Send In the Clones." From Cell to Clone. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1979.

"Government and Human Cloning." Biology Online. 8 April 1998.

Hawley, Aaron. "Cloning." Biology Online. 2 March 1998.

"Practical Uses of Cloning." Biology. Online. 8 April 1998.

"Religious and Ethical Debate." Biology. Online. 8 April 1998.

Asteroids, meteors, comets: what do they all have in common? The potential for global destruction or apocalypse. Approximately 65 million years ago, an asteroid hit Earth and ended the dinosaur era of mass extinctions! . . .

While we as readers enjoy the apocalyptic theme, we also enjoy happy endings. So, while an asteroid is inevitably plummeting its way to earth and to global destruction, we are devising ways to keep it from happening. The suspense of whether we'll all be destroyed or not keeps us riveted to our lazyboys. . . .

Works Cited

Asimov, Isaac. Cosmic Debris: The Asteroids. 1988.

McDevitt, Jack. Moonfall. 1998.