Announcements:

• Mid-semester grades have been posted. Also, remember that anyone is welcome to see Professor Belli. If anyone has an unsatisfactory or borderline grade, it is urgent that you visit Professor Belli. 
• The Third Annual City Tech Symposium on Science Fiction will be held in City Tech’s new building, on Tuesday, November 27th, from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm. There will be 15-20 minute presentations on Science Fiction and Interdisciplinarity. There will also be a student roundtable where students can participate in. 

Homework:

• Read both texts, do not forget to annotate, and bring them to class. 
• “The Image of Women in Science Fiction” (Joanna Russ), Vertex, 1974
• “Science Fiction’s Women Problem“ (Bronwyn Lovell), September 15, 2016
• Class Discussion #6: World-Building in Political Elections

Octavia’s Brood: Science Fiction Stories from Social Justice Movements

• This text is about social justice and the relationship it shares with science fiction. 
• Octavia Butler was one of the first African American Science Fiction writers. She believed that science fiction was for everyone.
• Notable Writings:
  • Parable of the Sower
  • Parable of the Talents
  • Xenogenesis series

Freewriting #1:

• “Whenever we try to envision a world without war, without violence, without prisons, without capitalism, we are engaging in an exercise of speculative fiction. Organizers and activists struggle tirelessly to create and envision another world, or many other worlds, just as science fiction does… so what better venue for organizers to explore their work than through writing original science fiction stories?”
• Class DIscussion/Thoughts:
  • There is a clear distinction between an activist and imagining. An activist would take action instead of imagining. 
  • People that are suited in a different job can also write science fiction. Science fiction is not bound to one group of people.
  • There are competing visions. Everyone thinks differently and everyone has a different vision of a perfect world is.
  • Science fiction can depict any possibility. 
  • Examples of Activist: Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. are both popular activists that had envisioned a world without violence.
  • Activist and organizers try to sell an idea to the public to gather a movement behind them.

Freewriting #2:

• If you could change anything about yourself, what would it be?
• Class DIscussion/Thoughts:
  • Some students decided that they would want to change a personal feature. And some decided that they would change a personal trait. 
  • Examples: Height, Gender, Sex, IQ, and Environment.

Freewriting #3:

• If you could change anything in the world, what would it be?
• Class Discussion/Thoughts:
  • Change the way people see things. People should no longer see things black and white.
  • People should be open to self-expression.
  • People should be willing to try new things.
  • Hate should be eliminated. If there was no type of discrimination or any prejudice than there would be fewer arguments and wars. 
  • Change the system of the college education. 

Freewriting #4:

• Class Discussion/Thoughts:
  • In this topic, Utopia is thought to be a perfect imagined place where everything seems to be better.
  • Whenever someone thinks of a Utopia, they imagine a better world.
  • However, there can be utopias where evil trumps all. 
  • An example is Adolf Hitler. His ideal utopia is a world without Jewish people. 
  • An ideal utopia can have complex views. Everyone is different and their visions of a utopia can either be benefit themselves or the world. 

If there is anything missing, please do tell me. I could not remember the last freewriting prompt, so if anyone remembers it, tell me so I could add it to the post.