I love to indulge in the realm of the imagination. But how wonderful would Hogwarts be if it was real? I mean, yes, I would love to go to a school like that. But it raises the question on why schools today aren’t built more on the Hogwarts model. Why we’re stuck with rote learning*, instead of a model that actually encourages learning and knowledge gathering and excitement and exploration and critical thinking in students. (But that’s a whole other soapbox, for another day.)

So, lately, I’ve been more and more about engaging in the reality of things, and making this place a world I want to live in. I’ve always been dedicated to causes like animal rights and social change/justice, and my inner development is pushing me more into the realm of science, rationale….and action!

I hope I will always have access to fantastical worlds that my imagination unlocks, but burying my head in a pink, glittery sand of an alien planet? I don’t wish to immerse myself in my creative head so much that I forget animals are dying and the world is being destroyed.

This morning, on Twitter, this “magically synchronous” video appeared in my feed. (Okay, I’m lying–it really didn’t. I was designing a series of Star Trek-inspired rooms on YoWorld because they have a Celestial Vacation theme and other houses I wanted to take advantage of, and I was looking up the characters for inspiration and I ended up on John De Lancie’s Twitter page because I have ADHD and I just got sidetracked even though I’m not much of a celebrity-news consumer and that’s where I saw the video. https://twitter.com/johndelancie/status/1390708963092713474?s=20)

It could be considered “synchronous” in that I am also reading Kurt Anderson’s Fantasyland: How America Went Haywire: A 500-Year History, but it’s not (I won’t bore you again with the path on how I FINALLY started reading it). https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35171984-fantasyland?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=5eQNsBcyas&rank=3

So, let’s take responsibility for the actions that have driven the world to the ruinous state it is in now. Let’s set the course for a new path of self-directed human evolution that works to undo the damage we have done to the planet (even it means we have to be uncomfortable while we adapt), and to ourselves. And have science, and each other, as our allies in this fight, instead of looking for a mythical force to save us from ourselves. As John De Lancie put it, let’s be our own “superheroes.”

*Disclaimer: My problems with rote learning and standardized testing and such come from my own struggles and negative experiences within the school system, and not because I’m a supporter of creationism and/or intelligent design.