Rowe-Sutton, Maxwell

Cloud Break: Stories from a Changing Climate

My interest in Cloud Break stems from a joy and an anxiety: a passion for writing fiction, and a fear over the destruction of our collective home. Inspired by authors like Ursula K. Le Guin, I love crafting fictional worlds around political and environmental themes. Once quarantine ends, I hope to join the Chicago chapters of the Democratic Socialists of America and the Sunrise Movement. When not writing, I also rap a bit on the side.

Major: English

Senior, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

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Abstract

Cloud Break: Stories from a Changing Climate is a collection of imaginary environmental futures. Containing two written pieces, this project asserts that narrative fiction is essential to climate reform. A society’s narratives determine the boundaries of policy and political realism; fiction can expand those boundaries and provide alternatives to present hegemony. The story “Everything Now” follows a baker who manifests the destructive ideology of the fossil fuel industry. “Cloud Break” is a detective narrative that portrays the shortcomings of a post-Green New Deal society. Only stories can plot our future.

Thesis Director: Michael Morano

Department: English

Faculty Reader: Sean D. Kirkland

Department: Philosophy

Faculty Reader: John Shanahan

Department: English

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Project Poster

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Presentation