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Keep Calm in 2076

by M.C. MoHagani Magnetek

Winter 2022-23, FORUM Magazine

TO SURVIVE future Alaska climate change
Keep Calm will be my legal name
Sure, it’s sweltering heatwaves in November
Wildfires weekly dancing of embers
damn hot will be to say the least
Consider an even more daunting beast
Increased population of mosquitoes
Blocking scenic views out of windows
To a world complete with poverty
(Some things won’t change fundamentally).

But hey the future ain’t that dark and bleak
Mental wellness and self-care for all who seek
To ride and overcome the obstacles
More carpooling, folks walking and riding bicycles
To the farmers’ market for fresh produce deals
Social justice equality diversity inclusivity for real
Children will appreciate their inherited planet
Land acknowledgement much love for Tlingit
Gender expansive queer identity is the norm
A safe place in space for this girl called Keep Calm.

From my perspective.
The way I see it.

I’ll thrive because the people will absolutely adore me for
providing free and guided 3-mile hiking tours accumulating
in a Tai Chi retreat at the Mendenhall Glacier which will
have receded another half a mile deeper into the valley. All
glowed-up, I’ll be a roller derby superstar in the year 2076.
Yep, I’ll be 100 years old still on 8’s and the crowd will go
bananas for Keep Calm (cuz that’s my legal name) inside
Juneau’s floating biodome... a floating city as a result of rising
sea levels on the coastline and closed-in to meet the need for
continuous protection from those damn mosquitoes. ■

M.C. MoHagani Magnetek holds degrees in anthropology and English, and has an MFA in creative writing and literary arts. She is a PhD student in cultural anthropology and historical archaeology at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. She is currently working on getting her life together to focus her doctoral studies on the culture, history, and arts of diasporic African people in the Circumpolar Far North. Frying fish is her favorite pastime.
 
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