Welcome to your future.

Spaceships. Jet packs. Laser guns. 

No. 

Fifty years from now, the future will still be shaped by the mundane, the stupid, and the petty, living side by side with the Big Ideas. Dirty, shining, poor, glorious, filthy, and wonderful. 50.YFN is where we tell our future's story, hangover and all.

In its short life,
50.YFN has already become a very sharply defined setting, with unique language and history. Because of the ongoing storylines and broad geographical setting, we strongly recommend using the archives and category tags before throwing yourself in the deep end. Read the guidelines, take a look around. There's a truly talented pool of creators breathing life into our world Fifty Years From Now.

You are welcome to be a part of it.

And remember:

This is not a land-grab. There's no turf.  If you're a new writer, you have the same access to Brooklyn as I do, and as much an opportunity to leave your imprint on it. Don't be intimidated. Leave your brand on the future alongside everyone else. It's your world too. 

7.21.2007

The history of the baobab

by Ibrahim Elkhalifa, Khartoum, Sudan

For as long as the semi-arid soil had existed, baobabs had stood tall. Wide and imposing.

Its deformed branches shaded animals and people, its trunk craved out to hold rainwater for the inevitable droughts.

Its sour chalky fruit was soaked for drinks, brewed for more potent drinks by moonshine brewers and enjoyed by children who sucked it and spitted out its black seeds.

Its bark was an essential ingredient for numerous remedies and its leaves soaked in water, alleviated period pains.

The baobab is associated with spirits, griots and assigned great spiritual Importance.
Most young people today have never heard of a baobab, let alone seen one.

The decimation began in 2026, when an Italian furniture designer on Safari was struck with the quality of the Baobab timber.

An international race for Baobab wood began and this rare tree slowly disappeared from the landscape.

At the present time no baobab trees are recorded as existing.

This decimation is noted as being the fastest of its kind, due to the rarity of the tree.

From the African Encyclopedia 2057 7th edition.

2 comments:

FireBrand said...

This is so dope, ahk

Anonymous said...

I really love the piece. Maybe coz i know the tree and love the juice one gets from it, i enjoyed reading it a lot.
Nice flow of description, relaxing and easy to read.