1 00:00:01,680 --> 00:00:12,200 Speaker 1: Cool Zone Media book Club, book Club, book Club, book Club, Club, 2 00:00:12,240 --> 00:00:17,480 Speaker 1: book Buck. Hello and welcome to the Cool Zone Media 3 00:00:17,520 --> 00:00:20,720 Speaker 1: book Club, the only book club where you don't have 4 00:00:20,800 --> 00:00:23,400 Speaker 1: to do the reading because I do it for you. 5 00:00:24,040 --> 00:00:27,720 Speaker 1: I'm your host, Margaret Kiljoy. And today, how do you 6 00:00:27,760 --> 00:00:32,200 Speaker 1: feel about folklore? How do you feel about children's bedtime stories? 7 00:00:32,800 --> 00:00:36,000 Speaker 1: How do you feel about Spider max Today we are 8 00:00:36,040 --> 00:00:40,480 Speaker 1: reading the Cloud Weavers song by soul Tan Pepper, which 9 00:00:40,479 --> 00:00:45,400 Speaker 1: blends the lyricism and mythopoetics of folklore with just gorgeous 10 00:00:45,440 --> 00:00:49,199 Speaker 1: sci fi imagery about climate refugees, ancestry. Spider Max I 11 00:00:49,280 --> 00:00:52,479 Speaker 1: mentioned the Spider Max I think and struggling to convince 12 00:00:52,560 --> 00:00:56,680 Speaker 1: established power structures the world is changing. It's also a 13 00:00:56,680 --> 00:00:59,560 Speaker 1: story that is steeped in the language and place names 14 00:00:59,600 --> 00:01:02,080 Speaker 1: of a Trium, which is a small country in the 15 00:01:02,120 --> 00:01:06,080 Speaker 1: Horn of East Africa that shares a border with Ethiopia 16 00:01:06,120 --> 00:01:09,640 Speaker 1: and Sudan. This story is from a twenty twenty one 17 00:01:09,720 --> 00:01:15,880 Speaker 1: collection called after Glow Climate Fiction for Future Ancestors, which 18 00:01:15,880 --> 00:01:20,160 Speaker 1: itself started as a story contest from Grist called Imagine 19 00:01:20,200 --> 00:01:24,679 Speaker 1: twenty twenty that challenged readers to quote envision the next 20 00:01:24,720 --> 00:01:28,160 Speaker 1: one hundred and eighty years of equitable climate progress, whether 21 00:01:28,200 --> 00:01:31,720 Speaker 1: built on abundance or adaptation, reform, or a new understanding 22 00:01:31,760 --> 00:01:35,479 Speaker 1: of survival. These stories provide flickers of hope, even joy, 23 00:01:35,680 --> 00:01:39,000 Speaker 1: and serve as a springboard for exploring how fiction can 24 00:01:39,040 --> 00:01:43,679 Speaker 1: help create a better reality, which is, you know, part 25 00:01:43,720 --> 00:01:48,320 Speaker 1: of our alley is very up our valley. I don't 26 00:01:48,360 --> 00:01:53,600 Speaker 1: know how that metaphor works without further ado The cloud 27 00:01:53,640 --> 00:02:01,280 Speaker 1: Weavers song by Saul tan Pepper. The Great grand Abbo 28 00:02:01,520 --> 00:02:05,240 Speaker 1: ten times Removed was the last of the Danichilia phar, 29 00:02:05,880 --> 00:02:09,960 Speaker 1: I say, settling back against the cushion, and the first 30 00:02:10,160 --> 00:02:14,680 Speaker 1: to construct the towers. A breeze passes in through the 31 00:02:14,720 --> 00:02:19,200 Speaker 1: open door and dries the sweat on our brows. Tonight 32 00:02:19,320 --> 00:02:21,519 Speaker 1: is the first time the temperature has been cool enough 33 00:02:21,520 --> 00:02:24,440 Speaker 1: to leave the windows open and the rooms fill with 34 00:02:24,520 --> 00:02:29,000 Speaker 1: the humid aroma of the day's harvest. Before the great 35 00:02:29,120 --> 00:02:32,679 Speaker 1: drying swept across the land, the Afar were a nomadic 36 00:02:32,720 --> 00:02:38,120 Speaker 1: people of the horn, shepherds mainly who kept themselves. Afterward 37 00:02:38,200 --> 00:02:42,480 Speaker 1: they became builders and salt traders. Your great grand Adi 38 00:02:42,600 --> 00:02:47,880 Speaker 1: ten times removed came from the Highlands. Senate fidgets matters 39 00:02:47,919 --> 00:02:51,720 Speaker 1: of ancient history hold little interest for her. She asks 40 00:02:51,760 --> 00:02:57,840 Speaker 1: to hear about the cloud weavers instead, let your adi finish, 41 00:02:58,040 --> 00:03:02,480 Speaker 1: little one. Abo Leimi gently chides, it is important that 42 00:03:02,560 --> 00:03:05,760 Speaker 1: you know where you come from. But I smile down 43 00:03:05,800 --> 00:03:08,120 Speaker 1: at my daughter, I draw her hair away from my 44 00:03:08,200 --> 00:03:13,080 Speaker 1: eyes and ask, how do you know about them? Test 45 00:03:13,160 --> 00:03:15,840 Speaker 1: told me? He says, we are sky people that are 46 00:03:15,919 --> 00:03:21,720 Speaker 1: rightful places, with them weaving the clouds. Test fay Leamy murmurs. 47 00:03:22,120 --> 00:03:25,040 Speaker 1: He rolls his eyes, but gives me an amused look. 48 00:03:26,400 --> 00:03:29,240 Speaker 1: Your brother's head is already in the clouds, I say, chuckling. 49 00:03:29,800 --> 00:03:32,639 Speaker 1: But I will make a deal with you, Sanate. I 50 00:03:32,680 --> 00:03:35,120 Speaker 1: will tell you about the weavers if you promise to 51 00:03:35,160 --> 00:03:39,360 Speaker 1: go to sleep right after I am finished. And also 52 00:03:39,400 --> 00:03:42,480 Speaker 1: the thief of Sand. Sanate says, sitting up straighter in 53 00:03:42,520 --> 00:03:47,200 Speaker 1: her bed, Her eyes sparkle mischievously, belaying the exhaustion she 54 00:03:47,280 --> 00:03:50,800 Speaker 1: tries so hard to hide. A believe me bellows out 55 00:03:50,840 --> 00:03:54,200 Speaker 1: a laugh. Our daughter. I do not think she wishes 56 00:03:54,240 --> 00:03:57,560 Speaker 1: to sleep at all tonight, but I know she will 57 00:03:57,600 --> 00:04:01,280 Speaker 1: slumber and soon. For the wee and the sand Thief 58 00:04:01,320 --> 00:04:03,800 Speaker 1: are part of the same story, and it is not 59 00:04:04,000 --> 00:04:07,680 Speaker 1: very long in the telling, and afterward. Maybe then she 60 00:04:07,720 --> 00:04:10,800 Speaker 1: will understand why her older brother's audacious claims are both 61 00:04:10,880 --> 00:04:15,240 Speaker 1: right and wrong. As for Abelimi, he is less anxious 62 00:04:15,240 --> 00:04:18,000 Speaker 1: about her daughter's weariness than for my own work yet 63 00:04:18,040 --> 00:04:20,640 Speaker 1: to come, for there is so much still to do 64 00:04:20,839 --> 00:04:24,039 Speaker 1: in two few hours before the sun will next rise. 65 00:04:25,600 --> 00:04:28,040 Speaker 1: In the history of our people, there has never been 66 00:04:28,080 --> 00:04:32,599 Speaker 1: a land more inhospitable than the Danakil. Even in the 67 00:04:32,640 --> 00:04:35,560 Speaker 1: time before the Great Drying, in what was known as 68 00:04:35,640 --> 00:04:38,880 Speaker 1: the Afar Triangle of the Great Horn, there existed a 69 00:04:38,920 --> 00:04:42,279 Speaker 1: place so hot and so parched that almost nothing grew. 70 00:04:43,240 --> 00:04:46,400 Speaker 1: Sulfur springs bubbled up from the ground wherever you stood, 71 00:04:46,960 --> 00:04:50,480 Speaker 1: spewing poison that painted the rocks yellow and turned the 72 00:04:50,480 --> 00:04:55,040 Speaker 1: sky as sickly gray. And yet, in such an inhospitable place, 73 00:04:55,560 --> 00:05:00,040 Speaker 1: isolated and against all odds, a humble people thrived for 74 00:05:00,200 --> 00:05:05,880 Speaker 1: thousand years. But the world was changing, growing hotter and drier, 75 00:05:06,360 --> 00:05:09,000 Speaker 1: and soon even the hardiest of the Afar were driven 76 00:05:09,040 --> 00:05:13,640 Speaker 1: away by the intolerable heat. They migrated inland, for the 77 00:05:13,720 --> 00:05:16,920 Speaker 1: only other direction was the sea. They surely could not 78 00:05:16,960 --> 00:05:19,960 Speaker 1: go there. They ended up in the midlands of the 79 00:05:20,000 --> 00:05:23,200 Speaker 1: Great Horn, which was a place of many different climates. 80 00:05:24,000 --> 00:05:26,880 Speaker 1: In some areas, where the temperature had long been cooler 81 00:05:26,920 --> 00:05:31,719 Speaker 1: in the air, wetter forests stood thick and tall. In others, 82 00:05:31,800 --> 00:05:35,520 Speaker 1: the land was flat and suitable for growing crops. But 83 00:05:35,600 --> 00:05:38,120 Speaker 1: it was in the dry lands there, among the towering 84 00:05:38,240 --> 00:05:42,799 Speaker 1: termite mounds and the scorpions, that the solitary Afar found 85 00:05:42,800 --> 00:05:46,920 Speaker 1: familiar surroundings. So that is where they settled, even though 86 00:05:46,960 --> 00:05:49,400 Speaker 1: it was not their home. For I think you will 87 00:05:49,440 --> 00:05:51,640 Speaker 1: agree that it is always better to take shelter in 88 00:05:51,680 --> 00:05:54,600 Speaker 1: a stranger's house than to refuse to leave your own 89 00:05:54,680 --> 00:05:58,159 Speaker 1: when it is burning to the ground. At the same time, 90 00:05:58,240 --> 00:06:01,400 Speaker 1: the people of the milder Midland climse times farmers mostly 91 00:06:01,839 --> 00:06:04,440 Speaker 1: were being forced deeper into the interior by the heat. 92 00:06:05,400 --> 00:06:08,839 Speaker 1: There was once a beautiful city called Asmara, high and 93 00:06:08,880 --> 00:06:12,320 Speaker 1: the Cabessa Plateau a mile and a half into the sky. 94 00:06:13,320 --> 00:06:17,360 Speaker 1: Asmara was a wondrous place where, for one hundred thousand years, 95 00:06:17,400 --> 00:06:21,240 Speaker 1: the clouds drenched the air each night, and rains nourished 96 00:06:21,240 --> 00:06:25,200 Speaker 1: the soil. The rivers that flowed down its escarpments fed 97 00:06:25,279 --> 00:06:29,480 Speaker 1: the lowlands and eventually emptied into the sea. The ancient 98 00:06:29,600 --> 00:06:33,640 Speaker 1: name Asmara comes from the phrase arbate Esmara, which in 99 00:06:33,680 --> 00:06:38,800 Speaker 1: the original Tigrinia means the four women who made them unite. 100 00:06:38,839 --> 00:06:41,839 Speaker 1: Many centuries before, this land had been under a constant 101 00:06:41,880 --> 00:06:45,640 Speaker 1: threat from a common enemy. Now, as before, it was 102 00:06:45,680 --> 00:06:48,320 Speaker 1: the women who brought the clans together to defend against 103 00:06:48,320 --> 00:06:52,760 Speaker 1: this new danger. For a while, Asmara became a sanctuary 104 00:06:52,800 --> 00:06:56,279 Speaker 1: to anyone seeking refuge from the Great Drying. But the 105 00:06:56,320 --> 00:06:59,920 Speaker 1: heat and drought were unrelenting foes, and they drove more 106 00:07:00,040 --> 00:07:03,479 Speaker 1: and more people to the city on the plateau. Week 107 00:07:03,520 --> 00:07:07,720 Speaker 1: after week. They came, year after year, and because there 108 00:07:07,800 --> 00:07:10,960 Speaker 1: was only so much land to hold them all, war 109 00:07:11,040 --> 00:07:18,200 Speaker 1: became inevitable. For a hundred years, the fighting waged now, 110 00:07:18,280 --> 00:07:20,520 Speaker 1: just as there is no amount of conflict, no matter 111 00:07:20,560 --> 00:07:23,360 Speaker 1: how bitterly fought, which can alter the course of nature. 112 00:07:24,080 --> 00:07:26,840 Speaker 1: No volume of human blood could quench the thirst of 113 00:07:26,880 --> 00:07:31,760 Speaker 1: the Great Drying. The deserts continued to expand, spreading until 114 00:07:31,760 --> 00:07:34,360 Speaker 1: they reached the very ankles of the beloved city on 115 00:07:34,400 --> 00:07:38,360 Speaker 1: the plateau. It is said that necessity makes us do 116 00:07:38,520 --> 00:07:42,040 Speaker 1: what we must in order to survive. Eventually, the rains 117 00:07:42,040 --> 00:07:45,360 Speaker 1: began to evaporate before ever reaching the ground, and the 118 00:07:45,440 --> 00:07:49,920 Speaker 1: rivers dried long before spilling into the sea. So the 119 00:07:49,960 --> 00:07:53,360 Speaker 1: women of Esmara rose again and taught themselves how to 120 00:07:53,400 --> 00:08:00,000 Speaker 1: harvest the nightly mists with threads spun from molten glass. 121 00:08:00,200 --> 00:08:04,440 Speaker 1: While it helped, but the thirst of the great drying 122 00:08:04,600 --> 00:08:09,560 Speaker 1: was like that of the hyenas, never slaked. Not satisfied 123 00:08:09,600 --> 00:08:12,960 Speaker 1: with stealing the fogs from all the lands beneath Asmara's feet, 124 00:08:13,600 --> 00:08:17,960 Speaker 1: it reached up and took them from her too. Once more, 125 00:08:18,120 --> 00:08:20,760 Speaker 1: necessity made the people do what they must in order 126 00:08:20,800 --> 00:08:24,520 Speaker 1: to survive. The peaceful Afar had long since retreated into 127 00:08:24,560 --> 00:08:27,920 Speaker 1: the clouds by building towers that reached even higher than 128 00:08:27,960 --> 00:08:32,240 Speaker 1: the Kabessa plateau. Now it was their brothers and sisters 129 00:08:32,280 --> 00:08:35,080 Speaker 1: houses burning to the ground, and so they welcomed them 130 00:08:35,120 --> 00:08:38,239 Speaker 1: all into the sky, where the mists were still plentiful 131 00:08:38,400 --> 00:08:44,320 Speaker 1: and ripe for harvesting. Simhar Ibrahim was a weaver of webs. 132 00:08:44,520 --> 00:08:46,880 Speaker 1: Each night, she assumed the skin of a spider and 133 00:08:47,320 --> 00:08:50,320 Speaker 1: set out from her little hole to spin her delicate threads. 134 00:08:51,200 --> 00:08:53,880 Speaker 1: High above the ground where the clouds formed. She carefully 135 00:08:53,960 --> 00:08:57,560 Speaker 1: laid out line after endless line, each one as thin 136 00:08:57,679 --> 00:09:00,600 Speaker 1: as a hare and as long as a mile, to 137 00:09:00,679 --> 00:09:04,120 Speaker 1: harvest the dew that condensed upon them. She gently plucked 138 00:09:04,160 --> 00:09:09,040 Speaker 1: each string, sending them vibrating along their entire length. Each 139 00:09:09,120 --> 00:09:12,640 Speaker 1: wire carried its own unique note, and when played altogether, 140 00:09:12,800 --> 00:09:16,720 Speaker 1: they sang the song of the weavers. As the droplets 141 00:09:16,720 --> 00:09:20,280 Speaker 1: traveled down the wires, they merged and grew fat, creating 142 00:09:20,320 --> 00:09:23,840 Speaker 1: a delicate river suspended in the sky. This is how 143 00:09:23,880 --> 00:09:26,600 Speaker 1: the people harvested the cloud so that they all might live. 144 00:09:27,360 --> 00:09:29,400 Speaker 1: And each night, when you heard the tune, you would 145 00:09:29,400 --> 00:09:32,959 Speaker 1: know how heavily laden the wires were with mist, depending 146 00:09:33,000 --> 00:09:37,840 Speaker 1: on how melodious or melancholic the notes sounded. Simhar was 147 00:09:37,880 --> 00:09:40,400 Speaker 1: still a young woman when her dear friend Ali Mira 148 00:09:40,480 --> 00:09:44,240 Speaker 1: Kadapho fell to the earth. Ali, as he was known 149 00:09:44,280 --> 00:09:47,960 Speaker 1: by her, was an orphan. His mother and father had 150 00:09:48,000 --> 00:09:50,320 Speaker 1: died when he was still but a child, no taller 151 00:09:50,360 --> 00:09:53,360 Speaker 1: than a grown man's hip. He knew only of his 152 00:09:53,480 --> 00:09:56,800 Speaker 1: parents trade from the faintest memories and the stories others 153 00:09:56,840 --> 00:09:59,600 Speaker 1: told him. But as soon as he was old enough, 154 00:10:00,040 --> 00:10:02,680 Speaker 1: he donned the skin of the termite, just as his 155 00:10:02,760 --> 00:10:06,360 Speaker 1: Adhi and Abo had, and also as their forebearers had 156 00:10:06,440 --> 00:10:09,240 Speaker 1: done before them, all the way back to when they 157 00:10:09,240 --> 00:10:13,480 Speaker 1: first raised their homes into the sky. Only the descendants 158 00:10:13,520 --> 00:10:16,200 Speaker 1: of the Afar were allowed to wear the termite skins, 159 00:10:16,720 --> 00:10:19,000 Speaker 1: for no one else dared to erect the towers so 160 00:10:19,160 --> 00:10:22,840 Speaker 1: high where the air was so thin, and no others 161 00:10:22,880 --> 00:10:25,800 Speaker 1: can make the long and treacherous descent each day to 162 00:10:25,840 --> 00:10:28,960 Speaker 1: where the air was oven hot and desert dry to 163 00:10:29,000 --> 00:10:31,840 Speaker 1: collect the sand they needed to build their houses and 164 00:10:31,960 --> 00:10:36,200 Speaker 1: harvest the salt the people needed to survive, and do 165 00:10:36,240 --> 00:10:40,000 Speaker 1: you know what needs you in order to survive? The 166 00:10:40,040 --> 00:11:00,480 Speaker 1: products and services that support this podcast and were back months. 167 00:11:00,640 --> 00:11:03,160 Speaker 1: Somehow had been weaving longer into the night than she 168 00:11:03,280 --> 00:11:07,000 Speaker 1: was supposed to, constructing larger and more intricate webs in 169 00:11:07,080 --> 00:11:10,840 Speaker 1: order to better capture the dwindling mists. The air had 170 00:11:10,880 --> 00:11:13,520 Speaker 1: been growing drier, which the leader said was due to 171 00:11:13,559 --> 00:11:17,040 Speaker 1: the yearly shift in the seasons, but she felt in 172 00:11:17,080 --> 00:11:21,319 Speaker 1: her bones that this time was different. The capricious clouds 173 00:11:21,320 --> 00:11:24,120 Speaker 1: seemed less willing than ever to relinquish their bounty to 174 00:11:24,200 --> 00:11:27,800 Speaker 1: her web. Yet for all her worrying, the leaders of 175 00:11:27,840 --> 00:11:32,480 Speaker 1: the council did not seem very concerned. One morning, several 176 00:11:32,520 --> 00:11:36,240 Speaker 1: weeks before Ali's fall, as Semhar made her way back home, 177 00:11:36,720 --> 00:11:39,960 Speaker 1: she encountered him preparing for his daily descent to the ground. 178 00:11:41,280 --> 00:11:44,240 Speaker 1: Usually she would only see him in the evenings, after 179 00:11:44,320 --> 00:11:46,720 Speaker 1: he had already made his rounds, trading with the growers 180 00:11:46,760 --> 00:11:49,960 Speaker 1: for food and the weavers for water. The two young 181 00:11:50,040 --> 00:11:52,920 Speaker 1: friends would sit together and eat their supper, watching the 182 00:11:52,960 --> 00:11:56,360 Speaker 1: sun drop down onto the barren Kabasa Plateau far to 183 00:11:56,400 --> 00:11:59,760 Speaker 1: the west. The darkness would settle in and the mists 184 00:11:59,760 --> 00:12:03,480 Speaker 1: would rise toward their backs, and when the fog overtook 185 00:12:03,520 --> 00:12:06,520 Speaker 1: them and blanketed the stars above, he would off to bed, 186 00:12:07,000 --> 00:12:10,240 Speaker 1: whilst she would don her spider skin and begin to 187 00:12:10,240 --> 00:12:14,520 Speaker 1: spin her web. Seeing him that morning, she realized how 188 00:12:14,600 --> 00:12:17,520 Speaker 1: late she was in returning. He warned her to be 189 00:12:17,600 --> 00:12:20,480 Speaker 1: more careful, for the rising sun would melt her threads 190 00:12:21,040 --> 00:12:24,079 Speaker 1: and she could fall. He did not wish for her 191 00:12:24,120 --> 00:12:26,600 Speaker 1: a fate similar to the one his parents had suffered 192 00:12:26,679 --> 00:12:30,280 Speaker 1: years before. As she watched him descend into the morning 193 00:12:30,320 --> 00:12:34,839 Speaker 1: mist below, she had a thought, tonight, I will spin 194 00:12:34,880 --> 00:12:37,840 Speaker 1: my web down there, for that is where the clouds 195 00:12:37,840 --> 00:12:41,360 Speaker 1: have gone. But her parents told her no, it is 196 00:12:41,440 --> 00:12:44,319 Speaker 1: too dangerous. They said, it is too hot, and the 197 00:12:44,360 --> 00:12:48,280 Speaker 1: winds are too unpredictable, and besides, how can we collect 198 00:12:48,320 --> 00:12:50,880 Speaker 1: the water if the webs are below the cisterns. You 199 00:12:50,960 --> 00:12:53,120 Speaker 1: must continue to weave the clouds as we have done 200 00:12:53,200 --> 00:12:57,959 Speaker 1: for generations, high above us. But the clouds are thicker 201 00:12:58,000 --> 00:13:02,960 Speaker 1: below above us. They repeated. Each year, the great drying 202 00:13:03,080 --> 00:13:05,640 Speaker 1: chases the clouds higher and higher. It has been this 203 00:13:05,720 --> 00:13:08,240 Speaker 1: way for two hundred years, and is why we must 204 00:13:08,240 --> 00:13:12,199 Speaker 1: build our towers a little taller each day. Somehar was defiant. 205 00:13:12,600 --> 00:13:15,320 Speaker 1: She knew the clouds were no longer rising. In fact, 206 00:13:15,600 --> 00:13:19,600 Speaker 1: they were falling. This is a temporary change, they assured her. 207 00:13:20,040 --> 00:13:23,480 Speaker 1: We are sky people, builders of towers and weavers of clouds, 208 00:13:24,800 --> 00:13:28,560 Speaker 1: but we were not always so. Some are countered. Our 209 00:13:28,640 --> 00:13:32,280 Speaker 1: dearest Wulat, listen to your parents. Do not look below 210 00:13:32,360 --> 00:13:35,480 Speaker 1: for answers, for you will not find them. Our ancestors 211 00:13:35,480 --> 00:13:39,240 Speaker 1: have taught us this valuable lesson. But the ancestors had 212 00:13:39,280 --> 00:13:41,800 Speaker 1: also taught that necessity made them do what they must 213 00:13:41,800 --> 00:13:45,280 Speaker 1: in order to survive. Some are believed the sky people's 214 00:13:45,360 --> 00:13:48,720 Speaker 1: very existence, like that of their forebears, lay once more 215 00:13:48,760 --> 00:13:53,200 Speaker 1: in the balance. The clouds are shifting, she told Ali 216 00:13:53,280 --> 00:13:55,760 Speaker 1: when she met him for supper that evening. They are 217 00:13:55,800 --> 00:13:58,560 Speaker 1: no longer as high as they used to be. Ali 218 00:13:58,640 --> 00:14:02,559 Speaker 1: Atas and Jara thoughtful but did not reply. His was 219 00:14:02,600 --> 00:14:05,800 Speaker 1: a simple life of climbing and gathering, and climbing and 220 00:14:05,880 --> 00:14:09,640 Speaker 1: bartering day after day. He did not like to think 221 00:14:09,679 --> 00:14:12,720 Speaker 1: about change. Change was what had happened when his Abo 222 00:14:12,800 --> 00:14:15,560 Speaker 1: and Addie had died. In fact, he disliked it so 223 00:14:15,679 --> 00:14:18,040 Speaker 1: much that his first instinct was to refuse to acknowledge 224 00:14:18,080 --> 00:14:21,120 Speaker 1: it at all. But Simhar was his dear friend, and 225 00:14:21,200 --> 00:14:23,640 Speaker 1: he loved and respected her, for she had a keen 226 00:14:23,720 --> 00:14:27,800 Speaker 1: mind and always spoke the truth. Also, he too had 227 00:14:27,840 --> 00:14:30,080 Speaker 1: sensed the shift in the weather, and it was not 228 00:14:30,200 --> 00:14:33,000 Speaker 1: the same seasonal cycle he had witnessed in years past. 229 00:14:33,680 --> 00:14:37,160 Speaker 1: Each morning, the mists wet, the tower bases longer and lower, 230 00:14:37,560 --> 00:14:39,880 Speaker 1: and it took him extra time to make the treacherous 231 00:14:39,880 --> 00:14:43,680 Speaker 1: climb to the ground. More than once he had nearly 232 00:14:43,720 --> 00:14:48,600 Speaker 1: slipped and fallen. Today, she told him, I will need 233 00:14:48,640 --> 00:14:51,840 Speaker 1: an extra allotment of sand. I have already given you 234 00:14:51,920 --> 00:14:55,200 Speaker 1: all I can spare. He replied, how much more can 235 00:14:55,240 --> 00:14:58,480 Speaker 1: you weave? I wish to spin a whole extra web. 236 00:15:00,000 --> 00:15:02,360 Speaker 1: You already use up every minute of darkness on the one. 237 00:15:03,680 --> 00:15:06,840 Speaker 1: But I haven't used up all the mist. Somehow, if 238 00:15:06,880 --> 00:15:08,960 Speaker 1: I let you have more, the builders will begin to 239 00:15:09,040 --> 00:15:13,160 Speaker 1: notice the deficit tomorrow morning, she pressed, as if she 240 00:15:13,160 --> 00:15:15,760 Speaker 1: hadn't heard a single word. He said, I will build 241 00:15:15,760 --> 00:15:18,520 Speaker 1: a second web. This one will be lower, while the 242 00:15:18,560 --> 00:15:21,040 Speaker 1: mists are still beneath us and the sun hasn't burned 243 00:15:21,080 --> 00:15:25,680 Speaker 1: them away. He scoffed, And how will you harvest the water? 244 00:15:25,760 --> 00:15:28,840 Speaker 1: Then the drops will fall uncollected to the ground and 245 00:15:28,880 --> 00:15:31,960 Speaker 1: be wasted. The desert does not need the rain as 246 00:15:32,000 --> 00:15:35,640 Speaker 1: we do. I wish to prove a point to the council, 247 00:15:35,840 --> 00:15:37,640 Speaker 1: And if I am to be confident that I am right, 248 00:15:38,240 --> 00:15:41,640 Speaker 1: I must first prove it to myself. If they find out, 249 00:15:41,720 --> 00:15:44,560 Speaker 1: you will be punished for breaking the wounds. The leaders 250 00:15:44,560 --> 00:15:47,880 Speaker 1: are like lions, always hunting the weak to make way 251 00:15:47,920 --> 00:15:51,000 Speaker 1: for the strong. They will take your skin away from 252 00:15:51,000 --> 00:15:54,920 Speaker 1: you and let someone else weave the clouds instead. What 253 00:15:55,040 --> 00:15:59,560 Speaker 1: will you do? Then? There is an old saying when 254 00:15:59,600 --> 00:16:03,400 Speaker 1: spider webs unite, they can capture a lion. The leaders 255 00:16:03,400 --> 00:16:05,920 Speaker 1: are stubborn, this is true, but they are not stupid. 256 00:16:06,440 --> 00:16:09,840 Speaker 1: I will spin my webs to capture their attention. Only 257 00:16:09,880 --> 00:16:12,480 Speaker 1: then will I make them see that things are changing, 258 00:16:12,920 --> 00:16:14,840 Speaker 1: even if they are changing in ways that they might 259 00:16:14,880 --> 00:16:18,640 Speaker 1: not want or expect them to. They are comfortable with 260 00:16:18,680 --> 00:16:22,000 Speaker 1: their life uppear in the sky, but we cannot keep 261 00:16:22,040 --> 00:16:25,000 Speaker 1: building higher and breathing thinner air while chasing clouds that 262 00:16:25,040 --> 00:16:28,960 Speaker 1: are no longer there. Ali considered this for a long time, 263 00:16:29,680 --> 00:16:32,160 Speaker 1: as he did somehow turned her back to the sunset 264 00:16:32,200 --> 00:16:35,400 Speaker 1: for the first time and instead watched the mists rolling 265 00:16:35,480 --> 00:16:38,200 Speaker 1: in from a distant sea she'd only ever seen in 266 00:16:38,240 --> 00:16:42,120 Speaker 1: her dreams. Finally, when the first delicate drops of dew 267 00:16:42,160 --> 00:16:46,080 Speaker 1: began to reach up and caress their skin, Ali told 268 00:16:46,160 --> 00:16:50,240 Speaker 1: her what he would do. It was a tremendous amount 269 00:16:50,320 --> 00:16:53,520 Speaker 1: of extra work for him, but Ali believed in his friend. 270 00:16:53,960 --> 00:16:57,120 Speaker 1: It also helped that he shared her concerns. The clouds 271 00:16:57,120 --> 00:16:59,880 Speaker 1: were shifting, and if the trend continued, as some are 272 00:16:59,880 --> 00:17:02,600 Speaker 1: believed it would, they would eventually have no more miss 273 00:17:02,640 --> 00:17:06,600 Speaker 1: to harvest. The extra thousand pounds of sand he carried 274 00:17:06,680 --> 00:17:09,919 Speaker 1: threatened his skin's grip As he climbed the tower that evening. 275 00:17:10,680 --> 00:17:13,159 Speaker 1: It took him far longer than usual to return to 276 00:17:13,200 --> 00:17:17,160 Speaker 1: the top, and he was exhausted when he arrived. Why 277 00:17:17,200 --> 00:17:20,840 Speaker 1: are you so late, Ala Mira Caadafo, the builders demanded. 278 00:17:21,320 --> 00:17:24,160 Speaker 1: We were worried you had fallen, just as your parents did. 279 00:17:24,760 --> 00:17:28,760 Speaker 1: No reason, he told them, No reason. Are you embarrassed 280 00:17:28,760 --> 00:17:32,399 Speaker 1: for falling asleep whilst gathering sand in the desert. You 281 00:17:32,480 --> 00:17:35,280 Speaker 1: must be more careful, or else you will dry up 282 00:17:35,400 --> 00:17:39,159 Speaker 1: like the salt. Will you trade for your allotment or not? 283 00:17:40,680 --> 00:17:44,399 Speaker 1: Why should we You were late, they repeated, We have 284 00:17:44,480 --> 00:17:48,600 Speaker 1: already traded with someone else for tomorrow's work. What am 285 00:17:48,600 --> 00:17:50,520 Speaker 1: I supposed to do with the sand I have today? 286 00:17:51,840 --> 00:17:54,040 Speaker 1: We will take it anyway, but give you nothing in 287 00:17:54,080 --> 00:17:57,600 Speaker 1: return tomorrow. Make sure you are back in time, or 288 00:17:57,640 --> 00:17:59,960 Speaker 1: else we will tell the council that you no longer 289 00:18:00,119 --> 00:18:04,760 Speaker 1: deserved to wear the skin. This will not work, Allie thought, 290 00:18:04,840 --> 00:18:06,600 Speaker 1: as he left the builders. I will just have to 291 00:18:06,640 --> 00:18:09,159 Speaker 1: tell some heart Supper that I cannot get her extra 292 00:18:09,240 --> 00:18:12,320 Speaker 1: sand for her wires. But it was too late to 293 00:18:12,320 --> 00:18:14,560 Speaker 1: see her that evening, for the sun was already beginning 294 00:18:14,560 --> 00:18:16,840 Speaker 1: to set and the mists were coiling at their feet. 295 00:18:17,800 --> 00:18:20,960 Speaker 1: Semhow would have finished eating by now, and Ali still 296 00:18:21,080 --> 00:18:24,919 Speaker 1: had salt yet to trade for his own dinner. He 297 00:18:24,960 --> 00:18:27,320 Speaker 1: went looking for her the next day, after he had 298 00:18:27,359 --> 00:18:30,240 Speaker 1: returned from the ground at the usual time with his 299 00:18:30,359 --> 00:18:33,120 Speaker 1: usual load and given the builders their sand and traded 300 00:18:33,119 --> 00:18:36,639 Speaker 1: his salt away. She was flushed with excitement and barely 301 00:18:36,680 --> 00:18:40,000 Speaker 1: allowed him any chance to speak while they ate. I 302 00:18:40,040 --> 00:18:42,280 Speaker 1: have not seen so much water in a very long time, 303 00:18:42,400 --> 00:18:45,520 Speaker 1: she told him. If this continues as I expect, then 304 00:18:45,520 --> 00:18:49,199 Speaker 1: I will soon tell the leaders. You cannot do that, 305 00:18:49,920 --> 00:18:52,639 Speaker 1: He told her what had happened the day before. It 306 00:18:52,720 --> 00:18:55,159 Speaker 1: takes me too long to gather the extra sand, in 307 00:18:55,280 --> 00:18:57,919 Speaker 1: far more effort to climb the tower, so that by 308 00:18:57,960 --> 00:19:00,439 Speaker 1: the time I have returned, the builders have already received 309 00:19:00,480 --> 00:19:04,240 Speaker 1: their allocations from other gatherers. They still take my sand 310 00:19:04,440 --> 00:19:06,840 Speaker 1: and give me nothing in return, so that I am 311 00:19:06,880 --> 00:19:10,600 Speaker 1: left with little to show for my efforts. I am sorry, Sahar, 312 00:19:11,080 --> 00:19:13,280 Speaker 1: but I have no extra sand for you this evening. 313 00:19:13,840 --> 00:19:16,440 Speaker 1: Ali lay in bed for a long time without sleeping. 314 00:19:16,480 --> 00:19:20,000 Speaker 1: That night. He couldn't get Samhar's disappointment from his mind. 315 00:19:20,720 --> 00:19:23,679 Speaker 1: High above him, the weavers built their webs to harvest 316 00:19:23,720 --> 00:19:26,439 Speaker 1: the mists, and the songs their webs sang were the 317 00:19:26,480 --> 00:19:29,679 Speaker 1: saddest he had ever heard. He decided then that he 318 00:19:29,680 --> 00:19:33,280 Speaker 1: would leave earlier the next morning, an extra hour before sunrise, 319 00:19:33,760 --> 00:19:36,840 Speaker 1: to gather some harsh sand. The towers would still be 320 00:19:36,960 --> 00:19:40,119 Speaker 1: slick with dew, and the climb would be especially perilous, 321 00:19:40,600 --> 00:19:43,040 Speaker 1: but he knew that she was right. If she was 322 00:19:43,080 --> 00:19:45,920 Speaker 1: willing to break the rules for her convictions, then the 323 00:19:46,040 --> 00:19:50,240 Speaker 1: risks he took were worth it. Every morning for the 324 00:19:50,280 --> 00:19:53,800 Speaker 1: next month, he rose before dawn, donned his termite skin, 325 00:19:54,320 --> 00:19:57,960 Speaker 1: and climbed down to the desert below. Every day of 326 00:19:58,000 --> 00:20:00,720 Speaker 1: that month he toiled in the baking huts to gather 327 00:20:00,800 --> 00:20:03,920 Speaker 1: the extra sand for his friend, and every evening he 328 00:20:04,040 --> 00:20:06,520 Speaker 1: told her where he had stashed it so that she 329 00:20:06,560 --> 00:20:09,760 Speaker 1: could spin her extra web. She did not care that 330 00:20:09,800 --> 00:20:14,119 Speaker 1: the water she collected spilled unused to the ground. I 331 00:20:14,160 --> 00:20:16,159 Speaker 1: am doing this to be certain I am right, she 332 00:20:16,280 --> 00:20:19,440 Speaker 1: told him. I hope it will not take too long 333 00:20:19,520 --> 00:20:23,240 Speaker 1: before you are. He replied, it won't soon. The lions 334 00:20:23,240 --> 00:20:26,280 Speaker 1: will have no choice but to listen to reason. And 335 00:20:26,359 --> 00:20:29,520 Speaker 1: why do you think they will, he asked, because the 336 00:20:29,560 --> 00:20:32,720 Speaker 1: water in the cisterns is beginning to drop. She was 337 00:20:32,720 --> 00:20:34,680 Speaker 1: so proud of her work that he would not tell 338 00:20:34,720 --> 00:20:37,440 Speaker 1: her how many times he had nearly fallen, or how 339 00:20:37,440 --> 00:20:40,760 Speaker 1: the extra burden was wearing on his skin. He made 340 00:20:40,760 --> 00:20:43,280 Speaker 1: his repairs as best he could, but he knew that 341 00:20:43,320 --> 00:20:46,639 Speaker 1: it was only a matter of time. Before it would fail. 342 00:20:47,000 --> 00:20:50,159 Speaker 1: But do you know what, dear listener, will never fail you. 343 00:20:51,080 --> 00:20:54,280 Speaker 1: The products and services that support this podcast. All of 344 00:20:54,320 --> 00:20:59,760 Speaker 1: them are perfect in every way. And that's not hyperbole, 345 00:21:00,640 --> 00:21:19,720 Speaker 1: and this isn't sarcasm, and we're back. The morning before 346 00:21:19,720 --> 00:21:23,440 Speaker 1: Ali's last day on the towers dawned especially hot. After 347 00:21:23,560 --> 00:21:25,600 Speaker 1: less than an hour on the ground, he was forced 348 00:21:25,600 --> 00:21:29,040 Speaker 1: to begin his long ascent, carrying only his usual burden 349 00:21:29,080 --> 00:21:32,639 Speaker 1: of sand and none of salt. As he climbed, he 350 00:21:32,720 --> 00:21:35,479 Speaker 1: told himself that Semhar would just have to do without tonight. 351 00:21:36,160 --> 00:21:37,879 Speaker 1: But when he reached the place where he had been 352 00:21:37,960 --> 00:21:41,160 Speaker 1: hiding her extra allotment, he decided to give it all 353 00:21:41,200 --> 00:21:44,359 Speaker 1: to her. He couldnot bear for her to be disappointed, 354 00:21:45,080 --> 00:21:48,040 Speaker 1: and what she was doing was just too important, not 355 00:21:48,119 --> 00:21:50,680 Speaker 1: just to her, but to all the people of the sky. 356 00:21:51,760 --> 00:21:54,280 Speaker 1: The builders were furious, and they threatened to tell the 357 00:21:54,400 --> 00:21:58,440 Speaker 1: leaders of his indolence. Ali didn't care that they were wrong. 358 00:21:59,119 --> 00:22:01,560 Speaker 1: Soon they would see what he and Samhar were doing, 359 00:22:01,960 --> 00:22:05,120 Speaker 1: and they would have to acknowledge the truth. The clouds 360 00:22:05,119 --> 00:22:09,200 Speaker 1: were shifting, the cisterns were drying, but most important of all, 361 00:22:09,280 --> 00:22:12,720 Speaker 1: the great drying was drawing to an end. Instead, they 362 00:22:12,760 --> 00:22:15,600 Speaker 1: caught him the next day hiding the sand he had collected, 363 00:22:15,960 --> 00:22:20,560 Speaker 1: and they took him straight to the council. Alma Kadafo, 364 00:22:20,960 --> 00:22:25,040 Speaker 1: the leader, said, why are you stealing sand from the builders? 365 00:22:25,760 --> 00:22:28,720 Speaker 1: How can I steal sand that I have collected? It 366 00:22:28,800 --> 00:22:31,679 Speaker 1: is mine trade as I see fit. That is not 367 00:22:31,800 --> 00:22:34,439 Speaker 1: how it is done. We are all essential parts of 368 00:22:34,480 --> 00:22:38,640 Speaker 1: this community. Each of us plays an important role. Some 369 00:22:38,760 --> 00:22:43,240 Speaker 1: grow food, some make clothes, some harvest water, and others build. 370 00:22:44,000 --> 00:22:47,800 Speaker 1: You collect sand and salt. Without these things, how can 371 00:22:47,840 --> 00:22:51,200 Speaker 1: we do what is necessary to survive. When you break 372 00:22:51,240 --> 00:22:54,840 Speaker 1: this chain, you steal from us all. When one of 373 00:22:54,920 --> 00:22:59,760 Speaker 1: us fails, we all risk falling. Simhar did not hear 374 00:22:59,800 --> 00:23:02,760 Speaker 1: of Ali's banishment until she returned from her weaving the 375 00:23:02,800 --> 00:23:06,760 Speaker 1: next morning. All nights she had suspected something terrible had 376 00:23:06,800 --> 00:23:09,680 Speaker 1: happened to him because he hadn't met her for supper, 377 00:23:10,040 --> 00:23:12,640 Speaker 1: and the cash where he hid her sand had been empty. 378 00:23:13,640 --> 00:23:16,040 Speaker 1: When she learned of his fate, she went straight to 379 00:23:16,080 --> 00:23:19,720 Speaker 1: the council to beg for a change of heart, but 380 00:23:19,760 --> 00:23:22,320 Speaker 1: Ali was already gone and the leaders would not be 381 00:23:22,359 --> 00:23:26,840 Speaker 1: persuaded to allow him to return. Someone stronger now wears 382 00:23:26,920 --> 00:23:30,160 Speaker 1: his skin, they told her someone else who was willing 383 00:23:30,200 --> 00:23:32,919 Speaker 1: to do the work as it has been done for generations. 384 00:23:34,160 --> 00:23:38,439 Speaker 1: You have made a terrible mistake, she cried, simhar Ibrahim, 385 00:23:38,600 --> 00:23:41,639 Speaker 1: they scolded. Your job is to collect the water, not 386 00:23:41,720 --> 00:23:44,119 Speaker 1: to worry about the sand or those who would steal 387 00:23:44,160 --> 00:23:46,760 Speaker 1: it from us. But how can I collect water if 388 00:23:46,800 --> 00:23:51,440 Speaker 1: there are no clouds by continuing to weave? Be patient, 389 00:23:51,480 --> 00:23:54,679 Speaker 1: for the mists will return every year. The great drying 390 00:23:54,760 --> 00:23:57,399 Speaker 1: pushes them higher, which is why we must build our 391 00:23:57,480 --> 00:24:01,720 Speaker 1: towers taller. Without sand, we cannot do that. Without water, 392 00:24:01,840 --> 00:24:05,760 Speaker 1: we cannot survive. The cisterns are falling because there's no 393 00:24:05,840 --> 00:24:09,240 Speaker 1: water to collect. The air is dry. This is true, 394 00:24:09,280 --> 00:24:12,240 Speaker 1: but it is nothing to worry about. Soon the seasons 395 00:24:12,280 --> 00:24:15,520 Speaker 1: will shift again and the clouds will return. Build your 396 00:24:15,600 --> 00:24:18,000 Speaker 1: webs as you have been taught, and before you know it, 397 00:24:18,119 --> 00:24:21,680 Speaker 1: the wires will once again sing a joyous song. Then 398 00:24:21,720 --> 00:24:24,000 Speaker 1: you will see that we are right. Are you not 399 00:24:24,080 --> 00:24:28,639 Speaker 1: a cloud weaver? After all? I am, she declared, But 400 00:24:28,760 --> 00:24:31,719 Speaker 1: it is also true that I am the thief of sand, 401 00:24:32,160 --> 00:24:35,679 Speaker 1: not Alamira Cadafo. I asked him to give it to 402 00:24:35,720 --> 00:24:38,320 Speaker 1: me so that I might weave an extra web each night. 403 00:24:39,160 --> 00:24:43,280 Speaker 1: The council members glanced one to another in puzzlement. It 404 00:24:43,359 --> 00:24:45,639 Speaker 1: is not stealing when you have been using it for 405 00:24:45,680 --> 00:24:48,600 Speaker 1: the betterment of the community. Your extra work is to 406 00:24:48,640 --> 00:24:52,720 Speaker 1: be commended. The mist I gathered was never collected. I 407 00:24:52,800 --> 00:24:56,560 Speaker 1: let it fall to the ground. How could this be 408 00:24:56,560 --> 00:24:59,680 Speaker 1: because I wove my lines below the cisterns or the 409 00:24:59,800 --> 00:25:04,040 Speaker 1: night mists have lately formed. There is nowhere for the 410 00:25:04,119 --> 00:25:07,359 Speaker 1: water to collect, they said in astonishment, for they still 411 00:25:07,359 --> 00:25:10,720 Speaker 1: did not comprehend her intent. Why would you do such 412 00:25:10,720 --> 00:25:14,480 Speaker 1: a wasteful thing to prove that we must stop looking 413 00:25:14,520 --> 00:25:18,320 Speaker 1: ever higher? The answer is below us. The great drying 414 00:25:18,480 --> 00:25:21,880 Speaker 1: is over. We are the people of the sky, young 415 00:25:21,960 --> 00:25:25,440 Speaker 1: semhar Abraham. But if you wish to forsake your birthright, 416 00:25:25,520 --> 00:25:28,679 Speaker 1: then that is your decision. Tomorrow, at first light, you 417 00:25:28,680 --> 00:25:31,720 Speaker 1: will be taken to join your friend on the ground. 418 00:25:34,359 --> 00:25:36,480 Speaker 1: It took her nearly the whole night to descend the 419 00:25:36,560 --> 00:25:40,000 Speaker 1: tower in her stolen spider suit. The machine was not 420 00:25:40,119 --> 00:25:43,880 Speaker 1: built for climbing, but for dangling and spinning. She found 421 00:25:43,920 --> 00:25:46,840 Speaker 1: Ali sitting in the shadow at the base, his mouth 422 00:25:46,920 --> 00:25:49,560 Speaker 1: opened to capture the drops that fell from the tattered 423 00:25:49,600 --> 00:25:53,040 Speaker 1: remnants of a month's worth of secret webs. It was 424 00:25:53,080 --> 00:25:56,840 Speaker 1: the only thing keeping him alive. Each night after that, 425 00:25:56,920 --> 00:25:59,400 Speaker 1: she climbed to where the mists rolled in and wove 426 00:25:59,440 --> 00:26:02,199 Speaker 1: a new web, using the sand he brought her to 427 00:26:02,280 --> 00:26:06,120 Speaker 1: spin into glass. Each day, together they collected what water 428 00:26:06,240 --> 00:26:09,520 Speaker 1: they could, although most of it fell uncaptured to the ground. 429 00:26:10,440 --> 00:26:13,800 Speaker 1: They found the first seedling a month later, and within 430 00:26:13,880 --> 00:26:18,080 Speaker 1: six months the ground beneath the towers had turned into 431 00:26:18,160 --> 00:26:23,120 Speaker 1: a garden. She is asleep, abo LEMI whispers, I kiss 432 00:26:23,160 --> 00:26:25,879 Speaker 1: my precious daughter on the cheek, and she doesn't even stir, 433 00:26:26,400 --> 00:26:29,840 Speaker 1: for she is exhausted from her hard work. I know 434 00:26:30,000 --> 00:26:32,960 Speaker 1: that when she harvests the crops each day, she looks 435 00:26:33,000 --> 00:26:35,200 Speaker 1: to the skies and thinks that what we are doing 436 00:26:35,240 --> 00:26:38,359 Speaker 1: here on the ground is not so exhilarating. She takes 437 00:26:38,359 --> 00:26:41,920 Speaker 1: after her brother that way. Someday she will stay awake 438 00:26:42,040 --> 00:26:45,240 Speaker 1: long enough to hear the story to its completion. Maybe 439 00:26:45,240 --> 00:26:48,560 Speaker 1: it will be tomorrow, or perhaps next year. Maybe it 440 00:26:48,600 --> 00:26:51,720 Speaker 1: will even be before the sky people's cisterns empty for 441 00:26:51,800 --> 00:26:55,440 Speaker 1: good and they realize the great drying is finally over. 442 00:26:56,480 --> 00:26:59,199 Speaker 1: Then they too will come down from the towers, and 443 00:26:59,560 --> 00:27:02,000 Speaker 1: she will understand that this is the day for which 444 00:27:02,040 --> 00:27:04,879 Speaker 1: we have been preparing. It is why I don my 445 00:27:04,960 --> 00:27:07,680 Speaker 1: skin each night and weave my webs in the clouds 446 00:27:07,960 --> 00:27:11,160 Speaker 1: that no longer form so high in the sky. We 447 00:27:11,200 --> 00:27:16,160 Speaker 1: need the rain, but so does the earth. Ready somehr, 448 00:27:16,840 --> 00:27:20,880 Speaker 1: my dear Sabai Alamara asks, as he finishes checking my harness. 449 00:27:21,760 --> 00:27:24,520 Speaker 1: I eagerly nod, for the mists are already forming, and 450 00:27:24,560 --> 00:27:28,479 Speaker 1: they look to be especially thick. Tonight, sleep well, my children, 451 00:27:28,520 --> 00:27:32,280 Speaker 1: I whisper and dream of the weaver's song. For tonight 452 00:27:32,600 --> 00:27:40,320 Speaker 1: the wires will sing with joy the end. Spider Mac 453 00:27:40,400 --> 00:27:46,520 Speaker 1: Spider Mac does whatever spider can. Okay, maybe they're max, 454 00:27:46,560 --> 00:27:48,920 Speaker 1: maybe they're closer to powered armor. It is hard to tell. 455 00:27:49,400 --> 00:27:51,919 Speaker 1: And also there was a termite mech for climbing to 456 00:27:52,920 --> 00:27:55,320 Speaker 1: Hazel loves a mech and is always looking for good 457 00:27:55,359 --> 00:27:59,040 Speaker 1: mecha fiction Mac here, of course, meaning giant robot that 458 00:27:59,119 --> 00:28:03,639 Speaker 1: is vaguely human or animal shaped. But as for about 459 00:28:03,640 --> 00:28:05,720 Speaker 1: this story, I'm actually going to start with what Salt 460 00:28:05,800 --> 00:28:08,200 Speaker 1: Tan Pepper and the story's author has to say about 461 00:28:08,240 --> 00:28:13,360 Speaker 1: this one quote. So much of my work features characters 462 00:28:13,400 --> 00:28:17,159 Speaker 1: forced into the darkest circumstances that when Grist challenged writers 463 00:28:17,160 --> 00:28:20,840 Speaker 1: to imagine brighter outcomes for a planet's climate challenges. I 464 00:28:20,960 --> 00:28:24,200 Speaker 1: was intrigued. The result of this endeavor is the Cloud 465 00:28:24,280 --> 00:28:28,240 Speaker 1: Weavers song, which won's second place in their inaugural contest. 466 00:28:29,000 --> 00:28:31,320 Speaker 1: The story is set in the Horn of Africa, home 467 00:28:31,359 --> 00:28:33,960 Speaker 1: to one of the world's most diverse and extreme environments 468 00:28:33,960 --> 00:28:36,600 Speaker 1: and some of the most beautiful people, but also one 469 00:28:36,600 --> 00:28:41,560 Speaker 1: of the most oppressive political regimes, Eritrea. The main characters, 470 00:28:41,560 --> 00:28:45,440 Speaker 1: Samhara and Alamira, were modeled after my dear friends Udasi 471 00:28:45,520 --> 00:28:49,200 Speaker 1: and Yukalo, whose resilience in escaping that oppression and making 472 00:28:49,240 --> 00:28:52,280 Speaker 1: a better world for their future ancestors inspires me every 473 00:28:52,360 --> 00:28:55,640 Speaker 1: day to do the same. This story is about breaking 474 00:28:55,680 --> 00:28:58,440 Speaker 1: free of the shackles of colonial thinking and becoming fully 475 00:28:58,480 --> 00:29:03,720 Speaker 1: engaged participants in her own destinies. And then Hazel, who 476 00:29:03,720 --> 00:29:08,680 Speaker 1: helps behind the scenes with this podcast, writes, quote, we 477 00:29:08,720 --> 00:29:11,240 Speaker 1: obviously can't do a whole podcast about the political history 478 00:29:11,240 --> 00:29:13,720 Speaker 1: of Eritrea, but best I can gather and to tell 479 00:29:13,720 --> 00:29:17,800 Speaker 1: a complicated story very quickly. Eritrea had a strong revolutionary 480 00:29:17,840 --> 00:29:20,920 Speaker 1: Marxist faction in the postcolonial period, during the nation's liberation 481 00:29:20,960 --> 00:29:24,760 Speaker 1: from Italian imperialism and later from Ethiopia. From around the 482 00:29:24,840 --> 00:29:27,560 Speaker 1: nineteen sixties and nineteen nineties. Then in the nineties, a 483 00:29:27,600 --> 00:29:31,160 Speaker 1: guy who himself isn't really a Marxist comes to power 484 00:29:31,280 --> 00:29:34,120 Speaker 1: within that faction and is able to totalize power for 485 00:29:34,200 --> 00:29:39,520 Speaker 1: himself and runs a pretty decidedly not free country. And 486 00:29:39,560 --> 00:29:42,600 Speaker 1: this is Hazel. So I'm talking about this. Knowing that 487 00:29:42,640 --> 00:29:45,040 Speaker 1: the characters in this story are modeled on real people 488 00:29:45,080 --> 00:29:48,120 Speaker 1: seeking refuge from war is really powerful to me and 489 00:29:48,240 --> 00:29:51,640 Speaker 1: grounds the story in real lineage of resistance and relentlessness. 490 00:29:52,480 --> 00:29:54,880 Speaker 1: My goodness, the way this story ties in real and 491 00:29:54,920 --> 00:29:59,000 Speaker 1: imagined ancestors to craft new folklore for future ancestors is 492 00:29:59,040 --> 00:30:03,040 Speaker 1: so so rich. Layered the imagery of the towers of 493 00:30:03,120 --> 00:30:06,560 Speaker 1: climate refugees taking to the sky striving for lofty ideals, 494 00:30:06,600 --> 00:30:09,920 Speaker 1: particularly hits. In this context, our protagonist deal with the 495 00:30:09,960 --> 00:30:13,120 Speaker 1: Council of Elders, the powers that be, who, even after 496 00:30:13,120 --> 00:30:16,480 Speaker 1: the revolution, have become dangerously stuck in their ways. In 497 00:30:16,520 --> 00:30:18,920 Speaker 1: the end, it's on them to find their own path forward, 498 00:30:19,280 --> 00:30:22,200 Speaker 1: to seek their own refuge, to cultivate their own relationship 499 00:30:22,240 --> 00:30:25,240 Speaker 1: with the natural world around them, to find their own revolution. 500 00:30:25,800 --> 00:30:28,280 Speaker 1: I will always respect a story that can smartly remind 501 00:30:28,320 --> 00:30:31,920 Speaker 1: an audience of the shortfalls of revolution, or maybe rather 502 00:30:31,960 --> 00:30:35,680 Speaker 1: imagining that the revolution is never finished while still calling 503 00:30:35,760 --> 00:30:38,200 Speaker 1: us into revolutionary action and charging us with a duty 504 00:30:38,240 --> 00:30:41,760 Speaker 1: to fight for a better future. And then I guess 505 00:30:41,800 --> 00:30:47,720 Speaker 1: my own take on it. I really like that it's 506 00:30:47,720 --> 00:30:50,560 Speaker 1: a story about how hard it is to convince stubborn 507 00:30:50,640 --> 00:30:54,960 Speaker 1: leaders that climate change is real, that set after climate 508 00:30:55,040 --> 00:30:58,520 Speaker 1: change is real and has happened. You know, people are like, no, no, 509 00:30:58,760 --> 00:31:01,160 Speaker 1: the clouds are always doing this thing. 510 00:31:01,200 --> 00:31:03,600 Speaker 2: It'll be fine, It're just gonna come back. It's just 511 00:31:04,320 --> 00:31:07,600 Speaker 2: everything's gonna be the way it's been for two hundred years. 512 00:31:07,600 --> 00:31:09,880 Speaker 2: And how people get caught up even when it's like 513 00:31:09,960 --> 00:31:13,800 Speaker 2: the new thing, people get caught up in immediately creating 514 00:31:13,840 --> 00:31:18,760 Speaker 2: that as a like essentially conservatism. Yeah, and also just 515 00:31:18,800 --> 00:31:21,280 Speaker 2: how frustrating it is trying to convince people that, yes, 516 00:31:21,360 --> 00:31:23,040 Speaker 2: in fact, the sky is falling. 517 00:31:23,440 --> 00:31:25,320 Speaker 1: Eh, oh my god, I didn't even get it. The 518 00:31:25,320 --> 00:31:29,960 Speaker 1: sky is falling, the clouds are getting lower. But also 519 00:31:30,000 --> 00:31:34,000 Speaker 1: it's somehow a story of hope anyway. Saltan Pepper is 520 00:31:34,040 --> 00:31:38,400 Speaker 1: bio Saltan Pepper writes in a range of speculative fiction genres. 521 00:31:38,720 --> 00:31:41,600 Speaker 1: He is the author of the popular post apocalyptic survival 522 00:31:41,640 --> 00:31:46,440 Speaker 1: series Bunker twelve and Zepocalypto, as well as the climate 523 00:31:46,480 --> 00:31:51,280 Speaker 1: fiction cli fi series Scorched Earth and Drowned Earth. A 524 00:31:51,320 --> 00:31:55,720 Speaker 1: former combat medic and retired PhD bioscientist as Kenneth James 525 00:31:55,760 --> 00:31:59,560 Speaker 1: Howe The Air Tree in Diaspora Memoirs, Relentless and I 526 00:31:59,600 --> 00:32:02,880 Speaker 1: Will Not Grow Downward. More about his writing can be 527 00:32:02,880 --> 00:32:05,640 Speaker 1: found at his website, Tan Pepper Writs and it's like 528 00:32:05,720 --> 00:32:11,280 Speaker 1: TA n P E P P E R Rights dot com. 529 00:32:11,320 --> 00:32:14,000 Speaker 1: You can also connect with him on social media. I'm 530 00:32:14,040 --> 00:32:16,640 Speaker 1: Margaret Kiljoy. You can find me on the Internet in 531 00:32:16,720 --> 00:32:19,400 Speaker 1: a few of the places, specifically Blue Sky and Instagram. 532 00:32:19,480 --> 00:32:22,280 Speaker 1: And I have a Substack newsletter that comes out every 533 00:32:22,320 --> 00:32:25,880 Speaker 1: week in your email inbox. It's free. I talk about 534 00:32:25,960 --> 00:32:29,600 Speaker 1: the world every now and then paid subscribers get another 535 00:32:29,680 --> 00:32:34,360 Speaker 1: one that's more personal. EVA does our audio engineering. It 536 00:32:34,360 --> 00:32:37,640 Speaker 1: makes everything sound really pretty, and Hazel helps with scripts 537 00:32:37,680 --> 00:32:42,600 Speaker 1: and all that stuff. And yeah, fuck ice, Free Palestine, 538 00:32:43,200 --> 00:32:47,920 Speaker 1: take care of each other. See you next week. It 539 00:32:47,960 --> 00:32:50,360 Speaker 1: could happen here as a production of cool Zone Media. 540 00:32:50,440 --> 00:32:53,120 Speaker 1: For more podcasts from cool Zone Media, visit our website 541 00:32:53,160 --> 00:32:56,280 Speaker 1: Coolzonemedia dot com or check us out on the iHeartRadio app, 542 00:32:56,280 --> 00:32:59,560 Speaker 1: Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts, you can 543 00:32:59,600 --> 00:33:02,360 Speaker 1: find verses for it could happen here, Updated monthly at 544 00:33:02,400 --> 00:33:05,680 Speaker 1: coolzonemedia dot com, slash sources. Thanks for listening.