Johnny Salvo
Johnny's Diary Excerpts
Many excerpts were found detailing life at the turn of 2085 – the writings of Johnny Salvo provided detailed insight on the changes that occured once the Agricultural Act was passed and the education system was adjusted to match the world around it. Three excerpts can be found here, one detailing the education system and how it has changed, another explaining what it meant to work at a grocery store during those times and a final excerpt showing the difficult adjustments that the previous generations had to make to understand the new world presented to them.
The Education System 8 Years After the Passing of the Act
Today it hit me, it’s finally hit me! It’s been 8 years or so that we’ve been living in this new world – so much has changed since the act was passed. I feel like we had a real tipping point in 2085, almost as if there is no point of return. Big Costco has taken over, and those of us that are fortunate enough to have land can survive – but the rest of the world is left to struggle in this corporate-run hellhole.
The education system has changed in many ways to accommodate the world around it. There is a greater focus on agriculture - many subjects have adjusted their content to teach children the basics of farming. Biology is mostly focused on plant biology, explaining how plants work and how to keep them healthy; chemistry focuses on soil health, testing the pH levels of soil to ensure that the conditions are correct for certain plants to be grown. There are learning units implemented into the curriculum to educate children about farming: The youngest grades learn about types of plants (different seeds, different types of fruits and vegetables that are grown), middle school students learn about the farming process (the basics and steps as to how one goes about farming) and secondary school students learn about important techniques as well as seasonal impacts (how the cold season impacts the growth of crops, how to combat it and also how to deal with natural disasters such as flooding, heat waves). Secondary school students have the option in many high schools to graduate with a Specialist High Skills Major (SHSM), the vast majority of schools outside of Toronto have adapted this program to be focused on biology, farming and other environmentally focused topics. There are also guest speakers who regularly visit schools, middle school and up, who focus on specific farming techniques and farming specific crop.
Parents of children are very in favour of these changes, as farming becomes more and more prominent to combat corporate-driven inflation of food prices. There is an increased push for even more farming-focused curriculum and many parents are considering home-schooling in conjunction with working the farm to give young kids a chance to experience the lifestyle and learn the trade earlier. I wish I could afford to give my children a farm, a place where they could have a bright future – but we are stuck in the city, I guess these changes to the schooling system will just have to be enough.
Working During the Turn of 2085
Today’s shift was a harder than most. Not because of the customers, we don’t get many as per usual – but because there was a protest outside the store. Working at a Longo’s these days isn’t particularly interesting - the aisles stay full, the prices stay high… at least we have a job! They offer us a discount on the produce, still high but we can afford it. The only people left in the city are those who work in the grocery stores or those who can afford their prices, it’s not looking good for the future of Toronto…
We had a pretty large group of people out front, blocking the entrance to the building and yelling something like “We want the price to drop! We want the price to drop! If the prices don’t go down, that’s it for our town!” They were probably there for a good two hours before police came and asked them to disperse, then it took another hour for people to actually get moving. I suppose it was alright, we had no one enter the store because of the whole fiasco. Sitting and twiddling our thumbs in the break room, less work for me! Although it gets boring…
The Older Generation's Struggles
Another hard call with my parents last night – they just won’t give up on the past. “We want our grandchildren to be successful lawyers, why are you raising them to be lowly farmers! This education system has gone crazy! They try to brainwash our grandkids into being workhorses with no future – they can be so much more than that!” My parents won’t let go of the past, they just can’t realize that the world has changed around them - that there’s no other way. Maybe if they had raised me to be a farmer, I wouldn’t be stuck in the city working an awful, boring job in a grocery store…