To address the theme of “Connect and Disconnection in the Age of Quarantine,” I wrote
the first chapter of YA-dystopian fiction. The story is told through the perspective of 17-year-old
Ledger Prive, a privileged white male. In the future society he lives in, everything--work,
classes, entertainment--is run through EQUAL, a virtual-online platform similar to Zoom, as
global warming has reached dangerous levels. In the year 2075, society is “equal”: a
government-issued income is allotted for each family unit, and everyone receives a standardized
education and unlimited food. The only thing needed to function in this society is a special ID,
which is used to access online classes, swipe into grocery stores, and enter businesses. The
central dilemma is as follows: one day, Ledger’s ID disappears after his father tries to rig the
EQUAL system to get Ledger into Gale University (whose name is obviously inspired by Yale).
Disconnected from EQUAL and everyone he’s ever known, he realizes that society is not what it
seems--the majority of people don’t have a special ID, and they’ll do anything to get it.

My inspiration for this project was a question: now that we’ve discovered the
convenience of platforms like Zoom for connection, how will it be utilized in the future?
Essentially, I wanted to take a “best case scenario” for how Zoom’s convenience might be
utilized in future society, and then apply current-day controversies (college admission scandals,
social media, targeted algorithms in politics, privilege) to complicate the question. While I don’t
have a specific message I want to convey, ultimately, I hope to start a discussion about how these
virtual platforms can negatively/positively affect how we connect in the future.