In Language Arts this year, we read The Last Cuentista. One of the main themes of the book is the idea of an ideal world. We met with local artist Peg Gignoux, to make our books, by glueing prints of flowers and painted music notes to our book. It was a super fun process and I’m really proud of what I created! Now presenting: My Ideal World… Enjoy!
“Hello! Hello, hello! I’m Lil, and I’ll be your guide of Sampurna!” Lil grins down at me. “I’m so excited! I just love being a guide!” I beam back at her, matching her golden retriever energy. Right from the start, I can tell this might just be the one—the planet I will choose to live on forever. The hardest-working, kindest, most innovative people are selected yearly to pick any planet they want to live on. We’re called the Gallivanters. We spend the good part of a year surveying all the planets, which might be the best part of the experience.
“Hi!” I say. I introduce myself and gasp at this planet’s beauty. “So this is Sampurna. Wow. I-it’s beautiful.” I can see the whole of the planet from my overhead view.
“I know, it is. I chose this planet, actually. I was a Gallivanter, too!” she says. Lil seems like just the person the council would pick as a Gallivanter. Merry, bright, always smiling. I’m still holding my breath that the Universal Council will call to tell me it’s all a fluke. Sure, I always try to be kind and friendly to everyone, but I’m not perfect.
We start to descend down to the planet in a long, clear elevator tube, and Lil asks me what I want to learn about first. “Well, how are the schools here?” My schooling has always been important to me, and I want to make sure Sampurna will fit those needs. Lil opens her mouth to answer, but she’s interrupted by something.
“Welcome to Sampurna, a place where all belong and all are accepted.”
“That’s the head speaker,” Lil explains. “Whenever anyone descends down to Sampurna, it broadcasts that message into our minds. Anyways, schools! All classes are taught outside, and children learn survival skills along with their other rudimentary skills, such as math and language arts. Once a day, children have a private lesson, only the student and instructor. Once a month, children meet privately with a guidance counselor. After children have completed all of school, they are required to do community service for six months. Community service includes things like working at a recycling facility or taking important community jobs no one else wants to do. After their eleventh birthday, all children pick an expedition, a place they will travel to, and they will collect research for about two weeks. Children pick places like our famous rainforest, the Elysian Thicket, or the frigid tundra, Icealice. A popular choice is the sweeping beaches in Ocanden, the Sally Beaches. Children can pass a test for each subject to be moved up a level. All curriculum is the same all around the Sampurna, and instead of grades, there are levels.”
“That sounds amazing! Private lessons! Expeditions!” I exclaim. I didn’t expect it to be this good! We step out of the tube onto the surface of the planet. It’s squishy to the touch, like there’s water underneath us. The ground is covered in a mossy-like plant, and when I reach down to touch it, it shakes like a dog wagging its tail, and a small pink flower blooms.
“That’s the Lichilen,” Lil supplies. “Aww, it likes you.”
“What’s the government like here?” I inquire. Lil smiles.
“Well, each year, masses of people on Sampurna tune in on their home holosperes-” she somehow makes government seem like an epic saga, and her never-bending excitement is contagious “-to vote on members of congress, judges, medical officials, and the Head Sampa. Several identification steps exist before you can log in and secure your vote, such as fingerprint, mouth swab, and face recognition. The holosperes can also detect whether you are voting in your own will or being forced, an entirely hypothetical scenario seeing as to no one this has happened.” Lil adds the last part quickly.
We keep walking on the surface as trees and vines surround us. I can spot a handful of kids who must be in school, wonderstruck by an orange horse-sized reptile lying on their teacher’s lap.
“Each member of the government plays a very significant part in ruling. The fifteen judges have the power to vote out the Head Sampa, as well as having to approve all inventions before they are given to the public. The medical officials, a group of five individuals, must approve drugs and medicine. One hundred people are part of the congress, and they make laws. They have the ability to vote out the Head Sampa if eighty or more agree and the Judges or Medical Officials if sixty-five or more agree. Government officials can choose if they would like to live in The Lilac House or use their holosperes to work remotely. The Lilac House is on a beach and has a beautiful view. And I mean beautiful!” Lil must have heard these questions dozens of times. She perfectly strikes the balance between well-preparedness and enthusiasm, managing not to sound robotic while also seeming like an expert.
“Now, what would you like to hear about next?”
“Erm, what about the geography of this place?” I ask.
“Sampurna is in the Bovas system, where three other planets, Varuna, Lush, and Thelea, also spin. Sampurna’s sun is named Rora 674. There are no countries in Sampurna because Sampurna is fully united. Sampurna has a giant river floating in the air—yes! The air!- called the Combawatia, or the Bawa for short. One part of Sampurna, where most of the people live, called the Ranigalia district, is covered in a rainforest landscape. It is always warm there with a slight breeze. Another smaller district, Hyposili, is a bitter tundra with many mountains perfect for skiing and sledding, but no one lives there year-round. The third main district in Sampurna is the Ocanden district, where the Lilac House stands, filled with beautiful beaches, the waves of the Oca Sea sloshing on the shore.” Lil sighs as if imagining it.
So far, Sampurna has exceeded my standards. “Now, how about…the technology! And all the cool inventions?” I ask.
“Of course! Sampurna has many innovative works of technology such as teleportation ports all over the planet. Teleportation ports work by disassembling all the atoms in your body, transporting them on rays of light, and then reassembling them when you reach your destination. Teleportation ports, also known as TPs,”-I giggle-“are very user-friendly; just type in your end location, and you will be whisked away in a cloud of atoms and all things fluffy. Holosperes are one of the most helpful technologies in Sampurna. The spheres, supplied in every house, are capable of almost anything. You can call, text, vote, watch, create, play, customize, eat, send for help, learn, and much more. However, the very thing that keeps Sampurna going is its natural amplification. Every time someone is born, Sampurna grows by just a fraction of an inch to prevent overpopulation.”
My eyes widen. “That’s amazing! That’s so amazing! What are the houses like here?”
“There’s a lot of variety! Each family in Sampurna can buy their own home. If they can prove they cannot afford a house, the government will give them a temporary settlement until they can get back on their feet. That rarely happens, though. Mostly, it’s Gallivanters who have just arrived. Families can sell the house. They have to buy a new house, but no one family can own two houses at the same time unless they are in the process of selling one house. Houses have a built-in holosphere; remember what that is? Houses with two stories have a slide that runs from the top story to the bottom story. All have a backyard with trees, flowers, a garden, a trampoline, or a playground structure. Some houses are built on beaches, floating in the air, on top of trees, over or underwater, or in the rainforest. Each house has a porch and a porch swing.”
“What’s your house like?” I ask.
“Well, I live in the Ranigalia district, and my house is in the canopy layer, the middle part of the rainforest. My house is a two-story bamboo structure with two bedrooms, a kitchen, a living room, two bathrooms, and a slide down to the ground floor of the rainforest. The outside is this rich copper color and looks like I just stacked rows of bamboo on top of each other. Since my house is suspended in the air, I get many animal visitors. It’s simply beautiful! You just have to visit! Oh, I’ll show you—I mean, if you pick Sampurna, then…you could.”
“What are the animals like here?”
“I can’t possibly tell you about all of them! But I’ll tell you about Sampurna’s mascot. The Golde Masta! They’re very intelligent and gorgeous. Mastas have gigantic golden wings, twice the size of their body, and a long tail. Mastas’ eyes are also gold. Their fur is rich, deep, brown, and softer than silk, but it is illegal to harvest them. Mastas have small ears on the top of their heads. Their tongues are as long as a giraffe’s and bright blue too! Riding them is such a thrill, soaring through the air, over the trees, the wind in your hair. They only allow a certain few to ride them, people they feel comfortable with. Mastas are rumored to have a sixth sense, to be able to see the light and the dark in a creature.”
“I don’t need to ask any more questions,” I say, and Lil looks concerned. “I already decided…decided to make Sampurna my home!”
