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Your Mission, Should You Choose to Accept It


(This post is by Caroline, writer and high school junior.)

“Alternate history fascinates me, as it fascinates all novelists, because ‘What if?’ is the big thing.” - Kate Atkinson

What if Neil and Buzz don’t come back? This is what NASA found themselves asking in 1969 when they put two men on the moon. What if these two don’t leave it? How do we tell the American people? A talented writer by the name of Bill Safire found himself tasked with answering this question. The American Government needed something to be able to say immediately. A contingency plan. The Red Folder. What ended up going in that folder was a speech titled, In Event of Moon Disaster.

You can read it here.

I fell in love with this piece of writing when I stumbled upon it as a middle schooler. It is what really rekindled my love for reading after a few years of loathing. (I can thank a few of my less savory teachers for that period of disgust.) Regardless, it was so moving and drew me in, and taught me that this was a way to break down the doors of, “what if?” It taught me how to explore through writing in a way that I hadn’t considered. A different world that was a possibility when it was written.
Now is a time that perhaps comes with a bit of strange bliss if you are as easily distracted as I am. (Even if I have gotten up from my computer to pet the dog at least a dozen times…) Though this is nothing compared to the distractions that the outside world imposes. Dogs are easier to recover from. So use this time of enclosure to open those “what-if” doors.
Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to look back and write a speech for somebody who is informing the public of something that almost happened, but didn’t. (Or the inverse.) A speech for an alternate version of history. You can pick any time period and any event that you please. Feel free to go with the blue folder (disaster averted) or the red folder. So pick a topic and get writing because we need that speech for the press conference ASAP!

Here are a few ideas if you’re stuck:
* What if we discovered the enemy forces before they reached Pearl Harbor. What statement do we have to give to the people and other nations?
* What if the Cuban Missile Crisis did elevate into nuclear warfare? How does the government deal with the fall out? (No pun intended. Okay, maybe a little bit intended...)
* What if they decided to let Jeanne D’arc live? What address did she give her troops?
* What if the allied forces lost during World War II? How do you tell the West that it’s falling?
* What if the Titanic hit the iceberg, but didn’t sink? What would the owner of the White Star Line have to say to his engineers?

Knock your socks off! 

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