During my search process, I noticed that I tended to look into subjects relating to the state of the world today, but also looking towards the future.  How we approach issues that we face in present day in the future definitely caught my attention.  This forward-looking aspect of science fiction and the discussion of afrofuturism and indigenous science fiction in class definitely guided my search towards the end of the semester.  Earlier in the semester, I noticed many articles that I was reading were towards the importance of science fiction and the ideas of alternative histories.  They were definitely more past or present focused, rather than future-focused.  I do not know if the current situation in the world pushed me to look farther into the future, rather than dwelling in the past, or if I tend to look for solutions to current problems and how those solutions could play out in the future.  I feel that my word cloud represents this look towards the future, but does not represent some of my earlier searches as much.  In searching for solutions to today’s problems and imagining how the world will look in the future, I found myself looking into the sub genres of hopepunk, solarpunk/climate change, and afrofuturism.  I found that literature and articles surrounding afrofuturistic views or indigenous science fiction depictions of the future resonated more with me than future-focused mainstream science fiction.  I believe that it has to do with the realistic aspect of these sub genres, and their focus on how to navigate a new but more realistic world.  I found other depictions of the future to be outlandish and exaggerated in a way, that I found them to not be plausible solutions or paths for humanity.  I find myself looking towards opportunistic but realistic solutions to the problems that we encounter today through my investigation of science fiction.