Mushroom Short Stories, Nonlinear Thinking, and De-Centering Our Selves: Former Students Reflect on Race, Religion, and Science Fiction

Patrick J. D'Silva introduces the Worlds Beyond Worlds podcast with the first of three conversations with former students from his course “Race, Religion, and Science Fiction,” focused on both the course’s themes and what it felt like to have autonomy in learning. He reunites with Kim, Josh, and Gus, who share their academic backgrounds and why they enrolled, then discuss the course’s flexible structure—choosing readings from curated options, shaping discussions, and using alternative formats like podcasts—in contrast to rigid, top-down classes that can penalize students for life circumstances. They describe how units and peer perspectives reframed topics like cyberpunk, disability, and worldbuilding, and they explain their final creative projects: Kim’s mushroom-based fiction, Josh’s non-linear story about identity, language, and land, and Gus’s narrative critiquing Christian worldviews and oppression. The episode previews a next conversation with Kirsten and Robert on Afrofuturism, Parable of the Sower, and Wakanda.

00:00 Welcome and Setup

01:15 Course Origins

03:37 Meet Kim

05:03 Meet Josh

07:44 Meet Gus

10:29 Autonomy Course Design

12:24 Student Reflections

21:33 Suffering and Access

24:53 Kim Choose Adventure

30:18 New Perspectives Units

32:15 Disability in Star Trek

35:59 Final Project Options

37:09 UN Essay Options

37:52 Creative Project Examples

39:13 Kim’s Mushroom Fiction

43:23 Teacher Reflection on Creativity

45:49 Josh’s Nonlinear Story

49:24 Ritual Language and Identity

57:07 Gus Decentering Self

01:00:10 Aliens and Human Consumption

01:04:19 Open Ended Learning

01:08:09 Course Takeaways Roundtable

01:13:01 Closing Thanks and Next Episode

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Worlds Beyond Worlds: Mushrooms and De-Centering Our Selves