The Far Meridian writ. by Eli Barraza
IDs: Agoraphobic, Neurodivergent, Queer, Sapphic, Nonbinary, Mentally Ill
Creator IDs: Bisexual
CWs: Agoraphobia, panic attacks, missing person
This fiction podcast series follows Peri, an agoraphobic young queer woman, as she works through her anxieties, trauma, and newfound ability to teleport to and/or traverse through different worlds. Peri lives in an old lighthouse, and is severely agoraphobic. Her brother went missing several years before, and she has not left her house since. One particularly foggy morning, she is waiting for her grocery delivery person to arrive when she realizes that the view from her window has changed. Somehow, her lighthouse moved overnight. Slowly, she begins leaving her lighthouse in order to discover where she is. She has severe social anxiety, particularly around strangers, but her odd situation allows and encourages her to begin to process and understand this anxiety. Peri also reckons with her missing brother, and how her search for him has been impacted by her agoraphobia.
Her lighthouse moves each night, and she lands in places both normal and strange. She has run-ins with mystical creatures and new neighbors. Peri’s story is also told non-linearly. There are flashbacks to her memories with Ace, her brother. At times, it seems that she is moving not only through space, but through time as well. We don’t get her story in any chronological order, but this fractured temporality forces us as listeners to experience the story in the order that it happens for Peri.
Over the course of the series, Peri learns to understand herself and her anxieties more, and consider with her relationships from before her agoraphobia got as severe. Her ability to traverse worlds provides her the space she needs to process and heal from everything that has happened to her. Because she is able to distance herself from her previous world, she is able to feel more confident in her movements through these new worlds. Slowly, and through many strange circumstances, she begins to understand her anxieties and trauma and heal from it. She cannot control where her lighthouse moves, and this lack of control helps her to accept her surroundings and focus on the present.
Discussion Questions
1. What is the significance of the lighthouse in the series? Why a lighthouse and not a “normal” house?
2. What is Peri searching for in the series? How is this “searching” explored through traversing?
3. How does Peri’s traversion through space impact her agoraphobia?
4. What does the podcast format provide to this story? What possibilities are created that wouldn’t be possible in a different format?