<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
<title>Soybeans - Driftless Rivers Trilogy Book 1</title>
<style>
body {
font-family: Georgia, serif;
line-height: 1.6;
max-width: 1200px;
margin: 0 auto;
padding: 20px;
background-color: #f5f5f0;
}
h1 { color: #2c5f2d; border-bottom: 3px solid #2c5f2d; }
h2 { color: #4a7c59; border-bottom: 2px solid #4a7c59; margin-top: 30px; }
h3 { color: #5d8a66; }
.metadata { background: #e8f4e8; padding: 15px; border-left: 4px solid #2c5f2d; margin-bottom: 20px; }
.character-card { background: white; padding: 15px; margin: 10px 0; border-left: 4px solid #4a7c59; }
.location-card { background: #fff9e6; padding: 15px; margin: 10px 0; border-left: 4px solid #b8860b; }
.theme-card { background: #f0f8ff; padding: 15px; margin: 10px 0; border-left: 4px solid #4682b4; }
.timeline-entry { background: white; padding: 10px; margin: 8px 0; border-left: 3px solid #999; }
.plot-thread { background: #fef5e7; padding: 12px; margin: 10px 0; border-radius: 5px; }
ul { list-style-type: none; padding-left: 0; }
li { padding: 5px 0; }
li:before { content: "▸ "; color: #4a7c59; font-weight: bold; }
.spoiler { background: #ffe6e6; padding: 10px; border-left: 4px solid #cc0000; margin: 15px 0; }
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1>SOYBEANS</h1>
<h2>Book 1 of the Driftless Rivers Trilogy</h2>
<div class="metadata">
<strong>Author:</strong> Lester Leavitt<br>
<strong>Publication:</strong> 2025 (Independently published)<br>
<strong>ISBN:</strong> 9798274894098<br>
<strong>Setting:</strong> Primary timeline 2027 with flashbacks to 2004, 1979-1980, and other periods<br>
<strong>Genre:</strong> Speculative Fiction / Political Thriller / LGBTQ+ Literary Fiction<br>
<strong>Series Position:</strong> Foundation novel establishing the Driftless Rivers universe
</div>
<h2>Core Premise</h2>
<p><em>Soybeans</em> explores the intersection of agricultural consolidation, authoritarian governance, LGBTQ+ rights under fascism, and technological resistance in near-future America (2027). The novel interweaves multiple timelines and perspectives to show how corporate control of agriculture, digital surveillance, and political persecution create an interconnected crisis requiring grassroots resistance and international solidarity.</p>
<h2>Major Timelines</h2>
<div class="timeline-entry">
<strong>Primary Timeline: March-May 2027</strong><br>
The "present day" of the novel. AgriCore Solutions (backed by Senator Tisdale's donor network) is consolidating control over American agriculture through the Farm Bill of 2026. Hugh Lubbert and Eugene Thomas face persecution as gay men under the Tisdale administration. Bill Kowalski confronts losing his family farm to corporate control.
</div>
<div class="timeline-entry">
<strong>Hugh's Discovery Timeline: May 2004</strong><br>
Hugh Lubbert, married Mormon father of four, writes a novel and realizes his protagonist—and therefore himself—is gay. This timeline shows his coming out process, divorce from Brenda, and the beginning of his authentic life.
</div>
<div class="timeline-entry">
<strong>Mission Timeline: 1979-1980</strong><br>
Young Hugh serves as Mormon missionary in Uruguay, meeting Benito at Estancia Tierra Púrpura near Aguaverde. Their friendship becomes the foundation of a fifty-year love story complicated by Hugh's inability to accept his sexuality.
</div>
<div class="timeline-entry">
<strong>Resolution Timeline: Spring 2028</strong><br>
Post-resistance timeline showing the aftermath of the resistance network's success. Hugh, Eugene, and Beni reunite in Uruguay at Estancia Tierra Púrpura. Bill Kowalski farms with liberation software. The Zona de Libre Comercio Agrícola (Agricultural Free Trade Zone) is established at the Uruguay-Brazil border.
</div>
<h2>Principal Characters</h2>
<div class="character-card">
<h3>Hugh Lubbert</h3>
<strong>Role:</strong> Protagonist, narrator of most chapters<br>
<strong>Arc:</strong> Mormon missionary (1979) → closeted married man (2004) → divorced gay man → persecuted resistance member (2027) → refugee/expatriate in Uruguay (2028)<br>
<strong>Key Relationships:</strong> Married to Brenda (1981-2004), partner to Eugene Thomas (2007-present), lifelong connection to Benito<br>
<strong>Occupation:</strong> Writer, former educator<br>
<strong>Character Essence:</strong> Hugh embodies the cost of denying authenticity and the courage required to reclaim it late in life. His fifty-year journey from Mormon missionary to political refugee traces themes of faith, sexuality, resistance, and finding home.
</div>
<div class="character-card">
<h3>Eugene Thomas</h3>
<strong>Role:</strong> Hugh's partner, resistance strategist<br>
<strong>Arc:</strong> Corporate professional → activist → resistance network coordinator → Uruguayan immigrant<br>
<strong>Key Relationships:</strong> Partner to Hugh (2007-present), ally/friend to Bill Kowalski, colleague in resistance network<br>
<strong>Skills:</strong> Strategic thinking, network coordination, technology adaptation<br>
<strong>Character Essence:</strong> Eugene represents pragmatic resistance—someone who understands systems well enough to subvert them. His relationship with Hugh grounds the novel's emotional core while his strategic mind drives much of the resistance plotting.
</div>
<div class="character-card">
<h3>Benito (Beni)</h3>
<strong>Role:</strong> Hugh's first love, Uruguayan connection<br>
<strong>Arc:</strong> Young Uruguayan man (1979) → lifelong friend/unrequited love → reunion with Hugh (2028)<br>
<strong>Key Relationships:</strong> Loved Hugh for 50 years, connected to Esperanza (granddaughter of Doña Silva), local community leader in Aguaverde<br>
<strong>Location:</strong> Aguaverde, Uruguay / Estancia Tierra Púrpura<br>
<strong>Character Essence:</strong> Benito represents patient love and the cost of waiting. His fifty-year devotion to Hugh—despite Hugh's marriage and denial—embodies themes of authentic love transcending time, distance, and circumstance.
</div>
<div class="character-card">
<h3>Bill Kowalski</h3>
<strong>Role:</strong> Fifth-generation Illinois farmer, resistance member<br>
<strong>Arc:</strong> Traditional farmer → target of agricultural consolidation → digital resistance pioneer → liberation farmer<br>
<strong>Key Relationships:</strong> Son of Ruth Kowalski, connected to Hugh and Eugene through resistance network<br>
<strong>Location:</strong> Rich Coulee, Driftless Area, NW Illinois (400-acre family farm)<br>
<strong>Character Essence:</strong> Bill represents traditional American agriculture facing corporate consolidation. His journey from conventional farmer to resistance tech adopter shows how authoritarianism threatens rural communities and how technology can enable grassroots resistance.
</div>
<div class="character-card">
<h3>Ruth Kowalski</h3>
<strong>Role:</strong> Bill's 87-year-old mother, moral compass, information conduit<br>
<strong>Skills:</strong> Forwards leaked documents, suspicious of power structures, maintains family legacy<br>
<strong>Character Essence:</strong> Ruth embodies generational memory and skepticism of authority. At 87, she recognizes patterns of consolidation and control that younger characters might miss. Her role forwarding leaked documents makes her crucial to the resistance network's information infrastructure.
</div>
<div class="character-card">
<h3>David Lubbert</h3>
<strong>Role:</strong> Hugh's eldest son, returned Mormon missionary<br>
<strong>Arc:</strong> Faithful Mormon → questioning young adult → resistance participant → Cascades Institute director<br>
<strong>Key Relationships:</strong> Son of Hugh and Brenda, brother to Matthew, Christine, Rebecca<br>
<strong>Character Essence:</strong> David represents the next generation wrestling with inherited beliefs and chosen values. His journey from Mormon missionary to resistance institute director parallels his father's journey toward authenticity.
</div>
<div class="character-card">
<h3>Esperanza</h3>
<strong>Role:</strong> Uruguayan government official, Doña Silva's granddaughter<br>
<strong>Arc:</strong> Local connection → ministry official → trade zone architect<br>
<strong>Key Relationships:</strong> Granddaughter of Doña Silva (deceased), connected to Beni, works with Uruguayan government on refugee resettlement and agricultural trade<br>
<strong>Character Essence:</strong> Esperanza represents institutional power used for good—someone working within government structures to create refuge and economic alternatives for those fleeing American authoritarianism.
</div>
<div class="character-card">
<h3>Senator Tisdale</h3>
<strong>Role:</strong> Primary antagonist (off-page presence)<br>
<strong>Power Base:</strong> Senator whose campaign was funded by shadowy donor (connected to AgriCore Solutions)<br>
<strong>Agenda:</strong> Agricultural consolidation, anti-LGBTQ persecution, digital surveillance, authoritarian governance<br>
<strong>Character Essence:</strong> Tisdale represents how democratic institutions can be captured by corporate interests and weaponized against vulnerable populations. Though rarely appearing directly, his administration's policies drive all primary conflicts.
</div>
<h2>Major Locations</h2>
<div class="location-card">
<h3>Rich Coulee, Driftless Area, NW Illinois</h3>
<strong>Significance:</strong> Bill Kowalski's 400-acre family farm, five generations of agricultural legacy<br>
<strong>Description:</strong> Rolling terrain characteristic of the Driftless Area (region that escaped glaciation), traditional Midwest farming country now threatened by corporate consolidation<br>
<strong>Symbolic Role:</strong> Represents traditional American agriculture and rural communities facing existential threat from AgriCore's technological and economic control systems
</div>
<div class="location-card">
<h3>Aguaverde, Uruguay</h3>
<strong>Significance:</strong> Small town where Hugh met Benito in 1979, site of Estancia Tierra Púrpura<br>
<strong>Description:</strong> Rural Uruguayan community near Brazilian border, named for nearby Pozo Aguaverde (spring-fed pool with purple verbena)<br>
<strong>Key Features:</strong> General store, bar, cooperative lands, Doña Silva's former house, Estancia Tierra Púrpura<br>
<strong>Symbolic Role:</strong> Represents refuge, authentic love, and international solidarity. The town and estancia become Hugh's true home after fifty years.
</div>
<div class="location-card">
<h3>Estancia Tierra Púrpura (Purple Earth Ranch)</h3>
<strong>Significance:</strong> Historic property near Aguaverde where Hugh and Beni first met, eventual home for Hugh, Eugene, and Beni<br>
<strong>Description:</strong> Ranch property with purple verbena-covered fields, spring-fed pool (Pozo Aguaverde), modest house<br>
<strong>History:</strong> Owned by Doña Silva (now deceased), inherited by granddaughter Esperanza, maintained by Beni<br>
<strong>Symbolic Role:</strong> Literal and metaphorical home—the place where Hugh and Beni's love began, where it was denied, and where it finally becomes possible. The purple verbena serves as recurring imagery for enduring love.
</div>
<div class="location-card">
<h3>Zona de Libre Comercio Agrícola (Agricultural Free Trade Zone)</h3>
<strong>Significance:</strong> Uruguay-Brazil border trade zone created to facilitate agricultural exports from American farmers fleeing AgriCore control<br>
<strong>Description:</strong> Economic zone allowing American farmers using liberation software to export grain outside AgriCore's monopoly<br>
<strong>Political Context:</strong> Negotiated by Esperanza and other Uruguayan officials, represents international response to American agricultural fascism<br>
<strong>Symbolic Role:</strong> Transforms borders from barriers into bridges, creates economic alternatives to corporate control
</div>
<div class="location-card">
<h3>Cascades Institute</h3>
<strong>Significance:</strong> Organization founded/directed by David Lubbert (Hugh's son)<br>
<strong>Function:</strong> Research and advocacy organization (specific mission not fully detailed in Book 1)<br>
<strong>Symbolic Role:</strong> Represents next-generation resistance and the continuation of work beyond individual actors
</div>
<h2>Key Organizations & Power Structures</h2>
<div class="theme-card">
<h3>AgriCore Solutions</h3>
<strong>Type:</strong> Agricultural technology corporation<br>
<strong>Control Mechanisms:</strong>
<ul>
<li>Proprietary tractor software requiring dealer authorization for service</li>
<li>GPS systems and soil sensors transmitting real-time data to AgriCore servers</li>
<li>Seed licensing agreements requiring specific fertilizers from approved vendors</li>
<li>Grain elevator consolidation into "efficiency centers"</li>
<li>Financial partnerships with Sterling Financial</li>
<li>Management partnerships forcing "compliance" on struggling farms</li>
</ul>
<strong>Political Connections:</strong> Bankrolled by same shadowy donor who funded Senator Tisdale's campaign<br>
<strong>Strategy:</strong> Create technological dependency, then use that dependency to convert family farmers into sharecroppers on their own land
</div>
<div class="theme-card">
<h3>Farm Bill of 2026</h3>
<strong>Official Purpose:</strong> Modernize American agriculture through "smart farming" technology<br>
<strong>Official Incentives:</strong> Subsidized equipment, low-interest loans, tax incentives<br>
<strong>Actual Purpose (per leaked documents):</strong> Create mandatory technological dependency allowing corporate control of all agricultural production<br>
<strong>Implementation:</strong> Once farmers accept subsidized technology, they become locked into AgriCore's ecosystem—tractors serviceable only by authorized dealers, seeds requiring specific fertilizers, yields and debts transmitted to corporate servers
</div>
<div class="theme-card">
<h3>The Resistance Network</h3>
<strong>Participants:</strong> Hugh Lubbert, Eugene Thomas, Bill Kowalski, Ruth Kowalski (information), David Lubbert (institutional), others unnamed<br>
<strong>Strategies:</strong>
<ul>
<li>Liberation software (open-source alternatives to proprietary agricultural technology)</li>
<li>Information sharing through Ruth's leaked documents network</li>
<li>International trade alternatives (Zona de Libre Comercio Agrícola)</li>
<li>Digital organization and coordination</li>
<li>Institutional support (Cascades Institute)</li>
</ul>
<strong>Philosophy:</strong> Technology can serve either oppression or liberation—the same digital tools used for control can be repurposed for resistance
</div>
<div class="theme-card">
<h3>Meridian Genetics</h3>
<strong>Type:</strong> Seed corporation<br>
<strong>Control Method:</strong> Licensing agreements requiring farmers to purchase seeds annually, contracts resembling mortgages<br>
<strong>Market Position:</strong> Acquired Bill's previous seed supplier, creating monopoly conditions
</div>
<div class="theme-card">
<h3>Sterling Financial</h3>
<strong>Type:</strong> Banking corporation<br>
<strong>Control Method:</strong> Acquired traditional local banks (like the one Bill's grandfather used for 50 years)<br>
<strong>Political Connections:</strong> Allegedly shares board members with AgriCore Solutions<br>
<strong>Strategic Role:</strong> Financial infrastructure supporting agricultural consolidation
</div>
<h2>Major Themes</h2>
<div class="theme-card">
<h3>Authenticity vs. Legacy</h3>
<p>The novel's dedication establishes this as the central theme: "when legacy and authenticity could not coexist, chose authenticity." Hugh's fifty-year journey from denying his sexuality to preserve Mormon legacy, through coming out and divorce, to finding home in Uruguay exemplifies this choice. Bill faces similar choices between preserving family farming legacy through capitulation to AgriCore or choosing authentic resistance.</p>
</div>
<div class="theme-card">
<h3>Corporate Consolidation as Fascism</h3>
<p>AgriCore's strategy mirrors historical patterns of authoritarian control: create dependency through seemingly beneficial technology, then leverage that dependency to extract compliance and wealth. The Farm Bill of 2026 shows how democratic institutions can be captured by corporate interests to implement authoritarian outcomes through ostensibly voluntary programs.</p>
</div>
<div class="theme-card">
<h3>Technology as Liberation or Oppression</h3>
<p>The same digital technologies AgriCore uses for control (GPS tracking, yield monitoring, automated systems) become tools of resistance when open-sourced and community-controlled. Liberation software represents technological sovereignty—communities controlling their own tools rather than being controlled by proprietary systems.</p>
</div>
<div class="theme-card">
<h3>Borders as Barriers or Bridges</h3>
<p>The Zona de Libre Comercio Agrícola transforms the Uruguay-Brazil border from a barrier separating nations into a bridge creating economic alternatives. This parallels Hugh's journey—the barriers between him and Beni (geography, marriage, denial) eventually become bridges to authentic life and love.</p>
</div>
<div class="theme-card">
<h3>Queer Love Across Time</h3>
<p>Hugh and Beni's fifty-year story explores how homophobia and religious repression create temporal barriers to love. Their reunion in 2028 shows that authentic love can survive denial and distance, that home can be found even after decades of exile from self.</p>
</div>
<div class="theme-card">
<h3>Information as Resistance Infrastructure</h3>
<p>Ruth Kowalski forwarding leaked documents, the resistance network's digital coordination, and the strategic use of information all demonstrate how authoritarian power depends on information control and how resistance requires creating alternative information infrastructures.</p>
</div>
<div class="theme-card">
<h3>International Solidarity</h3>
<p>Uruguay's refugee resettlement programs and the Agricultural Free Trade Zone represent international responses to American authoritarianism. The novel suggests that resistance to fascism requires transnational cooperation—that national borders cannot contain either oppression or the resistance to it.</p>
</div>
<div class="theme-card">
<h3>Chosen Family</h3>
<p>The dedication's reference to "chosen family that will guide you through the darkest days" is embodied throughout—Hugh finding Eugene after divorcing Brenda, the resistance network creating community among the persecuted, Hugh/Eugene/Beni forming their own family structure in Uruguay.</p>
</div>
<h2>Major Plot Threads</h2>
<div class="plot-thread">
<h3>Agricultural Resistance Arc</h3>
<strong>Catalyst:</strong> Bill's John Deere tractor displays "Service Authorization Required" despite being mechanically sound, revealing AgriCore's control strategy<br>
<strong>Development:</strong> Bill learns about Farm Bill of 2026 implementation, Ruth forwards leaked documents revealing true agenda, Bill connects with resistance network<br>
<strong>Stakes:</strong> Five generations of Kowalski farming legacy versus corporate sharecropping<br>
<strong>Resolution:</strong> Bill farms with liberation software, exports through Zona de Libre Comercio Agrícola, plants oak tree symbolizing continued legacy<br>
<strong>Thematic Function:</strong> Shows how authoritarian control operates through technological dependency and how grassroots resistance can create alternatives
</div>
<div class="plot-thread">
<h3>Hugh's Coming Out Arc (2004 Timeline)</h3>
<strong>Catalyst:</strong> Writing protagonist Daniel's swimming hole scene, Hugh realizes "your character is gay"—and therefore so is he<br>
<strong>Development:</strong> Hugh comes out to Brenda, divorces, navigates Mormon community rejection, eventually meets Eugene (2007), marries in Connecticut (2009)<br>
<strong>Stakes:</strong> Twenty-three year marriage, four children, Mormon community belonging, professional identity versus authentic self<br>
<strong>Thematic Function:</strong> Establishes personal cost of choosing authenticity, shows how religious institutions enforce heteronormativity, demonstrates possibility of building authentic life even after decades of denial
</div>
<div class="plot-thread">
<h3>Hugh and Beni's Love Story (1979-2028)</h3>
<strong>Origin:</strong> Hugh meets Beni at Estancia Tierra Púrpura during missionary service (1979-1980), connection forms at Pozo Aguaverde<br>
<strong>Complication:</strong> Hugh cannot accept his sexuality, returns to US, marries Brenda, lives in denial for decades while Beni waits in Uruguay<br>
<strong>Development:</strong> After coming out, Hugh eventually partners with Eugene but never fully reconnects with Beni until 2028<br>
<strong>Resolution:</strong> Hugh, Eugene, and Beni form household at Estancia Tierra Púrpura; Beni's fifty-year wait ends; polyamorous/chosen family structure<br>
<strong>Symbolic Elements:</strong> Purple verbena (Tierra Púrpura), Pozo Aguaverde spring, swimming together<br>
<strong>Thematic Function:</strong> Demonstrates cost of internalized homophobia, shows love surviving across impossible distances, embodies chosen family and non-traditional relationship structures
</div>
<div class="plot-thread">
<h3>Political Persecution Arc (2027)</h3>
<strong>Context:</strong> Tisdale administration targeting LGBTQ+ Americans<br>
<strong>Stakes:</strong> Hugh and Eugene face persecution as gay married couple<br>
<strong>Development:</strong> Involvement in resistance network, eventual need to flee United States<br>
<strong>Resolution:</strong> Refugee status in Uruguay, safety at Estancia Tierra Púrpura<br>
<strong>Thematic Function:</strong> Shows how authoritarian governments target vulnerable populations, demonstrates need for international refuge networks
</div>
<div class="plot-thread">
<h3>Zona de Libre Comercio Agrícola (Trade Zone Creation)</h3>
<strong>Origin:</strong> Esperanza and Uruguayan ministry officials negotiate border trade zone with Brazil<br>
<strong>Purpose:</strong> Allow American farmers using liberation software to export grain outside AgriCore monopoly<br>
<strong>Implementation:</strong> Rapid development (South American governments "move quickly" per Esperanza)<br>
<strong>Impact:</strong> Creates economic alternative to AgriCore control, facilitates Bill Kowalski's continued farming<br>
<strong>Symbolic Function:</strong> Borders as bridges, international solidarity, economic resistance to corporate fascism
</div>
<div class="plot-thread">
<h3>Generational Continuity Arc</h3>
<strong>Participants:</strong> David Lubbert (Hugh's son) directs Cascades Institute, represents next generation<br>
<strong>Development:</strong> David's journey from Mormon missionary to resistance institution leader parallels Hugh's journey toward authenticity<br>
<strong>Thematic Function:</strong> Shows resistance continuing beyond individual actors, explores how children navigate parents' choices, demonstrates that choosing authenticity creates possibilities for next generations
</div>
<h2>Key Symbols & Imagery</h2>
<div class="theme-card">
<h3>Purple Verbena (Estancia Tierra Púrpura)</h3>
<strong>Literal:</strong> Flowering plant covering fields around Pozo Aguaverde<br>
<strong>Symbolic:</strong> Enduring love, beauty that persists, the land itself as witness to Hugh and Beni's fifty-year story<br>
<strong>Textual Function:</strong> Recurring image across timelines, closes for night and reopens with sun (cycles of waiting and reunion)
</div>
<div class="theme-card">
<h3>Pozo Aguaverde (Spring-Fed Pool)</h3>
<strong>Literal:</strong> Natural spring with cold, clear water near Estancia Tierra Púrpura<br>
<strong>Symbolic:</strong> Baptism/rebirth, cleansing, authentic self, timeless constancy ("spring-fed and constant")<br>
<strong>Textual Function:</strong> Site of intimate moments between Hugh and Beni across decades, represents returning to authentic origin
</div>
<div class="theme-card">
<h3>The Oak Tree</h3>
<strong>Context:</strong> Ruth Kowalski tends oak tree, Bill plants oak tree at end<br>
<strong>Symbolic:</strong> Generational continuity, deep roots, legacy that outlasts individual lives<br>
<strong>Textual Function:</strong> Connects Ruth's maintenance of family memory to Bill's commitment to continuing that legacy through resistance rather than capitulation
</div>
<div class="theme-card">
<h3>Proprietary Tractor Software</h3>
<strong>Literal:</strong> John Deere's "Service Authorization Required" message despite mechanical soundness<br>
<strong>Symbolic:</strong> How technology creates artificial scarcity and dependency, corporate control displacing mechanical knowledge, systems designed to extract rather than serve<br>
<strong>Textual Function:</strong> Opening image establishing novel's central conflict between corporate technological control and community autonomy
</div>
<div class="theme-card">
<h3>Liberation Software</h3>
<strong>Literal:</strong> Open-source alternatives to proprietary agricultural technology<br>
<strong>Symbolic:</strong> Community control of technology, digital commons, resistance through building alternatives<br>
<strong>Textual Function:</strong> Demonstrates that technology serves whoever controls it—same tools can enable either oppression or liberation
</div>
<div class="theme-card">
<h3>Leaked Documents</h3>
<strong>Literal:</strong> Ruth forwards leaked memos revealing AgriCore's true agenda behind Farm Bill<br>
<strong>Symbolic:</strong> Information as resistance infrastructure, necessity of transparency for democratic accountability<br>
<strong>Textual Function:</strong> Shows how authoritarian power depends on information asymmetry and how resistance requires alternative information networks
</div>
<div class="theme-card">
<h3>Swimming/Water</h3>
<strong>Contexts:</strong> Swimming hole scene in Hugh's novel, Pozo Aguaverde throughout, final scene of Hugh/Eugene/Beni swimming together<br>
<strong>Symbolic:</strong> Intimacy, vulnerability, cleansing, baptism/rebirth, authentic self without armor<br>
<strong>Textual Function:</strong> Water scenes consistently mark moments of truth and authentic connection across all timelines
</div>
<div class="theme-card">
<h3>Doña Silva's House</h3>
<strong>Literal:</strong> Empty house in Aguaverde that Beni maintains<br>
<strong>Symbolic:</strong> Legacy as community service rather than individual glory, buildings that serve rather than monuments that glorify<br>
<strong>Thematic Quote:</strong> "This is what legacy looks like. Not monuments or statues, but buildings that serve communities."
</div>
<h2>Narrative Structure</h2>
<div class="theme-card">
<h3>Timeline Technique</h3>
<p>The novel employs non-linear narrative, interweaving four primary timelines:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>2027 (Primary):</strong> Agricultural resistance and political persecution</li>
<li><strong>2004:</strong> Hugh's coming out process</li>
<li><strong>1979-1980:</strong> Mission experience with Beni</li>
<li><strong>2028 (Resolution):</strong> Reunion in Uruguay</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Function:</strong> This structure allows themes to resonate across time periods, showing how Hugh's denial in 1980 creates consequences in 2004, which create possibilities in 2027, which enable resolution in 2028. The non-linear approach emphasizes that these are not separate stories but one continuous arc across fifty years.</p>
</div>
<div class="theme-card">
<h3>Chapter Headers</h3>
<p>Each chapter begins with location and date (e.g., "Rich Coulee, Driftless Area, NW Illinois — March 2027" or "Glen Hill, Dallas suburbs, Texas — Early May 2004"), grounding readers in specific time-space coordinates while jumping between narratives.</p>
</div>
<div class="theme-card">
<h3>Point of View</h3>
<p>Primarily first-person from Hugh's perspective, with occasional shifts to other characters (Bill's chapters, for example). This centers Hugh's consciousness while allowing access to parallel resistance threads.</p>
</div>
<h2>World-Building Elements for Franchise Use</h2>
<div class="theme-card">
<h3>Established Technology</h3>
<ul>
<li>Proprietary agricultural technology (GPS, soil sensors, automated planters) with dealer-only service authorization</li>
<li>Real-time data transmission to corporate servers (yields, profits, debts)</li>
<li>Liberation software (open-source alternatives)</li>
<li>Digital resistance network infrastructure</li>
<li>Licensing agreements for seeds requiring annual purchase and specific fertilizers</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="theme-card">
<h3>Established Political Context</h3>
<ul>
<li>Tisdale administration (2026-2028 minimum)</li>
<li>Farm Bill of 2026 implementing AgriCore control systems</li>
<li>LGBTQ+ persecution under Tisdale</li>
<li>Corporate consolidation of grain elevators, banks, seed suppliers</li>
<li>Shadow donor network connecting AgriCore to Tisdale campaign</li>
<li>Uruguay as refugee destination with resettlement programs</li>
<li>Zona de Libre Comercio Agrícola (Uruguay-Brazil Agricultural Free Trade Zone)</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="theme-card">
<h3>Established Organizations</h3>
<ul>
<li><strong>AgriCore Solutions:</strong> Agricultural tech/consolidation corporation</li>
<li><strong>Meridian Genetics:</strong> Seed monopoly with licensing contracts</li>
<li><strong>Sterling Financial:</strong> Banking consolidator with AgriCore board connections</li>
<li><strong>The Resistance Network:</strong> Decentralized digital organization opposing AgriCore</li>
<li><strong>Cascades Institute:</strong> David Lubbert's research/advocacy organization</li>
<li><strong>Uruguayan Ministry (refugee/trade division):</strong> Esperanza's institutional base</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="theme-card">
<h3>Established Geography</h3>
<ul>
<li><strong>Driftless Area, NW Illinois:</strong> Un-glaciated region with rolling terrain, traditional farming country, site of Rich Coulee</li>
<li><strong>Aguaverde, Uruguay:</strong> Small town near Brazilian border, site of Estancia Tierra Púrpura and Pozo Aguaverde</li>
<li><strong>Zona de Libre Comercio Agrícola:</strong> Uruguay-Brazil border zone for agricultural trade</li>
<li><strong>Rich Coulee:</strong> Specific location of Kowalski farm (400 acres, five generations)</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="theme-card">
<h3>Character Status at Book 1 End (Available for Books 2-3)</h3>
<ul>
<li><strong>Hugh Lubbert:</strong> Living at Estancia Tierra Púrpura with Eugene and Beni</li>
<li><strong>Eugene Thomas:</strong> Same, partnership with Hugh intact</li>
<li><strong>Benito:</strong> Same, fifty-year love finally realized</li>
<li><strong>Bill Kowalski:</strong> Farming with liberation software, exporting through trade zone, tending oak tree</li>
<li><strong>Ruth Kowalski:</strong> Still alive at 87+, still forwarding leaked documents</li>
<li><strong>David Lubbert:</strong> Directing Cascades Institute, continuing resistance work</li>
<li><strong>Esperanza:</strong> Uruguayan ministry official coordinating refugee resettlement and trade</li>
<li><strong>Senator Tisdale:</strong> Still in power (status for Books 2-3 unknown)</li>
<li><strong>AgriCore Solutions:</strong> Still operational but facing resistance network alternatives</li>
</ul>
</div>
<h2>Thematic Statements (Author's Core Arguments)</h2>
<div class="theme-card">
<ol>
<li><strong>On Authenticity:</strong> Choosing authenticity over legacy is both costly and necessary; the price of denial is always higher than the price of truth</li>
<li><strong>On Technology:</strong> Digital tools serve whoever controls them—same technologies can enable either oppression or liberation depending on governance structures</li>
<li><strong>On Fascism:</strong> Corporate consolidation and authoritarian government are not separate phenomena but interconnected strategies for controlling populations through dependency</li>
<li><strong>On Love:</strong> Authentic love can survive impossible circumstances; home is not geography but safety to be oneself with people who want you to stay</li>
<li><strong>On Resistance:</strong> Effective resistance requires building alternatives (liberation software, trade zones, information networks) not just opposing existing power</li>
<li><strong>On Legacy:</strong> True legacy is not preserving individual or family glory but creating structures that serve communities across generations</li>
<li><strong>On Borders:</strong> Political boundaries can function as barriers or bridges depending on how communities choose to use them</li>
<li><strong>On Time:</strong> Waiting fifty years does not diminish love's validity; authentic connection transcends temporal separation</li>
</ol>
</div>
<h2>Key Quotes for Reference</h2>
<div class="theme-card">
<p><strong>On Choosing Authenticity:</strong><br>
"This book is dedicated to the courageous men and women who, when legacy and authenticity could not coexist, chose authenticity."</p>
<p><strong>On Corporate Control:</strong><br>
"Once in the system, you'd belong to it. Tractors serviceable only by authorized dealers. Seeds requiring specific fertilizers from approved vendors. Monitoring systems transmitting yields, profits, and debts to servers controlled by AgriCore Solutions."</p>
<p><strong>On Realization:</strong><br>
"'Your character is gay,' he whispered aloud. The words hung in the air. Once spoken, they couldn't be taken back. And if his character was gay—a character based on his own experiences, his own feelings, his own desperate attempts to understand himself—then what did that make him?"</p>
<p><strong>On Home:</strong><br>
"Home isn't where you're born. It's where you're safe enough to be yourself. Where the people you love want you to stay. Where the work you do has meaning."</p>
<p><strong>On Legacy:</strong><br>
"This is what legacy looks like. Not monuments or statues, but buildings that serve communities. Not individual glory, but collective care."</p>
<p><strong>On Love Across Time:</strong><br>
"She used to say that love was the only thing worth building your life around. Everything else—money, property, reputation—that was all temporary. But love, if you tended it carefully, could last forever."</p>
<p><strong>On Ending/Beginning:</strong><br>
"Hugh Lubbert and Eugene Thomas had found their ending. Which was, of course, just another kind of beginning."</p>
</div>
<h2>Unresolved Threads (Potential for Books 2-3)</h2>
<div class="plot-thread">
<ul>
<li>Tisdale administration's ultimate fate</li>
<li>Full scope and impact of resistance network</li>
<li>Long-term viability of Zona de Libre Comercio Agrícola</li>
<li>AgriCore Solutions' response to liberation software movement</li>
<li>David Lubbert's Cascades Institute specific projects and impact</li>
<li>Matthew, Christine, and Rebecca Lubbert's stories (Hugh's other children)</li>
<li>Brenda's life after divorce from Hugh</li>
<li>Ruth Kowalski's eventual passing and Bill's inheritance of resistance work</li>
<li>Broader national/international response to American authoritarianism</li>
<li>Specific mechanisms of Hugh and Eugene's persecution and flight to Uruguay</li>
<li>Full details of the resistance network's digital infrastructure</li>
<li>Other farmers' decisions regarding Farm Bill participation vs. resistance</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="spoiler">
<h3>⚠️ CRITICAL WORLDBUILDING NOTE FOR FRANCHISE CONTRIBUTORS</h3>
<p><strong>Established Canon Endpoints:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Hugh, Eugene, and Beni are together at Estancia Tierra Púrpura by Spring 2028</li>
<li>Bill Kowalski continues farming with liberation software</li>
<li>Zona de Libre Comercio Agrícola is operational by 2028</li>
<li>Resistance network successfully creates agricultural alternatives to AgriCore</li>
<li>David Lubbert leads Cascades Institute</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Flexible Elements for Books 2-3:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Timing and details of Hugh/Eugene's flight to Uruguay</li>
<li>Specific resistance network operations and participants</li>
<li>AgriCore's counter-strategies and responses</li>
<li>Political developments beyond Tisdale administration</li>
<li>International responses beyond Uruguay-Brazil trade zone</li>
<li>Technology development beyond liberation software mentioned</li>
<li>Other character arcs (Matthew, Christine, Rebecca, Brenda, etc.)</li>
</ul>
</div>
<h2>Author Context (Relevant to Franchise)</h2>
<div class="metadata">
<p><strong>Lester Leavitt's Background:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Doctoral research (2011-2015) on how technology and social media change governing narratives and displace institutionalized practices</li>
<li>Peer-reviewed publication: "Information Communication Technology and the Street-Level Bureaucrat: Tools for Social Equity and Progressive Activism"</li>
<li>Born in Canada, lived in Texas (2002), South Florida (2004), married husband in Connecticut (2009), now in Driftless Area of NW Illinois</li>
<li>Divorced from wife after coming out as gay (parallel to Hugh's arc)</li>
<li>Former educator (US History, Spanish), fluent in English and Spanish</li>
<li>Author of memoir <em>Forbidden Friends: A History of Colonialism in the New World</em> (2025) examining power structures through narrative analysis</li>
<li>Retired December 2025, completed Books 1-3 of Driftless Rivers Trilogy</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Implications for Franchise:</strong> The trilogy is informed by scholarly understanding of how digital narratives and technology serve power structures, personal experience navigating LGBTQ+ identity within conservative religious contexts, and deep knowledge of both Midwest American and Uruguayan settings. Contributing authors should maintain this grounding in political reality, technological infrastructure, and authentic LGBTQ+ experience.</p>
</div>
<h2>Reading Order & Series Position</h2>
<div class="metadata">
<p><strong>Soybeans</strong> (Book 1) establishes the Driftless Rivers universe's foundational conflicts, characters, and themes. It functions as origin story for:</p>
<ul>
<li>Agricultural resistance to corporate consolidation</li>
<li>Hugh/Eugene/Beni relationship across fifty years</li>
<li>Resistance network infrastructure</li>
<li>International solidarity responses to American authoritarianism</li>
<li>Technology as liberation/oppression dialectic</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Books 2 (Aceguá) and 3 (Allegory Protocol)</strong> presumably develop these threads further. Contributing authors should treat <em>Soybeans</em> as canonical foundation establishing world rules, character baselines, and thematic commitments.</p>
</div>
<h2>For Claude's Reference</h2>
<div class="theme-card">
<p><strong>When Lester provides this URL, I should be able to:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Recall all major characters (Hugh, Eugene, Beni, Bill, Ruth, David, Esperanza, Tisdale) and their arcs</li>
<li>Reference specific locations (Rich Coulee, Aguaverde, Estancia Tierra Púrpura, Pozo Aguaverde, Zona de Libre Comercio)</li>
<li>Understand organizational structures (AgriCore, resistance network, Cascades Institute, etc.)</li>
<li>Apply established timeline (2027 primary, 2004 flashback, 1979-80 mission, 2028 resolution)</li>
<li>Recognize thematic commitments (authenticity vs legacy, technology as liberation/oppression, corporate fascism, queer love across time)</li>
<li>Maintain continuity with established canon when discussing Books 2-3</li>
<li>Reference specific symbols (purple verbena, oak trees, water/swimming, liberation software)</li>
<li>Understand world-building rules for franchise contributors</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>This document serves as comprehensive reference for all Driftless Rivers franchise worldbuilding derived from Book 1.</strong></p>
</div>
</body>
</html>