Luba Burtyk

Spontaneous Combustion Luba Burtyk

Of the countless burning stars in the night sky, it's the shooting star that catches the eye, transfixes the imagination. Year over year, activists and protestors and people of conscience march to save the planet from ever-present threats. On rare occasion, a bright, fiery individual appears and leaves a mark on the world. Thirteen-year-old Darcy Pucelle with a synesthesia-esque take on reality is one of these. Compelled to obey the promptings of the Voice of Truth, which "speaks to her like poetry," she sets out to do her part in righting the world. Slipping away in the middle of the night from her rural home, she goes to New York to participate in protests targeting fast food and Duke Burgundy, CEO of a leading agri-business that produces environmentally unsafe products that make "garbage food" lucrative. Her support of the Whole Earth movement and its leader, Doefen, a goat keeper turned activist, famous for his confrontation with a fast food restaurant chain, results in her becoming branded as an extremist. The media sniggers at her youth; the police set out to "deactivate" her. Undeterred, she challenges the world to support Doefen, and becomes a major force in WE's actions. And suffers the consequences. Spontaneous Combustion is the story of one young woman's fervid conviction that it is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.