November 5th, 2060

Dear TAPS,

Today is the 28th anniversary of America’s first female president being elected. Sort of funny to think about, since we’ve had so many since, plus our current one is genderfluid…but I guess things were really different B.C. 

We talked about how it all happened in history class—Harper (who is still my favorite teacher, she’s so excited about what she’s sharing you somehow get caught up in it? and she makes the best jokes. Anyways, Harper) was saying that what really made that possible, along with everything else that happened in America, was the abolishing of the electoral college.

She talked about 2020 (again, haven’t we heard enough?!) and reminded us how after the pandemic hit, and then there were those protests, and then businesses started coming back because everyone was so focused on the economy (because UBI wasn’t a thing then, which is hard to even imagine), then there was a resurgence of the virus over the summer and, worldwide, governments started coming to a reckoning with the fact that capitalism as it stood wasn’t going to work.

But not in America because that awful Trump guy was president. She holo’d that picture of him with the bible up and it was like....um, obviously this person is evil, look at that face?? But also I mean who knows if we ever could have gone where we went next from there, if he hadn’t been so awful, you know? Gotta swim in the silver lining, like that Lottya song says. OMX, I cannot wait for that concert.

Anyways, Harper said the root of all the change was really the Civilians War in 2021, when Trump refused to leave the White House even though Biden was elected. That’s what started it. And then it was just normal people fighting each other.

I was thinking about it while I was listening—like if my parents and I had disagreed we might have been on opposite sides? Shooting each other?

But eventually the military had this like, coupe (pronounced like coo) or mutiny or whatever. It must have been so fire to live through. And then Biden snuck all these things that are the basis of how we live now through and made them policy. Harper said it was because ‘the country was tired.’ And also because Biden was so middle-of-the-road people didn’t notice as much when he did something that would then have been considered radical but now is common place, like Universal Basic Income or each vote counting for itself.

And also she said it had to do with the way that money was redistributed, not just towards UBI but also towards mental health practices. Harper said that back then people didn’t have Counsels assigned to them, they had to pay for medical care and Counsels weren’t even seen as necessities! Can you imagine? If I didn’t have my Counsel I would NOT survive—like I’d never have gotten over that weird thing I had about people looking at me through their lens filters. Like, what does it matter what other people decide they want to see? I’m still me. But I don’t know if I’d gotten through it that quickly without my Counsel. I like…wouldn’t get through high school if I didn’t have someone totally uninvolved I could talk to? That would be so raw.

But yeah. I guess I’m thinking about it and writing about it so much cause it sounds kind of exciting. I mean, not like I’d want to go back there —rights sucked—but the fashions were so cute and old looking and it sounds like the art scene was really cool cause so much stuff was going down. Like, there was so much more to fight for? But it also sounds dangerous and terrible. Like—wtf were they doing with the way they farmed animals?! Plus it was before solar. And, I mean, men in charge—it doesn’t make any sense. Everyone learns by like age 10 now in our health classes that tend and befriend is better than fight or flight, and we all know that heterosexual males back then were the worst at leading teams.

But yeah. Harper showed us some old videos of AOC and she looked SO young. Marco said she was hot then and some of the boys in class laughed. So I muted them. I wasn’t in the mood. Oh, also, Lol sent me the cutest little toys for my holopet! We met up on the holoroof we designed and played with Coconut and Marnie until we were exhausted and then we flopped down and turned off the lights all across New York and stared up at the stars and held each other. I think I’m going to be in love with xem forever. I’m SO glad we both decided to go out to that real in-person rave at the old Underground stop. Lol totally gets the way I feel about all the old-timey stuff. We promised the next time we saw each other in person we’d swap setbooks. I think I’ll program the pages to turn The Fifth Season. I bet xe’ll really like it.

Ok, time to sleep. Gonna pop in those old, actually physical pre-BCI earphones I got for my birthday, put some vintage Lorde tunes on, and dream up some retro visions to play with Lol in. Maybe we can go to a protest together or something… Anyways (yawn) bye for now!

Yours til the the ice ages,

Terr