Hey friends,

Thank you for the warm welcome back last month with that Avatar piece!

But now, it seems, the time to escape and avatar-about is over.

I.

Sometimes I’ll get nervous at crowded bars and just start bussing tables. Call it a force of habit — maybe that’s illegal? I don’t know. Especially when it’s busy, especially when it’s messy, and annoying to me. It’s not my job — not for now, not anymore at least, but I get it and empathize with whoever is slacking/doing their damn best behind the bar. If their boss is decent, they’re getting $8 an hour before tips, if their boss is doing what the law requires in Georgia, it’s $2.13. Legality is not morality. Stacking glasses seems more useful than biting my nails or tapping my toes. It’s within my capacity to help slightly and invisibly, so I do.

Work has been light lately. Very light. Might have to go back to bussing tables professionally soon. I’ve got a wrap party on Sunday, and completely dead radio silence the following week. Just like the last couple of weeks. Don’t ask me what I have to show for that time, either.

Oh jeez, the union just sent an email titled “Planning For The Year Ahead” like it’s an impending storm to weather. It probably is. They say I need three to six months saved as the film industry coys and reels back productions. Scary. I can’t make a résumé to save my life, but it’s going out more frequently than me I assure you. I can only improve a house that’s not a home so much. I wish I could move somewhere more comfortable, where I feel safer. And don’t you dare ask me how many times I’ve seen Avatar.

I’m probably anxious at the bar because I have no business being in the bar. Yes, it’s Friday. Yes, you worked hard this week; as best you could. But couldn’t the $11 you’re spending on one drink-I swear-just-one-drink in a desperate cloy for human connection at one of the last standing ‘third places' be better spent elsewhere?

Think of that stack of $35 co-pays you have on your desk back home. Think of that bigger, scarier bill you’re holding off until the 15th to think about. Based on all metrics, you don’t deserve to be at a bar! Or anywhere for that matter! Stay at home! Bite your nails! Tap your toes!

…My phone dings. A budgeting app is telling me to consider cutting back on spending in the “Health & Wellness” category…

II.

Ding, and then my Apple Watch tells me to breathe… until ding I get another news alert.

Every day, the stakes and intensity increase. Atlanta’s Cop City comes to the top of my mind. What do you mean you want to spend $90 million on tearing down a forest nicknamed ‘One of Atlanta’s Lungs’ so that you can build an urban warfare police training facility??? You’re murdering treehuggers and charging protestors with domestic terrorism?? Haven’t you demons seen Avatar??

The strong response from Atlanta’s corporate and political elite is commensurate with the strength of the movement against Cop City. It is a diverse and decentralized movement; there are no appointed leaders or spokespeople; no legacy nonprofits, nor corporate backers driving strategy. The movement is made up of people in Atlanta and across the world who understand that the stakes could not be higher: The climate crisis poses an existential risk to all life on Earth. But the police will meet every righteous fight for a livable world with violence and death-making, the only tools at their disposal.

Atlanta's "Cop City" Is Putting Policing Before the Climate, Teen Vogue

On January 18th, Tortuguita, a Cop City protestor was killed by Atlanta and Georgia State Police. They are the first environmental activist murdered by police in the history of the US Environmentalism movement. Today, an independent autopsy shows that their hands were above their head, and they were sitting cross-legged when police shot them over 13 times.

Are you ok with this?

Then there’s the all-out political assault on LGBTQ+ rights nationwide right there, too; staring me down in Instagram Story after Instagram Story. Public drag performances in Tennessee are a potential felony, along with at least 385 other anti-LGBTQ laws that have been introduced at the state level in a majority of U.S. states as of March 3, all in various legislative processes. It’s infuriating to wake up daily to whole civil rights movements taking national steps backward when there’s so much progress left to be made. Feels like they won’t stop until they stop-and-frisk Dolly Parton. It’s meant to bombard, overwhelm, and offend — and friends, it is working.

Eventually, we’re going to have to decide what we as people deserve, and what we don’t.

III.

The biggest threat to Cop City’s construction so far is not the outcry, the murdered protestor, or the ones deemed domestic terrorists, but the push to make Buckhead — the wealthy northern Atlanta suburb — its own city. If the rich are successful in seceding from metro Atlanta (on the grounds of public safety concerns) — which they have not been so far — they jeopardize the tax revenue necessary to break ground on the urban warfare training facility which for some reason is the best idea anyone can think of.

“The irony is not lost on me that people who are claiming public safety as their reason for a Buckhead City would actually be the cause that stops a training facility that is meant to help improve public safety,” he continued. “We have to think about these consequences.”
— Georgia Senator and “public servant” Jason Esteves

The development has become more controversial since it was approved by the Atlanta city council in September 2021. Some Atlantans have complained that the development process has not been transparent enough, and that public opinion has been disregarded. Just before the September vote, the council received 17 hours of recorded public comment, with an overwhelming 70% of residents expressing their opposition. Still, it passed in a 10-4 vote.

“They’re going to call us like eco terrorists, and all kinds of stuff like that,” said an activist who gave the name Red, and who led a reporter on a tour of the area recently. “A lot of people out here had friends who’ve died, been imprisoned, been shot, and experienced a lot of trauma, so they have a really internalized hatred of police. There are other people who are very aware of the fact that the police are human beings who are trying to do what they think is right.”

The US activists holed up in treehouses to block $90m ‘Cop City’, The Guardian

Has capitalism and the police state taken into account the fact that all of the groups and ecosystems they are assaulting and depleting are just trying to f*cking vibe?

IV.

All of it makes me want to escape, somehow. I want to deny culpability, I want to escape responsibility. Is it even mine to relinquish? Exhausted, I escape to Hulu and my 90s television diet of Frasier and Star Trek: Voyager.

Frasier keeps my snobbery in check, while Star Trek provides one of the few visions for the future I can get behind and strive towards. Sometimes it feels like my entire political affiliation could boil down to “I want Star Trek.”

So imagine my joy when one of my best friends told me about this gem from the Star Trek 30th anniversary special.

Why is it presumed that “socialist utopias” would deprive people of luxury, competition, ambition, or art? Capitalism is making the world gray as it is.

The assumption that socialist utopias would deprive people of luxury, competition, ambition, or art is misguided. Socialism aims to create a more equitable distribution of resources and opportunities, not eliminate these things. People would still be free to pursue their passions and achieve their goals, but the motivation for doing so would not be solely financial gain. You can still chase your dreams and passions, but with the added bonus of not being beholden to the almighty dollar.

While luxury is often seen as a measure of success in our society, it is not always the case. Suburbs like the ones in north metro Atlanta are often associated with the middle-class American dream, but they can be and often are quite problematic. They are not designed for human productivity or pleasure, but rather to extract as much money and value as possible from each citizen. This comes at the expense of community and sustainability.

How long does this all have to not work before we consider something different? In contrast, socialist communities could provide opportunities for people to come together and work towards common goals, resulting in a stronger sense of community and shared purpose. You know, like Star Trek.

In the book Trekonomics by Manu Saadia, they argue that while warp drive technology is still a far off idea, post-scarcity economics are not.

“Work in the Federation [of Planets] is not a matter of compulsion or survival. Federation citizens need not perform tasks or exercise professions that do not suit their inclinations just so that they can afford to put food on the table and enjoy the respect of their peers. … What makes the Federation so appealing … It is the nature and meaning of work. It is almost a paradox to state it this way, but in a society where nothing is scarce and consequently where work is no longer a prerequisite for survival, finding good reasons to work becomes paramount, the defining existential question that everyone has to ask themselves. Why work at all if it’s not necessary? Because learning, making, and sharing is what makes life in the Federation worth living. Work, no longer a necessary burden, is the glue that holds the Federation together. It is the social bond and the social contract that impart substance and significance to life.”
― Trekonomics: The Economics of Star Trek, Manu Saadia

I know learning, sharing, and making life worth living are the antithesis of Buckhead’s Lenox Square Mall, but what is keeping us from aspiring to the ideal? Who says we have to operate like political pundits and be ‘strategic’ with our vote, policies and perspectives? Why kneecap the possibility of what could be tomorrow with whatever hurdles come today?

“Our fictions are, collectively, the dream-work of humanity. We dream these dreams to amuse ourselves, but also so that we will be more sane when we awake.” — Trekonomics: The Economics of Star Trek, Manu Saadia

To truly create a just and equitable society, we must harness both our imaginations and our collective power to build systems that prioritize the well-being of all. Our current systems of power often work against that goal, prioritizing the accumulation of wealth over meeting people's basic needs and perpetuating harm through the use of coercive force.

“Modern policing is largely a war on the poor that does little to make people safer or communities stronger, and even when it does, this is accomplished through the most coercive forms of state power that destroy the lives of millions. Instead of asking the police to solve our problems we must organize for real justice. We need to produce a society designed to meet people’s human needs, rather than wallow in the pursuit of wealth at the expense of all else.”
― The End of Policing, Alex S. Vitale

We should prioritize creating a society that values human potential over profit, and provides opportunities for all to pursue their passions and achieve their goals. Cop City, in response to the 2020 protests and their growing demands to defund or even someday abolish the police, is cartoonishly evil, counterproductive, and dangerous.

“Police argue that residents in high-crime communities often demand police action. What is left out is that these communities also ask for better schools, parks, libraries, and jobs, but these services are rarely provided.”
― The End of Policing, Alex S. Vitale

Eventually, we’re going to have to decide what we as people deserve and what we don’t.

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V.

When I’m bored and underemployed, I look for class-action lawsuits that might be relevant to me. You’d be surprised at how many lawsuits are being lobbed against so many companies you still use. Almost like they have the ability to skirt regulations and pay off dissenters instead of following laws.

Back in 2019, I suppose I joined one against StubHub, and boy that paid off! Woke up one morning earlier this year to find credit deposited to my StubHub account. With the entierty of it, I became the proud owner of one (1) nosebleed Taylor Swift ticket when she comes to town in April. I’m really excited, attending seemed like a total pipe dream until that happened. Though, I kind of feel like a class traitor for posessing it? Maybe I can have a little capitalism as a treat? Shake it off, Tyler. Eventually, you’re going to have to decide what you deserve and what you don’t.

Late last year to my surprise, I was elected co-chair of the Democratic Socialists of America’s Queer Socialists Working Group. A national volunteer position that gives me little more than an email list, some lovely volunteers and activists, and a goal of making democratic socialism a reality both in policy and in practice. It’s been a lot of work on top of everything going on (and my involvement in DSA’s local Atlanta chapter), but it’s the best vehicle I’ve got for political involvement. Like I mentioned earlier, LGBTQ+ rights are under attack on nearly all fronts. Moving backwards is not an option. It’s within my capacity to help slightly and invisibly, so I do. Wish me luck.

If you’re even kind of interested in getting involved in any capacity, please reply to this email, join in the hyperlink above, and/or reach out at queersocialists@dsacommittiees.org

I feel the lavender haze creepin’ up on me. Surreal, I’m damned if I do give a damn what people say. No deal, the 1950s shit they want from me. I just wanna stay in that lavender haze.

ATLANTA folks: I’ll be seeing the strange-looking Casablanca Records biopic Spinning Gold at Regal Atlantic Station on March 29th at 7 pm. You can get a pair of free tickets here. I don’t know anything beyond that. They just sent me tickets to share, ok? We’re all taking a chance here.

Till next time,

Tyler Scruggs is a writer, musician, filmmaker, and designer in Atlanta, GA. He’s self-released three records, works in wardrobe for big budget Hollywood films, and has written work in a variety of publications. You can find him on Twitter and Instagram.