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ArtistA richly detailed autobiographical comic-book poster in the style of an underground graphic novel, hand-inked with crosshatching and watercolor textures on warm cream paper. A 20-pixel-high header spans the very top of the page with red hearts in both corners. HEADER TEXT IN BOLD BLACK ALL CAPS: THIS IS ME. DEEP LEFT. BORDERLESS. DEEP ECOLOGIST. TRYING TO BUILD A BETTER WORLD. At the center, a thoughtful 16-year-old boy with bushy dark curly hair and a plaid shirt sits at a desk, resting his chin on his hand. He has a serious, introspective expression and resembles the supplied portrait. He wears a button reading NO BORDERS and an Earth pendant. On the desk are pencils, coffee, and a sketchbook titled MULTICULTURALISM. LEFT PANELS: A diverse protest crowd with signs reading NO ONE IS ILLEGAL, PEOPLE OVER PROFIT, SYSTEM CHANGE NOT CLIMATE CHANGE, and ANOTHER WORLD IS POSSIBLE. Below, a multicultural crowd with a banner reading MANY CULTURES ONE HUMAN FAMILY. CENTER PANEL: The boy gazes across a mountain river landscape. Speech balloon in ALL CAPS: I DON’T BELIEVE IN BORDERS. WE ARE ONE SPECIES ON ONE BEAUTIFUL PLANET. RIGHT PANELS: The boy stands beside his sister Cheryl, a strong butch lesbian with short hair and a sleeveless denim vest. Speech balloon: LOVE IS LOVE. Below, a forest ecosystem with wolf, deer, turtle, mushrooms, butterflies, and heron. Text: RESPECT. PROTECT. RESTORE. BOTTOM LEFT: A bleak ancient landscape of pyramids, ruins, smoke, and campfires. Caption: SOMETIMES I FEEL LIKE I HAVE BEEN SENT BACKWARDS IN TIME THOUSANDS OF YEARS FROM A MORE ENLIGHTENED FUTURE. BOTTOM CENTER: The boy, seen from behind with a backpack reading I REMEMBER A BETTER WORLD, looks toward a luminous eco-city with domes, gardens, bicycles, and wind turbines. BOTTOM RIGHT: Text panel: SO I DRAW. I SPEAK. I ORGANIZE. I PLANT. I LOVE. I KEEP GOING. BOTTOM BANNER IN ALL CAPS: ANOTHER WORLD ISN’T JUST POSSIBLE. WE ARE BUILDING IT. Highly detailed, emotionally sincere, progressive, hopeful, politically engaged, ecological, and visionary. No swearing. All text in bold uppercase hand lettering.
At thirteen, I had already reached a conclusion that many adults spend their entire lives trying to avoid. The world was clearly organized by people who mistook fences for wisdom and ownership for virtue. They drew lines across maps, called them borders, and expected everyone else to salute.
I was not convinced.
Even then, I suspected that the planet was a single living organism and that human beings were temporary tenants with exaggerated opinions of themselves. Forests, rivers, wolves, turtles, and mushrooms all seemed to understand cooperation better than most governments. Nature had been running a functional democracy for hundreds of millions of years before politicians arrived with neckties and property deeds.
At thirteen, I believed that no one was illegal, that culture was a great human compost heap, and that languages, songs, foods, and stories were the real treasures of civilization. Diversity was not a problem to be solved; it was the operating system of the planet.
I looked around and felt as if I had been dropped backward through time into a primitive era of war, greed, and environmental vandalism. Adults spoke confidently while setting fire to the future. This struck me as an odd definition of maturity.
My sister Cheryl, with her fierce honesty and refusal to conform, taught me that love did not require permission from committees or governments. Love was simply love.
So I drew. I made comics and strange pictures, trying to map the world I knew was possible: borderless, ecological, multicultural, and just.
The remarkable thing is that I have not changed my mind.
I still believe the Earth is alive. I still believe human rights are more important than profit. I still believe another world is possible.
In fact, I remain highly suspicious of anyone who outgrows these ideas.
