The New Builders

CHAPTER TWELVESum of Our Parts

On the basketball court of Robert E. Lee High School in Staunton, Virginia, Jahleel Pettiford's first dream lived and died. He was one of the stars on a basketball team that went all the way to the state finals. But when college coaches came recruiting, they only were only interested in the team's top player. Jahleel, the son of a single mother with an involved father, entered into what he calls “an unusual head space” as high school wrapped up and he was becoming an adult. One day, in church, he was meditating on how thoughts can turn into reality when he realized that he had the power to create change. He and a friend came up with the word “Növel” to describe this agency. It became an anchor of sorts, a calling. He started doodling it, first on white T‐shirts that he had around, adding colorful, whimsical characters. His designs were wry and hopeful, and they made him feel better. The first day he wore his shirt to school, three different classmates offered to buy them.

Jahleel wanted to help other people his age cope with a world that seemed increasingly complicated, if not downright grim. They'd been acutely aware of the Unite the Right rally in 2017 when the KKK marched 45 miles away in Charlottesville, and a young woman was killed by a far‐right protester. Doodling became a way for him to help himself and others look to a brighter future, and Növel reminded him that things can change for the better. “You may be down,” he said. “But you're ...