Levi Vonk - Border Hacker: A Tale of Treachery, Trafficking, and Two Friends on the Run

THIS STORY IS not about me. It could be said that its about Axel; he is, after all, the titular character. But thats not exactly right either. This story, really, is about the relationship between us and how it is possible for two people who seemingly could not be more different on papera young, southern, white academic and an undocumented, Afro-Latino, New York hustlerto still share something. Its a relationship that, when this book is published, will have spanned more than seven years. To convey it with depthand all the complexities, pitfalls, and power dynamics thereinit was also necessary to question the borders around what is considered acceptable nonfiction. For instance, portions of this book are written from Axels first-person perspective. These passages are based on hundreds of hours of recorded interviews. The best were selected and transcribed by me, and then Axel and I edited them together many times over for strength and clarity. Frequently, passages of several interviews have been combined or rearranged to create the most engaging narrative. In anticipation of any criticism or skepticism that this methodology may inspire, we ask: Why should the author be allowed to rewrite as much as they please, as well as have access to an editor, but not the subject?

In this book, conversations between Axel and me are also often based on recorded interviews or text messages, though they just as frequently come from my memory or his. At every step, we have worked together to ensure that these recollected conversations are as true to the originals as possible, while still conveying a clear and compelling story. Rest assured, Axel read every page of every draft of this book, and any time he flagged something that was inaccurate or that he remembered differently, he swiftly addressed my error. All irregular spellings were recommended by Axel himself to better portray his unique pattern of speech. The intention from the start was to give him space to speak for himself, to tell his story on his own terms, even when he contradicts or criticizes my account of events. It is, no doubt, an imperfect attempt atwhat word to use? Equity? Parity? Solidarity? However, it is an attempt, and one that we hope will push narrative nonfiction in a direction that is not only more compassionate toward its subjects but also more wary of its own narrator-centered point of view.

To accomplish such a daunting task, I have developed what I believe is something of a unique interview style, one that differs somewhat from the journalistic or anthropological standard. I would ask Axel to talk about a subject at lengthperhaps a particular event in his life or his perspective on a certain aspect of migrationand then, throughout the years, ask him to retell that same story to me over and over again. The repetition provided us with much more material, which in turn led to much richer passages in Axels voice. It also has its challenges: Axel and I must grapple with the inconsistencies bound up in all narrativeswhether intentional or otherwiseand sometimes Axels way of thinking about a particular subject changed over time. We have tried to embrace and move deeper into these issues, rather than obscure them.

One of the reasons I believe that this new, experimental way of writing has not been attempted before in mainstream nonfiction (at least that I know of) is because it is much more laborious. For seven years now, Axel and I have stayed in near-daily contact. Our project has taken over both of our lives. Our interviews are incredibly long and nonlinear. What might take an average journalist or social scientist five hours of work (say, one hour of interview, plus three hours of transcription, plus one hour of analysis to pull the best quotes) can easily take us ten times as long. This additional labor is shouldered not only by me, of course, but by Axel as well. For this reason, I have tried to ensure that he is well compensated. Not only have I helped support him financially since we met, but he will be paid like a coauthor for this project and will receive a substantial portion of the profits for every book sold for life. We again see this as a crucial departure from mainstream nonfiction, in which subjects are not only routinely uncompensated, but their unpaid labor is justified through the invocation of some kind of abstract journalistic integrity or objectivity, the measure of which is never defined except through the adamant denial of payment.

Other notes on methodology: Axel and I have sometimes changed or obscured minor facts throughout the book. For instance, Parts I and II are told in chronological order, but Parts III and IV contain a few select passages that have been arranged outside of strict chronology. However, at no point does this slight disjuncture in temporality impact the actual claims made in the book. Additionally, several vulnerable characters names have been changed, as well as their identifying characteristics. In the service of protecting them, I have not marked which names or features have been altered.