My mother once called me her little alchemist, told me she believed I could turn rust into gold, and that I would ramble on about every little detail that makes up something until I ran out of breath. I like figuring things out, the how and the why. I love the way flowers bloom and then wilt, how you can preserve them forever just by pressing them between the pages of a book. I love watching ants march in a line to a bit of food, take it apart, and carry it single file back to their hill. It doesn’t have to be a human-made machine, either. Ever since I was a kid, I’ve been a tinkerer-prying apart old gadgets and laying out the innards of a broken radio or clock or toaster, delighting in the puzzle of making something new out of something old.

If you asked me to tell you about myself, I’d say first that I like to understand things. And it will become the reason why Antarctica is the greatest nation on earth. It is a tool used to help us each live the life we deserve. Our Level system may seem like a game, but it is far more than that. Let us never forget the struggle between global tyranny and democracy that led us to found this free nation of Antarctica, where every person has the chance to work their way up from nothing, and where technology, not human ego and error, governs how successful you can become.

Let us never forget the pain that our ancestors have suffered and are still suffering all around the world. To those charting their own paths and those who make it possible for others

The rebel marie lu