ALONG THE TEXAS BORDER running between El Paso and Brownsville there are some 1,500 colonias: rural, unincorporated, and often poverty-stricken communities where immigrants have bought inexpensive lots and settled in for their first taste of the American dream. This winter I traveled to a handful of these communities, a few of which have existed now for more than four decades, to compile a portfolio of drawings that would tell some of the stories that make up the colonias' experience. While I encountered many families living in deplorable conditions, I also witnessed countless acts of near-miraculous transformation. With the help of unions and churches, many of the residents I visited were wielding their political power for the first time and slowly creating a better existence--sometimes brick by brick--for their families.