Paul Schmelzer as signed by Julian Bond

Former head of the NAACP, founding member of SNCC, first president of the Southern Poverty Law Center, and a professor soon to retire from the University of Virginia's history department, Julian Bond offered a signature, plus a plug for his father-in-law's restaurant in St. Paul, the Copper Dome.

Paul Schmelzer as signed by Gaylord Nelson

Another name you might not know, the late Gaylord Nelson was a progressive US Senator from Wisconsin, advisor to the Wilderness Society, and—most importantly—the founder of Earth Day.

Paul Schmelzer as signed by Annie Sprinkle

Pornstar-turned-artist Annie Sprinkle's most famous work was "Public Cervix Announcement," in which she invited people to take a gander at her cervix, assisted by a speculum, and comment into a microphone for an audience to hear. Whether "demystifying female sexuality" or sticking it to the male gaze-rs, her confrontational work riled people like Jesse Helms during the culture wars of the '80s and '90s. She's no longer in vogue in the art world, but she keeps plugging along (ahem) with her sex-positive porn.

Paul Schmelzer not signed by Trey Anastasio

Paul Schmelzer as signed by Maya Lin

Paul Schmelzer not signed by Tom Clancy

Mr. Clancy would have no part in my shenanigans.

Paul Schmelzer as signed by Mark Hosler (Negativland)

Paul Schmelzer as signed by Spalding Gray

Paul Schmelzer as signed by Isabel Allende

Paul Schmelzer as signed by Peter Bogdanovich

I caught up with director Peter "The Last Picture Show" Bogdanovich at the opening reception for the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Film Festival and, amid the din of mingling film buffs, explained my project. He didn't get it (maybe he couldn't hear me), but nonetheless agreed, on one condition: I had to offer my back as his writing table.

Paul Schmelzer as signed by Kwesi Mfume

Paul Schmelzer as signed by Sen. Paul Wellstone

My first year in college, fresh from small-town Wisconsin, I found myself in the audience as a squatty gesticulating guy, a former wrestler and college professor, spoke excitedly on stage about single-payer healthcare, a radical idea that turned out to be ten or more years before its time. On his way to becoming one of Minnesota's most beloved senators, Paul Wellstone became quite familiar with the role of being an early and independent voice on many issues: he opposed both Iraq wars and accurately predicted the outcomes we're now facing in Iraq. But he truly was a representative, stepping up to speak on behalf of groups including immigrants, farmers and veterans. While conservatives derided him as ultra-left, he famously--and accurately, as I see it--said he represented the "Democratic wing of the Democratic Party."

When he died in a plane crash days before the 2002 election, an already scheduled anti-war rally turned into a 10,000-person strong moving memorial. I was there, amid nuns and Hmong leaders, Veterans for Peace marchers and farm workers, Somali activists and baby boomers.

Understand the depth of the grief on the street that day and you'll understand why, even now, you can find the senator's name spelled out on that iconic green background followed by an optimistic exclamation on more than a few bumperstickers and yard signs across Minnesota:

Wellstone!

At the time I wrote him asking for his signature, I wasn't quite as enamored. The memory of him signing the Defense of Marriage Act in 1996 was still fresh (in his memoir, he said that's the one vote he regretted). But then he died, pro-war Republican Norm Coleman was elected to his seat, and a siege on Baghdad followed. And here we are.

Unlike the other signatures in this project, which are stacked together in a special box, Wellstone's autograph, and the simple post-it that accompanied it--a jotted "Good luck"--reside in a plastic sleeve, protected like some kind of relic. With so few politicians to admire the way I did Paul Wellstone, maybe that's what they are.

Paul Schmelzer as signed ("several times") by Henry Rollins

Paul Schmelzer as sigend by Edward James Olmos

Paul Schmelzer as signed by Thurston Moore

I've met Thurston Moore, Kim Gordon and the other members of Sonic Youth a few times through work (most recently this summer), but I got both their signatures through the mail, perhaps in hopes they'd not connect the dots from my wacky side project to my somewhat upstanding day job. But I do admire them both--as well as SY's Lee Ranaldo--for their fearlessness in music, their embrace of experimental art, and their many (and sometimes wacky) side projects.

Paul Schmelzer not signed by Robert Redford
(Although he did include a pre-signed color 3x5 of himself)

Paul Schmelzer as signed by Jesse Ventura

Obtained via mail while he was still Minnesota's governor, I figured he had to sign: I'm a constituent!

Paul Schmelzer as signed by James Brown?

The Godfather of Soul (God rest his soul) either signed my name with James Brownesque flourish--Heh!!--or he signed his own name. My money's on the latter.

Paul Schmelzer, not signed by Mikhail Baryshnikov

Paul Schmelzer as signed by Henry Louis Gates

Paul Schmelzer as signed by Kim Gordon

Paul Schmelzer as signed by Pat Buchanan

Paul Schmelzer as signed by Bonnie Blair

Paul Schmelzer as signed by Dan Savage

Paul Schmelzer as signed by Abigail "Dear Abby" van Buren

Paul Schmelzer as signed by David Sedaris