Josh Wapp's earnest comic strip book account of his struggles to overcome the conventional medical system after being labelled as a schizophrenic in his 20s, Jumping the Fence: A True Story of Breaking Free From the Psychiatric Industry (Self-published, unpriced, 2006) questions the validity psychotropic medications. "It's important to remember that there's nothing 'wrong' with people like me," he writes. "In fact, statistics show that schizophrenics comprise 1% of the population in Canada. Sometimes I think I should wear a t-shirt that says 'Paranoid Schizophrenic' in public places. Some people might realize that I'm a regular person." Having grown up in Nelson, Wapps studied visual arts at the Emily Carr Institute and creative writing with the Kootenay School of the Arts in Nelson, B.C. He moved back to Nelson in 1996.

[joshwapp@hotmail.com]

[BCBW 2007] "Illustration" "Health"