Yesterday my article "20 Things You Know To Be True If You're From Albert Lea, Minnesota" was published. The article blew up. I hoped it would get views but figured 1,000 views was out of reach. At the time that I am writing this, it has upwards of 5,000.

Originally I decided to write the article to make my friends laugh. I even asked some of them for input. It quickly became a satirical roast of my hometown. When I looked over it before submitting, it made me laugh. I thought some of my high school classmates would get a kick out of it and life would go on.

Obviously my sense of humor has not agreed with everyone. I have read absolutely horrible comments (most of them from middle-aged people, who I had not expected to relate to my article in the first place). People that do not know me were telling me to go to hell. Others told me that "my parents must be proud" as if I was something to be ashamed of. Others called me negative and a disgrace, while someone else told me that I should leave Albert Lea and never come back. A man even went so far as to comment on my personal Facebook page and tell me that the businesses in Albert Lea should take legal action against me, then proceeded to call my brother a "SnowFlake." An article written as a joke quickly became a "Let's-Attack-Nicole-Borneman-Because-She-Has-A-Different-Opinion-Than-Me" fest. Let me reemphasize: none of these people know me. They just think they do because they read one article that I wrote.

I never intended to offend anyone. This piece was not written to spread hate about my hometown, nor was it written because I hate Albert Lea. That couldn't be farther from the truth. I am grateful to have grown up in a quiet city like Albert Lea and I enjoy coming home to it. The comments on my post have made me frustrated and sad because my intentions have been misinterpreted. This is the problem with writing, however: people do not always understand a writer's purpose. I have been misconstrued as a person who hates my hometown, and no matter what I say, it will not change their minds. In fact, most of the people who wrote such awful things to me will never read this.

I think the comment that upset me the most came from someone I graduated with. She wrote that I probably had a "terrible" time in Albert Lea (which, may I point out, I never said) because I was so nasty to people. This comment had me in tears. I make a very conscious effort to be kind to people. I stay true to myself and have a small group of friends. If I have a problem with someone, I hold my tongue. In my opinion, I am the opposite of nasty. For someone to dislike my article so much that they think they need to bash me is a prime example of someone fighting hate with more hate.

None of these comments define who I am as a person, because they are all wrong. I do not hate Albert Lea, I am not nasty and my parents are very proud of me. I am proud of me. At the end of the day, the people that know me understood my true intentions. I know my true intentions. That is all that matters. I am going to keep writing and killin' my haters with kindness because life is too short to spend it angry at people you don't even know.

I hope that people found my article funny and relatable, as that was it's purpose. To those of you who did not, I'm sorry that you don't agree with what I wrote. That does not give you the right to spew hate speech. Please, take your energy and do something positive with it.