I am an atypical Southerner: I am queer, I am brown, and I am outspoken about my uncommon political views. I am the opposite of the cliche southerner, but this is my home just as much as anyone else.

To me, the south is the whispering of the breeze through hills and golden leaves; a voice you can't quite place playing a song that reminds you of family. It is the lapping of the ocean against the soft sand, and the caw of gulls and the sound of laughter and splashing in the surf. It's the way the wind bites as fall dances her merry way through the sky.

It is my home, my heart, the beating and the rhythm that is uniquely a part of me. It's "y'all" and "Can I get a coke?" and the way sleepy towns transform on football game days.

Old signs, old porches, and the old couples on rocking chairs who've seen it all. The way the history asserts itself, my grandfather and his grandfather and their struggles just as much as mine. Coal towns, rail towns, and ghost towns all alike.

The dignity of statues proud and strong, of monuments to these settlers and that tribe and this moment in human history.

The south talks and she has stories to tell uncountable if you'll listen, tragic moments and beautiful sacrifices, things older than you and I will ever understand and creatures who've seen the world for longer than we can imagine.

The way an owl looks at you, the way a hawk soars in the sky, badgers and their dens, alligators posing noble and ancient, a herd of deer calm and serene. The woods are alive and the south is vibrant if you just open your eyes and ears and listen. It is something special. It is something that will defy all attempts to categorize it. It is something that bonds us all together.

I am not blind to the problems, but I'm not blind to the magic either. I love the south, it is my home and it is a part of me. It is a living thing that embodies nature and the world and it will forever be my home.