I grew up naively believing that my identity as a Queer person had no influence on my identity as an American. They were mutually exclusive. And I never knew love was a dangerous thing until America and its politicians taught me it was. As it turns out, the red, white, and blue doesn’t care about me or you. The love of women broke my love of country. It is the reason my country doesn’t love me.I was raised to believe in a loving God, before the world told me I was wrong. So I prayed and I prayed...

Hatred has continuously been gifted the environment to thrive, and my college, the University of North Carolina Wilmington, is no exception. On October 13th, the school will be hosting former Vice President Mike Pence as the keynote speaker for the Chancellor’s Dare to Learn lecture. This decision has been labeled as apolitical, regardless of the glaringly political undertones. After all, he isn’t just any public figure; he was the Vice President of one of America’s most polarizing Commanders in...

Taped outside every classroom was a list of names printed on varying colors of pastel paper. As a third grader, I’d read them while waiting silently in the hallway, lined up and ready to learn after recess or coming back from math in a different classroom. Charlotte was my favorite name on the list of twenty-six. Each time, I’d stay stuck on it for a second longer than all the rest, always coming back to those perfectly aligned nine letters. I loved the way the name sounded in my head. Charlotte...