[ transplanted ]

My name is Cheyenne. Like the Native Americans, or like the capital of Wyoming, or like the river, or like Marlon Brando's deceased daughter [none of which I happen to have any affiliation with]. I am from Birmingham, Alabama, as strange as it seems to say that. My family moved here [for good] when I was not quite even 3, so saying I am from anywhere else doesn't really make much sense. I'm certainly not from Newcastle, England, where my dad was born and raised, and where his family lives, and where we went to visit every year, consistently, until I was about 17. And I'm certainly not from the Appalachian Mountains, the border between Virginia and Tennessee, where my mom grew up, and where her family still mostly lives [though leaves of us have scattered as far as New York, Istanbul]. My parents both left long-rooted, deep-seeded homes to end up here, in the Steel City, with no family and no friends, and planted me here in a valley, surrounded by city, by coal, by