Alex
PRONOUNS: SHE/HER | TOWN SIZE: OVER 600,000
“I think there’s a very large part of me that fears the undiscovered parts of my life or the paths that I did not take, and that can be overwhelming and actually very problematic because it gets in the way of me exploring the life that I do have. But in smaller doses, I think that energy, that impetus is healthy, and it’s what drove me to live here and continually welcome life changes that I cannot predict.”
For Alex, a trans woman from Sioux Falls, following her gut and trusting her path has played a pivotal role in discovering her authenticity. When we conducted our interview, we found that her apartment in Portland, Oregon, is filled with vibrant landscape paintings that reflect her expansive and explorative internal world.
“I had always dreamt of other places to live and other ways of living. But I never really experienced much of that until I started traveling for work and traveling for studies while I was in school. That was enough of an impetus to get me to move to a larger city, someplace far away, trusting my gut, trusting my instinct, and not worrying about missing home, although I do still feel homesick every once in a while.”
She grew up in Sioux Falls and was very shy and sheltered as a child. It wasn’t until college, majoring in theater at Augustana University, that she was able to discover aspects of her hometown that encouraged self-discovery. “[It] was a renewal of energy because I ended up exploring the town through the eyes of my friends who were not from Sioux Falls.”
“I think that, for the most part, we all made discoveries side by side throughout school and after. I had seen several of my closest friends come out to me, had seen their transitions and loved and supported them through that, but never believed that was something that could apply to me. It was their love and their trust and their leading by example that helped me come out to them first and continue to come out to myself and understand my identity.
“I would say that I’m far from done exploring my gender. I’m continuing to learn and discover and question, but I’m in a much more settled place thanks to my wonderful support system. I owe a lot to my friends. I came out in layers because I thought I was gay in college, and it wasn’t until the pandemic that I really wrestled with my gender identity face to face.”
With the support of her friends who had met since college, both long distances and in Portland, Alex was finally able to untangle that which had been knotted and warped by society since childhood.
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Read the rest of Alex’s story by purchasing your own copy of Becoming Visible Magazine
