Moving Perspectives Alicia Marie Cotto

As I shoulder my bedroom door open, the cardboard box once secure in my hands flops to the ground. The resulting thud echoes off the walls, but my attention has already shifted. I start a calculated walk around the room, taking it in from multiple angles. My bed will go in the far right corner; my desk in the left. I can picture my candle collection stacked upon the not-yet-hung shelves; the distinct perfume of my tea collection will soon give the room a cozier feel. Within seconds, I have identified the ideal nook to tuck my running shoes away. This is the painstaking process of rebuilding a bedroom. This is the eleventh time I have moved; twelve if you count heaving my things across the hall when my sister left for college. Walking into this new space, I can see the pieces of my life finding their new home, just like I will in the coming weeks.

I’ve spent my entire life moving, but no journey across borders changed my perspective as much as moving from Lee’s Summit, Missouri, to Orlando, Florida. When I came to Orlando in January of my 7th grade year, I found myself in an entirely different world – and not just due to the absence of snow. While I didn’t realize it at the time, Lee’s Summit was a very homogeneous town. We all...