After joining a nonprofit initiative to expand narrative change in media within Appalachia, one Marshall student set out to use his artistic skills to provide more representation of transgender youth. 

Alex Vance, a Marshall University graphic design major, began working with New Media Advocacy Project this past December. Vance plans to complete his children’s story later this year as part of NMAP’s “Appalachia Reframed” series. 

“NMAP essentially came to Appalachia and said that they need some artists to talk about the issues that we have here and spread some word,” Vance said. 

 “I applied, not expecting to get in, but I did. The only requirements they had were for us to choose a political issue in Appalachia that we think needs more media coverage.”

Vance’s inspiration stemmed from his own experiences as a child in Appalachia being unaware of the LGBTQ+ community until he was in middle school. The book is an allegory titled “My Wings Are Wrong” and follows the story of a moth that realizes he is a butterfly on the inside.

“I’m hoping that it opens a conversation between parent and child for the parent to go and do the research about trans youth and what it means to be trans,” Vance said. “Whatever the next steps if your child comes out as trans, and I want my book to be able to open that conversation between a trusted adult and a child and be able to answer questions for the kid, that’s the most important part.”

Providing representation of young transgender people is essential to accurately portray a group that may be larger than people realize, Vance said. 

“Trans youth aren’t represented in West Virginia, even though there’s so many [of those people]  here,” Vance said. “West Virginia has the highest amount of trans youth per capita than anywhere else in that US, and that is not reflected.”

After working on this project for almost a year, he said the project has had challenges, and Vance has had his doubts. Even though there were challenges along the way, that should not stop someone from starting or finishing something they are passionate about, Vance said.

“I think people need to realize that you’re going to have hesitation on everything, but worst case scenario, you fail, and everyone fails at some point. Get out of your head and just do something.”