"Southern" is a lot more than a geographical condition. It's a state of mind.

To a Cuban girl growing up in Miami, it was an entirely foreign notion.

Miami may be a part of the Southern United States, but it resonates with a very different accent. Where there should be magnolias, there are royal palm trees. Where you might expect banjos and fiddles, you find the pounding beat of conga drums. If you want to find the South from here, there is only one way to go—and that's north.