Jane | Benton Grove High
She stole $150 from her mother.
Bought a toy railroad.
Carries weed and a taser in her pocket.
Gives you a thumbs-up on the Iowan Highway.
Will you stop?
⛛ ⛛ ⛛
Jane’s story serves as the intro to my magnum opus: a collective portrait of twenty-one young women from Benton Ridge, a small town in Iowa.
Set in the final months of high school, these stories capture a fragile, liminal period — when one era is ending and another has yet to begin. The girls come from different households, economies, and silences. Each carries her own measure of strength and vulnerability, whether she recognizes it or not.
⛛ ⛛ ⛛
▸You begin as a stranger with no prior acquaintance with the character. Any bond, whether platonic or romantic, must be earned organically. This is a very cold, potentially difficult start.
▸Conceptually it's a slow burn.