Our theme for the month of October is “flash nonfiction.” Writers were asked to submit pieces that were 250 words or less.
Let’s return to a cultural artifact from my high school years—the YouTube series The Autobiography of Jane Eyre, a modern-day adaptation of the classic. Back then, I was an avid period drama viewer, and I fell for Jane, twenty-one, a lonely nursing student vlogging her new life as a live-in tutor hired by Mr. Rochester of Thornfield Exports. In videos and transmedia accounts every week for a year and a half, I watched Jane grow in confidence, experience betrayal, and explore the first tinges of love.
The release of this and other literary webseries coincided with senior year, a season defined by extreme focus and chaotic uncertainty. In between researching scholarships, excavating emotional terrain for personal essays, and learning to stand up for myself, I conserved data to watch episodes on bus rides home. These earnest characters were also students discovering their purpose in college, fitting a first-generation student’s hope of finding her voice and community. As they navigated the aftermath of baring their vulnerability online, I prepared to present myself for admissions committees’ perusal once again. Jane kept my dreams company as I faced unknowns.
Looking back, I realize that year brimmed with innocence, and I had no idea of the real work ahead. I’m older than Jane now, and I watch more Turkish and Korean dramas than British ones. But as I revisit the show and that time, I’m not embarrassed of that girl. I feel softly toward her and proud that she started the next episode.
Comfort Sampong’s heart is sparked by fried plantains, tropical foliage and the stories of women thriving and creating a way out of no way. She graduated in 2018 with majors in economics and international development. Now she lives in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, where she works on English communications for the Association for a More Just Society, a Honduran non-profit fighting for justice and peace.
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How was I a religious consumer of the Lizzie Bennett diaries and not this version of Jane Eyre??
I oddly can’t imagine these kinds of series being made today: I feel like vlogs aren’t a thing anymore and is anyone really going to try to do Emma or Wuthering Heights via Twitch? They do feel like an artifact, and I loved hearing how it meshed with your life.
Your title is wonderful (as is the rest of this). I love the fact that the “affectionate act” can be a gesture toward one’s past self, too.