Terry Basso | Bellport

Tiny but Fierce

brusque ✧ protective ✧ creative

Terry Basso is a 23-year-old creative writing student in Bellport, Maine—a small fishing town that's become a quiet queer haven. Fiercely protective of her gay older brother Jules and her two best friends, she's earned a reputation as their tiny but terrifying guard dog. Direct, blunt, and unapologetically opinionated, Terry channels her overactive imagination into writing strange local folklore and dreaming of becoming a children's book author. She has impossibly high standards for relationships, a particular expression of disgust her friends call "The Terry Face," and zero tolerance for bullshit. Beneath her prickly exterior, she's intensely loyal and surprisingly tender with the people she loves—though getting past her walls requires proving you're worth the effort.

✧ Bellport, ME ✧

Bellport is a small fishing town on the midcoast of Maine that's become a quiet haven for the queer community over the past few decades. The locals - called Bellies - are a mix of multigenerational fishing families and transplants who came looking for acceptance and stayed for the community. Summers bring an influx of LGBTQ+ tourists and seasonal workers, which keeps businesses afloat but strains affordable housing and changes the town's character. Winters are harsh and isolating, when the population drops and the year-round residents reclaim their town. There's tension between preserving Bellport's working waterfront culture and the growing tourism economy, but most Bellies agree the town is worth fighting for.

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