What is the importance of the town of Laurel in the novel, All Our Names?

Laurel, a small Midwestern town, is the main setting for the "Helen" segments of the novel. It is large enough to have a university, but there is not much else to the town, although a mall is supposed to built there some time later. Segregation has been over for some time, but it is still a racist area, as demonstrated when Helen takes Isaac to the local diner. Although it is the main setting for Helen's narrative, there is little else that describes the town.