Where I Would Be If I Wasn’t Here

I just got an email from the folks at TIRCC about a vigil in support of the Islamic Center of Columbia, which, as you may know, was desecrated with racist graffiti and then burnt to the ground.  It’s hard to know what to say in the face of that kind of nonsense, but you show up and you face it down.  That’s about all you can do, sometimes.

Here’s the email I received:

TIRRC strongly encourages immigrants, refugees, and allies to support the Islamic Center of Columbia
and attend their vigil on Saturday, February 16th at 1pm.

Come and stand up for the rights of all Columbia residents to live, work, raise their families, and worship without fear. Together, neighbors from all over Tennessee will unite at the desecrated mosque to promote a welcoming community that accepts all religions, races, and cultures. Speakers and attendees will include: 

City Mayor, William E. Gentner

Chief of Police, Barry Crotzer

Chief of Fire Department, Don Martin

President of the Islamic Center of Columbia, Daud Abudiab

President of Columbia’s NAACP, Rev. Trent Ogilvie

Pastor Williamson of the 1st Presbyterian Church

a statement from the Nashville Board of Rabbis and the Jewish Federation of Nashville and Middle Tennessee

other faiths and community leaders

*          *            *

When: Tomorrow (Saturday), February 16, 1:00pm

Where: Site of the burned Mosque,

1317 S Main St,
Columbia TN 38401

Why:   Last Saturday, the Islamic Center of Columbia was desecrated with swastikas and other political symbols and was then burned to the ground. One week later, leaders from all backgrounds will stand in solidarity to denounce hatred. Car-pooling available: If interested please contact TIRRC by 5:00pm today.

Can’t come to the vigil but still want to help?

MAKE A DONATION to rebuild the Columbia mosque and show your support.

A fundraising account has been established at the following bank:

Islamic Center of Columbia Rebuilding Fund
Community First Bank and Trust
501 S James Campbell Blvd.
Columbia, TN 38401

931.380.2265

To learn more last week’s hate crime, see http://wpln.org/newstranscripts/?p=1956

Good Newses

–Dr. J and her lover both got jobs!  At a place that will require me to visit so that I may soak up the sun.

–My dad is home from the hospital and shuffling around the house with his teddy bear.  I about can’t stand it, it’s so cute.

—Bridgett got tenure!

–Work sent me a press release to work on.  I can use my brain.

–Um… well… that’s all I’ve got, but it’s better than where I was this morning.

The Shape of the Tiny Cat Pants Afghan Eludes Me

I’ve been working on the TCP afghan all week, so it is with a heavy heart that I sat there and pulled out all of the “Delft Blue” yesterday.  There was three days’ worth of work down the drain.

I don’t have any clothes with me, really, since I thought I’d be going home and coming back up, so I’m hoping to get to Walmart.  I’m also hoping to get over and see the College Professor.

I’m so hungry to hear from folks I’m not related to.  I’ve got nothing to say.  Nothing is going on here that’s any different than the day before.  So, I hate calling folks, but I could listen to the most mundane crap in folks’ lives for hours on end if it meant that I had something new to know.

Otherwise, I’m going to be left sharing with you such stirring observations as that I feel like The Joyful Noiseletter has gotten a little sanctimonious and conservative in its old age and how I haven’t bothered to check my work email in two days, so now I’m dreading it.

The Butcher may leave tomorrow, depending on the weather.  I saw a couple of hawks yesterday.  My mom has this lotion I’ve been using that makes me smell like dessert.  And I went to my mom’s eye appointment yesterday and it turns out she’s got some condition basically brought on by her being Northern European.

So much for the genetic superiority of the white race–apparently there are all kinds of conditions white folks can come down with as a result of being white: bad eyes, weird internal splotches, weird external redness, etc.

Under ordinary circumstances, I could make interesting (at least to me) posts out of all of those things, but these are not ordinary circumstances.  And, though I love you, Illinois, sometimes when I come home here, I feel myself slipping into the life of the girl I would have been, had I not been so lucky.  I can imagine her/me, driving back and forth along flat roads that curve and curve again only to follow new property lines, trying hard to focus on the road right in front of her or the great sky over her, pretending that her life was as large as she cared for it to be.

I come here and I lose track of days.  I lose track of what’s going on in the outside world.  I get uncomfortable about calling my friends.  I start to worry about the dishes and what we’ll have for dinner and whether everyone is properly dressed.  I start to give a shit about all the small town gossip and consider cutting my hair into that short, severe, midwestern poof all the women around me seem to favor–because it’s no fuss.  Because I don’t want to be a fuss.  Let’s no one be too much of a fuss.

Well, that’s depressing.

I’m going to go get in the shower.