Dallas

We've settled in at our friend Penelope's house in Little Rock, so now seems like a great time to write about our time in Dallas before the memories get replaced with too many fresh new ones!

On Wednesday, we said goodbye to our friends in Waco, and Tyler drove us up to Dallas. We hung out at Panera until our host Phil could come pick us up to go to church at Royal Lane Baptist for the Wednesday night service. We enjoyed the dinner together, and got the chance to stand up and let folks know what we're up to. After the service, there were many folks who made it a point to wish us luck, and then Kelley drove us to their house.

On Thursday morning, another member of the church, Leslie, drove us to Southern Methodist University, where we met up with Aaron. We got to attend a class on Gender and Globalization, where the day's topic of conversation was women in the fast food work force. It was really interesting to discuss the evolution of fast food work to the point where creativity is in fact discouraged so that workers can be uniform and easily replaceable.

After class, we went back to the Multicultural House, where Aaron lives, and he made us delicious vegan pasta salad for lunch before we headed over to the Canterbury House, the Episcopal chapel at SMU. While we worked there (thanks for the snacks and free wifi!), I had a great conversation with Reverend Nate about his own personal intellectual journey to being fully affirming of LGBTQ people. He talked about the history of the church, and the way the church's stance on many things has evolved over time. I always enjoy conversations that get me thinking about my own faith and how and where it fits and relates to the long story of the church.

At six o'clock, it was time for Spectrum, the LGBTQ and Allies group on campus. We spoke there about why working for the full inclusion of LGBTQ people within the Christian faith is so important, some important things to remember as we dive in, and some things that have been helpful when working in that context. It was marvelous to meet the students at Spectrum, and I'm looking forward to keeping our conversations going over email!

When we wrapped up there, we were invited to a Hare Krishna meeting. Curious, I decided to go. They served us really delicious Indian food, and the topic of conversation was how we relate to each other's physical bodies in regard to what seems to set us apart. It was interesting to see a lot of overlap between the way folks at the meeting were speaking about the distinction between the physical and internal selves and the way Christians see the distinction between body and soul.

After our evening meetings were complete, we got to hang out more with Aaron, Kai, and Jaxon for our last night. We met Jaxon's super cute puppies, and then we had to say our goodbyes.

Our bus pulled out of Dallas at 7:45 am the next morning, and we continued on our way to Little Rock. We will carry our conversations and connections with us as we travel.