It was early when I headed out on Saturday. The humidity was like 88% and the dew point wasn't much better. In short, it was muggy and it's still was not officially spring with mother sun. During my outs and abouts, generally, my gas comes from Kroger's gas pumps. Yes, I use my discounts! Once in a while I might stop at QT or RaceTrac if the price is lower than my Kroger discount at purchase. The main reason is that on my rounds, I travel between two Kroger gas stations and it's just johnny-on-the-spot to get gas. On Friday, I had noticed that the southern Kroger gas station sells gas for $1.99 per gallon and I estimated (wrong, as it turned out) that the northern Kroger by my house would be the same. So that's where I headed Saturday morning to gas up.
When I got to the pumps, the price was $2.06 and with my $0.03 a gallon discount (I already used my $0.10 a gallon discount up) it dropped the price to $2.03.That's a $0.04 per gallon difference. However, that was not worth the effort or the savings to go elsewhere. Sometimes, I get Kroger's. Sometime, Kroger's get me. That's the way of the gas cycle. Alright. It cost me a big $0.40 to stay put. That just means that I have to sell more photos.
When I left the station, normally, I would go right. Yesterday, my car turned left for some reason. As I got to the first intersection, I spotted a line of people holding place cards and signs outside the Islamic Association of North Texas. It's the Dallas Central Mosque and to the Muslim community, it's like the Archdiocese Church which is usually a cathedral in the Catholic diocese. You get the point none-the-less. So, I made the block and came back around, parking in the parking lot of the church across the street from the mosque.
The local TV stations were there with their heavy tripods and video cams. I ask one of the cameramen what was going on. He pretty well summed it up but omitted a key factor that there was an opposition side and then a counter opposition side to the protest about the Mosque congregation. Then, I saw the AK-47s or what ever they call those curved clip rifles. I'm not a gun person. Then, I saw the Richardson Police. One here, one there, one over there and they were a bit jittery. That made me even more jittery and I got in my car and made another block coming in the back door lot of the Mosque parking lot.
Making my way around to those lined up along the side walk it was soon to be made clear that they were not formally, part of the armed protest but where embracing the Mosque with a line of supporters. Then, something else happened that was so different from some of the other marches that I had photographed in the Dallas area. I saw several people with blue vest like they wear at Home Depot with the words on the back in white letters that read: ACLU of Texas Legal Observer. They all had clipboards with a form-type check list that was a notation of various things they observed. Later, there was a chance to speak with one of the women and she told me that they were just bringing back this type of operation. There were fourteen of them. Most people don't realize that the ACLU needs community support financially to do some of the things that they do such as this type service.
As it turned out after some time had gone by, a spokesman from the IANT came along the line bringing the supporters that had embraced the Mosque together to announce that an agreement between the opposition and the counter opposition and that they would be going to a local Mediterranean restaurant to have lunch and discuss the differences that they had. He also announced that those that had embraced the Mosque in support were welcome to stay but that the IANT would suggest that they disband so as not to add any more discourse to the meeting. With that, people began to leave peacefully.
It was announced later in the evening news that the meeting had gone well and that differences were smoothed over to the point that both sides would march together in the upcoming march for unity later this month. After looking at my images again this morning, I noticed that I had missed an image that to me was more chilling that initially though: A Richardson policeman with creased marks between his eyes brows holding one of those AK-47- like tactical guns at the ready.
From there, I went looking for angles in a very large and old cemetery. This is what I found.
When I got to the pumps, the price was $2.06 and with my $0.03 a gallon discount (I already used my $0.10 a gallon discount up) it dropped the price to $2.03.That's a $0.04 per gallon difference. However, that was not worth the effort or the savings to go elsewhere. Sometimes, I get Kroger's. Sometime, Kroger's get me. That's the way of the gas cycle. Alright. It cost me a big $0.40 to stay put. That just means that I have to sell more photos.
When I left the station, normally, I would go right. Yesterday, my car turned left for some reason. As I got to the first intersection, I spotted a line of people holding place cards and signs outside the Islamic Association of North Texas. It's the Dallas Central Mosque and to the Muslim community, it's like the Archdiocese Church which is usually a cathedral in the Catholic diocese. You get the point none-the-less. So, I made the block and came back around, parking in the parking lot of the church across the street from the mosque.
The local TV stations were there with their heavy tripods and video cams. I ask one of the cameramen what was going on. He pretty well summed it up but omitted a key factor that there was an opposition side and then a counter opposition side to the protest about the Mosque congregation. Then, I saw the AK-47s or what ever they call those curved clip rifles. I'm not a gun person. Then, I saw the Richardson Police. One here, one there, one over there and they were a bit jittery. That made me even more jittery and I got in my car and made another block coming in the back door lot of the Mosque parking lot.
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| Never seen one of these at a protest before, but glad that they do. |
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| This is not a Texas 6-shooter and somewhat disturbing to me. |
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| Some of those that embraced the Mosque with their support. The two opposition groups were on the other side of the street. |
Making my way around to those lined up along the side walk it was soon to be made clear that they were not formally, part of the armed protest but where embracing the Mosque with a line of supporters. Then, something else happened that was so different from some of the other marches that I had photographed in the Dallas area. I saw several people with blue vest like they wear at Home Depot with the words on the back in white letters that read: ACLU of Texas Legal Observer. They all had clipboards with a form-type check list that was a notation of various things they observed. Later, there was a chance to speak with one of the women and she told me that they were just bringing back this type of operation. There were fourteen of them. Most people don't realize that the ACLU needs community support financially to do some of the things that they do such as this type service.
As it turned out after some time had gone by, a spokesman from the IANT came along the line bringing the supporters that had embraced the Mosque together to announce that an agreement between the opposition and the counter opposition and that they would be going to a local Mediterranean restaurant to have lunch and discuss the differences that they had. He also announced that those that had embraced the Mosque in support were welcome to stay but that the IANT would suggest that they disband so as not to add any more discourse to the meeting. With that, people began to leave peacefully.
It was announced later in the evening news that the meeting had gone well and that differences were smoothed over to the point that both sides would march together in the upcoming march for unity later this month. After looking at my images again this morning, I noticed that I had missed an image that to me was more chilling that initially though: A Richardson policeman with creased marks between his eyes brows holding one of those AK-47- like tactical guns at the ready.
From there, I went looking for angles in a very large and old cemetery. This is what I found.
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| I looked at this amazing art for nearly forty-five minutes reflecting on what had just been witnessed earlier in the day. |
