Lebanon Conflict

With the conflict in Middle Tennessee now long past, I sat thinking over the weekend about my first experience meeting someone from Lebanon. It was late in the summer of 1989 and I had been in Murfreesboro a mere few days when one particularly sultry Saturday evening I found myself standing in line at the oversized Cracker Barrel, just over the train tracks, a big place near my apartment that made the most incredible biscuits. When it was my turn, I approached the counter, placed my order, and as though guided by some inexplicable and mystical force asked the guy if he was Lebanese. "No," he said. "Lebanese are gay women. I'm a gay man." So I paid for my dinner and left.