Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Day 1 Shannon and Noah


They met in occupied Palestine. Noah was working with the International Solidarity Movement and Shannon was working with the International Women’s Peace Service. They crossed paths in a war zone and got talking. Noah was living in Canada at the time and Shannon in Chicago.

Noah: So what do you do in Chicago?
Shannon: Well I’m trying to figure out what to do next. I was working in theatre, stage managing, directing, but I’m not doing that anymore.
Noah: Why not?
Shannon: I can’t stand actors. What do you do?
Noah: I’m an actor.

On Shannon’s day off from peace work, and on Noah’s last day in the Holy Land, they found themselves spending the day together in East Jerusalem. So far, so platonic.

The next day, Shannon woke up and couldn’t stop thinking about Noah. He was due to fly out later that day. At Rabbi Sarah's urging ("If you're brave enough to face tanks, and guns, and tear gas, you should be brave enough to tell a boy you have a crush on him") Shannon went to find Noah at the renowned Faisal Hostel, where he was staying.

She didn’t find him. He had gone to the Austrian Hospice where she was staying to say goodbye. She went back to the hospice, dejected. He went back to The Faisal. He may or may not have been dejected. He decided to try one more time, and walked to the hospice again. And there Shannon was.

She told him she liked him. It was more terrifying than tanks, guns or tear gas.

Today, four years later, Shannon and Noah are together in Chicago.

2 comments:

  1. What a lovely start to the hundred days.

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  2. Good luck on your next 99 days. And thanks for choosing a picture where it looks like might be taller than Lepawsky.

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