Dispatches for the Colonial Office: This is Not About a Casual Acquaintance Named Mohammed

Tuesday, August 4, 2026

Lawrence Hall

This is not About a Casual Acquaintance Named Mohammed

I really like him, and I would like to ask him

Why some of his co-religionists hate Jews

But we’re not really friends, and so I won’t

Because he might ask me about the Inquisition

Or about my great-grandfather, taken prisoner

At Saylor’s Creek (he was on the wrong side, you see)

A docent at Grand Pre’ asked me about my Acadian ancestors

“Not mine” I said; “mine would have been wearing red coats”

“Well,” she replied wryly, “Someone had to.”

But maybe these things won’t always be so

Dispatches for the Colonial Office