It's freezing, and parts of me are shrinking because of the weather

I realize now that when the snow falls, possibly soon, I will probably need to start taking the bus and cool off on the scooter. The chill is even cutting through my shoes and I can't feel my toes. There is a bus that stops right in front of my apartment, and can take me as far as the Sam's Club and Super Wal-mart! However, the buses here are not all too desireable (i.e. They suck because the only come once every hour, and stop running past 8:30pm -- and I have a class that gets out at 9pm).

I went to the Super Wal-mart (I know, I'm evil -- but I'm broke and desperately needed more socks). In the parking lot I saw a car with a Confederate Flag sticker on their bumper. Which was okay, because parked next to it I saw a huge pickup with a "Klan Knight" sticker in their back window. It should be noted that this Super Wal-mart is on the west-west side of Bloomington and is nowhere near campus, let alone my place.

Bloomington is, I do believe, the most liberal place in all of Indiana. We have the 5th highest concentration of same-sex couple in all the United States. The other week, during the mid-term elections, the Republican campaigners were sent into B-ton to swarm and rally and convince folks to vote Red. And they were obviously successful -- HOORAY FOR THEM!

There is a small cooking supply store along the main shopping strip of downtown, a couple blocks from the campus' main gate. It's called The Inner Chef and is gay-owned and happens to have a rainbow design as part of their logo/sign. My friend Tracy told me that a couple years ago Fred Phelps (the reverend who protested Matthew Shepard's funeral, and looks like Senator Palpatine from Star Wars) came to Bloomington to protest The Inner Chef. So sad. He went from protesting things like the memorial service for a gay man whose murder rocked the country, to holding up signs in front of a shop that sells knives and pans. In a small town. Of Indiana.

In the news: I'm thinking of changing the subtitle of this blog to "Small college town with big city trash."

Bloomington woman stabbed in fight
Alleged assailant faces preliminary felony charges
By Michael Reschke | Indiana Daily Student | Wednesday, November 15, 2006

A Bloomington woman stabbed another woman in a fight about a man Monday, police said.

Monday night, Bloomington Police Department officer Dana Runnebohm was called to the Bloomington Hospital's emergency room to talk to a woman with a stab wound, BPD Detective Sgt. David Drake said, reading from a police report.

The woman, 23, said her attacker, Latrice Greer, 28, called her while she was outside of her apartment in the 500 block of South Basswood Drive, Drake said. Greer told the woman she was outside of her apartment and that she had something for her, Drake said, reading from the report. The woman told police she did not want any problems inside her apartment, so she went outside, Drake said. Once outside, Greer walked toward the woman and swung at her with something in her hand. The woman put up her left forearm to block and said she then felt a great deal of pain and began to bleed severely from her forearm, Drake said.

Greer then swore at the woman and got into her car and left. The woman called a friend to take her to the hospital and was treated at Bloomington Hospital for a deep laceration several inches in length on the underside of her left forearm, Drake said. She suffered extensive muscle and tendon damage that will require surgery, he said.

Later that day, officers found Greer at her residence, Drake said. Greer said she had not been to the victim's apartment that day, he said. She said she was with someone else who could verify her whereabouts. Greer gave officers the name and number of her alibi, but when officers called the number she gave them, that person denied seeing Greer that day, Drake said.

Greer was arrested on the preliminary charge of battery with a deadly weapon, a Class C felony, he said.