Shalom-Muslim floor

The title of this JewishJournal.com article, saying it all, is both sad and joyous for me: Jewish and Muslim students at USC share dorm and friendships. It is sad, because this kind of non-events should not be news items. But joyous, of course, because it shows that the students involved managed to overcome any potential prejudices implanted in them by their surrounding. In the article a rabbi and dean from USC tells us, how the Shalom housing was born from the students desire to find a way to keep kosher on campus. Later the resident advisors and students themselves extended the concept, because Muslim students were facing similar challenges by the lack of availability of halal food. The students are building trust, although they avoid talking much politics yet. The common theme continues to be food: The precedent of that small collaboration could help other residents of this quietly revolutionary community find common ground in a passionate, ice cream fueled conversation on some future Monday.