Don't tell me I'm not as American as you. Where we plant our roots: It's in the soil where we are defined, not the store from where we purchase seed. We aren't the fragile paper packages we pour spores into tired, dirty palms for planting from. We are the imperfect hopes and dreams that come only after the watering - musings of possibility. It's no different than motherhood, really. Because the truth is, no matter how a child was conceived, once we've set our minds to the nurturing, our hopes become our definition. We become what we desire the future to be. That was, and even still is, me. I refuse to give up, you see. In spite of everything. ***WHITE ANTELOPE IS THE NOVELLA-LENGTH FICTIONAL STORY OF A MUSLIM AMERICAN WOMAN FACED WITH BIGOTRY IN THE AFTERMATH OF 911 AS SHE STRUGGLES MAKE SENSE OF THINGS AND FIX HER OWN LOSSES AND GRIEF.***