That night, after attending a special training session 
for crossing the line, we drove to La Grange and crashed 
at a hotel there.



Vlad, Irena, and Will, our travel buddies



Doug, Dave, Charles, and me...we managed to share 
half the hotel room without accidentally hurting each other
...but then again, we had shared a cramped room 
in a Quaker meetinghouse too.

That night, we spent a great deal of time thinking 
about the possible consequences of crossing the line the 
next morning.  Might we get arrested, even if we weren't 
supposed to be?  In the end, Doug, David, Chaz, 
and I (among others) all decided we would.  



Here's Claire and Suzanna the next morning.  
Claire crossed the line with us a few hours later 
and rode home with us that evening.

Unfortunately, I have no pictures of the actual march.  
It took a while to get all the marchers assembled on the 
street...there were so many of us.  There were also so many people 
on the sidelines, supporting us and giving us strength.  
We were all given white wooden crosses with the 
names and ages of people who had died as a result of the SOA's 
military training.  The deceased ranged from infancy to very old 
at the time of their deaths.  As we stood there, 
waiting, a woman with a microphone sang out the names and 
ages of the deceased in a mournful voice, and we all 
responded by raising our crosses and chanting together.  
My stomach was knotted all over as I clutched 
David and Charles's hands.  We finally began to move.  Drummers 
regulated the slow pace and the atmosphere, standing at intervals 
along the route.  As we walked, marchers took turns singing out 
the names on their crosses and we all chanted.  
Never had I experienced such a collective solemnity.  

In the end, we all crossed the line, and most of us, 
after squatting on the trespassed property for a while, 
left the scene peacefully and unscathed.  Some, but not many, 
were arrested.  The experience had been an incredibly emotional 
trip for me, and I couldn't believe it was already over.  
That night, we chatted much of the way back to Guilford.  

Photo Album | Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3