I Have Sinned

Oh Lord.

I've done something I swore I'd never do.

Bet you can't guess what. In my wildest dreams I wouldn't have thought a day like this would happen.

Needless to say my parents are shocked, and a bit appalled. Must say that I am, too.

But in the midst of my betrayal, I found a soul mate, if only for a few fleeting moments across a crowded, noisy room.

BUY NOTHING DAY

Just a short reminder to everyone that tomorrow is BUY NOTHING DAY!

Check it out:

www.adbusters.org

Falon and the Nun

Falon saw these nuns and said, "I want a picture of with a nun!"

The next thing we knew she tossed Annie a camera and Annie took a reluctant photo.

Ah, sisters.

Puppatistas

One of the puppatistas on the Saturday!

AHHHHHH

A picture of Falon and Annie in our MOTEL room after a shower!

Nice......

For some reason Annie was reluctant to pose.

Sunday Morning

A picture of us with our banner before we headed down to the protest...

SOA Library

A picture of the library of the SOA...

Last year we got to go in, curiously there were empty shelves...

This year we were not allowed to go into the library, only look, another interesting change.

Cool As A Cucumber

Falon, on the other hand, was a pro at getting searched...

Another interesting notion...

Why Is She Smiling?

A picture of Annie getting searched (with a magnetic wand) at the gates of Ft. Benning...

Question...

What's with the smile Annie? Enjoying it? Or maybe you're used to it? Is that it? Do you have a double life we don't know about that you get frisked on a daily basis?

Trouble

Needless to say I was in trouble at the notion of taking a picture of Annie in her sleeping bag Friday night.

Hihi, you look sooo tired!

What Do You Think The Expression On Annie's Face Is Saying?

A picture taken before we were searched to go on Fort Benning for the tour of the Western Hemisphere Institute For Security Cooperation (aka School of Assassins).

Can you tell Annie was terrified?

She acted like police frisk her everyday!

Awww

Here's a picture that Annie took reluctantly (why? I have no clue).

We're at the Mennonite Church getting ready for bed on the floor again...it's a strange day when Annie and Jess are excited to sleep on carpet...

What you can't tell in this picture is that we are boiling! The heat was on a timer and we had to wait two hours to turn it down...GAH!

Breaking the Ice

Here's a picture of Falon and Annie participating in the ice breaker at St. Anne's Church.

In my opinion one of the dumbest ice breakers ever.

But they looked like they had fun.

SOA's Best New Artist?

A picture that Annie took in the gym at St. Anne's Church in Detroit, MI...

Falon picked up a guitar and tried (unsuccessfully) to serenade the hippies in the room....unfortunately people were so hungry they couldn't hear anything.

Soon after Falon could be seen eating plain basmati rice and bread until we rescued her with pizza pockets.

They Sooo Didn't Know What They Were In For...

A picture of Falon and Annie in the van on the way to Detroit.

Highlights of this leg?

Stopping people from eating all of Annie's food, and the seeing Annie's face when she was told she was staying in the Detroit ghetto.

Priceless.

A Short Political Break

Alrighty, just stumbled across this when I saw in the Freeps that Rick Mercer visited London yesterday.

Check out his blog and "endorsement" of Dianne Haskett for the Conservative Party in the London by-election.

Hilarious, and true.

Dad and I will be checking out a taping of The Mercer Report a week from Friday...yea!

http://rickmercer.blogspot.com/

The Three Amigas At The Fence

We got this picture taken at the end of Sunday at the fence.

Truly a moving experience to see the fence filled with memories and names.

One of those grannies took this picture. Sigh. Then I really missed my granny.

Peace-y Peace Peace

The welcome banner at the front stage...

So peaceful....

Lots of Grannies

One of the organizations that came was a group of one thousand grandmothers...

The marched through the crowd at a very slow pace, handed out peppermints.

I missed my granny.

Tons of Boy Scouts

One of the interesting things about this year was the sheer amount of cops and soldiers this year.

This year the military erected a third fence, confining us only to the street. This didn't let us see the 16 people jump over the fence and be arrested.

Another thing that was new was the amout of military personnel behind each fence. I counted 11 soldiers in full camo gear watching us.

I just waved the peace sign...using 2 fingers.

Die In

A picture of the annual die in at Fort Benning.

This year there were over 80 people who participated in the die in...the majority were Canadians from our group.

The die in is like a sit in, but instead of sitting and singing, they dressed in black, painted their faces white, and had red paint thrown on them.

They sat there for the duration of the vigil starting the funeral procession, it's a deeply spiritual event although the people in the die in are stepped on quite frequently.

Stories in Pictures

From the living room floor in London, Ontario to the Fort Benning fence in Columbus, Georgia.

La Toya, Krista and I painted this banner and snuck it over the border.

I folded it up, rolled it in my sleeping bag and prayed that the customs agent wouldn't question our "spiritual retreat" excuse....

Luckily we all pasted as good little Christians, probably in large part due to the big smiles plastered on Annie and Falon's face in the back of the van...

NEWSFLASH: ANNIE IS NOW A HIPPY

Hey All!

Good news, Annie, her friend Falon and I all made it to Georgia and back!

It's safe to say that it was an eye opening experience for my sister and her friend.

Stay tuned for pictures and stories!!! We have a lot of stories...