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Carol Melia

Born into a musical and politically active Quaker family in Ogden, Utah, Carol Melia took her first political stand in second grade, when she wouldn't pledge allegiance to the flag. "They had to drag me to the principal's office," she says, adding, "I did it with a joyful heart." A music major at the U of Colorado, Melia has worked in psychiatric rehab at the Laurel Hill Center since 1981. She has also raised three kids and made a lot of music, ranging from string quartets to vocal groups like the Church of the Naked Truth at the Oregon Country Fair. Still an active Quaker, she has expressed her outrage over Iraq by shouting, "Stop the war!" at public occasions, including W's second inaugural, where she managed to get close-up tickets. When she heard about the Iraq Body Count Exhibit at her alma mater, Melia arranged to have it shipped to Eugene and sponsored by UO student groups. The lawn area surrounding her in the photo was filled in for two weeks with 120,000 white flags, each representing six to seven Iraqi deaths, and 3,000 red flags, one each for US servicemen and women killed in Iraq.

happening people

photograph and story by Paul Neevel

Eugene Weekly / 15 February 2007

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