As the war on Iraq entered its fifth year this week, our community observed this somber occasion with several actions.

On Monday night, a vigil was held in front of the post office on Franklin Street. Carrboro Citizen photographer Isaac Sandlin was there. He tells us: “It was really quiet out there. The people keeping vigil were taking turns reading from a collection of personal accounts of soldiers who have been killed in the war, written by the people closest to them. Each account was followed by a moment of silence. The sound of passing cars often swallowed that of the reader. The silence was also occasionally broken by a honk of support or a scream of protest from passing vehicles.”

Honking horns were prominent at each of two other events on and around campus on Tuesday. Several hundred students walked out of class, rallied in the Pit and then headed to the intersection of Franklin and Columbia, blocking traffic for a bit, demanding the removal of troops from Iraq and declaring, “Whose streets? Our streets!”

And here at home in Carrboro, a group of cyclists staged a Critical Mass ride in protest of the president’s war, convening downtown, then trekking to campus.

May this week next year require no further such observance.