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This is from The Oakland Tribune, page Local-1, Monday, 1-21-02: SISTERS SET OUT ON CROSS-COUNTRY TREK FOR PEACE, by Kristin Bender, Staff Writer Trek: They hope they will inspire people BERKELEY - The Porter twins' plan to walk across the country for peace started when the women pulled matching fortunes from their after-dinner cookies at a Chinese restaurant last year. The Berkeley women's fortunes - "You can take on and accomplish anything you try" - said all they needed to know. "I looked at mine first and then she looked at hers and then we looked at them together," said Lisa Porter, 37. "That was it, we knew at that point that we would be doing the walk together, we knew it was a sign." Today - Martin Luther King Jr. Day - the sisters and a handful of East Bay friends will leave Civic Center Park in Berkeley on a journey that should see them walk 3,500 miles to Lafayette Park in Washington D.C. They hope to arrive there Sept. 11, 2002. Many sets of twins have claimed to think simultaneous thoughts, feel the same pain and possess the ability to finish each other's sentences. Lisa and Angela Porter are no different. Shortly after the Sept. 11, terorist attacks, both women said they hatched independent plans to walk across the nation spreading a message of peace. But it wasn't until they mentioned their ideas during a telephone call that the walk, now deemed Peace-by-Peace, was set in motion. Shortly afterwards, they found the paper fortunes in their cookies during a dinner with friends. After months of planning, drawing up itineraries and buying maps and rain gear for the trek, the Porters are decidedly clear about the goals for their peace mission. "This is not a peace march. (The word) 'march' is war language," said Lisa Porter, who quit her job as a counselor at Rock La Fleche Community Day Center, an Oakland continuation school, to do the walk. "We are hoping people will be inspired to look inside themselves, to look at their lives and ask themselves a deeper question about what is peace." The women were inspired not only by recent world events but also by a silver-haired woman who called herself Peace Pilgrim. Between 1953 and 1981, the Peace Pilgrim (Mildred Norman) walked more than 25,000 miles and criss-crossed the United States six times in the name of peace. The Berkeley women's journey will be documented by a videographer, and updates will be available on their Web.site: http://www.walkforpeace.org They are also inviting anyone who is inspired to join them for a day, a week, a month or for the entire journey. The women, who plan to walk 10 to 20 miles a day, have done some training walks to prepare for the journey, which is scheduled to begin 10 a.m. today for Los Angeles. From Southern California, they will head to Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Arizona, Tennessee and North Carolina. The journey will pass through parts of the country that are remarkably different from liberal, peace-conscious Berkeley. "If the paradigm is going to shift, it's important that people with opposing views (talk) and find some common ground," Lisa Porter said. "I'm banking on the fact that our common ground is our shared humanity." The group hopes to arrive in the nation's capital one year to the day after the Sept. 11 terror strikes on America, which deeply moved the sisters. "We were devastated about what that act (of terrorism) said about the state of humanity," Lisa Porter said. "I sat a little paralyzed for a couple of days, feeling an incredible amount of grief even though I hadn't lost anyone." Like many who wrote checks to charities, donated blood and held vigils, the Porters wanted to do something. Armed with a few thousand dollars raised at local benefits, they hope checks will continue to roll in while they're walking. They think they'll need about $20,000 to support six walkers who plan to make all or some part of the journey. But much of the expenses will be covered by in-kind donations. Churches, peace centers, private citizens and campgrounds will provide lodging, food and moral support for the sisters and their entourage. A childhood friend, Padraig McRauiri, will drive a truck, pulling a camper with bathroom and kitchen. He will also cook breakfasts, and offer encouragement and carry gear, water and those all-important, lucky cookie fortunes. ===== ===== Lake Merritt Neighbors Organized for Peace. Weekly peace walks around Lake Merritt in Oakland. Meet at the collonade between Grand & Lakeshore Avenues, 3 P.M., every Sunday. Info: (510)763-8712 or [EMAIL PROTECTED] __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Great stuff seeking new owners in Yahoo! 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