Grinnell, Ia. —  Chris Gaunt

Peace activist Chris Gaunt keeps a peace banner wrapped around the tree in the front yard of her rural Grinnell home. Gaunt was arrested at the U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 11 while protesting the denial of habeas corpus rights to terror suspects being held at Guantanamo Bay. She will appear in municipal court today in Washington, D.C., on misdemeanor charges.

Drive up the gravel road to Chris Gaunt's farmstead and you'll be met with the sights and sounds of a typical Iowa hog farm.

You'll hear 1,200 hogs oinking in an adjacent building. You'll see a sign outside her door: "Three Little Pigs Welcome You to the Gaunt Farm." You'll see a door mat that reads "Pig Crossing" and dozens of pink stuffed pigs throughout her house.

But soon you'll learn that Gaunt is anything but a typical Iowa farm wife.

A hint lies in a folded-up piece of paper in her hand.

"HABEAS CORPUS PETITION," it reads. "This habeas corpus petition is filed on behalf of a prisoner who is being held illegally and unjustly in military custody at Guantanamo Naval Base, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba by the government of the United States."

It's the reason why today, in a Washington, D.C., courtroom, this 51-year-old grandmother and part-time employee at the Grinnell College library will stand trial for the way she protests her government.

It was in January, on the sixth anniversary of the opening of the Guantanamo Bay holding facility for terrorist suspects, when Gaunt and 74 activists from around the country went to the U.S. Supreme Court to protest the government's treatment of detainees. Gaunt and dozens more were arrested. She was charged with two misdemeanors.

If she goes to jail, that's OK. This jail time can't be as hard as her six-month stint in federal prison after she crossed the line set by police at a protest against the School of the Americas, the Fort Benning, Ga., Army base that trains military officers for Latin American countries.

Gaunt says it's essential to protest government activities like the Cuban detention camp where hundreds of prisoners have been held without charges, or the school in Georgia whose graduates have allegedly returned to their home coun- tries and committed atro- cities.

Ask her why she feels called to protest. Gaunt's eyes well up, her voice rises.

"My country's on the wrong track," she said. "Why torture? When we're living in our country, the greatest democracy ever created, and our government has to resort to torture to get information from people?"

She pauses. Her voice gets louder.

"Can you stand it? I CAN'T EITHER!"

She pauses again, wipes a tear, and apologizes.

"It's getting to me."

How this Iowa farm girl became so passionate about American politics is a story of spiritual growth and political awareness.

She grew up north of Grinnell in Gilman, one of eight children of a tenant farmer, and attended church regularly. She came of age in the politically volatile era of the Vietnam War but, Gaunt said, "politically, I was asleep."

She became a third-generation farmer when she married Jay Gaunt in 1980. They had three children. Encouraged by her pastor, she started pursuing political interests related to peace and justice. She got involved with gay rights. She protested the School of the Americas. She took a homeless man into their home, then became a subject of a series of articles in The Des Moines Register about that man, Bob Fitzlaff.

When terrorists struck the United States on Sept. 11, 2001, Gaunt was offended by her government's response, which she calls "revenge through military."

"When I follow the footsteps of Jesus, I stand up for the people who are picked on and marginalized," she said.

Gaunt's family doesn't claim to understand her calling to protest and her willingness to become a "prisoner of conscience." But, often tacitly, they support her. Even while she's pent up in jail.

"She probably enjoys it more than I do," Jay Gaunt said of his wife's jail time. "It's hard for me, just up and leaving here for six months. At first you're mad. Then you feel she's doing what she thinks she has to do."

For Gaunt, she said it's really that she can't not protest these things.

"It's part of who I am, I guess," Gaunt said. " 'Passionate,' some people say. 'Stupid,' other people say."