In early November, I gave a talk about how Quaker testimonies influence the Bridge Film Festival, to an all-school assembly at Oakwood Friends School, Poughkeepsie, NY.   The entire student body (5th-12th grade) and faculty were gathered in their Meeting House.  I brought my laptop with slide-presentation and past Bridge Film Festival videos to screen.  I was invited by OFS Art Teacher / BFF contact Randi Chalfin and by Community Outreach Coordinator, Julie Okoniewski. Oakwood Friends School is a relatively small, mostly boarding school with a large percentage Asian (mostly Chinese) student body.

Presenting in the Meeting House

The diversity of the student body was going to pose a new challenge for me with regards to the Quaker concepts I wanted to feature and how I was going to communicate them.   The teaching of Quaker philosophy in thirty minutes time would be difficult enough; to add to the challenge, many of the students were not fluent in English and didn't share my geographic and cultural background.  Randi asked if I would like to have a translator with me for the presentation.  I declined for the sake of practicality, given the limited time frame.  I struggled with the planning this presentation.  After finishing my preparations, I was fairly certain it wouldn't work on several levels: too much Quaker religion at the top, translating Quaker philosophy for people who speak English as a second language, and then ending with a possibly inappropriate film selection that might insult... well everyone.

It was a sunny, cool, crisp day with the trees wearing their vibrant autumn colors as I  arrived on campus.  I met Julie, who led me to the Meeting House and helped with the set-up for the presentation.   Looking around the room, I sensed an old familiar energy of a Meeting House that immediately put me at ease.  After setting up and testing the equipment, Julie took me on a tour of the school.
 
The assembly began promptly at 10:05 with the student body class president asking for silence.  He then asked Randi to introduce me.  After Randi's kind introduction, I began the presentation by asking for silence again and sat in a chair until the room was still.  Standing, I  began again with a quote from David Hinshaw's  "Rufus Jones, Master Quaker" (G.P. Putnam's Sons, New York):

"The core of the Quaker belief is the Inner Light-that intuition of the presence of God which enables the individual to learn how to discover and realize what is evil for him and by avoiding it to bring himself into harmony with the universal spirit."

I explained that Quaker testimonies, regardless of whether you live across the street or on the other side of the planet, consists of universal values that can be used as sign posts to help guide one in the search for truth.   I asked the gathering if anyone knew what Quaker testimonies the acronym SPICES referred to.  Several students raised their hands and one correctly rattled off, "Simplicity, Peace, Integrity, Community, Equality, and Stewardship."  I then displayed a graphic on the projector screen with the words translated into Chinese, Korean, and Spanish.  Though the room was already quiet, once the slide was displayed I noticed a deeper concentration level set in.

I further explain how the Bridge Film Festival encourages filmmakers to tell stories that demonstrate these values in action.  The gathering viewed five award winning BFF public service announcements as example of what the festival is looking for.  The PSAs were technically superior, with clear messages that could be easily related to specific testimonies.


So far so good. The audience laughed in the right places and were respectful of the PSAs.  I began the introduction of the presentation's featured film by describing its failings. The production hadn't won a Judges' Choice award like the previous PSAs; in fact, the BFF judges scored the film's technical quality and content very low. I said there were some audio problems and holes in the story, but that I selected the film because in its own crude way, its underlying message might resonate with the Oakwood Friends School community.  I screened for them the Olney Friends School BFF 2011 entry of "Frustrating Flatulence".

The film begins with a quote followed by a scene with two Asian students, boyfriend and girlfriend, looking at a computer.  At this point, I again felt the concentration level of the room was elevated.  These were the first Asian "actors" to be featured on the screen this day.  As the scene continues, an "American" student walks into the room looking to borrow a pencil and casually farts in front of the couple.  The students get into an angry argument about his behavior.  The audience laughed nervously at this part.   
Later in the film, the Asian male student has difficulty explaining to the Head Master why he got into a fight over another similar event.  Contagious laughter was generated from a single shot of the student with head down in the office, as the students in the audience were able to identify with the issues involved.   But then after the Head Master hands out his punishment, he too casually farts in front of the student.  The student then shouts the only line of dialogue in Chinese in the film.  The Chinese students  in the audience exploded with laughter and everyone else began laughing too at the sheer joy of moment.  It was the single greatest reaction to a BFF film I have witnessed in 12 years.  There was a subtitle in English that read, "Why are you doing this?  What kind of airplane are you making?"  Though something may have been lost in translation, (not only of this scene but perhaps my presentation too),   I do believe the underlying truth of the difficulties inherent in bringing community together from such diverse cultures was clear to this audience.  The success of this screening was due to the audience being able to identify with characters and situations presented.  My hope is that from this communal experience the Oakwood Friends School community will feel supported in their efforts in, as the BFF mission statement states, "providing a forum for dialog, learning, and exchange of ideas of commonality and diversity."