PASSIN’ IT ON (a video)

Why did the NW Bronx stop burning?

During the 1960s and early 70s, banks, insurance companies, the City of New York, and many landlords drew a red-line around the Bronx and abandoned our neighborhoods. 12,000 fires burned each year, 300,000 people fled, and in the South Bronx 40% of the housing stock was destroyed.

To stop this abandonment and burning in the NW Bronx, community people of every color and ethnic background, working people, poor people, college students, Catholic priests and their congregations formed a 10 neighborhood coalition.

The video PASSIN’ IT ON celebrates the 25-year struggle of that coalition, and its success.  In their own words and many accents, neighbors document their history and hold up a vision for “ordinary people” everywhere that together we can transform our lives, and heal our world.

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The hard work of grassroots organizing has seldom been more powerfully & truthfully presented. Skillful editing and super titles make PASSIN’ IT ON an ideal classroom aid and stimulant for discussion and action.

— George Stoney, Dept. of Film & Television, New York University

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This video makes the connection from your street to Wall Street, your block to the halls of congress.

— Joe Mariano, National People’s Action, Chicago

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A great story of a community that survives and triumphs when it organizes . . . You have to watch it.

— Francis Fox Pivin, CUNY and Co-author of “Regulating the Poor and Poor Peoples’s Movements”

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Really Powerful . . . Authentic creative voices.

— Hye Jung Park, Downtown Community Television

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WHAT DOES WAR COST?  Thirty community-based performances of the play,  and 71 showings of the video on public access TV in Manhattan, the Bronx, Brooklyn,  and Westchester.

Emma Gay                  Eric Vetter                      Jodi Young                   Raybblin Vargas

as Aunt Sam                 as Arnie                          as Yvette                       as Truth Fairy

WHAT DOES WAR COST? is now available as a 30-minute video.  Use the video version to provoke discussion, expand vision, inspire storytelling and writing for your class, church group, friends or co-workers.

In a brighty-lit car of the # 4 train, as they return to the Bronx from work, John & Yvette meet a homeless Aunt Sam (recently kicked out of government in Washington) and the Truth Fairy who strangely enough changes subway ads for  the MTA.  At the heart of  the play is Yvette's struggle to support her soldier son and face the truth of a war that puts his life at risk. The encounter of the four characters is heated and generates many questions for the audience discussion that follows each performance.  What is patriotism?  Who's telling the truth?  What is the impact of war on the people and things we care about in New York City -- like our schools, health care,  and the security of our families and communities?  And what do we truly value in our relationships with one another and with others in our global village?

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... a vivid, impassioned, and well-documented presentation of the moral questions we confront.  When the administration and media fail to give us the information needed by citizens in a democracy, we must offer alternative sources that reach people directly.

— Pastor Jim O'Hanlon, Epiphany Lutheran Church, The Bronx

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An 8th-grade girl reported the play was "hot!" and presented things "not taught in school."  Her friend, an 8th-grade boy said he never realized how much oil was so "needed" by the U.S.

— Sadie Mahoney, Teen Center Coordinator Kingsbridge Heights Community Center, The Bronx

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The show was terrific!  Ever since, I use the program as a handout of information everyone should know.

— Addie Banks, King of Glory Tabernacle/ Groundswell, The Bronx

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TWO TANZANIAN SCHOOLS IN OUR CHANGING WORLD  Originally conceived as a film to introduce children and young teens to a relationship with children and teens in East Africa, Two Tanzanian Schools in Our Changing World introduces all of us to a money-poor part of the world most westerners know very little about.  Within a rich visual fabric woven through with drumming and songs sung by two spirited youth choirs, the video takes us half way around the world to the very modern city of Nairobi.  Then by bus and four-wheel drive vehicle, we travel very near the equator to Kissangura, Tanzania, where most people live without electricity and running water, in shady and cool round houses made of mud with thatched roofs.  Without minimizing the problems and the pain of poverty, this video shows life in a primary and secondary school sponsored by East African Quakers, and offers images of children strong in spirit and their desire for learning.  Two Tanzanian Schools is a 17-minute introduction to Africa and world poverty suitable for use and discussion in social studies classes.

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