Shenandoah University Tours France #3 - Notre Dame

In the last of a 3 part series - the Shenandoah Conservatory Choir is one of just three international groups chosen each year to sing at Notre Dame's High Mass in Paris. Students take us behind the scenes at the renowned cathedral - revealing the sights, the sounds of the event and the antics of some amusing Eucharistic ministers.

Watch 6 minutes now on YouTube: http://youtube.com/watch?v=EILYhAz9D14

Shenandoah Conservatory Tours France #2 - Normandy

Shenandoah Conservatory choir members continue their tour through France with a trip to the poignant landscapes of the Normandy Beaches. There the group gives an impromptu and deeply moving performance to some appreciative onlookers.

Watch 5 minutes now on YouTube: http://youtube.com/watch?v=jS166JxnXEc

Shendandoah Conservatory Tours France #1 - The Arrival

Shenandoah Conservatory Choir takes a rollicking tour of France. In this, the first of 3 segments, the group performs in major cathedrals, channels Marie Antoinette at the Palace of Versailles, and students reflect on the challenges and the honor of working with Grammy Award-winning conductor Robert Shafer.

"Robert Shafer has been a treasure for the Washington choral community for more than 30 years."

-The Washington Post

Watch 7 minutes now on YouTube: http://youtube.com/watch?v=ltHtGEZI6oo

Quote of the Year

"Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?"

-Mary Oliver
Pulitzer Prize Winning Poet
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Oliver

Photo by Tyrone Turner

Save the Date - October Peace Conference

October 26-27, 2007 the Gandhi-King Conference on Peacemaking in Memphis, Tennessee. The theme is Building the Beloved Community and it's presented by the National Civil Rights Museum, Mid-South Peace and Justice Center, HEAL Foundation and Indian Community Fund.

http://www.gandhikingconference.org/

I'll be speaking along with author and activist Betty Kilby Fisher and "cousin" Phoebe Kilby who works at Eastern Mennonite University about the role of television and film in building community.

The title is Seeing Ourselves, Healing Our Hearts; the Role of Filmmaking in Building Peace Within Community.

Our proposal states that television and filmmaking as a magnifying element and delivery system for storytelling and narrative is proving to be an important tool in areas of tension and crisis to build community and promote peace. This presentation is a case study of two recent documentaries about desegregation in the Shenandoah Valley created by Shenandoah University in Winchester, Virginia titled; Wit, Will and Walls; the Betty Kilby Fisher Story and its companion film In My Grandmother’s Footsteps. We will recount how these films have provided a platform for personal exploration and public discussion around the social trauma of the civil rights struggle in the Shenandoah Valley and have led to opportunities for healing and reconciliation within the community.