Winter Peace Retreat at Spruce Lake
A Place to Call Home
February 11-13, 2011 (Friday-Sunday)

Videos and Saturday Afternoon Conversation

  • 1:00-3:30 pm, Saturday, February 12: Videos.
  • 3:30-5:00pm, Saturday, February 12: Immigration - Legislative issues in Pennsylvania with Emma Cleveland.



    Videos for Viewing and Discussion
    The following videos will be scheduled for viewing during "free time" at the retreat.

    Also see the REEL Movie Discussion Guide - Faith and Immigration which includes two of the videos below: "The Visitor" and "Farmingville."

    • The Visitor 104 min. PG 13
      When, in a chance encounter on a trip into New York, Walter discovers a couple has taken up residence in his apartment in the city, he develops an unexpected and profound connection to them that will change his life forever. As challenges arise for his tenants Tarek and Zainab, Walter finds himself compelled to help his new friends, and rediscovers a passion he thought he had lost long ago.
    • Farmingville (Welcome to the suburbs, home of the new boarder wars). 78 min.
      In the late 1990's, some 1,500 Mexican workers moved to the leafy, middle-class town of Farmingville, pop. 15,000. In some ways, it's a familiar American story: an influx of illegal immigrants crossing the border from Mexico to do work the locals won't; rising tensions with the Anglo population; charges and counter-charges of lawlessness and racism; protest marches, unity rallies and internet campaigns-then vicious hate crimes that tear the community apart. But this isn't the story of California, or Texas. It's the endlessly enthralling tale of Farmingville, NY on Long Island.
      Winner of the Special Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival.
    • Split Estate (2009) 76 min.
      Split Estate documents the devastating effects that oil and natural gas drilling is having on the health of families and the environment in the rocky mountain west. A timely documentary for all Pennsylvanians to watch as natural gas companies are now drilling throughout northern and western PA.
    • Which Way Home 1 hr. 23 min.
      In 2006, Rebecca Cammisa received a Fulbright Scholar Grant to travel to Mexico to document the plight of the children left behind when their families travel to the US to find work. This Oscar nominated film is the result of her journey. Cammisa and her crew follow a trio of children who set out on their own from their Latin American abodes on a dangerous trek through Mexico en route to the US border and....they hope.....their families embrace.
    • Promises 1 hr. 46 min.
      Documentarians Justine Shapiro and B.Z. Goldberg traveled to Israel to interview Palestinian and Israeli kids ages 11 to 13, assembling their views on living in a society afflicted with violence, separatism and religious and political extremism. This 2002 Oscar nominee for Best Feature Documentary culminates in an astonishing day in which two Israeli children meet Palestinian youngsters at a refugee camp.
    • The Most Dangerous Man In America (Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers) 94 min.
      It's 1971, and Daniel Ellsberg, a high-level Pentagon official and Vietnam War strategist, concludes that the war is based on decades of lies and leaks 7,000 pages of top secret documents to The New York Times, making headlines around the world. This acclaimed film tells the riveting story of how one man's profound change heart created a landmark struggle involving America's newspapers, it president and Supreme Court- a political thriller whose events led directly to Watergate, Nixon's resignation and the end of the Vietnam War.


    Immigration - Legislative issues in Pennsylvania
    Saturday, February 12, 3:30-5:00pm.
    This session will focus on current legislative issues that affect immigrants in Pennsylvania - with Emma Cleveland.

  • Emma Cleveland is a Community Organizer with the ACLU Immigrants' Rights Project in Allentown. Before coming to the Lehigh Valley in November 2009, she two spent years working with nomadic artistic, ecological and circus collectives in South America. Emma has also worked with the Immigrant Solidarity Network (Red de Solidariad Inmigrante) and was involved in Food Not Bombs and independent media and radio projects in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. She holds a B.S. in sociology from James Madison University.
  • Pennsylvania Legislation

    The following immigration-related bills have been introduced in the 2011-2012 legislative session. In practice, these bills would affect not only undocumented immigrants, but also some legal permanent residents and U.S. citizens. (Note: This page was last updated on March 15, 2011; for current information, please see www.ppjr.org/issues/immigration/resource.htm. )
  • Directory for the Pennsylvania General Assembly.
  • Search (by street address) for your Pennsylvania State Senator and Representative.
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