A short documentary about the owners of Harrisonburg’s , co-directed by peacebuilding grad Mariana Martinez ’21, will premiere next week at Court Square Theater. 

The 20-minute film, titled ¡Hola, Paisano!, follows the owners, Hugo Hernández and Berenice Rodriguez, two immigrants from Mexico, as they build a life, family, and a business through baking. It traces their beginnings, introduces their family, and places their experiences within the broader context of today’s national conversations about immigration.

“In short, it’s a slice of life,” said Martinez. “It touches on themes of family, the immigrant experience, the American dream, and what it means to run a bakery in Downtown Harrisonburg. It feels like a niche environment to document in, but it truly is a channel where you can see the life of Hugo and Berenice, their story, and their life.”

Martinez is originally from Honduras and moved to Harrisonburg with her family when her father, Luis Martinez SEM ’15, began attending Eastern Mennonite Seminary to earn a master of divinity. She graduated from Eastern Mennonite School and attended Hesston College for two years before transferring to 91����Ƶ. 

Along with Jess Daddio, co-director and director of photography for ¡Hola, Paisano!, and Sarah Golibart Gorman, producer, the filmmaking trio met for the first time and began hashing out the idea in March 2024. Gorman, a writer for Edible Blue Ridge who runs the popular Instagram account, had written a about Latino restaurants in Harrisonburg and had interviewed the owners of El Paisano.

“She had a connection there, which helped create a rapport with them and allowed them to tell their story,” Martinez said.

¡Hola, Paisano!  will screen with English and Spanish subtitles and will be shown at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 18, with doors opening at 6:30 p.m. Tickets to the screening are pay-what-you-will and can be reserved online at .

A panel discussion with the documentary team and bakery owners will be held after the film, followed by cake to celebrate the bakery’s seven years in business. Afterward, attendees can continue the celebration at Broad Porch Coffee’s Latin Dance Night, which lasts until 11 p.m.

The world premiere of 91����Ƶ’s Viewpoint with Dennis Quaid video at the Campus Center last week was glitzy, glamorous and grand. It had all the star power of a Hollywood awards show; actors Dennis Quaid and Billy Porter made video appearances. It had the high-energy feel of a rockin’ club, thanks to bachata lessons from the Latinx Student Alliance and a DJ-led dance party. And, said those who attended the premiere last Thursday, it showed how far 91����Ƶ has come in its commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI).

The nationally-syndicated, short-form documentary focuses on 91����Ƶ and its approach to advancing DEI as a peace and justice university. The Viewpoint with Dennis Quaid crew filmed footage on the Harrisonburg, Virginia, campus in late October. The four-and-a-half-minute episode will be distributed to public television affiliates nationwide during the week of April 29 and will air in all 50 states for an estimated reach of more than 60 million households. 

“It is the first time in university history that 91����Ƶ will be showcased on such a grand national scale,” said 91����Ƶ Regional Advancement Director and Harrisonburg Mayor Deanna Reed, who served as a host for the event.

Watch the on the Viewpoint with Dennis Quaid website.

In addition to the documentary episode, a 30-second promo for 91����Ƶ will air during peak time (7-11:45 a.m.) and prime time (6-11:45 p.m.) on news networks between April 4 and April 30. Those networks include CNN, CNN Headline News, MSNBC, CNBC, Fox News, Fox Business Network, TLC, Travel, and Discovery. The promo video will have an estimated reach of more than 85 million households.

Watch the promo commercial.

The night’s other host Braydon Hoover, associate vice president for advancement at 91����Ƶ, said Viewpoint with Dennis Quaid also will design and generate an email campaign that sends the documentary to its database, which is more than 1 million contacts strong.

91����Ƶ 200 students, faculty, staff and community members packed Martin Greeting Hall inside the Campus Center for the watch party. They snacked on food from Korean restaurant Mashita, noshed from a mac ’n’ cheese bar, sipped mocktails from Merge Coffee Roasters, and indulged in treats from BMC Bakes, Pioneer Catering, and PrePOPsterous Gourmet Popcorn. 

Eventgoers, many of whom were dressed to impress, posed on the blue carpet and snapped pictures at a photo booth. 

Seven lucky raffle winners went home with a one-of-a-kind Herm lion head, each painted in the likeness of a DEI club or organization: Asian/Pacific Islander Student Alliance, Black Student Alliance, International Student Organization, Latinx Student Association, Queer Student Alliance, Disability Students Alliance, and the Office of DEI.

The event began with a performance from the 91����Ƶ pep band, who stormed the stage playing Celebrate! and loosened up the crowd.

The 91����Ƶ Gospel Choir, led by Kay Pettus and accompanied by Professor David Berry on piano, performed “Grateful” by Hezekiah Walker and “He Has Marvelous Things” by Pastor LaRue F. Kidd. Members of the gospel choir are: Reah Clymer, Marciella Shallomita, Laurel Evans, Genesis Figueroa, Canyon Penner, Jacob Nissley, Alaiyis Jasper, Philip Krabill and Micah Mast.

Members of the Latinx Student Alliance, Cristal Narciso, Belen Hernandez, Edwin Rios, and Emily Diaz, instructed the crowd in bachata dance lessons.  

91����Ƶ President Dr. Susan Schultz Huxman shared in her remarks the progress the university has made in its DEI journey. In 2017, 25 percent of first-year students at 91����Ƶ identified as persons of color. In 2024, that figure has risen to 44 percent of first-year students. Other steps forward include: the hiring of Dr. Jackie Font-Guzmán in 2021 as the inaugural vice president for DEI, making DEI an essential part of onboarding for 91����Ƶ faculty and staff, and putting inclusivity at the center of 91����Ƶ’s five-year strategic plan Pathways of Promise. Huxman said the producers of the Viewpoint with Dennis Quaid series were motivated to “find the gems” where DEI has taken root in positive ways and chose 91����Ƶ as a shining example.

Keynote speakers and 91����Ƶ alumni Christian Parks ’16, Akiel Baker ’21 and admissions counselor Merry Yirga ’23 shared their experiences of being students of color at 91����Ƶ, a predominantly white institution, and how they’ve seen the school grow in its commitment to justice and equity over the years. They spoke about the creation of the Office of DEI and the Black Student Alliance and thanked all the people who paved the way for progress at 91����Ƶ.

Showtime!

Award-winning actor Billy Porter greeted those attending the event with a video message promoting love, grace and compassion. 

Next, it was Quaid’s turn to appear on screen. From a high-rise overlooking the Los Angeles skyline, the movie star introduced the topic of diversity.

“While we’ve made great strides, there’s always room for improvement,” Quaid says in the opening. “Advocates who are steadfast in their mission for inclusion can be found in just about every industry, as we’re about to see.”

The video features shots of students on campus and interviews with President Huxman, Font-Guzmán and alumnus DeVantae Dews ’19.

Before hanging up the microphone, Hoover announced that Font-Guzmán had been named the 2024 Diversity Business Leadership Award by the Harrisonburg-Rockingham Chamber of Commerce.

Crowd Reactions

As she took in the night of celebration, Font-Guzmán said it was time to “go back and continue the hard work” to make 91����Ƶ “the most inclusive university in the world.”

“We’re not there yet,” she said. “I know that not every single person here feels welcome and a sense of belonging, and every day we move closer to fulfilling our aspirations.”

After watching the video, Amy Knorr, the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding’s (CJP) practice director, said it was wonderful to tell 91����Ƶ’s story to a new audience. “It’s exactly what 91����Ƶ needs at this point in time to bring us all together and celebrate,” she said. 

Over by the banquet tables, 91����Ƶ junior Allie Smith eyed the line for the mac ’n’ cheese bar. Smith, who played in the pep band and appeared in the Viewpoint with Dennis Quaid video playing the bongos, said she was “stoked” to see 91����Ƶ highlighted. “I think we’re well on our way in our DEI journey,” she said. “I think we’re making great strides, and I think this video is one big step toward that.”

Desmoné Logan, a DEI inclusive excellence student leader and a committee member who helped plan the premiere, remarked on the momentous occasion: “This is like the birth of a new baby. It is something we would’ve never imagined two years ago.”

Taking a break from the dance floor, graduate student and gospel choir member Philip Krabill said watching the episode gave him a sense of pride in attending 91����Ƶ: “Seeing all that we do in that video, I’m thinking, ‘Yeah, I guess we really are making progress, trying to make changes and make a place for everyone to feel welcome.’”

Acknowledgements

Special thanks to the committee whose creativity and vision brought this event to life, including: Jennifer Sodikoff of Contemplate Marketing, Jackie Font-Guzmán, Dawn Neil, Monica Pangle, Tyler Goss, Nicole Litwiller, Deanna Reed, Braydon Hoover, Jen Kulju, Macson McGuigan, Margaux Jacks, Virginia Zelaya, Mike Ramer, Andrea Troyer, Sarah Wittig, Celeste Thomas, Shannon Grinnan, Chris Sharp, Adesola Johnson, Desmoné Logan, Chris Neil, Daniel King, Henry Bowser, Anne Cornelius, Allie Watkins and Kate Landis.

Gratitude also goes out to the generous folks who underwrote the event, including Steve and Tracey Mullet, Brad Driver and Stacy Jennings, and others who wish to remain anonymous.

Her name is Leymah Gbowee, a 2007 graduate of 91����Ƶ’s Center for Justice and Peacebuilding. Before coming to 91����Ƶ, Gbowee emerged into the world spotlight when she and a brave group of ordinary women, mostly mothers, banded together to do the unimaginable – use nonviolent methods to confront Liberia’s despotic president Charles Taylor and his warlord opponents.

Both sides used child soldiers who terrorized the population, including raping a large percentage of Liberia’s women and girls. The mothers dressed in white, held up hand-written signs saying “We Want Peace” and began to appear wherever the warring leaders could be found. They also told the men in their families “no sex” until you do everything in your power to stop the war.

At one point the women linked arms and barricaded negotiators for the opposing sides in a conference room. Gbowee threatened to take off her clothes, followed by the other protesting women – an act that, in Liberian culture, would shame and disgrace the men – if the negotiators failed to stay at the table until they arrived at a peace agreement.

The women’s efforts succeeded, and a peace accord was signed in the summer of 2003, leading to UN-supervised disarmament beginning in the winter of 2003-04 and finally to the election of Africa’s first woman president in January 2006.

Leymah Gbowee, a 2007 graduate of 91����Ƶ’s Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, talks about her peacebuilding and faith journey in university chapel at 91����Ƶ. (Photo by Jim Bishop) Listen to the chapel podcast…

On behalf of the women she led, Gbowee has received a half dozen major awards, including one from Harvard University. She has been the subject of an article in “O” Magazine, has appeared on “Bill Moyers Journal” and “The Colbert Report” and is the main figure in a documentary, “Pray the Devil Back to Hell” ().

Liberia’s bloody civil war

Liberia was founded as a colony in the 1820’s as a place for freed slaves from the US to emigrate to Africa. In 1847, they founded the Republic of Liberia, establishing a government modeled after the United States.

A military-led coup in 1980 overthrew then-president William R. Tolbert, launching a period of instability that eventually led to civil war.

Charles Taylor invaded the country in 1989. During his time in power, some 250,000 people were killed and over a million others displaced in a country of just over three million population.

Thursday evening, Oct. 22, at 91����Ƶ, Gbowee received a standing ovation as she came to the podium to address about 400 people. The audience had just viewed the film,”Pray the Devil Back to Hell.”

The riveting motion picture is directed by Emmy-winning and Academy Award nominated filmmaker Gini Reticker and produced by Abigail Disney. It premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2008, where it won “Best Documentary Feature.”

A formerly unknown social worker and mother of four, Gbowee organized hundreds of worken to call for peace. She attended 91����Ƶ’s Summer Peacebuilding Institute (SPI) in 2004. She returned to SPI in 2006 and went on to earn an MA degree in conflict transformation from the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding the following year.

She now heads Women Peace and Security Network Africa (), offering training and counsel to women all over Africa, with special focus on security issues.

Working together to promote peace

One of the most remarkable aspects of the Liberian women’s movement, she told the 91����Ƶ audience, was “the way that Christians and Muslims overlooked their differences and worked together to promote the need for peace.”

“Before I came to CJP, I was a bit selfish – my entire world view was Liberia or West Africa,” she said. “CJP put names and faces to conflicts in other parts of the world. Now, when I read the news, I am not thinking about statistics, I am anxiously thinking about my [CJP] sisters there.” She said she looks forward to seeing CJP alumni as she travels from country to country, viewing them as family who understand each other in a way that only fellow CJP alumni can.

Gbowee said she also learned at CJP how to make decisions with a strategic focus. “Before, I jumped into projects and ran with different things,” rather than being a “reflective practitioner” of peacebuilding.

Effective peacebuilder, strong faith

Gbowee shared more of her faith journey in university chapel Friday morning, Oct. 23, retracing her steps from that of a homeless, unemployed, despairing person to a leader in her home and neighboring countries, one whom governmental and international leaders call on regularly for counsel.

“I haven’t reached this place where I am today on my own,” she stated. “It is by the grace and mercy of God. I don’t see how it’s possible to be an effective peacebuilder in any setting without a strong faith. That is my message to others – take that first step of faith and ask God to order your steps.”

Asked what sustains her in the midst of stressful, difficult work, Gbowee replied, “I am basically an optimistic person. I believe there are more good people than bad people in this world – it’s just that we, the good people, refuse to step out.”

Ultimately, “I do what I do in the hope that other children won’t have to go through what mine have. I am doing this work for the children.”

Gbowee reflects on her experience in 91����Ƶ’s CJP program at

Their leader, Leymah Gbowee, who organized the women and succeeded in pressuring those at the negotiating table to come to agreement to end the long, brutal war, will speak and answer questions following the film showing.

The film is directed by Emmy-winning and Academy Award nominated filmmaker Gini Reticker and produced by Abigail Disney. It premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2008, where it won “Best Documentary Feature.” Nobel Peace Prize winner Desmond Tutu calls the film “inspiring, uplifting and a call to action for all of us.”

The film went on to win several other honors, including the Gabriel Award from the Catholic Academy for Communication Arts Professionals. The Liberian women in the film from the Mass Action Campaign for Peace have received both a John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage award and Gruber Women’s Rights Prize this year.

A leader in Liberia, Gbowee organized hundreds of women to protest the civil war. In the midst of her campaign, she attended 91����Ƶ’s Summer Peacebuilding Institute (SPI). She later earned her MA degree in conflict transformation from 91����Ƶ’s Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, graduating in 2007.

She now heads Women Peace and Security Network in Ghana, offering training and counsel to women all over Africa. She has been featured on national news shows, including “Bill Moyers Journal” and “The Colbert Report.”

The program is sponsored by the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, and admission is free. For more information, call 432-4581.

Selam Hussein, an 91����Ƶ student from Ethiopia, produced a film titled “Reality 101” for international students. Behind him is equipment used for editing raw footage.
Photo By Michael A. Tripp

For four months, the video-editing lab in the back of 91����Ƶ’s library was Selam Hussein