It's a gem, a story that both inspires and informs.' Colman McCarthy/Center for Teaching Peace Rated R for Rebellious/Media Mike Hazard Twenty students, two teachers and four sisters worked for one whole school year to make a half-hour documentary, Four Sisters for Peace. The project began with a friend telling me about these four feisty sisters who are also Catholic nuns--Rita, Brigid, Kate and Jane McDonald. They are activists who work for all kinds of good causes. When I asked Brigid if she thought there might be a good film to make together, she deadpanned, 'A film about us will be rated R.' She paused. An R rated film about nuns? I was curious. 'Rated R for rebellious,' she laughed, and I was hooked. As an artist in the schools, I set out to look for the right school for such a film and found Susie Oppenheim's class of sixth to eighth graders at Southside Family School in Minneapolis. Its mission is to educate students to be engaged citizens. This is a school with The Student Association for the Advancement of Children as People (The SAACP!). The school's theme is 'Kids Make History' and that is exactly what we did. I love to teach people how to make video the same way I did, learning by making and doing. To assess the impact, I turn to the students and the sisters. Their excitement and the impact are tangible. Southside student Sang Pham said, 'The sisters believe we can change the world. I like that. It's cool.' De'Sean Dwyer states, 'We made this history of four sisters who work for peace. We made this history so you can see that you can make history too.' 'We liked working on this film. One reason is that we learned how to use video equipment. But the main thing we learned is that young and old can work together for peace, justice and change,' Tristan Brown wrote after the premiere. How about the sisters' perspectives? Sister Brigid reports, 'T
