Dateline: Reedley College.

As the Solar Powered Mobile Party team was setting up for the 3rd Annual Reedley College Green Summit, they were approach by a disgruntled employee. She didn’t say anything about the music being all powered by the Sun and how very cool that was. In fact,  they hadn’t even turned the system on.  Apparently, she had been waiting for some time to approach the unsuspecting crew, probalby since the first Green Summit when a very raucos blue grass band had taken the stage right outside her classroom windows with their fiddles and banjos.

Never-the-less, she proceeded to complain about the volume stating that she hadn’t been told about the event in enough time to reschedule an exam that her students were taking on precisely the day of the Green Summit.  Assuming that most teachers at Reedley College read neither the memos sent out by their department heads, nor the the gigantic marquis sign out in front of the school that had been advertising the event for months, how can you blame her.  Who is the administration to put on an event that could possibly give some very “green lights” to so many students who may have never had a chance at the types of jobs that will actually make them a decent living.

The incident sparked heated reactions from the cafeteria staff as they came out with aprons on chanting: “Let the music play,” and “Don’t turn it down, turn it up!” The Solar Powered Mobile Party crew offered the head chef the mic, but she had to go back to work. Solar powered staff, sensing the building tension, immediately informed College administration.

As in most cases of difficult decision making, it was the young people who were to resolve the issue. The  students were the ones who saw how silly the whole thing was. The band, as requested, ceased playing until notified the test was complete. But not before the teacher, standing in front of the entire audience while the band was performing, made a huge scene.

It should be noted that adjacent to the Solar Powered Mobile Party stage, also known as the Sun Stage, we’re some incredible examples of what solar power can do for college students.  All during the teacher’s rant, the solar ovens were quietly and cleanly cooking pizza, chicken and cookies. There was even a Stirling engine pumping away. A Stirling engine is a device that converts the Sun’s energy into mechanical energy, something that many of the kids missed that day as they were paying attention to to much more interesting confrontation taking place in front of the Solar Powered Stage.

In all fairness, the teacher had no idea that the music was solar powered and she wasn’t complaining about that. It was simply that the music was too loud. Unfortunately, the incident caused the Sun Stage staff to miss the opportunity to tell the audience that it was indeed powered by the Sun, as they too were caught up in the emotion of the moment and unable to focus on the true focus of the event.