A "filming on location" cautionary tale

I wanted to share with you all my experience when I visited the Mendota Dakota fire ceremony at Ft. Snelling a couple weeks back, which was to honor their ancestors who were executed or interned following the US-Dakota War in 1862.

I had left class early and flew home, grabbed a quick bite to eat, and then grabbed my video camera--only to discover the battery was dead.  Makes sense, seeing how it hadn't been used since summer.  I plugged it in for 30 minutes for a quick, partial charge only to discover it wasn't charging!  I gave it another 30 minutes; meanwhile, I was kicking myself for not following the cardinal rule of casual or professional production:

CHECK YOUR EQUIPMENT THE NIGHT BEFORE YOU NEED IT!!!

It's not like I haven't shot video before.  Heck, I've done it professionally.  Clearly, I was not prepared in the slightest to do this and thought I could wing it somehow.  Errr---NOT.

So there I was, wasting precious time, missing the ceremony while waiting for the camera to charge, and it wasn't charging.  After an hour or so, I ditched the idea of capturing any images and left, stopped by the tobacco store (for an offering to the fire), and flew to Ft. Snelling State Park, only to arrive in time to see people leaving.  Figures, right? Isn't that the price you pay for being ill prepared?

I tried to make the best of the situation and warmed up to a few people there.  I had some lovely conversations with people about the complete absence of Indian history in school curriculum, the shaky direction of the country, and how exciting it was that we had this really cool class project (no joke!).  One of the most insightful moments occurred when I was talking with Greg, a peace pilgrim in his 50's who'd traveled the world to participate in various vigils.  When I told him that one of our goals was to demand from the state an acknowledgment of genocide against the Dakota, he smiled gently and told me what Marshall Rosenberg said about demands, that they were essentially acts of violence.

And that was what I came away with: we can't hope for anything positive or creative to happen if we approach our obstacle with violent intent.  That's kind of how this whole war and massacre and internment and diaspora happened in the first place.  So, in the end,  I lost the video capture of the ceremony but gained a new perspective for our project, and I'm okay with that.