By Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
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MACHESNEY PARK — When U.S. Marine veteran Melody Brocato started attending meetings for veterans service groups years ago she was often pushed toward gendered roles by her male counterparts.
“The men would say, ‘alright, can you take notes?’ No, I’m a Marine. You take the notes,” Brocato, who served in airfreight operations during the Vietnam era, says in the latest documentary by the Harlem Veteran Project. “But they expect you to be the secretary or the cleanup person or whatever. No. We don’t want to do that. That’s not what we’re here for.”
Brocato is one of five women from the Rockford area who shares stories of service, leadership and facing adversity in the military in a new documentary created by Harlem High School alumni, teachers and a local veteran and local filmmaker. The title of the film, “Take Your Own Notes,” is derived from that line she delivers.
The film premiers this weekend at the Beloit International Film Festival. The group also hopes to show it at the Mosaic World Film Festival in Rockford later this year.
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The 82-minute documentary, which was shot starting in 2019 through the start of this year, explores both the highlights and hardships that come with being a woman in the military. It showcases their continued service to their communities after their time in the military, and tackles their experiences with discrimination, sexual harassment, abuse and post-traumatic stress disorder.
“They were so willing to open up and be honest and transparent with their time and their experiences,” said Kyra Newman, a Harlem High School teacher who directed the film along with graduates Emily Guske and Madeline Burke.
The Harlem Veteran Project, which is a class at the high school, has interviewed more than 200 veterans since its inception about a decade ago. Its students have used those interviews to create more than 100 short documentaries as well as feature-length films that have showed at the Beloit International Film Festival such as “The Monster Within” in 2016 and “The Faces That Never Fade” and “Mr. Clarence” in 2020, among others.
The documentaries, which students started recording in 2012 as a way to preserve the stories of American veterans, have evolved to explore the long-term impacts of war on men and women in the military.
“I think we have a responsibility to teach that,” said Nicholas Stange, a Harlem teacher who was the producer and editor on the latest project. “If we didn’t do that, and we didn’t start to expand and evolve this way, we’d be doing a lot of what’s being done in some of these other states that are trying to censor history, and we’d be doing a disservice to our students and the community.”
The latest project similarly delves into difficult territory, with the veterans sharing stories of discrimination, sexual harassment, inappropriate touching and other controlling tactics they each learned to handle in different ways.
“I had to stand up, shaking and scared and really hoping somebody was going to punch me in the face because that would’ve been a lot easier to deal with,” Erin Dietrich, an Army veteran who served during the War on Terror, says in the film. Dietrich now runs Patriot Barber Shop in Oregon.
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The veterans interviewed served between 1968 and 2004. Along with Brocato and Dietrich, Army veterans Stephanie Jordan, Milana Herman and Melissa Beckford told their stories in the documentary.
“They all talk about how beneficial and how much they enjoyed service, even in the stuff that came with it,” Newnam said. “But that willingness to continue to serve was one of the most obvious things in all the interviews.
“They all are in some way connected to community service, connected to veterans service, connected to giving back. That was such a big piece of all of their stories.”
Mike Leaman, an Army veteran and Rock Valley College graduate, served as the sound recorder and mixer on the documentary and Renee Voegeli, a 2019 Harlem High School graduate, worked as camera operator. Nick Talan, a filmmaker from Rockford who graduated from Rock Valley College, worked as director of photography.
Newnam, who directed with her former students Burke and Guske, and Stange said the collaborative nature of the project led to a beautiful final product.
“I think it’s our best work,” Stange said.
How to Watch | ‘Take Your Own Notes’
Where: Beloit International Film Festival
When: 5 p.m. Saturday, March 4 at La Casa Grande, 618 Fourth St., Beloit, Wis.
noon Sunday, March 5 at Hendricks Center for the Arts, 409 Pleasant St., Beloit, Wis.
Tickets and info: beloitfilmfest.org/films/take-your-own-notes
Synopsis: “Take Your Own Notes” tells the stories of five female veterans who live in the greater Rockford area. The documentary demonstrates how the five women make a difference in their families and local communities and connect with each other through their shared experiences in the United States military. “Take Your Own Notes” provides an outlet for women who experience challenges featured in the documentary, cultivating an open dialogue for those who wish to tell their stories.
Crew: Madeline Burke, director, Emily Guske, director, Kyra Newnam, director, Nick Talan, director of photography, Renee Voegeli, camera operator, Mike Leaman, sound recorder, mixer, Nicholas Stange, producer and editor.
Cast: Melody Brocato, Marine Corps 1968-1969, Stephanie Jordan, Army 1977-1981, Milana Herman, Army 1989-1994, Melissa Beckford, Army Reserves 1997-2001 and enlisted 2001-2006, Erin Dietrich, Army 1999-2004
This article is by Kevin Haas. Email him at khaas@rockrivercurrent.com or follow him on Twitter at @KevinMHaas or Instagram @thekevinhaas.