Today is Adventure Day.   If you are a new Kamaji parent, you might be wondering, “What is Adventure Day?”  Let us explain.  Most days of the week, your daughter spends a good part of the day participating in four different instructional activities.  Because campers are programmed into activities individually, they don’t often find themselves with their porchmates during the instructional times.  That’s mostly a good thing.  Through the instructional activity program, campers meet and get to know a lot of different people because of shared interests.

But we digress – back to Adventure Day . . .

On Adventure Day, the porch groups spend almost the entire day doing things together.  After breakfast, the adventure begins with a big time cabin cleanup, including changing sheets and LAUNDRY.  Imagine trying to collect the entire porch’s week’s worth of dirty clothes, towels, sheets, etc, putting everything in huge laundry bags and carrying the huge laundry bags to the laundry room.  Whew!  Talk about an adventure!  Needless to say, this super cabin cleanup takes the campers and counselors a good portion of the morning.  After an early picnic lunch, the porch groups head off for a variety of activities.  Today’s adventures included a trip to Itasca State Park for the Nutshell (all three porches) as well as Cocoon and Tikinigan.  Itasca State Park is the headwaters of the mighty Mississippi River.  Campers can actually walk across the river as it leaves Lake Itasca because the river is only about 7 feet wide.  Lake Itasca is beautifully breathtaking . . . and there’s has a wonderful beach.

For those cabin groups who elected to stay in camp on Adventure Day, porch groups could choose to go waterskiing, sailing, climbing on the wall, horseback riding, swimming, and playing softball.  Cabin 1 Porch 1 had the most unusual Adventure Day activity today.  The spent an hour giving three of Kamaji’s Rainbow Boys extreme make-overs. (See picture immediately below.)

Adventure Day’s dinner is always a Rainbow Burger Bar-be-que. After dinner, all the porch groups worked on their projects for the big Kamaji Kraft Fair to be held next week.  The second Adventure Day of second session was clearly a success.

Katie Thoresen, one of the counselors in Cabin 3 Porch 2, took her camera with her this afternoon and chronicled her porch group’s afternoon Adventure Day activities.  Those pictures are on Smugmug.

Here’s some other headlines from the past week.

The Weather Report

In a word — “Great.”  Temperatures remain near normal.  That means highs near 80 degrees and lows near 60.  Just like we advertised.  We have had some rain, but the National Weather Service has officially classified them as “Camp Director’s Showers”.  That’s a technical meteorological term for rain which occurs between 10 pm and 8 am.  Let’s hope there is more of the same in the days to come.

From the Health Desk

The medical news during the past week has been mostly good.  That’s not to say that there hasn’t been some colds, some bumps and bruises and a few rashes. The good news is that all of these ailments seem to take their course pretty quickly. Trust us, if your daughter has been treated for anything out of the ordinary, you would have received a call from us.  No news on the health front is good news.

Last Saturday, our friends Drs. Jeff Neil and Terri Inder returned home to hot, humid St. Louis and were replaced by Adam Blonsky.  Adam is a pediatrician from St. Charles, IL and dad to camper Jordan.  This is Adam’s fourth rotation as Kamaji’s Camp Doc. Adam, Lynn, son Ben and daughter Olivia will be here until this coming Saturday, when Adam’s place will be taken by Alan Braverman, a cardiologist from St. Louis.  This will be Alan’s 6th summer as the Kamaji Doc.

Trips, Trips and More Trips
Since our July 20th note, the Wilderness Trip Program has been running at full speed.  Cocoon has completed their 3-day canoe trip to Lake Andrusia.  Nutshell Porch 3 went on their 2-day Mississippi River trip and a combination of 4 week campers from Cabin 2 Porch 2 and Cabin on the Hill finished up their 3-day Crow Wing River trip.  On Monday, Cabin 4 Porch 1 left for their 4-day trip to Voyageur’s National Park and Cabin 3 Porch 1 left for their three day trip to the source of the Upper Mississippi River.

Tuesday’s big Wilderness Trip event was the return of the Canadian trippers who completed their week long White Otter Wilderness Area trip in northwestern Ontario.  It sounds as if they had a spectacular experience.

Today, Wednesday, the Hatchery girls headed off their big 2-day Adventure to Webster Lake and a group of eight lucky campers left for a three day rock climbing trip to the amazing North Shore of Lake Superior.  Tomorrow Nutshell Porch 1 is scheduled to head to Webster Lake and a group of advanced riders will trot down the road for an horseback overnight.  By the way, if you use the computer program “Google Earth”, you can visit all these places by clicking on the “My Places.kmz” .  You can also get a birds-eye view of Camp Kamaji.

Well, that’s about all for Adventure Day.  We hope your Wednesday was as full of adventure as ours.

Mike, Kathy and Kat

Every Tuesday, Kamaji takes a break from its typical day schedule.  On Adventure Day campers spend the entire day with their porch mates and cabin counselors.  From a major cabin clean-up to sorting through a week’s worth of laundry to send out to the laundromat to picnic-ing at lunchtime, Tuesdays mornings through lunch are somewhat routine.  The afternoon is when the fun begins as cabin and porch groups plan and participate in  activities of their own making that are, in a word, adventuresome.

Following is a video produced and edited by Cabin 2, Porch 2 recapping their July 27th Adventure Day antics.  We think it best describes ‘a-typical’ Kamaji Adventure Day activity far better than we could ever put in words!!

Here’s how yesterday’s Adventure played out. After breakfast, it’s everybody’s favorite time of the day – Cabin Clean-up. Adventure Day Cabin Clean-Up is a much more thorough job because it includes changing sheets and getting everyone’s laundry ready to go to the laundromat and an all-out cabin cleaning (think Spring Cleaning!!). While getting all the campers’ laundry together may sound like an adventure all by itself, it’s only the beginning of Adventure Day. After a picnic lunch, each porch group sets off for an afternoon porch-group specific activities – planned by the group in advance and anticipation of Adventure Day. Groups can opt to do some normal camp activities like sail, swim, waterski or play tennis plus some not-so-normal activities like putting on fashion shows, going on photo scavenger hunts, having Lady Gaga make-overs, shucking corn, making signs to hang over beds or a cabin banner; believe-it-or-not, there are even scheduled shower parties complete with music. (A great incentive to get the girls to shower and wash their hair!). You can check out pictures of some of these activities on Kamaji’s Photo Gallery.

Adventure Day’s dinner is the incredibly popular Rainbow Burger outdoor barbecue. After last night’s dinner, each porch group got together to design a porch float for a Porch Float Parade that will be held next week. There were a lot of giggles and funny designs. When the bell rang at about 8:30 pm, a wonderful Adventure Day came to an end. At least we thought it came to an end.

At about 8:45, we heard a whole lot of noise coming from outside the office. When we stepped outside, we saw that there were a bunch of counselors and campers playing a game we did not recognize.   There were two teams of folks on one side of the imaginary field and a few counselors sitting on the other side of the imaginary field. They were playing some sort of made-up Disney Trivia game. Here’s how it worked. The counselors sitting would call out a Disney trivia question, Something like, “Who was Captain Hook’s first mate?” The first person who ran across the imaginary field and answered the trivia question (Schmee!) got a point for their team. It was clear that the game had started spontaneously and that the questions were being made up on the spot. There was so much laughter and commotion that before you could say “Steamboat Willy”, the two teams of folks had grown to four or five teams. Campers and counselors wandering by joined in – no invite necessary.   It was quite a scene. It was if the campers and counselors just didn’t want to see an end to the first Adventure day of the session.

Where else but camp could a group of nine, ten and eleven year old kids get together with a bunch of 20 something adults and make up a game that kept them laughing and cheering until the setting sun meant the game had to end?

And now the weather: If your daughter was a second session camper last summer, you might remember that we experienced the coolest session in Kamaji’s past 30 years. Well, this session the Great Spirit has been smiling on Kamaji. When the campers stepped off the buses last Friday, it was actually warmer (82 degrees) than it was at any time during last year’s second session. We have had a few showers, but nothing that slowed down the program. Heck, we even had a Camp Directors’ Thunderstorm on Tuesday. A Camp Directors Thunderstorm is an official U.S. Weather Service term for rain which occurs between midnight and 7 am. By the time the campers woke up on Tuesday morning, the sun was shining.   It was truly a picture perfect day:  sunny with low humidity and a high of 81 degrees.  Thanks, Great Spirit!

Kamaji’s Wilderness Tripping Program is already running at full speed. At 6 am on Tuesday, Pine and Manor left on their week-long Canadian canoe trips. They will spend the next week paddling and portaging in the pristine White Otter Wilderness Area north of Atikokan, Ontario. Also on Tuesday a mixed group of campers from Cabin 4 and Cabin on the Hill left for a four day trip to Voyageurs National Park. And today, Cabin 3 Porch 1 took off for a three day Crow Wing River trip and Cabin 1 paddled off for their three day trip to Lake Andrusia.

And there’s good news from Club Med, Kamaji Health Center. There has been a few sniffles, bumps, bruises and bug bites, but nothing more serious than that. This week, Club Med’s staff is headed up by Dr. Adam Blonsky. Adam is pediatrician from St. Charles, IL and is spending his third rotation on the shores of Wolf Lake. Joining Adam in Club Med are three nursing assistants. Rebekah Bass, Cari Zuckerman, Sharma Prosser – all fourth year BSN nursing students who are spending their first summer at Kamaji. It is Kamaji’s policy to have Cari, Sharma or Rebekah call you if your daughter is admitted for an overnight stay in Club Med or is taken to see a doctor or dentist in town. (We do NOT call if your daughter spends a few hours just resting in Club Med or if she visits for a scraped knee, sore throat, bug bite, applied band-aid or Tylenol request). Kamaji’s policy assures you that if your daughter receives anything more than routine health care you’ll hear from us. No health-related news is good news.

FYI: On Saturday, Alan Braverman, a cardiologist from St. Louis will replace Adam Blonsky as Camp Doc. This will be Alan’s 5th stint at Kamaji. And on July 31, Alan’s place will be taken by Cat Dean, a gynecologist from St. Louis, who will be spending her 13th summer as Camp Doc. Cat will be with us until the end of the camp season.

Well, that’s all for now. We’ll write again in a few days. In the meantime, if you have any questions about your daughter’s experience at Kamaji, just write or call.

Campingly,
Mike, Kathy and Kat

I woke abruptly, with a catch in my throat as I realized the immediacy of the day, both for myself and for her.

I have missed her. I am aching to put my arms around her after a month’s absence. I am so eager to hear her stories of archery and camping trips and Tribe Day and evening talent shows. And after a while, I know, she will drop back into her own-selfness, and I will lose the glimpse of Anne at camp.

But, this morning, I am feeling a lump in my own throat as I look at the clock and know they are loading the buses to leave camp. My own eyes are pricking as I consider the hugs, the last glances through the trees, the promises to write . . . Did it rain there last night, as it did here? Is the ground damp and earthy scented? Are the trees weeping raindrops onto the backs of weeping girls? Did anyone run down the steps to the lake, to breathe the morning mist and hear once more the kak-kak of the mergansers, perhaps the warbling of the loons? No doubt that beautiful, soft whispering of the lofty white pine branches is obscured this morning by gasping sobs and tearful laughter. How many girls look around, gulping it all in, distantly aware that it will never, ever be the same as it is today?

Girls will stay in touch; e-mails will be exchanged, letters will be sent, giddy reunions will take place. Campers and staff members will return another year. The jewel in the north woods will remain, preserved in hearts and memories through the winter. And then, next summer, the lodge, the Nutshell, the stone steps, the lake . . . all will be there. Small changes evolve, but camp will still be camp.

But it will never be the same as it is today, this month, this year. This precious moment, the one with the perfect synchronicity of cabin mates, tribe members, counselors, coincidence and weather will remain only in our remembering. In another month, another year, we will be older, we will view the world and each other . . . differently. We can never stand in exactly this wonderful place again.

I think kids get it as they say their goodbyes. One can, perhaps, survive just fine away from that friend who plays tetherball, without that counselor’s encouragement, without that play to rehearse. In a larger view, a picture broader than camp’s, these things may become less essential. But today, it is all here, all the fun, the challenge, the disappointment, the sweetness and wonder. It is all coalesced in a magical place and time, under the pines on a lake up north.

What we are saying farewell to is this moment, this month of magical moments, the amazing, exuberant serendipity of life at camp. Girls embrace counselors, clutch tightly to them as if to embed the feelings in their hearts. Moist-eyed and wistful faces watch the buses pull away through the tall pines. Some travelers will grow quiet as they make last looks, memorize the place, the faces, the feelings.

In a few hours, she’ll be home, back to the house and people she left a few weeks ago. In her soul, she carries a month of adventures. I want to hear them all. I want to know how her world has changed this month. I want to hear about canoeing blisters and gritty s’mores, windless sailing days and exhilarating performances. I want the details of every arrow gone astray, every toast at banquet, of Capture the Flag and Adventure Day. I want to hear all her triumphs and disappointments.

I’ll get a smattering. Some of it will be fun to tell, and she may or may not recreate for herself and for us the vividness, the immediacy and truth of each moment. I’ll hear a healthy dose of stories today, and tomorrow over lunch. And I crave that.

But, I’m guessing the most important stuff will seep out over the next weeks and months. A passing reference to the climbing wall, an off-hand remark about “. . . once, when I was on the Barnett . . .”, these will be the truly telling stories, the ones that ever-so-subtly and maddeningly gradually will show me what camp was about. It’ll be the stuff that comes out almost unconsciously. The things that have wormed their way into her outlook, that shape her perspective and influence her taste and choices. These are the thoughts and ideas that stay with her long after she’s left the magical place up north.

While these things that endure are, to my mind, the most precious part of her adventures at camp, they are also, paradoxically, what she is bidding farewell to this morning. Those poignant moments, the crystalline events that shape her new wisdom and understanding, these are ephemeral. The lessons and memories endure, but the process, the experience of acquiring the joy, the hurt, the hope, the wisdom and understanding is forever ensconced at Kamaji. It is those moments of enlightenment, whether conscious or not, those brilliant bits of Kamaji-flavored living that the girls say goodbye to this morning. The lessons, the memories, the sunburns and friendship bracelets all go home, but the lovely, luscious process of living and learning at camp stays at the end of the rainbow.

In a few hours, I’ll see her, my daughter will be home. I know she’ll be a little sad, a little disoriented, tired and dirty. I hope she’ll be a little bit happy to see us, to sleep in clean sheets and have plenty of hot water. I can’t wait to see her, to get my arms around her and to hold that brilliant rainbow tucked inside her.

Judy Welch Meisner
July 14, 2009
Kamaji Alumnae ’67-’69, ’71,’73
Kamaji Doctor ’01-’10
Kamaji Camper Parent ’08-’10

Ye Camp Directors were actually planning on going out for dinner for the first time this summer, when one of the nursing called the office and said that SHE had a medical emergency. One of the other nursing staff rushed her to the ER.  The good news is that the emergency was a false alarm, however, it meant that Kathy needed to be at camp to help with Club Med. No going out to dinner. And so it went until the bell ending the evening program sounded. I headed outside to the office porch to schmooze with the campers as they headed back to their cabins to get ready for bed. That’s when the two camp worlds collided.

The campers and counselors from Nutshell Porch 2 walked by busily talking and laughing.  I stopped them to ask “How was your day?” I heard small tidbits of their Adventure Day tales.  I also heard about Isabella’s pending move from Ft. Collins to somewhere in Texas, Izzy’s excitement about her grandmother’s pending stay at Kamaji as the Camp Doctor, and Posey’s review of her parents’ recent visit to camp.  Understand when you ask a group of 10 year olds that question, they answer all at once, so these stories took about 90 seconds to tell. Then I heard one of the campers say the words, “night swim”.

“What?” I asked and one of the campers said that it was such a nice day and she wondered if the cabin could go for late evening swim. I said “Sure. I’ll be the lifeguard. Go get changed. I’ll meet you at the swim area in 10 minutes.”

Ten minutes later as I walked down the steps toward the lake, I could barely take everything in. The lake looked like a picture postcard. The sun was still lighting up the far shoreline. The water reflected the deep, blue sky and few white clouds. A mother wood duck and her six ducklings were sunning themselves on one of the floating rafts. And the campers and counselors of Nutshell Porch 2 were sitting on steps ready to for their “night swim”. As soon as I said “Let’s go!” the eight campers and three counselors barefooted out on the dock. They lined up on he dock and someone said, “One, two, three.” While everyone jumped into Wolf Lake, the family of ducks jumped off the raft and headed for a quieter waters.

For the next 25 minutes I couldn’t believe the scene in front of me. The setting sun! Wolf Lake still except for the swimming Nutshellers and ducks. Even an eagle was soaring down the shoreline. And there was only one word to describe the sounds of campers and counselors — Joy.

Nothing was really organized, but the campers and staff probably made up about 100 different games during the 25 minutes of their “night swim”.  And the air was filled with constant chatter and giggles.  I felt as if I was had landed in the middle of a movie meant to show summer camp as some sort of nirvana.

Only at Kamaji it was real.

In the end, yesterday turned out to be was a terrific day for campers, counselors and, yes, even Ye Directors, too. Thanks Nutshell Porch 2 for making me forget about the hot water heater, the 4:30 am phone calls, the trip to the ER and the 800 other things that kept me in the office all day. Ain’t camp great??!!

Mike (and Kathy and Kat)

Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah,

Thank you for the priceless gift you gave me this summer – the gift of summer camp!!

Thank you for the glamour . . . and the mystique of summer camp.

Thank you for a place where I could create a new world on a blank slate. . . to invent my best self . . . and make first new impressions.

Thank you for placing me in a unique setting that allowed me to feel a sense of connectedness, belonging and safety . . . and an acceptance of and appreciation for me.

Thank you for turning me loose to play freely – and, in so doing, I have acquired a sense of playfulness that hopefully will survive well beyond my youth.

Thank you for sending me to camp – a child-centered environment where the hurry, stress and demands of life away from camp were almost totally eliminated.

Thank you for providing me with a place where I could make my own fun and most importantly, make my own choices.

Thank you for allowing camp to teach me what positive things to say and do when I made mistakes and faced challenges – without feeling bad about or unsure of myself.
Thank you for giving me the chance to choose my own activities instead of doing what was expected.

Thank you for sending me to a place where I could make new friends, enjoy the outdoors, short-sheet my counselors’ beds and try and try and sneak candy into my cabin.

Thank you for staying “connected” with me this summer through your handwritten letters.

Thank you for indirectly teaching me an important life lesson that  will surely stay with me through adulthood: even though at first it was a scary experience  being away from you, I know now that I can take care of myself.

Thank you for letting me go which I know is not always easy for a parent to do.

Thank you for the fond, fuzzy memories of a summer where I lived with camp friends in bunk-filled cabins in the woods.

Thank you for the opportunity to take canoe trips down remote stretches of river and help pitch tents, collect firewood,  prep and cook some of my own meals. Thank you letting me sleep underneath the stars.  These experiences have given me a kind of self-confidence I am not sure I could have gotten any other way.

Thank you for sending me to camp where I learned that I was competent in ways I never dreamed possible.

Thanks for not coming to get me when I begged to come home.  As a result I learned that you have faith in my abilities to adjust to whatever comes my way.

Thank you for the opportunity to live in a cramped small living space with a group of girls – many of whom I did not know until camp – who are now some of my best friends . . . and surely will be for the rest of my life.

Thank you for the lessons about responsibility, teamwork and leadership – skills that I can now take back to home and school . . . and beyond . . .

Thank you for the chance to learn that requiring all kids to do everything equally well is a mistake – and that, instead, my individual talents and interests – found, tapped, nurtured and applauded at camp – set me apart in all ways good.

Thank you for providing me a place where I could develop my independence and grow in confidence.

Thank you (I think??) for allowing camp to make me clean the cabin, hop and clear at meals, sort and fold my own clothes.

Thank you for the opportunity to live with girls whom I didn’t always get along with but with whom I learned to deal with our differences in a productive positive way.

Thank you for putting me into a situation where I could really test my limits . . . and expand my horizons.

Thank you for allowing me to develop resiliency – by learning, when I sometimes fall short, how to bounce back from everyday challenges.

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to make my own decisions . . .  discover my own strengths . . .

Thank you for allowing my cabin counselor to do her best to help me get through it when I was homesick, upset or sad.

Thank you for the opportunity to be embraced by unique and special traditions and customs  – the “secret codes” of my camp.

Thank you for a chance to experience new adventures.

Thank you for the ability to surprise even myself when I found that I could achieve results in spite of seemingly insurmountable odds.

Thank you for providing me with an experience that will surely reap benefits for a lifetime.

Thank your for allowing me to step out of my comfort zone, to spread my wings and learn to fly.

Thank you for the gift of camp.

Love,
Your Happy Camper

Each of the questions were followed by a list of multiple choice responses.   The responses to where I live were limited to choices urban, suburban and rural . . . followed by list of states.  Now truth is I live in two different places: in the off-season I am a resident of suburban Clayton, Missouri but during the summer, I reside . . . at camp — which happens to be in a rural area in the state of Minnesota.  But Camp was not even a boxed option to check off!!

Ticking of the appropriate boxes,  I  clichéd myself as married and having two kids (both boys) and a very fat cat.  Easy enough to answer.   But those single-choice responses did not take into account that I am “mom” to over 300 girls  every summer   . . . at camp!!  And that I have an additional three cats and a dog (Marjena’s brood) plus Oreo and Patch (Kamaji caretaker Randy’s two dogs) who spend almost every day . . . at Kamaji.  And then there’s the 10 horses . . .  at camp.

And, yes, I have had education beyond my college days — went to grad school in fact (where, by the way, I first  met Mike).  But there was no choice for education other than in a school environment.  How limiting given how much other-than-book-learning I’ve acquired thus far in my lifetime.  Think of all the learning that takes place . . . at camp!

And while there was a huge variety of occupations to choose from — everything from A to Z — there was not one mention of working . . . at camp!!  In actuality I should  check off  teacher and dietician/food service manager and medical liaison and counselor and accommodations manager and business manager and sometimes photographer and  videographer and youth worker and stay-at-home mom (after all I am at camp — my home-away-from-home — all summer long with my 300+ ‘daughters’).   But again I was limited to checking off only one occupation . . . and, again, camp director was not one of those choices!!

And, okay, so maybe I am 39+ years of age in real life but I am young-at-heart . . . at camp!!  (You guessed it —  “young-at-heart” is not a choice option!!)

Baffled as to how to accurately respond, I wonder what, if anything, my college will do — once it has compiled all my limited-to-one-choice responses — with the information??  After all, I can’t even respond to most of the questions because whatever answer I choose won’t fully describe who I am!!  Bottom line is: I cannot fit in tiny boxes with labels attached (i.e., urban, rural, married, single, no children, some children, dogs, cats, young-middle-aged, middle-aged, verging-on-old-age,  college, post-college, doctor, lawyer, etc).

It is the sum of my total life experiences which shape who I am rather than some anonymous computer compiling labeled-limiting-data on me and likely then categorizing me according to some label.

Likely many of you know of what I write.  As far back as early grade school kids label one another according to a perceived social status — cool, sporty, brainy, nerdy, geeky, loser . . . which continues through high school with even more labels attached including boho,  indie, wannabe, jock, goth, tree-hugger, preppy, punk, straight-edge, skater, poser, scenester, etc. added to the list.

Labeling isn’t all bad.  Take for example Bill Gates, billionaire geek extra-ordinaire.  Because of him geek is chic.  But labels are not quite as simple as they may seem.  For example, if you play sports, get good grades, skateboard, and like to wear all black, are you a nerdy jock-skater who’s into goth or a skater goth-jock who’s a bit of a nerd?

Labels can negatively stereotype or be a source of pride and comfort.  Finding a group to identify with is sometimes an important part of the process of defining who you are.  But defining anyone solely by the way she looks, what she believes, what she likes or does or, in the case of my college questionnaire,  by  demographics — can be an insult to the many dimensions that make up a person . . . that make up me!

It’s important to look beyond labels (or, in the case of the questionnaire I received, beyond little square boxes).  There’s more to every individual than a single “label” or a few ticked-off boxes on a limited-to-one-choice-response generic questionnaire.

All I can say, is thank goodness for camp!!  Camp allows me to be whoever I want to be, how many whoever’s/whatever’s possible(!!) instead of simply a one-dimensional stereotype pre-defined by marital status, education, profession, etc. and categorized by someone else!!

As for my college questionnaire — I decided not to complete and submit it after all; instead I boxed it into my computer’s trash compactor!!r

by Kamaji Blogger Kathy Jay

K

Did you know that summer camp is an American invention – with camps becoming more and more widespread 90 to 100 years ago??  As discussed in a 2002 article written by Kay S. Hymowitz titled Notes on Camp, “Back then forward-thinking youth leaders worried about the influence of corrupt city life on the young and mourned the loss of small-town childhood where children could breathe fresh air and explore the woods and lakes.  And they questioned what city kids would do during the two-or-three-month summer school vacation that was designed to allow non-city kids to help families harvest crops and herd cows?”

Fast forward 100 years . . . and you’d be forgiven for wondering how this tradition of vigorous summer living can go over in 2009 where kids are wired, plugged-in, connected . . . where playtime has moved indoors and where children are steadily becoming a generation of “muscular thumbs.”

A January 2006 Miami Herald newspaper article reads:

“The street is empty. Even on a balmy winter weekend, exquisite in the way only South Florida days can be at this time of year, the children are nowhere to be seen.  There are no bikes, no scooters, no skates, no balls and gloves and pads . . .

“Tree climbing? Who does that anymore? Hide-and- seek? I can’t remember the last time I saw children play what was an all-time favorite game for me when all the cousins got together. Hopscotch, jump rope and stickball — I suppose these have gone the way of eight-tracks and black-and-white TV shows.

“U.S. factory sales of consumer electronics rose to$125.9 billion. . . and, while this figure includes much more than stuff for children,     it remains a good indication of where we’re headed.  Hours in front of the screen mean less time     in social interaction. Pushing buttons on a control translates into fewer push-ups and exercises.

“Toys reflect the culture, and we are a juiced-up society that can’t unplug itself. We’ve forgotten how  to be quiet. We don’t know what it’s like to be bored. We hate to be away from the constant stimulus that promises to keep us connected 24-7.”

While I find myself caught somewhere between completely buying into what the reporter wrote and vehemently disagreeing, I wonder to myself “Has the person who authored the Miami Herald piece ever been to summer camp?”  More specifically, has this person ever been to a Kamaji-like camp??  Where campers have no air-conditioning, no cable TV with 200+ channels, no VCRs, no DVDs, no I-Pods,  no arcade games, no computer access, no on-line chats, no instant messaging, no blogs, no cell phones, no e-mails, no  DISCMAN, no MTV, no channel surfing, no mini-disc players, no GameBoys, no PCPs.  Too, there are no shopping sprees at malls, no meals-made-your-way,  no electricity in the cabins, (heck there are no bathrooms in the cabins!!), no exhausted multi-tasked kids, no hefty list of extra-curricular-activities, no-tech experiences, no over-scheduled lives, no cyberspace, no celebrity-and-designer-crazed culture, no fumes, no boys!!

What you will find instead are . . .

. . . campers canoeing, campers roasting marshmallows, campers tirelessly singing songs, campers playing Capture the Flag, campers captivated by story-telling counselors, campers swimming and sailing in the waters of a crystal clear lake, campers playing tennis and horseback riding, campers surrounded and nourished by the beauty and immensity of nature . . .

. . . and steamy bowls of oatmeal, stars glittering above the lake, camp-like pleasures including brain-teasers and head-to-head intimate conversations, morning flag,  bunk beds, chipmunks, campfires, insect bites, shared experiences and shared memories, a climbing wall, great friends, cabin inspections . . .

. . . campers connecting with people in a way they never have before, where there is a calmness to life, a lack of urgency and worry, where if the day’s tennis instruction or swimming lesson does not get done the sun will still rise in the morning and no one will be any less for it, where everyone knows your name . . .

. . . where Native American words – Ishkaday, Waubun, Mundahmin, Metig, Geshig, Nanahtahga –  have special meaning, where daily rituals are steeped in decades of nostalgic  tradition, where mistakes are ok and perfection is rare . . .

. . . where it is ok to make friends and share friends, where a camper can discover herself, where responsibility, independence, mutual respect, friendship, leadership and cheerfulness are reinforced . . .

. . . where an atmosphere of trust that nurtures fond memories and deep, often lifelong, friendships and a lifetime of experiences await all, where campers feel as if they’re in a place that doesn’t change . . .  where time and technology don’t reach . . .

. . .and where that’s all okay!!

Is it a surprise, then, that it is still possible to take kids who are gadget-mesmerized, techno-driven and plugged-in. . . and entice them with the magic of camp?  It shouldn’t be.  Kids can be as fine as a culture asks them to be.

Question:  How many Kamaji girls does it take to screw in a light bulb?

Answer:     All of them.  One to put in the bulb and the rest to sing about it!”

After laughing to myself, I thought what a great testimony to Camp Kamaji and its campers and their heartfelt, spontaneous, light-hearted, exuberant singing that goes on at camp everyday!!  I can think of hundreds of times campers’ parents and other visitors (including Chippewa folks when at Kamaji for regattas) nonchalantly sitting in the dining hall chatting away when all-of-a-sudden they are caught totally unawares by the start of a song that, before you know it, becomes infectious and has all of Camp Kamaji on its feet singing and clapping and foot-stomping . . . The sort of disbelief — even “shock” — that settles over the faces of those parents and visitors sitting around me in the dining hall soon gives way to smiles, laughter, clapping, picture snapping, video taking and — yes even — singing as these folks get caught up in the festive atmosphere that so dominates the dining hall once dishes are cleared away and dining tables washed down.

The girls of Kamaji need no reason to sing —  they just do!!   There are cabin songs, tribe songs, state songs, staff songs, camp songs, loud songs, slow songs, raucous songs, reverent songs to former Kamaji Directors (and yes, even some irreverent songs as in “Mike’s got a head like a ping-pong ball☺!!), birthdays songs, visitor songs, songs with cheers, songs without words . . . and, as in the case of “Twenty Years Gone By”, special songs that make Ye Directors cry.

Where else in this whole world can kids —  and grown-ups for that matter  sing joyously, exuberantly, uninhibitedly, without fear of embarrassment??  What fun!! What joy!!!

As for the light-bulb joke: There’s a rare time a Kamaji girl will screw in a light bulb — as there’s no electricity in the cabins.  However, the girls of Kamaji will find cause to sing in celebration of every achievement, every success, every triumph — however small it might be or trivial it might seem.

So to the boys of Chippewa, we reply “YESIREE!! ♪ lalalalalala ♪”

As much as I would love to include every song — past, present and future — with each updated version of Kamaji’s Songbook it is simply impossible.  Imagine the Pine Manor campers lugging a songbook containing 95 years’ worth of songs to the PA in order to lead singing in the dining hall!  Why that book would easily match the weight of a small-sized Hatchery camper(‼).  Given that, you now have an inkling of how much song material I really have!!  Suffice it to say, with input from our camp family, we hope to put together a great, but not overly huge, songbook!

For those who are new to Kamaji —  you are probably wondering what all the “hoo-ra” is about a camp songbook!  Well, suffice it to say that singing is a huge part of Kamaji’s daily ritual!!  After every single meal in the dining hall, we sing no less than 20, 30, 40, maybe even more(‼) songs‼ You could say Kamaji would not be the same without singing!!  And the louder all the better!  And if there’s hand motions, stomping, twirling about while singing — even better than better!!  Even if you don’t know the words to songs we sing at Kamaji, it doesn’t take long to catch on; that we promise‼

That all said . . . I was recently talking to a mom whose daughter attends the same summer camp in New England that the mom had gone to as a camper 30+ years ago.  Somehow the subject of camp songs came up and this mom asked me “Do you have songfests at your camp??”  “Huh??” I asked.  She then went on to tell me of the camp’s annual tradition of holding a songfest.

If I understand correctly,  this camp’s songfest is a competitive event where four of the oldest campers are chosen to each lead 1/4 of the camp population (at this particular camp, campers total over 300 so a quarter of the camp would equal at least 75 campers).  It is the leader’s responsibility to choose assistants as well as a “team manager” to teach to the group new, never-before-sung songs whose lyrics fit the theme of camp.

Now mind you, the oldest girls at this camp spend the school year listening to songs, rap, r & b, country, etc.,  as well as  writing camp-themed  lyrics.  Those who are ultimately chosen as the song leaders (I don’t know how the song leaders are picked) then teach the songs they’ve created over the school year to their camper groups.  There is no accompaniment in terms of musical instruments —  just the lovely lilting lyrical voices of the campers singing accapella (which is singing the best possible vocal music using singing voices as their instruments).  Each of the four different camper groups spend hours upon hours upon hours learning melodies and lyrics, practicing, vocalizing, harmonizing, etc.— out of earshot of the other groups.  And then there is the actual songfest  when all four groups perform. The competition is fierce but only one group can be chosen “the best.”

Now I don’t know anymore about the event than that which I’ve just described.  I don’t know who judges the songfest, what the winning group wins, how the losing groups feel . . . What I know for sure a “songfest” is not the kind of singing we do at Kamaji!!  Quite possibly were  the campers from the New England camp invited to Kamaji for a meal, they might be “horrified” to hear the “melodies” sung at Kamaji.   After all, not all of Kamaji’s campers and staff members are trained vocally, not all sing in harmony, not all can read musical notes, not all know all the words to the songs we sing, and certainly far from all can sing on key!!  What Kamaji campers do is spontaneously sing from their hearts to the lodge rafters and beyond . . . and most importantly, they sing without embarrassment to their hearts’ content with absolutely no thought of being judged.  To my way of thinking — all of Kamaji’s campers win the Kamaji “songfest.”