Friday, August 17, 2007

how does it feel to be so loved?

Chris Harper's summer was her first as a village chief. 2007 is her 12th year at camp; she's come up from Pokey. In the past few years she's done something that was unheard-of in my day but seems to be a pattern now among the staff. Chris was a Sacky counselor when her current Windsong campers were in Sacky, then in '06 she was a counselor in Tacoma with many of the same girls, and now, as I say, she's their VC in Windsong. She will probably apply to be a CIT Coordinator next summer and work with the same kids. Some counselors "move up" with their campers. Several of my daughter's Sacky counselors have been with her since Susky (Susky-->Lakota-->Sacky) and are contemplating Tacoma for '08. Remarkable. What continuity this creates. It makes for actual generations...cohorts. I caught up with Windsong recently out in front of Arts & Crafts on a sunny day. They were untying their recently dyed tie-dye shirts, and as you can see from the photo, they turned out well. I asked them about the shirts and then conversation inevitably turned to their VC who blushed upon hearing such kudos. Listen to the audio recording of that fun encounter.

(For old-timers reading this: in the early 70s we created Cherokee to be an oldest girls' village, beyond Tacoma. For a year or two later this was Sunburst, and then in the early 80s we created Windsong - same age, 15 year olds, the sister village of Quinnipiac, "Pac" for short. Pac's first summer was '85. Windsong's was either '83 or '84.)