Camp
Sorry, Alex Johnson
I’ve been dreading writing this entry because I feel like I’ve said all that I’ve been thinking about for the past couple weeks. Not doing the things that I should be doing and just reading a bunch of books? Covered it. Enjoying working my job despite some of the leadership and some kids that have some issues? Beaten that horse. Feeling existential about going back to college soon and how time is going fast? For sure.
A couple years ago, I realized that it was hard for me to be someone who consistently went deep in every single conversation. I dated this guy from my senior year of high school through my freshman year of college, which was a rocky time in my life regardless of his involvement. In the beginning, he would ask me all these philosophical questions and we had some long talks, but as the relationship progressed he ran out of questions and I didn’t really want to spend my time navel-gazing. I would try to get him to talk about his day and what happened to him, but that didn’t seem important to him to convey to me. We would just twiddle our thumbs and wait until tomorrow to do the same dance over again.
I feel like this is what has happened with my writing here. I set out to just tell stories from my day to day, but I put this pressure on myself to write these deep philosophical musings about time and life and the whole she-bang. I do think about these things and it’s nice to get them out in the open, but these thoughts aren’t particularly groundbreaking. They also feel kind of didactic in a way, which is something I hate in a story.
So with that in mind, I’m just going to talk about some of the things that happened to me this week and something that I’m particularly excited about.
We’ve been doing these Kidz Bop Dance Along videos, and the “How Long” became a favorite in the first week. My head counselor then came up with the idea that the Gazelles could do this dance for the whole camp on the last day. But then we found out on Wednesday that Thursday was the last day for one of our campers who absolutely loves doing this dance. We performed it for my boss, who okay-ed it, and the next day got up in front of 250 other children and counselors and danced it out. I was so proud of them that my heart almost burst when the older kids gave my campers a standing ovation. Plus, who doesn’t love 5 and 6-year-olds doing a choreographed dance that they aren’t coordinated enough to do?
A Bobcat (4th and 5th grade boy) beat me in Spit twice this week. I got a little competitive. We discovered another deck of cards in extended day (and I brought in another deck), so in addition to the kids playing war with cards the size of a mega piece of paper, we’ve started playing Trash, Spit, Egyptian Rat Screw, and Clockwork Solitaire (I have yet to find the time and patience to teach them Euchre). Sarah and I one day mostly ignored the kids while she taught me how to play Solitaire, which I never bothered to learn because Lars played that game and I didn’t trust any game that Lars played, and then trounced me at Spit. Summer camp keeps bringing back my own childhood: first friendship bracelets, now card games.
Two of my campers came up to me and said, “Lars asked us whether we liked Annika or you better, and we said we liked you both. We asked him who he liked better and he said Annika because she was a better drawer.” I found out from Lars that it was them who responded to him liking Annika better by saying, “Is it because she’s a better drawer?”
I’ve been listening to “Pray as You Go,” a daily podcast that features a variety of music and a reading of a Bible passage with reflection questions. It’s been a good way for me to make space for devotions in the morning (I listen to it while I shower, so it’s not as devout as you’re imagining), and the readings keep me engaged. Two weeks ago it read Matthew 13:10-17, where Jesus tells the disciples why he speaks in stories directly after telling the parable of the sower. I had some philosophical thoughts about how this can be taken in a positive light—that Jesus uses stories to teach people since their ears are closed to the truth—but you can probably figure out where I was going with that. I’ve also heard some pretty harsh passages, like Matthew 15:21-28 where Jesus rebukes this Canaanite woman twice before healing her daughter. It seemed so cold and unfeeling for Jesus, and even when I tried to suss out what he was teaching (that he was coming for the Gentiles also, that he respected a woman in Biblical times) it didn’t seem to add up. I’m still struggling with it, to be honest.
Tonight I’m going to see one of my top two favorite bands, Lydia. I talked about their new album a couple weeks ago in my recommendations. In a couple hours, I’m going to hop in my car, park in Arlington, and take the bus into Harvard Square to go to a concert by myself. I’m a little nervous, but I’m so excited. The opener is fantastic, and the pictures I’ve seen on Instagram look so cool. Plus, I’m just going to be around people who know when I say Lydia I’m talking about a band, not a person.
August really is the Sunday night of months. School is coming, and my thesis is looming. Check in with me next week and see how I'm feeling about being done with Meadow Breeze for the summer.
YouTube - Chasing the Dream: How to Build an Outdoor Shower
Around two years ago, I was with Lars in my dorm room having our Sunday Family Skype when my mom told me that my aunt was thinking about a new business adventure that involved buying a big old farmhouse. I rolled my eyes (because Auntie Ruth has a lot of ideas but has some struggles with follow through) and thought little of it until I heard a couple months later that she and Uncle Tom bought the house. She has chronicled all the work she and Tom have done turning that house into Quinnbrook Farm in the past year and a half on her Instagram page (@anneclay1 and #quinnbrookfarm). Lately she’s been recording the projects they do on her YouTube page, and I gotta say they are really classic Huizenga antics. It’s a little bit of HGTV with some family banter and misadventures. If you want to know what it’s like to be in my living room when all the Vander Klays (my mom’s side) are together, watch this video.
the post calvin - “I Know All About You” by Jules Ludema
In the interest of full disclosure, I worked with Jules in the Rhetoric Center, she’s a good friend of mine, and I looked over this piece for her. You shouldn't read it just because of that but because it reflects a lot on something that I haven’t felt yet—what it means to know a place and how that feels (and how it is kind of an illusion)—in a way that shines a different light on the city I’ve grown to call one of my many second homes. Honestly, everything on the post calvin is worth your time; Meg Schmidt basically summed up this entire blog post much more elegantly in her latest post “Sorry, Mary Oliver”.
A couple years ago, I realized that it was hard for me to be someone who consistently went deep in every single conversation. I dated this guy from my senior year of high school through my freshman year of college, which was a rocky time in my life regardless of his involvement. In the beginning, he would ask me all these philosophical questions and we had some long talks, but as the relationship progressed he ran out of questions and I didn’t really want to spend my time navel-gazing. I would try to get him to talk about his day and what happened to him, but that didn’t seem important to him to convey to me. We would just twiddle our thumbs and wait until tomorrow to do the same dance over again.
I feel like this is what has happened with my writing here. I set out to just tell stories from my day to day, but I put this pressure on myself to write these deep philosophical musings about time and life and the whole she-bang. I do think about these things and it’s nice to get them out in the open, but these thoughts aren’t particularly groundbreaking. They also feel kind of didactic in a way, which is something I hate in a story.
So with that in mind, I’m just going to talk about some of the things that happened to me this week and something that I’m particularly excited about.
We’ve been doing these Kidz Bop Dance Along videos, and the “How Long” became a favorite in the first week. My head counselor then came up with the idea that the Gazelles could do this dance for the whole camp on the last day. But then we found out on Wednesday that Thursday was the last day for one of our campers who absolutely loves doing this dance. We performed it for my boss, who okay-ed it, and the next day got up in front of 250 other children and counselors and danced it out. I was so proud of them that my heart almost burst when the older kids gave my campers a standing ovation. Plus, who doesn’t love 5 and 6-year-olds doing a choreographed dance that they aren’t coordinated enough to do?
A Bobcat (4th and 5th grade boy) beat me in Spit twice this week. I got a little competitive. We discovered another deck of cards in extended day (and I brought in another deck), so in addition to the kids playing war with cards the size of a mega piece of paper, we’ve started playing Trash, Spit, Egyptian Rat Screw, and Clockwork Solitaire (I have yet to find the time and patience to teach them Euchre). Sarah and I one day mostly ignored the kids while she taught me how to play Solitaire, which I never bothered to learn because Lars played that game and I didn’t trust any game that Lars played, and then trounced me at Spit. Summer camp keeps bringing back my own childhood: first friendship bracelets, now card games.
Two of my campers came up to me and said, “Lars asked us whether we liked Annika or you better, and we said we liked you both. We asked him who he liked better and he said Annika because she was a better drawer.” I found out from Lars that it was them who responded to him liking Annika better by saying, “Is it because she’s a better drawer?”
I’ve been listening to “Pray as You Go,” a daily podcast that features a variety of music and a reading of a Bible passage with reflection questions. It’s been a good way for me to make space for devotions in the morning (I listen to it while I shower, so it’s not as devout as you’re imagining), and the readings keep me engaged. Two weeks ago it read Matthew 13:10-17, where Jesus tells the disciples why he speaks in stories directly after telling the parable of the sower. I had some philosophical thoughts about how this can be taken in a positive light—that Jesus uses stories to teach people since their ears are closed to the truth—but you can probably figure out where I was going with that. I’ve also heard some pretty harsh passages, like Matthew 15:21-28 where Jesus rebukes this Canaanite woman twice before healing her daughter. It seemed so cold and unfeeling for Jesus, and even when I tried to suss out what he was teaching (that he was coming for the Gentiles also, that he respected a woman in Biblical times) it didn’t seem to add up. I’m still struggling with it, to be honest.
Tonight I’m going to see one of my top two favorite bands, Lydia. I talked about their new album a couple weeks ago in my recommendations. In a couple hours, I’m going to hop in my car, park in Arlington, and take the bus into Harvard Square to go to a concert by myself. I’m a little nervous, but I’m so excited. The opener is fantastic, and the pictures I’ve seen on Instagram look so cool. Plus, I’m just going to be around people who know when I say Lydia I’m talking about a band, not a person.
August really is the Sunday night of months. School is coming, and my thesis is looming. Check in with me next week and see how I'm feeling about being done with Meadow Breeze for the summer.
YouTube - Chasing the Dream: How to Build an Outdoor Shower
Around two years ago, I was with Lars in my dorm room having our Sunday Family Skype when my mom told me that my aunt was thinking about a new business adventure that involved buying a big old farmhouse. I rolled my eyes (because Auntie Ruth has a lot of ideas but has some struggles with follow through) and thought little of it until I heard a couple months later that she and Uncle Tom bought the house. She has chronicled all the work she and Tom have done turning that house into Quinnbrook Farm in the past year and a half on her Instagram page (@anneclay1 and #quinnbrookfarm). Lately she’s been recording the projects they do on her YouTube page, and I gotta say they are really classic Huizenga antics. It’s a little bit of HGTV with some family banter and misadventures. If you want to know what it’s like to be in my living room when all the Vander Klays (my mom’s side) are together, watch this video.
the post calvin - “I Know All About You” by Jules Ludema
In the interest of full disclosure, I worked with Jules in the Rhetoric Center, she’s a good friend of mine, and I looked over this piece for her. You shouldn't read it just because of that but because it reflects a lot on something that I haven’t felt yet—what it means to know a place and how that feels (and how it is kind of an illusion)—in a way that shines a different light on the city I’ve grown to call one of my many second homes. Honestly, everything on the post calvin is worth your time; Meg Schmidt basically summed up this entire blog post much more elegantly in her latest post “Sorry, Mary Oliver”.
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