By Adam Kaplan
As I have written many times, one of the tricks of serving as the director of Nebagamon is finding a way to, at the same time, preserve the 94-year-old traditions and history of Nebagamon, and to keep the place current so that today’s kids will be able to relate to the happenings at camp. This tension requires us, when something new comes along, to evaluate it and try to ascertain whether or not the “next big thing” is compatible with Camp Nebagamon and what it continues to stand for 94 years after Muggs and Janet Lorber founded the place.
Before I introduce the changes that we are planning for this summer, it is important that I spell out, as a baseline, the core philosophies of Camp Nebagamon. It behooves us to enumerate the values and ideals that are incumbent upon us, as stewards of the institution, to promote and to protect.
One obvious tenet is that Nebagamon is an institution that fosters connection and community, whether it be children connecting with each other, connecting with role models, or connecting with nature. It is a goal of Camp Nebagamon to promote and nurture these connections for everyone that passes Paul Bunyan, even for the first time, on their journey into the camp family.
It is with this lofty ideal in mind that we are proud to announce that we are embracing one of the most important tools for “connection” that has ever been created…social networking. For those of you that are still unplugged and in the dark ages, social networking has revolutionized and streamlined communication and connection like nothing before. Through online chatting, Twitter, TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, and whatever exciting new platforms are on the horizon, it is now possible for people to engage in their interpersonal relationships without ever having to go through the trouble of physically meeting with their friends. All that they need to do is connect through their phones virtually. This way people can constantly be connected to their friends and know what they are doing almost all the time. Want to know when your buddy is reading the newspaper? He can simply post “Reading the newspaper” on his Twitter account. Dying to know when your pal is about to brush his teeth before bed? Simply log on and he will likely have posted that information. Just got to know if that greasy burger joint that you went to for dinner resulted in some gas for your girlfriend? Well, not only can she tell you about it through words, but Twitter even has the option for some audio updates. What better way to stay connected?
Starting this summer, when each camper hops off of the bus, they no longer need to be worried about having to get an uncomfortable hug from Steph, instead they will each be issued an iPad along with pre-generated Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, and Twitter accounts. Instead of wasting time down at CNOC learning wilderness skills, campers will be offered tutorials on how to best share all of the details of their lives with the entire cyber world, both within their cabins and with the world at large. Talk about life skills!!!
Sally has been Tweeting from the camp office since 1977!
For the skeptics out there, one needs only look back at one of camp’s tenets outlined in the third paragraph of this article to see how this new program perfectly supports that goal. First, connecting children with each other is obviously fulfilled by their ability to electronically get together without ever having to do more than click a screen. Plus, an added benefit on this front is that it allows the campers to avoid physical contact with each other, ensuring a healthier camp. Not to mention how much easier it will be for kids to sleep since there will be none of that annoying “talking” thing going on in the cabin… just typing…and what better than the rhythmic tapping of keys to gently lull one into sleep.
Secondly, connecting with role models will be supported by this new program because, in addition to the boys being able to follow their counselors’ social media accounts, we will help the boys connect with other tweeting role models out there. With hourly updates from countless athletes and pop music stars, I have no doubt our boys will benefit from their tutelage. Why, just today I was reading tweets from my Twitter buddy and role model, Kim Kardashian, and she commented about her current vacation to New York and Florida. She said, “Was a beautiful, sunny day in NY today. Went shopping at Top Shop today, so many cute things!” and “Beach Bunny in paradise!” Great stuff to learn from… great stuff.
Our connection to nature is fostered through our new social networking program because our adoption of this program shows, once again, Nebagamon’s commitment to protecting the environment. The fact that campers will largely stay in their cabins throughout the summer and won’t be tramping all over camp, all day long, will decrease the erosion issues we face at camp and allow the grass to grow at a much faster unhindered rate. More greenery, more oxygen for the environment! Also, given that the new program will be replacing the tripping program, think about how many hundreds of gallons of gasoline will be saved, how many Boundary Waters portages will be left in their pristine untrodden state. Finally, I mentioned before that the computers will mean that the children do not need to speak at camp. This will result in a marked decrease in carbon dioxide emissions. Checkmate greenhouse gasses. No need to thank us. Just doing our part to save the world.
I know that I speak for all of us here at camp when I say, “OMG…this is gunna be so fun. i know ur sooo excited cuz its gunna be soooo fun. i cant wait 4 it. Gunna luv it. ROFL…LOL. TTYL!”
And, oh yes, Happy April Fool’s Day from the camp office!
We promise only one type of tweeting at camp this summer!
Sailing…what an amazing sport. I love watching all of the campers taking our fleet out on the water every summer, and I’m super stoked to see those boats cruising along in a heavy breeze from the west! I know many of our campers have gotten hooked on sailing at camp and have continued on. Even though I didn’t attend Nebagamon as a camper, I was introduced to sailing at a young age on Booth Lake in East Troy, WI. We grew up sailing a Laser (a similar boat to our Barnetts, but a little bit faster) and windsurfers – always trying to go faster.
These life skills that Nebagamon offers have the ability to bring joy to our campers well past their camp years. I’m proud to be a part of the team that gets to provide these life skills and proud of everyone who finds their passions at camp! Can’t wait to see all of you participating in those activities this summer!
temperatures dipping into the sub-zero range several times through the first couple weeks of the month. We woke the 12th of March and the mercury was staring back at us with a reading of -20 degrees, and a high that day predicted to only reach 18 degrees! With the first day of calendar spring only eight days away, it was feeling a lot like mid-January here at camp. And then, almost six weeks to the day as that weather prognosticating rodent Punxsutawney Phil had predicted, the weather suddenly switched into hard spring mode. We went from highs in the upper-20s and lower-30s to the mid-40s and low-50s overnight. The snow pack suddenly started to shrink at a rate of 1-2 inches a day (and I know because I had my aluminum yard stick in the snow and checked every morning as I passed by it on my walk to work). Could it truly be happening? Could this odd winter of radical overnight swings from above average temps to below average ones and vice versa just as radically switch to spring warmth? Could this odd winter that brought snow in either tiny drabs or in huge dumps actually melt away without a struggle? Could oversized rodents actually predict the start time of spring? Well, as I sat on March 30th, staring out my office window at snow pounding down at a rate of about an inch and hour on top of the ¼ inch of ice glaze that accumulated overnight, I could see that yard stick that I had been keeping an eye on all month. The yardstick had stopped emerging from the melting snow when it reached the 10-inch mark about six days ago, and was slowly counting inches in the wrong direction. It seems the yardstick had answers to my questions… and the answer was no! No, this odd winter isn’t coming to an end yet, no, we aren’t quite done with the radical temperature swings, no, we aren’t done with the large snow dumps, no, the northland is not going to have a radical switch to spring in the March of 2022, no, rodents can’t forecast when spring will arrive, and no, last month’s article laughing at the audacity of a weather predicting groundhog was not a mistake!
Around the shop we are working on the last of the winter work projects we collected last fall. I have been fixing up several screen doors that were in need of repairs. I’ve been working at camp for such a long time now that almost all of the screen doors around the place are ones I have built. One of the advantages of staying at the same job for so many years is being able to see how well my early designs have lasted through the years, and how well later design modifications worked to solve discovered flaws in earlier generations. This year was especially interesting because several different door design generations came in for repairs at the same time allowing me to do some head-to-head comparison research. And, all things considered, I seem to be making progress! The newest generations of doors are in need much less invasive repair work than the oldest, and the newer doors are surviving the seasonal wear and tear of a camp full of rambunctious young men quite well. The majority of repairs are needed due to environmental degradation, and not so much from youthful exuberance. It’s always rewarding when you look back through time and see that you have indeed been making fruitful decisions and are moving forward.
7th – Peter Zeitz