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The Arrowhead

Camp Nebagamon's Monthly Newsletter

Volume XCI

Number 2

February 2019

Return to Our New Style

What If?: Adam Considers the Counterfactual

By Adam Kaplan

As most of you know, much of my winter is spent travelling to various cities around the country to reconnect with campers, alumni, and staff, and meet prospective new families. Admittedly, the amount of travel that I do can sometimes be a bummer as it means so much time away from my family. In an effort to improve my spirits, I spend most of my flight time binge watching television shows that interest me. Lately, I have been watching a show called The Man In the High Castle. The show posits the question of what would the world have been like if the United States had LOST WWII. (Spoiler alert…the world would be a much different and more awful place!) This genre is called a counterfactualin which causes and effects of different events are sort of turned on their heads and looked at in a different way. In short…the counterfactual is a massive exploration of WHAT IF? 

One of the main points that I take away from watching this show is that, seemingly, all events, no matter how large or small, can have a huge impact on the future. It gets you thinking. For example, certainly the ramifications of Columbus’ journey to North America have been felt throughout the world, on so many levels, since that fateful day in 1492. What if he actually sailed to India instead of North America as he intended? What if Alexander Fleming had been a more fastidious man, and had decided to clean his Petri dishes before heading off on vacation in 1928?

As the miles pass and I let my mind wander a bit more, I cannot help myself from doing a bit of musing myself. Camp Nebagamon counterfactuals began to flood my mind.

Muggs ponders his missed opportunity at Super Bowl fame and fortune…

What if…Muggs Lorber (a Big Ten college quarterback from 1922-24) had decided to enter the NFL instead of dedicating his life to the growth of young men? What if…Muggs and Janet had decided to found a co-ed camp? What if…Nardie and Sally had not decided to beef up our in-camp program by adding four designated project periods to every day? What if…Roger and Judy had not chosen to formalize and expand upon Nebagamon’s Campership program? What if… E.J. Hahn had not improved and formalized our Big Brother/Little Brother program by creating the Big Brother/Little Brother soiree? What if…Frank Sachs had not created new programs at camp like Wannado and Guinness T. Nebagamon to keep things fresh?  What if…Bendt Rorsted had not come over from Denmark and introduced orienteering to camp in 1952? What if…Troy Brodsky had not revamped the Cabin Cookout menus to make the food both more tasty and more interesting to cook? What if…the sugar shortage during WWII had not necessitated the creation of the All-Camp Birthday on July 25, 1942?

A DQ with no campers? Spare me the horror!

On a less serious note, What if… the Dairy Queen decided to stop accepting camp checks? What if…the Bike Shack was still a functioning hot dog stand within camp? What if…campers were allowed to bring as much candy as they would like to camp? What if…the camp water fountains flowed with bug juice? What if…the third round of Sunday morning sweet rolls tasted as good as the first? What if…the wind and rain the night before had not washed the signs away? What if… A.K. Agikamik was added to the Department of Homeland Security’s NO-FLY list?

Whether serious or silly, big or small, one thing is very clear. The events and people of the past, present, and future play a major role in shaping what Camp Nebagamon has become and will become. Some of these events were very deliberate changes that were instituted to make camp a better place, and some others were wonderful, serendipitous occurrences that also helped to shape camp.

The primary realization that I walk away with after thinking about all of this is that camp is a great place for What if… At camp we are in the enviable position of being able to ask What if…all the time. Each day of each summer we are presented with the opportunity to ask ourselves What if…and then explore the idea. What if… I try out the photography program for the first time today? What if… I face my fears and sign up for that Boundary Waters trip I have been thinking about? What if…I reach out to that kid that seems so unhappy lately and extend the hand of friendship and support? How will my world be different? How will I affect others’ lives?

Let’s all start to ask ourselves What if… on a regular basis. The possibilities are endless.

March 3rd Denver Alumni Reunion

After the success of our Houston alumni reunion, we’ll be partnering with former camper Elliot Schiffer to host a Denver Alumni Reunion on March 3rd from 3-5 PM at his restaurant, Mici Handcrafted Italian, at 727 Colorado Blvd. There will be light fare and refreshments, and of course, lots and lots of Nebagamon memories. Please send an RSVP to louis@campnebagamon.com, we look forward to seeing you!

News of the Camp Family

Compiled by Adam Fornear

I have a couple of good friends up in Duluth that are always up for a winter adventure and two weeks ago we half planned something pretty cool up the north shore of HWY 61. The half plan part of this Saturday trip was to make sure we had enough warm clothes and climbing gear for what we hoped to be a great day of ice climbing in below zero weather. The other half was that we weren’t sure of the conditions of the ice… it was a roll of the dice. So, with the truck loaded and an empty stomach we hit HWY 61 with just a cup of coffee. We were aiming for a small creek north of Two Harbors that flowed into Lake Superior. Well, with the temperature not climbing too high and with thoughts of biscuits and gravy at Vanilla Bean in Two Harbors, we decided that it was in our best interest to get a big breakfast. Seriously…it’s -10 degrees out…why would anyone pass up some biscuits and gravy? Back in the truck we go and north we head…next stop Tettegouche State Park to put on the ice climbing boots in warmth. Back in the truck and shortly thereafter we pull off on the side of 61 and park in a snowbank. We grab our packs and bushwhack in the deep snow on a frozen creek, ending at a 60-foot drop off and gazing into the icy blue waters of Lake Superior down below. We start building anchors, put crampons on our boots and assess the site. We were planning on rappelling down this frozen waterfall to the shoreline below and then climb back up. Well the waves were big on Superior that morning (wiping away the beach) and the top of the climb was slushy and held some standing water…not really the makings of a great start. There was much debate, but in the end, we decided rapping down on the wet ice probably wasn’t the best way to start the day in sub-zero temps. So, we packed up the gear and hiked back up to the truck. While we were disappointed, we still knew of some other ice on the North Shore we could check out. Back in the truck, heading up CTY HWY 6 we passed a wolf on the road enroute to the trailhead for Mystical Mountain. We threw the packs on our shoulders and started breaking the trail about two miles back into the Superior Hiking Trail. It was a tough go, but that was kind of the plan: to get a good workout so we could justify pork chops at the HWY 61 Diner later that night! It was absolutely silent out in the woods and just a beautiful day for a trek. After a couple water breaks, we made it to the base of our intended destination…and there was no ice. The packs filled with ropes, harnesses and ice tools suddenly became nothing buy dead weight. Oh well, we hung out there for a while, taking in the beauty of towering pines

Fornear and his goons friends

and big slabs of granite. We descended back down to a frozen lake and walked the shoreline looking for more crags, wildlife, and tracks in the snow, all the while laughing about something (this crew, Dave and Scott, are never short on laughs). We didn’t climb any ice, and no porkchop dinner, but the day was far from being a waste. We trekked around some amazing land, had a ton of laughs and added a little bit more knowledge of the surrounding area. Next weekend we’ll be back rappelling down to the shores of Lake Superior…and definintely having that pork chop post climb!

I trust your winter is going well and that you are getting really excited about the upcoming summer. Camp is shaping up to be a great summer once again. Trip permits are in the works, program gear is being purchased and most importantly staff are getting hired on for the summer! Remember, if you have any news please shoot it my way and I will get you in the next arrowhead. Email me (Fornear) at fornear@campnebagamon.com. Have a great day and shoot me a message about your winter adventures.

IT MAY INTEREST YOU TO KNOW that in Minneapolis, Andrew Kuria is staying busy playing soccer, competitive swimming and track. Ian Kuria is spending the year studying in South Africa. Josue Grassi has started taking classes at MCTC College in Minneapolis studying business. Max Kennedy is playing soccer at the U16 level while Drew Malk plays drums and guitar with the School of Rock program and is also playing soccer. Eli Striker is spending the semester teaching English in Ecuador. Isaac Murray Stark rode his bike to the reunion (14 miles and it was 15 degrees out)! Lastly, Will Schwarz has been keeping busy with tennis and football. Will is a lineman and the long snapper for his football team. In Chicago (besides eating way too many donuts) we learned that Jacob Laytin is playing basketball and soccer and Rohan Dhingra played golf this past fall. Mickey Silins is on his school’s basketball team and will be playing tennis this spring. Will Needlman had a great fall season of football. Chase Kornblet is staying active with basketball this winter and then in the spring he will be playing baseball. Both Liam and Simon Mann were lucky enough to have some great powder days skiing in Aspen…super jealous! Brady Rivkin was signing up for a polar plunge in Lake Michigan…I’m waiting to hear back to see how that went for Brady. Hopefully it’s not this week in Chicago…brrrrrrr. Matthew Garchik is playing basketball for his school. Noah Keim, Rohan Dhingra, and Matthew Garchik recently started a Red Cross Club at their school. Michael Rivkin was re-elected as the Vice President of the Chi Psi’s Alpha Zeta Delta chapter.

Michael Freeman (top) on Trip Staff, 2008

IN THE WHERE-ARE-THEY-NOW DEPARTMENT: Michael Freeman (Denver/Seattle ’98-’03,’05-‘09) has written his first textbook, Programming Skills for Data Science, which teaches the foundational skills necessary to start writing code to wrangle, analyze, and visualize data. Fred Sproat (Duluth, MN ‘13) is the Minnesota Program Manager for Big City Mountaineers, a nonprofit focusing on getting children outdoors.

IN THE BIBS AND DIAPERS DEPARTMENT: It’s a girl, Frankie Sarah, for Ryan Glasspiegel (Chicago ’96-’02,’04-’07,’09) and Karla Bright (Chicago). It’s a girl, Mollie Elizabeth, for Grace Slosburg (Leawood, KS ’04-‘05) and Scott Steffens (Leawood, KS). It’s a boy, Blake Henley, for Ben Broder (Hoboken, NJ ’91-’96, ’98-’02) and Kate Broder (Hoboken, NJ).

Caretaker Joe Visits Near and Far

By Joe Crain

It was quite an interesting month for us here at camp, filled with weather extremes, off site adventure and a good showing at the annual camp in winter Reunion.

In the extreme weather category, we had a visit from them all. Extremely warm: a 37-degree high temperature on January 4thand a 36-degree high reading on the 7th; January 3rd– 9thsaw no high

“A gorgeous sun rise over the lake — If only I could turn my head to see it!”

high temperature below freezing; January 7thsaw 24 hours above freezing! Extreme cold: January 1stsaw a 5-degree high and -15 low; January 25ththrough the 31stsaw the lowest lows of the winter with low readings of (listed in order) -27, -29, -27, 0, -25, -28, and -13 degrees, and four days of that same seven-day period saw highs that didn’t climb above zero (The 25thhigh, -2, 29thhigh, -9, 30thhigh -10, 31sthigh -3!). Extreme low to high and high to low: January 3rd, low -18 degrees to high 34 degrees (a 52-degree positive swing!); January 21st18-degree high to -20-degree low (a 38-degree negative swing!) And the finale extreme for this January: it was extremely dry. Historically this month is one of the snowiest of our area’s winters but this year only about five inches fell. And though meager, the snow fall was welcome and covered the dense and icy 10-or-so inches left from December’s only real snow storm. Wow, I just dumped an extreme amount of extreme weather data on you!

Caretaker Joe tackles the Yellowstone winter

One of my favorite things about Camp Nebagamon is how it encourages us all, camper and staff alike, to seek out and embrace the adventures available in the wilderness that surrounds us, whether here at camp, near our homes, or anywhere we find it throughout this great and diverse land we call home, America. Each summer I am inspired by those boys who, whether for the first time in their lives or for the umpteenth time, take an off-camp trip with the tripping program here at camp. Last year I took that inspiration and, with some good solid “nudging” from my wife and the financial support of my buddy Visa, I headed off on a back country ski adventure to the 2.2 million acre wilderness of Yellowstone National Park. And just like what happens with so many boys at camp after their first trip to the BWCAW, I couldn’t get enough and spent a lot of time after my trip thinking about my next trip back. Well my buddy Visa and I pulled it off again this January and I went back to the Yurt Camp of Yellowstone Expeditions for another five days of back country skiing in the vast wilderness of YNP. And just like it must be for those boys who take a wilderness trip for a second time at camp, I found that on my second trip to the backcountry of YNP I was much less apprehensive and fearful of the unknowns that lay around that blind corner. Instead I was much more interested in embracing and seeking out those unknowns down around that blind river canyon corner. I was amazed by how different this year’s adventure was from last year’s. Not only was I more confident because of all I learned on last year’s trip, but also due to a totally different set of weather-produced conditions. In a lot of ways, it was just like going for the first time. In a nut shell I can describe this years’ trip as less euphoric and thrilling than last, but in a lot of ways much more interesting and technically and physically challenging. And yes- I am already starting to think about the routes I would like to explore the next time I am able to make the trip to my favorite National Park in winter.

And finally, this January’s unofficial camp-in-winter reunion was a huge success. The reunion has taken place annually for a long time now and coincided with what used to be the weekend of “Fish-o-Rama”, the Lake Nebagamon community’s annual ice fishing contest, which is now held the weekend of “Bridges Bar Ice Fishing Contest” due to the collapse of our local Lions Club sponsorship of the “Fish-o-Rama” a few years back. For me this reunion weekend started as I was working in the shop on Friday the 25th, (you remember from above that the temp on that morning was -27 degrees!) when Henry Pulitzer and Mathew Wilhelm stopped into the shop and gave me a break from stripping paint off of Range Cabin A’s French windows. After catching up for a while the two wandered off into the extreme cold to explore Camps’ grounds in its white winter regalia. A couple of hours later I saw how big the turn out for this years’ winter camp reunion was going to be, when I answered the door to what seemed at the time like an episode of “clown car meets polar exploration team”. In they came, all dressed in puffy coats, big warm boots, faces covered in balaclavas, and all were topped off with big warm hats. These guys had seen the nasty cold forecast and just as you would expect from a bunch of former campers, some of whom have become current Camp Nebagamon staff, they were PREPARRED! In rolled (and not in any sort of order); Zach Muzik, Max Goldsmith, Noah Kanter, Adam Schimberg, Andy Cohen, Sam Feldman, Dan Michel, Matt Myer, and Grant Chukerman! After rubbing my arm from the cramp I got from shaking all of those hands and making my quip about “Where did you park the Clown Car?”, we passed around some small talk and then the crew headed over to the Swamper hill for a good dose of sliding down the tiers beside Swamper 6 to the tennis courts below, a fun sled ride I highly recommend to all who brave camp in winter. It turns out that the camp in winter reunion crew swelled by five more at the dinner held by Henry at camp’s head cook Anne Rowe’s house on the lake. The additional reunion-ers were Todd Blatt, Anne Rowe, Elissa Skaggs, Andy Mack and Lindsey Evans. I’ll bet that reunion turn out rivals some of the groups Adam and Adam host on their winter tour!

Thinking up ways to earn some extra dough so I can once again go play in the snow of YNP, it’s Caretaker Joe At Camp.

Camp’s wintertime visitors!

The Road Show Heads West

With record lows at camp, we can’t wait to get out to California for our next three reunions! Our trip to the Midwest was a great success, and we’re looking forward to seeing more of you in the coming months!  Listed below is the entire reunion schedule, which, as usual, is subject to change. A few weeks prior to each reunion, we will email invitations to members of the camp family in the communities we’ll be visiting. For specific details, please reach out to the camp office — our number is 208-345-5544. Please be courteous and RSVP to the host families.

 

City Dates Reunion Details
San Diego February 5th 6:30 PM, Home of the Effress Family
Los Angeles February 6th 6:30 PM, Home of the Posen Family
San Francisco February 10th 3:00 PM, Home of the Susser Family
Denver March 3rd 7:00 PM, Home of Billy Galpern
London March 17th Home of the Hoffman Family

Enrollments Flood In!

LOOK AT ALL THE CAMPERS FOR 2019!

As the enrollments continue to come into our office, we want to keep you in the loop about who is enrolled for the upcoming summer.  Listed below are the boys who are currently enrolled

2nd Grade Campers: Oliver Fox, Elliott Kleiman, and Lazer Rosenbloom

3rd Grade Campers: Kase Atkinson, Jake Finkelstein, Gabe Fisher, Eli More, Julian Saddleton, Max Saul, Sagiv Siegel, Jacob Solomon, Zach Weoskopf

4th Grade Campers: Jack Agran, Ace Burvall, Sam Cohen, Tate Gell, Will Gray, Miles Hall, Charlie Heist, Ari Held, Eli Hoffman, Logan Hoffman, Aidan Huberman, Gibson Kapp, Eli Karp, Gus Karsh, Chase Kornblet, Avi Maidenberg, Coulson McConnell, Linus Quinn-Pasin, Matan Radwin, Noah Schriftman. Seth Starhill, Juddah Thacker, Tanner Toback, HJ Walberg, Aaron Zelvy

5th Grade Campers: Austin Abeles, Brooks Coyle, Ryan Crean, Emmet Felner, Levi Gladstein, Charlie Goshko, Jackson Green, Nicholas Kallos, Milo Karsh, Nathaniel Kehrberg, Johan Kleiman, Ben Laytin, Noah Lambert, Cameron Louie, Ryan Mack, Drew Malk, Liam Mann, Reece O’Connor, Mason Pedroza, Micah Rosenbloom, Syd Rosenbloom, Jonathan Schiff-Lewin, Dylan Scissors, Logan Segal, Benji Solomon, Asher Toback, Levi Whalen Stewart, Jorn White, Elijah Winkler, Charlie Zeeck

6th Grade Campers: Atlas Barnes, Ivan Becerra, Oliver Brenner, Judah Callen, Solomon Cravitz, Matthew Gordon, Ollie Gray, Jack Hughes, Ezra Maidenberg, Sam Montag, Auden Osburn, Sam Owens, Rafa Pasen, Ori Radwin, Zach Riven, Jacob Rolfe, Wesley Schwartz, Asher Sigman. Kobi Silver, Milo Solomon. Micah Stone, Leo Susser, Eli Terman, Murray Wieseneck

7th Grade Campers: Alexander Averbuch, Jasper Braunschweiger, Addison Burvall, Joel Fisher, Levi Gell, Mark Gingiss, Gabriel Heller, Chase Herbert, Jack Krupnick, Jacob Lutsky, Hudson McConnell, Sam More, Milo Peterson, Ben Polonsky, Sebastian Ramirez, Jonah Rontal, Owen Rosenthal, Griffin Scissors, Matan Siegel, Lawson Weeldreyer, Josh Wells, Eli Zelvy

8th Grade Campers: Sebastian Alderman, Caleb Caraway, Michael Cohen, Charlie Duncan, Adam Eberhard, Nick Fleisher, Emmitt Gerstein, Jacob Greenwald, Ben Hackney, Nurali Kuanyshbek, Seth Lambert, Jacob Laytin, Josh Marcus, Simon Mann, Rolando Martinez, Nelson Mendels, Henry O’Connor, Jake Paderewski, Rahul Pai, Nathan Starhill, Ollie Tannahill, Steven Weeldreyer

9th Grade Campers: Sam Bloch, Justin Blumberg, Jordan Carlin, Jesse Chan, Charlie Cohen, Ben Effress, Nick Friedman, Jesse Gell, Jackson Goldblatt, Jack Goodman, Jack Gordon, Trevor Harriman, Daniel Heller, Matthew Hooper, Danny Horowitz, Gabi Huberman-Shlaes, Julian Jackson, Kasper Jorgensen, Peter Kallos, Jonah Karafiol, Adam Lewis, Miles Lokken, Sean McSherry, Eli Moog, Charlie Peters, Jake Powers, Brady Rivkin, Jack Rivkin, Daniel Sabados, Ben Shacter, Jason Shacter, Toby Shapin, Gabriel Sloan-Garcia, Nate Wells, Solomon Wexler, Nate Woldenberg, Noah Yaker

 

Congratulations to our February Birthdays!

Congratulations to our February birthdays!

February 1st: Larry Held

2nd: HJ Walberg

4th: Oliver Fox

5th: Glen Filley, Jared Micah Greaves, Jason Hirschhorn, Gus Peters, Diego Santa Cruz

6th: Adi Almukhamet, Mles Rontal, Eli Zelvy, Jamey Sharp

8th: Eli Terman, John Tierney

9th: Casandra Owens

12th: Jeremiah Bafumi

13th: Mark Gingiss, Matthew Grosman

14th: Gabe Colon

16th: Aaron Zelvy

18th: Quincy Hirt

19th: Arthur Brook Young

20th: Jackson DeWitt

21st: Jacob Greenwald, Henry Quinn-Pasin

22nd: Levi Gell, Jack Goodman, Sam More, Elizabeth Becker

23rd: Aaron Levi, Roksana Brozek, Micah Franzel, Ben Huston, Sebastian Klein

24th: Jackson Goldblatt, Daniel Sabados

25th: Charlie Davis, Sara Feinstein, Max Steinbaum

26th: Trevor Harriman, Edoardo Longo, Julian Saddleton, Austin Dowis

27th: Ari Held, Josh Abraham

28th: Jordan Carlin, Julian Jackson