Our Last Evening Together
Photo by Cee Webster
After Dinner: Group Photo at Fire Pit
Night Block A: Talent Show
Night Block B: Dance
After Night Block B: After-Party at Club Deer
(photo by aki)
Cee, Tech Director & Golden Girls Counselor: I love how the NOPE grumpy cats turned out to be really funny for others and not just me. I printed them as a joke at 2am the night before camp and slowly put them up everywhere because I thought it was funny. I love how it turned into its own thing and people claimed it for themselves.
Riese: I like the All-Camp Photo because it’s the last time we get to look at everybody’s face at the exact same time. Look at all your weird faces!
(click to enlarge)
Talent Show
Deanne: So, at The Talent Show, Camp Director Katie (she’s NOT a lunch lady, you guys!) kissed me on the cheek in front of everyone. (For the record, I was angling for a kiss-kiss, but she claimed it was “against camp policy,” which is the gentlest and most official-sounding let-down I’ve ever received.) The kiss came after I got Katie to join us in the camp photo, and I felt like we’d bonded a bit. If I wasn’t feeling so respectful of my lady’s privacy, I’d tell you that I watched her take off her actual shirt in the open air of the woods to put on one of Taylor’s vintage Autostraddle tees for the photo and it was a tiny bit thrilling. But I’m a gentlemyn.
deanne with lunch lady katie (photo by rachel w)
Brandy: This time, Julie and I opened the Talent Show with a song. Not only was this the first time we’ve ever done this at camp, it was also the first time we’ve ever done it… ever. Period. We sang a Moldy Peaches song called Rainbows, and Alex played the drums for us. I have no idea if anyone liked it. The song is pretty lewd, and I had completely lost my voice by that last night (not that I’m some incredible singer anyway), but that’s what is so great about the Talent Show! It’s not about impressing anyone! It’s about having fun and not being scared to do something weird in front of a bunch of weirdos that you love. And it truly was kind of a dream come true for me. Singing with Julie, while Alex played the drums??? **sigh** They are two truly dreamy girls.
brandy & julie w/ alex (photo by aki)
Hansen, Contributing Editor & Scissor Sister Counselor: So, as one of the counselors for Scissor Sister Sparkle Motion Rainbow Alliance, I took on this very Mama Duck role. It became comical how much I told them to drink water. It’s funny how easily you bond to people at A-Camp, because within just a few days I felt like I knew everyone from my cabin for ages. Then when not one, but two (!!!) of my campers were performing in the talent show, I was over the moon. I have never felt so much maternal pride in my life. Motherly may be an odd word to use when describing the emotions I felt during Nurin’s drag performance to Ginuwine’s “Pony” or Lindsey’s piece about being a woman and public restrooms. I was crazy proud of how talented and brave they were.
Riese: Brandy Howard was really excited about Nurin’s performance. REALLY EXCITED.
(photo by rachel w)
Rachel: The talent show is always so much fun, and somehow totally wildly different each camp. I always turn into something of a crazy dance mom about my cabin. I really wish I could have, like, made a giant posterboard with my performing campers’ names in hot pink glitter. Since we had already used all the posterboard for crafts I just screamed a lot. Minerva participated in this insanely outrageously cool group poetry slam that made me cry — see aforementioned feelings about crying in public — and Shannon did an incredible sexy chair dance in a super incredible sexy dapper outfit and Kira was a flannel wallflower cutie. EVERYONE IS SO TALENTED. NO ONE CAMP SHOULD HAVE ALL THIS TALENT.
Riese: A Runaway did a thing! Her name was Christine, and like me she is a huge Julie Goldman fan, and she was super-funny. Also this camp was the first time I taught a workshop in which people actually produced performable works, so Ali and I squealed in delight when Ranger read an erotica story that had been group-composed in our workshop.
Carmen: Many people will remember fondly from the talent show a number of things: when my Infernos did slam poems and dirty dancing, for one, and made everyone’s lives both more emotionally and sexually satisfying, as well as when Julie Goldman spoke repeatedly, for example.
Carmen: But, what I remember most are a series of moments involving Stef Schwartz in which we sat close enough to one another for her to take photographs of me and Geneva while whispering, “I hate you.”
Image via Carmen
Sophia, Inferno Counselor: Sunday I slept in mad late, I missed breakfast and lunch and then spent a lot of my time in the smoker’s circle following patches of sunlight with a cup of coffee still trying to wake up. You all know the talent show is pretty much the highlight of camp. Camp 2.0 it rolled a little out of hand, but this one I felt it was perfect. There was killer poetry, music, sexy moves, some great drag. And the Infernos were ON IT. I don’t remember totally who did what because my memory is shite regardless but I know the whole time I was smiling and laughing and sometimes crying it was moving to see so many up there sharing SHARING FEELINGS in different mediums on a stage and it was so fantastic.
Image via Carmen
Carmen: Later on, when Brandy Howard called us on stage in a huge clusterfuck of amazing human beings I’m proud to be a part of something with, Stef and I raised our hands loudly and screamed our rallying cry, “Mahalo,” which is our rallying cry because once I got kicked out of a New York City movie theater while screaming “Mahalo Motherfucker” during Battleship and received a standing ovation from the other moviegoers. To our surprise, when we looked around a bunch of queermos in attendance were also screaming “Mahalooooo” with their arms up in the air. Small world.
Riese: About halfway through The Talent Show I got a bunch of feelings and said that I wanted to say a thing at the end of the show, and then I did. I couldn’t believe the words “I want to say a thing at the end,” actually came out of my mouth, but they did.
(photo by rachel w)
Riese: Usually I try to avoid being onstage with a microphone because I cannot trust myself to not say something stupid, but I was possessed by the spirits to inform the group that YOU ARE CAMP. You’ve always been camp. We’re just here to facilitate your existence in this space.
(photo by aki)
Kristen, Contributing Editor & Scissor Sisters Counselor: Hansen and I call ourselves Crafty Bitches, so we figured we needed to live up to our name. A few weeks ago we planned to sew everyone merit badges, but procrastinated their completion until the night before everyone left. So Hansen and I sat in the back row of the talent show in complete darkness, trying to fit our campers’ achievements into 2″ diameter circles while giggling maniacally at all of the acts. Our yellow team had done so many things and had so few points to show for it! You see my yellow flag out the back of my jorts and it might make you think that I am into water sports. But points mean nothing since our campers were clearly the best people on the mountain. Lindsey and Nurin did the SS Sparkle Motion Rainbow Alliance proud by writing and humping their way into the other campers’ hearts. I’ve never been a prouder Mama Duck.
Photo by Kristen
Julia, Calendar Girl/Contributor & Blackhearts Counselor: The last night before the dance with small traces of alcohol in our blood and our hearts’ heavy with love, my cabin sat down to appreciate one another. After tears had been shed and snaps had been issued, I taught my penguins a song that I usually use with elementary schoolers. It is all about what a penguin going to tea looks like. Everyone was so enthusiastic and it was hilarious. Busting out camp songs that make adults look ridiculous doesn’t usually fly, but A-Camp is a safe place where people are allowed to access enjoyment that might look too foolish to the outside world. This activity was the last thread in an amazing web that solidified my everlasting love for this group of amazing people.
Image via Julia
Vanessa: I was THE MOST EXCITED to be a counselor at A-Camp 3.0. Like, I think maybe my entire existence has been an exercise in preparing me for the moment when Riese informed me that Julia and I were going to be counselors for the lovely, smart, perfect humans that made up the Blackhearts, aka The Most Feelings Filled Cabin In The World. As anyone who has spoken to me for more than 30 seconds knows, I am a total neurotic Jewish grandma, and I love nothing more than caring for people and giving extra tight hugs. Being a counselor for the Blackhearts provided me with ample opportunities to do both things and I can honestly 10000% say that my camp experience would not have been half as fantastic without my amazing campers. You guys, we say it all the time but I hope you know how true it is: YOU MAKE CAMP WHAT IT IS. The campers ARE A-Camp. And I can say with my whole heart that my campers guided me through my first camp experience as a staff member as much as I guided them, and continue to do so when we have Google Hangouts late at night.
(photo by katie o)
Julia: It is rare in adult life to yell “let’s build a fort” and get a unanimous “hell yes!” Fort feelings was created in a number of seconds through teamwork and creative thinking. It was named for my cabin’s love of feelings and the discussions surrounding them. I felt that the creation and use of Fort Feelings really summed up my a-camp experience.
Katrina: Ok so if not for each other, then why the fuck are we even here, am I right? I always feel a little funny about getting to know my cabins 1) because I’m me. I’m a little bit nervous/excited about everything, and that’s just how it is, and 2) everyone in my cabin is always pretty much exactly my age, which makes me feel like maybe I know this big gay secret that no one else knows, and that’s why I’m a counselor. But I don’t think that’s true. What I think is actually true is that the secret is that there is no secret, and what we really want to know is each other. And now we do. That’s pretty cool, isn’t it? I felt a little quieter than usual this time, and I felt kinda bad about that, but then I realized that that’s ok. Sometimes that’s just your place. I got to watch my campers get to know each other, and at the end of it, I realized that I knew them too. We all told each other about it on that last night, passing a ball of yarn around and talking about how we all liked each other. It felt good. It still fees good. That’s all, really.
photo by talia h
Laneia: In the beginning the Runaways sort of looked at us like we might be crazy, or like they might run if the opportunity were to arise, but then they just tossed out their reservations and trusted us. When I think about them walking from Wolf lodge to cabin 19 with their duffle bags and pillows stuffed under their arms, with their little hearts not knowing what’s on the other side of the door, but with the determination to open it anyway, I just want to CRY SO HARD. And sometimes I do. These people are so much braver than they give themselves credit for. I mean I don’t think the campers really know how inspiring they are. Sitting up until 3am with the Runaways was just fucking affirming and I’m so grateful for them, and for everything they brought up the mountain, and for leaving some shit at the bottom, and for letting us in. For making camp.
The Dance
Mey, Contributor & Slayers Counselor: Before going to the Talent Show and Dance on Sunday night, the people in my staff cabin started getting ready together. Since I didn’t come out as trans until after high school, I’d never had the chance to experience getting ready for a dance like that before. We played pop music, fixed our makeup, picked out which button-ups to wear and just bonded as a group (plus Vanessa and I ended up both wearing cute floral dresses, so that was awesome). Then it was on to the dance. Like I’ve said before, I don’t have much of a queer community where I live, and the community for queer ladies is even smaller. So to be surrounded by so many wonderful queer ladies/people having such a good time was like witnessing a miracle. Everyone singing and dancing together created such a wonderful energy like I’d never felt before. There were great songs, great outfits, great dance moves (and lots of not-so-great ones) and great smiles everywhere. There was even the coolest Drag King I’ve ever met seeing how many A-Camp Staffers they could dance with. This was one of the funnest nights I’ve had in my life.
Riese: I went to the dance. I went to the motherfucking dance! Who knows, maybe next time I’ll go on a hike too.
Carly, Contributor & Toros Counselor: The dance! Perhaps I’m biased but the dance is always my favorite part of camp. For me and the rest of the staff it means that most of the hard work is behind us and we can just let loose and enjoy ourselves.
Kate: Sometimes you need to cry in the arms of the people you love, and sometimes you need to drop it, drop it low. I dropped it incredibly low. It was so necessary to have a place to just act like a bunch of super fun queers, and the dance was it. I did a lot of ridiculously dirty dancing. I jumped in place. I got to hang with my baby brother Cait Toste as the reunited Two Princes and we did a lot of super bad dancing in front of girls we thought were super cute. It was amazing.
Carly: I take the dance very seriously and try to play songs that will keep the crowd dancing for as long as they’ll let me play (this time it was well after 2am when they finally pulled the plug). A few special moments at this dance were when someone accidentally killed the power and everyone kept singing “Dancing on My Own” without the track, when everyone COMPLETELY LOST THEIR SHIT when “I Love It” came on, and Marni dancing up on me (hey girl).
Marni: After a week on the mountain, nothing felt better than just letting go and dancing like crazy on the last night. I was in front of Carly’s DJ podium for most of it, and I probably looked like a lunatic but that’s okay because I was one. Afterwards, I escorted Lunchlady Katie to Klub Deer with her hoodie up and sunglasses on (to keep the paparazzi at bay) and everybody just let go and partied into the night. It was awesome.
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OMG THE BLACKHEARTS PENGUINS
OMG THAT LAST PAGE/EVERYONE/EVERYTHING <3
OMG WHAT IS CUTER THE FACES OR THE FEELINGS?!?!
RIGHT? I CAN’T HANDLE IT LET ME HUG YOU ALL SO MUCH WITH ALL OF MY LIMBS
OMG YOU GUYS. I AM HAVING APPROXIMATELY 189 FEELINGS. Vanessa and Julia, your words were perfect. That last page is perfect. I have mixed feelings about my completelyandtotallyexcitedomg Fort Feelings photo, but I think it embodies how ecstatic camp made me feel, how joyful and included and loved so I will take it! <3
RT all these things.
RT RT.
Aw the photo booth pictures are the sweetest!
TIGER BEAT STOP MAKING ME CRY
p.s. those pictures of cait and i are literally the spin doctors’ song “two princes”
ONE TWO PRINCES KNEEL BEFORE YOU NOW
THAT’S WHAT I SAID NOW
also
I KNOW WHAT A PRINCE AND LOVER OUGHT TO BEEEEE
just go ahead now
i just made aimee listen to it twice and i’m not done yet
Where do I send my nomination for Vanessa and Rae as cutest couple of all time?
Yes. This. But can they tie with PJ and Mareika?
SO MUCH INFERNO IN THIS POSTTT
BURN BB BURN ~~~
i love you all equally.
ariellas bum is famous now
ass would have been a better choice of word
YOUR ASS IS FAMOUS, ARIELLA
sara texted to tell me pictures from the strip dance were in the last re-camp post and you have never seen anyone move toward a computer as quickly as i moved that day.
my ass and i are honored to have this fame bestowed upon us.
I LOVE ALL OF YOU FOREVER
My favorite part about this recamp was reading it while facebook chatting with some other Runaways who were also reading it and having ALL THE FEELINGS together and pretending like we were back in our cabin having a feelings circle. Because that is what camp is about.
Somer was A-Camp’s dark horse… she just quietly did weird hilarious shit in the background and executed it perfectly and would just walk away like “what, you’ve never seen human hair attached to tiny cone-shaped paper cups before?” and no, for the record, i had not
*i promise that i don’t just love her because she made the day 2 & 3 schedules that i was too busy to make though that is also a reason i like her but not the main one
can you tell that i was only on page 1 when i commented because NOW I SEE THE SALMON MOMENT <3 <3 <3
so grateful to have been there for the salmon moment
according to my very accurate scientific sample, 1 out of every 7 queers on a mountain will say “yes” to sustainably-caught fish jerky offered at random
salmo-ment?
that salmon moment graphic is prime intern work
the balloon tails point to people’s ears and not their mouth! sorry, pet peeve of mine. #critic
My favorite Intern Somer moment was when I needed a screw for Klub Deer (an actual screw you guys — get your heads out of gutter) and she immediately said, “Don’t worry Jill, I’ll find you one!” and she lunges head first into the woodsy darkness in search of a screw. In less than five minutes she returns with one, and after I install it she takes a picture of it for her intern resume.
I hereby request that Deanne and Somer come to any and all camp situatuons from this day forward.
Best New Intern Somer was my favourite joke that I didn’t get at all during camp.
My fondest memory is just seeing her rooting around in the hair around the phresh cutz station to make those little people.
Seriously, how did I miss the photobooth? Kiyomi, Jess, Zeller? How did that happen? How did we all miss this?
Im super sad panda now.
Me too. Totally missed the photobooth, which gives me sad feels, but it’s okay. I kinda avoided taking photos and finding photo sessions this camp, cause I wanted to #berightthere/beherenow. It worked. I was so fucking present all weekend, which felt great. I was able to detox from the universe in the best possible way by consuming all of you. xo
I’m with you on that one. And I also avoided photos at the dance because I was sweating from dancing so hard. Though the outlaws photobooth photo makes me smile so hard even though I’m not in it. I might print it out in wallet size and carry it with me. Is that weird?
OMG I JUST realized the photobooth pic of Hilly and I was up there. SO many FEELS. SQUEE+YIKES+YAY+LURVE+Everything!
I love my five dollar thrift Red Dress!!!
All the feels edition: Part Two.
Just finished reading the final page. Sad to finish it really, the conversations and the people were like something I hoped for but never managed to get. The mountain is amazing.
Your photos are amazing!
# babes. Such babes.
Also, you are a super duper shopping rockstar, with the five dollar fucking gorgeous dress that looked like a fancy new dress.
Your prom-posed photos were seriously the cutest. (And red is so so so your colour) You just needed the hat.
This is where I dole out my thank yous. I just finished watching the Stanley Cup and am PRETTY EMOTIONAL right now, so I apologize if I get pathetic.
Country Straddlers- This made camp for me. Everyone at camp was amazingly kind, but this was the one time I felt 100% normal. People got it, the love for the land and the struggle to stay when every queer narrative you ever hear is telling you that you HAVE to go. I really loved this. This will make me come back.
Lex- Thank you for letting me/making me cry the last night. It’d been 2.5 years since I had cried in front of another human being. I’m not always good at being compassionate with myself, and you sort of forced me to let myself be human and have feelings instead of responding to feelings with a quip and a shot. I still SORT of hate myself on the daily for the thing we discussed, but I’m trying to be kind to myself.
Lindsey- Thank you for forcing me to go to camp. I knew literally nothing of Autostraddle before I went, and now I feel like I have all these new friends that share a life experience most of my friends here do not.
Toros- You guys are amazing, and made me feel so welcome and wonderful. I love you guys, and I can’t wait til next May.
I love all of you so much.
Ahahah, however I love that I look like a predatory bird with a drink in that picture. THE CORSET IS STEEL BONED I CAN’T BEND AT THE WAIST OKAY??
so glad you liked the #countrystraddle!
It was EVERYTHING to me
I can’t really explain the effect the Country panel had on me, except like Doc said, it completely changed the conflicted feelings I have about living the in country. It was 100% exactly what I needed at camp and I wish it had been longer.
And the Toros, they LOVE you too. I am having so many feelings right now. Doc, you are extremely rad and you made me laugh and smile so many times at camp. xo xo xo
Oh Canada! How I love/miss you and your Timbits.
Badabing!!!
god i miss all of the slayers x 1000. how do i even live without camp. i haven’t seen anyone make a human hair sculpture for WEEKS
<3 x 10000
Yes! All the slayers were so incredible and I couldn’t have asked for a better cabin my first time as a staff member! I love you and miss you and miss camp so much!
Slayers gonna slay.
mey(er)s gonna mey.
So I didn’t get to go and I won’t get to go for awhile.
I think once I’m out to EVERYONE A-Camp will be a gift I give myself. But until that time I am here for the pictures and to read about the fun I missed.
P.S.-I hope A-Camp is going to be a thing forever because it looks like the best.
forever & ever & ever
if we can fill up every camp, we’ll keep going and going!
If you keep holding camps I’ll keep going and going forever and ever and ever.
Um… I didn’t realize I could be anymore excited about actually having registered for camp FINALLY. Is this even real, can a person even be this excited? :D
yes when you arrive at camp you will be even more excited!
this is true i know it from experience
you might arrive at camp and immediately be offered a temporary tattoo of a potato dressed as a pirate by people you’ve never met in real life before. It’s really exciting.
omg the photobooth pics are the best!!
Cee, I want to let you know that one of the NOPE Grumpy Cat posters is on my fridge right now, and I’ll treasure it forever along with 2 drawings my friends from A Camp 1.0 made.
ALSO THANK YOU SO MUCH AGAIN TO ROBIN FOR BRINGING OUT HER CAMERA FOR THE DANCE BECAUSE THAT WAS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS I WANTED AT CAMP <3 <3 <3
Oh yay my butt is on the Internet!
Also TEAM AUSTRALIA PHOTO YUSSSS
yes I totally managed to sneak in a kiss with my girlfriend in that big ass group photo!! WINNING
i have a serious love/hate relationship with these recamps.they really pressure me in making camp4.0 happen but life, responsibilities, flight rates and a fucking ocean make it so hard. but ugh, so much cuteness. i guess it’s happening!
I need you to cross that ocean! Otherwise the circle of smoke would be incomplete.
MORE FEELINGS
The pool party was the best. I especially loved our impromptu synchronized swimming lesson.
For those of you who are uncomfortable in traditional swimwear – that makes me at least eighteen different kinds of sad, because I FUCKING LOVE SWIMMING AND THINK EVERYONE SHOULD BE ABLE TO DO IT! One suggestion – rash guards! They’re basically t-shirts (or long sleeved shirts) that are made to be worn in the water. You’ll need a tight one if you want to go fast, but if you don’t care about that, loose fit ones are great too! As an added bonus, they also help protect your skin against UV.
syncho is hard you guys
also synchro
OMG, OUTLAWS, YOU ALL ARE THE CUTEST IN EVERY PHOTO YOU’RE IN/EVERYONE IS THE CUTEST IN ALL THE PHOTOS THEY’RE IN/EVERYONE LOOK AT NATE AND TAYLOR IN THAT PHOTO I LOVE IT FOREVER.
I LOVE YOU ALL FOREVER TOO.
thank you for mentioning nate and taylor’s photo, so i don’t have to.
also, excellent use of all caps.
*ahem* Sorry.
I just couldn’t contain the feelings in any sort of normal capitalization/punctuation situation.
Outlaws are not about containing feelings. It’s in our manifesto.
I wanna kiss both Nate and Taylor in that picture. Adorable humans.
ugh, bombshells totally won the pool party. i miss all your tiny faces SO MUCH.
I’m so bummed I missed the Slayers photo op at the dance! But this reminded me of Gaela’s amazing red lipstick (she kissed me on the cheek and I walked around with a lipstick print for a while).
but that photo of Potter and me. BROS BROS BROS.
Goal for next camp: seek more cheeks.
also <3
Awww!!! A picture of the Bombshells in their natural state. #TwerkTeam
i’m having a rough day and looking at those photobooth pictures at the end, and how happy everyone was, and how happy i am….totally crying about it right now. i love camp so much.
I’ve scrolled through the last page multiple times now and every time I do my heart melts.
Preach.
Tempted to make a Facebook fan page for Riese’s “Cunty” hat.
!!
Oh my goodness, I didn’t know until this recap that Julie and Brandy and Alex’s talent show song was an actual song.
I MISS KLUB DEER
This was the day Mary Tully had the entire cafeteria sing happy birthday to me at breakfast. I was blushing and sinking as deep as I could into my seat, but it was probably one of the best moments of my life.
Also, Robin, my photo booth picture is my absolute favorite thing right now. I want to give you soooo so many hugs to thank you for being there to capture that moment <3
I wanna cry that picture is so fucking cute.
I.miss.everything. All of it, all of you. everything.
October is so soon but feels so far away.
1.)I made it to the photobooth!
2.)I think we all had fun at the talent show (if ever again I will secure the uke before somebody straddles a wall and I become willfully incompetent)
3.) I will forever remember when the feelings happened on Geneva’s shoulder and how Ariella and Croce brought the smile back to my face.
4.) What we are doing here is magic…I mean nowhere else could you find over a hundred people so determined to keep the party going that they create the music when sound fails
5.) The morning I left camp, like a stranger on the early shuttle my last hug was from Marni, and while I forgot to ask if she consented, it was the best last hug I could have hoped for.
6.) I have now missed the ice cream social twice
7.) I can’t wait to do this again!!
Lanie, I’m like a confused Sim when I’m not at camp. I think you know what I mean.
I am so glad that when words failed I could use that metaphor and you were right there. right there!
wait we had an ice cream social this time
sooo I feel like this “ice cream social” is like the mythical shark at the bottom of the pool when I went to summer camp as a kid because twice now somebody has said it is happening and when I get there nobody appears to be consuming ice cream at all. There is literally no proof it ever existed.
i ate some ice cream but i ate it at the smoker’s circle, i’m not sure what that counts as.
I have so many talent show feelings! And that is all thanks to you Lanie. My favorite parts were that time on-stage before we started and you tried to acquire a uke, and when Stef was caught extremely off-guard by rapping.
I am just so happy that on Friday you and Willis joined “the project.” I appreciate you needing a project because so did I. Also thanks to Christie for fixing Alpine’s printer and supplying us with every single moody diva change I made. If I ever start a band I want all of you in it!
This day was so full of… feelings, camp, love, fatigue that stemmed from processing, being comfortable and happy and joyful and having learned so much over the last few days… that I couldn’t even attend that many sessions. Guys – I attended 4 panels on the first day. FOUR. So I was recovering for days after that.
So I sat in the sun, chatted with beautiful humans, made a thing (or two or three… the camp patches were the absolute best, and my homo and queermo patches are getting good use), sat in the sun some more, went to the POOL PARTY…
Oh my fucking god. Dancing with sexy beautiful people, jumping in the pool, dancing and smiling and talking to so many wonderful people… EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU IN BATHING ATTIRE AND CLOTHES AND ALL SORTS OF THINGS MADE OF CLOTH THAT MADE YOU FEEL OKAY – You are handsome, sexy, hot, powerful, beautiful and attractive. You inspire me.
This was one of my favourite parts of camp.
So was the impromptu spray painting of shirts, my favourite being gentle queer on the back of my camp shirt, and my new a-camp bag that now says “Don’t stop be fab.”
And then there was talent, ice cream social, and a dance. And my head and heart and body and soul exploded.
It has taken me days to be able to create an recamp response of any kind because I am still so filled up, emotional, and lovingly precious about the whole experience. Just wait until I get started on the gender, sexual fluidity, WOC/QPOC, family, and non-monogamy panels. FEELINGS.
Oh Canada! I love/miss you
Christie I heart you!!
Remember that one time when…
there were like 300 queers on a mountain and all of them were so attractive that it made my knees shake?
the bathroom in Falcon became the best place on the mountain?
for vegan breakfast there was only scary looking tofu scramble doused in ketchup?
DeAnne Smith made me laugh so hard I was crying?
the Autostraddle staff told *real* stories and I was crying for real?
the swingset became a place to look at the stars and contemplate life while drunk?
the swingset became a place where bears would hang around?
Klub Deer turned into a contest of who could make out with most people on the dance floor?
the kink panel made me uncomfortable in the best way possible?
I met the best people and formed my most meaningful friendships?
we all had feelings?
Shout-out to all the crazy talented people who performed at the Talent Show, and for keeping it super classy.
* Listening to people’s stories and slam poetry (especially the 5 person one) gives me shivers in ways that I didn’t know were possible.
* Ranger’s smutty story was brilliantly hilarious. You really have an excellent storytelling ability.
* Ginuwine’s Pony makes me smile stupidly large every time I hear it now, and my gf and I exchange knowing grins. Best. Association. Ever.
* Evie’s violin serenade makes me want to pick up the violin again. (And I know, I know, it’ll be like riding a bicycle =) )
* And Leslie’s comedy bit was seriously too short. Seriously.
* I love everyone and everyone is family <3
My cabin missed the picture the first night so we did a redo at the all camp photo and its not here. Wahh, feeling bombshells left out. <3
i just love all you guys a lot and miss you too much to write real feelings.
tiger beat you’re the best <3
Feelings <3
Mey & Rachel aka Giles! Best Watchers Ever.
Post-camp (yes, even a month post-camp) I find myself just full of feelings I can’t articulate.
Tiger Beat, I love you all (and can’t wait to see a handful of you this weekend!)
Smoker’s Circle, I love you all as well, you were basically my second cabin.
Just in general, I love everyone and the fact that this exists, and hope to see your faces in October.
omg that girl in the background of the picture of the Phresh Cutz with the sunglasses….you are the Girl On Fire.
Did you shoot any apples with arrows lately? Or ya know, overthrow any oppressive governments?
(I mean…that’s just my really nerdy way of saying I think you look like a total badass)
I normally wouldn’t admit this, but I feel this is a “safe space” so I will share.
One morning I headed to the kitchen post-breakfast time to hunt down some coffee. On the front door was a “sign” that simply said “Nope” with a sad cat on it. At this point I was unfamiliar with the internet meme “grumpy cat”… so to me it appeared that the cafeteria was closed until lunch.
I turned around, sighed, and walked away from the cafeteria, sans coffee, and sadder than the grumpiest cat, thinking that I had to wait until lunch for coffee.
CEE’S GRUMPY CAT NOPE POSTERS TOTALLY PRANKED ME.
I DID THE SAME THING!
I’m glad I’m not the only one.
OMG i saw a grumpy cat poster on one of the cabins up on the hill on the smaller side of the campsite and despite the fact that i’ve been to this camp three times and therefore should be familiar with the layout and where different cabins are, i thought for THE ENTIRETY OF CAMP that that cabin was where the Alpine staff lived and that they’d put up that sign to make sure none of us went in there looking for other A-Campers. i was like ‘that is the cutest KEEP OUT sign i’ve ever seen!”
i didn’t know that grumpy cat was a thing, let alone a meme, until we were driving down the mountain and i think marni mentioned it or we discussed it in some way
These stories are hilarious/cute! Since this is a safe space, can I fess up to some of my weirdo pop culture ignorance from former camps?
At the first camp, I had no idea what YOLO meant. YOLO was everywhere. YOLO was spray painted on things. It came out of mouths. YOLO! Yolo. Looked it up when I got home. Shameful.
At the second camp, I had *no clue* what it was that the Runaways were doing when they were saluting. And then my cabin started doing it because purple team, duh, and I still didn’t know why we were doing it. And then after camp I saw everyone refer to this as the “hunger salute” and fuck that made even less sense. It didn’t click in my brain until that GIF was posted as the first comment in a recap. AND I HAD READ THE HUNGER GAMES. I had seen the movie too!
I am dumb.
some highlights/feelings vomit/i still can’t be coherent about what those four days meant to me, so here’s a small sample:
– I will never be able to listen to “I Love It” the same way again. The dance and Klub Deer were amazing and the perfect way to end the weekend.
-I actually screamed aloud during the fashion show when Julie came out in her CUNTY hat and then I cried when she walked past me. there were real tears.
– two words: smoker’s circle
-and then this one time at the pool party Carmen introduced me to Julie and Brandy, who were basically the final straw that made me decide to come to A-Camp and I think I died. Except I couldn’t have died, because later that evening, fueled by vodka (and I’m not naming names, but that vodka might have come from my favorite aforementioned celesbians), I ended up throwing my clothing at Riese and Brandy and dancing onstage in Straddle This boxers. I think THAT’S when I officially died. It’s cool. My entire life is complete now. There will never be a better thing, and I’m completely at peace with that.
So many pictures of my dancers! I’m so freakin’ proud of all you ladies who decided after a two hour workshop you wanted to choreograph and perform with me. You all ROCKED MAJOR SOCKS and worked so hard and were so beautiful I just… Ugh. All the stripper mama feelings.
Camp is amazing, you guys. But the campers are SPECTACULAR.