Tales of summer camp life as told by Jim Gibbons
“The first draft of anything is shit.”—Ernest Hemingway Thankfully, that’s not exactly what this is. When I launched this blog way back when, I wanted to put my memories into storage. I didn’t want to forget all of these crazy stories. I wanted to save them so that, one day, when I had the skill, […]
Posted in Letters from Jim on May 10th, 2009
Boo boop! Hey folks, sorry I’ve been so bad at updating over the past couple of weeks, but if you’ve been paying attention to my other blog (Enemy of Peanuts at www.EnemyOfPeanuts.com) then you’ll notice I have at least been busy. Still, I’ve got a few reminiscences that need telling over here on NMA and […]
Posted in Letters from Jim on Mar 25th, 2009
Most camps have a camper and staff-written publication that updates and parents on the goings-on of their kids’ summer retreat. At Camp Shewahmegon, it may have been printed on pastel paper and put together on an MS Dos computer, but it was still a great place for us Shewahmegonites to drop little in-jokes and tell […]
Posted in Letters from Jim on Mar 22nd, 2009
Hey Folks! I just wanted to address you all directly with a few things. First, I chatted with a few friends recently who told me they have been enjoying the blog. You know who you are, but I just wanted to put an additional “thank you” up here. It means a lot to know that […]
Posted in Random Recollections on Mar 22nd, 2009
Camp is a tradition, of sorts, for most people who end up spending weeks upon weeks in the middle of the woods. Very few just up and think one day, “Hmm…wouldn’t life be grand without most basic luxuries like electricity and a comfy bed for a few months?” And, admittedly, camp didn’t seem like a […]
Posted in 1999, Random Recollections on Mar 16th, 2009
In my last year as a camper at Camp Shewahmegon, during which I would have been 14 years old, I went on my second Border Trip—a 10-day canoeing excursion in the remote Canadian wilderness, usually in a waterway reached only by floatplanes or miles upon miles of driving to a secluded boat landing. I was […]
Posted in Random Recollections on Mar 16th, 2009
Posted in Letters from Jim on Mar 16th, 2009
After spending nearly half the summers of my life at one camp or another, it’s difficult to remember a time before the culture surrounding those Junes and Julys away from home wasn’t ingrained into my very being—and make no mistake, a summer camp experience is an adventure that, risking the cliché, alters you at your […]
Posted in Letters from Jim on Feb 25th, 2009
I’m sure that in my attempt to open with something profound I’ve already done an injustice to my goal here—to collect the memories of my camp days and capture the spirit of them for myself and others to enjoy—but, hysterical and goofy as my memories are, there was something in the capture the flag games, naked dips into the lake, stupid jokes, raincoat hikes and fast friendships that was distinctly profound in regards to my life…
Posted in Letters from Jim on Feb 20th, 2009