Making Waves
Thursday, July 25th, 2024
LAKE VERONICA circa 2:30pm—The sun glitters off the black jewel of water, set in a jade layer of lily pads which trace the triangular perimeter. Dragonflies dart in between cattail stalks while bumblebees graze on a patch of wild pennyroyal. The impressive afternoon heat has necessitated a brief swim to revitalize my outlook on life. Fresh from the water, I sit dripping at a small picnic table near the shoreline, commiserating with lifeguards and the first round of lake shuttle children. My goal today is to discern the public’s attitude toward Camp’s two main water features: Lake Veronica vs. Streeter Creek.
“Lake to death!” exclaimed Lifeguard AnnaLee. “I like jumping in the water and swimming. You can’t do that at the creek. Also the lake has lovely bumble bees while the creek has creepy carpenter wasps.”
“The creek is superior with its emerald pools of flowing water,” said Lifeguard Lucien Geltman-Lamb. “I love to skip rocks and at the creek there’s an unlimited supply of good, flat stones. The lake all pebbles.”
“Lake! A hundred times lake!” shouted Rio, 10, of the Orange Tipi. “It’s bigger, you can go under water, there’s lifeguards, and there’s a diving—I mean a ‘jumping off feet-first’ board. Also there’s wrist rockets at the lake. You can’t argue with wrist rockets.”
“Lake, duh,” said Lucas, 12, of the Scarlet Tipi. “It’s bigger, better, bolder, brighter, and all the beautiful ‘B’-words. Also the lake has pennyroyal growing. It smells good and there’s a cool song about it. If there was a battle between lake-heads and creeklings, I would be manning a catapult full of lake mud and pebbles.”
“The lake gets a bad rap for being muddy, but that’s just at the shoreline,” said Jonah, 12, of the Blue Tipi. “If you swim out like ten feet it’s totally clear. I’m lake all the way.”
…
STREETER CREEK circa 3:30pm—Ample tree shade casts soft patches on the verdant hollow of the bustling creek bed. Cool mud and sand define the shallow banks which transition to a mosaic of river stones near and beneath the water. Upstream, the western stretch is dominated by a rowdy group of laughing, splashing girls who have stirred a thick cloud of silt with their frantic movements. Downstream, the eastern crowd is more subdued and contemplative, picking blackberries, skipping rocks, or simply reclining in half-submerged metal folding chairs. Here I continue today’s divisive opinion survey.
“The lake is better because there’s more activities and challenges, and plus you get snack delivered,” said Margie, 10, of the Yellow Tipi.
“The creek is closer and not as hot,” said Teen Staff Sha’him. “There’s clay down the way and sometimes they do a spa day with nail polish.”
“The creek is better because I can touch the bottom,” said Sala, 4.
“The creek is better because there’s less rules, and rules make things less fun,” said Eva, 10, of the Yellow Tipi. “The creek is more in the woods so there’s more nature like frogs and stuff.”
“Creek all the way,” said Moon, 9, also from Yellow. “There’s blackberries! Who wants to pick blackberries?” she asks, skipping away toward the creek’s briar patch.
“I like the creek because it’s nearby and accessible,” said Iona, 12, of the Rainbow Tipi. “I like how chill it is. I just went on a creek walk with my friends and we all did clay masks.”
“Definitely the lake, mostly because of the platform,” said Liev, 12, of the Indigo Tipi. “I’d say I spend 75% of my time at the lake jumping off the platform. We play this game where when we jump, the lifeguard says the name of an animal and you have to make the sound of the animal before you hit the water. Or they’ll say a song lyric and you have to finish it. The lake just has more to offer than the creek. ‘Don’t sit and bake, go to the lake!'”
“I’ve never been to the lake, and ignorance is bliss,” said Oscar, 14, of the Scarlet Tipi. “The key to the creek is you have to go at the right time when there’s not a big crowd. I like to stick my feet in the water and let the fish nibble the dead skin off my toes.”
“The lake is way better,” said Dalila, 10, of the Yellow Tipi. “There may be animals in the lake, but you can’t see them. Out of sight, out of mind. In the lake there’s a crashed school bus—no one died—I think they all jumped out of the windows before it crashed in. Sitting in the creek you feel like an ice pop, one of those weird organic ones that tastes like grass. In the lake there’s a layer of warm water. Makes me feel like a warmed-over apple fritter.”
“There’s much more room at the lake,” noted Dominic. “Both places can get crowded on a hot day. My favorite thing at the lake is wrist rockets. I’ll go swimming if I feel hot, or else I’ll just dip my feet in. The lifeguards are extremely nice and not mean at all.”
“I don’t go to either, but if I had to pick, I’d say the creek,” said Parker, 12, of the Sky Blue Tipi. “Sometimes me and my friends make paste by rubbing wet rocks together. It can be used for writing and painting. It was probably invented by people thousands of years ago for makeup. You can make different colors by using different colors of rocks. So far we’ve make brown, cyan, and red. Tomorrow we’ll try to make a whole rainbow.”
Stay hydrated,
—J. Payseno, Editor
