Teamwork
Tuesday, July 8th, 2025
FIRE CIRCLE circa 9:30pm—Most of the camping chairs are in use at the Rainbow Theater, but I’m able to find a comically small child’s chair that was left behind here at the fire. I delicately squat into the seat, my knees nearly poking into my armpits. Tonight is Weirdo Talent Night, an evening where counselors display their zaniest skills. For example, Drumming Instructor Jeff Brown used his stage time to catch thrown marshmallows in his mouth—at least a dozen by my count. It’s a nice contrast to Teacher Talent Night, which is strictly meant to display teachable skills to the campers.
I’ve slipped away from the audience to warm by the fire while I wait for my own act later in the show. A trio of counselors are already here performing night watch fire-tending duties, all quite comfortably seated in adult-sized camping chairs.
“This session is pretty chill,” says Songwriting Instructor Vashaun Harris. “My tipi staff and I work well together. I’m not prepared for the end of the session, but I am looking forward to a day off. One thing I like to do at night is reflect on the day, and on how I can be a better counselor tomorrow. You have to enjoy Camp, make memories, and then give those experiences to campers so they can have the same fun you did.”
“Beau broke my chair, so Shakon has adopted it as a place to put his things,” alleges Singing Instructor Charlie Penfield. “It was a hammock chair. Everybody sat in it during staff training. Then Shakon threw it on the ground.”
“Yeah but it was already broken at that point,” clarifies Vashaun, defending Shakon.
“It collapses every time I try to sit in it,” adds Stilt Instructor Allie Kramer. “I’ve tried like ten times, and it keeps collapsing.”
“Every time I see it, Shakon and I argue about it; it’s causing a lot of conflict,” continues Charlie, clearly committed to relaying this inane story. “The chair saga has been going on since Session A. I tried to share something nice with my friends, and they ripped it apart like wild animals. Besides that, Camp is going pretty good.”
“Hey, dude, we’re up next,” interjects Songwriting Instructor Johnny Garcia. I wrest myself from the gripping chair saga and head toward backstage.
The act I’m a part of tonight is a live recreation of the full Abbey Road Medley, all the way from “You Never Give Me Your Money” to “Her Majesty”. With a total runtime of over 16 minutes, it’s a very ambitious piece to cover on short notice, and, honestly, I’ve always been more of a Revolver guy. But Camp is the perfect type of place where you can pull something like this off. There’s just so many weird and talented people here. Johnny pitched the idea to us last night, and 23 hours later it’s showtime.
I don my guitar and start wheeling a garden wagon that I’ve dedicated to a pair of amplifiers around to upstage right. The band sets up along the upstage span as stagehands arrange clusters of mics further downstage. As we play, a whole rotating cast of singers, clowns and jugglers make appearances on the stage, creating quite the sonic and visual spectacle. Our efforts are rewarded with raucous audible reactions from the campers throughout the set. We conclude our Beatles tribute, and the campers are released to bedtime. I return to the fire to garner a few more quotations.
“My session is going spectacular,” says Alex, 13, Ultraviolet Tipi. “I’ve learned many interesting and fun things in aerials, such as a 720 double star drop, as well as multiple two-person tricks. I’ve also been taking lots of stilts. I was always afraid of heights as a kid. Doing these activities up in the air has really helped. I kind of enjoy heights now.”
“It’s going medium okay,” says Lena, 10, Green Tipi. “I got rope-ified, which is where you get qualified on the tightrope. The mid part is there’s drama in the tipi, but the counselors have been talking to everyone and making everything okay. The counselors here are extremely nice. Tomorrow I’m going to make a crazy dancing party puppet. I think people can learn new things here even if they don’t know them yet.”
“For Teen Talent Night on Friday I was Gru in the Minions-themed dance,” says Teen Staff Jojo, 17, Flame Tipi. “That was a lot of fun. This session I’m thinking about getting ready to be on adult staff next year, but also just enjoying my last year of teen staff. I’m looking forward to seeing my campers in the Big Show. Hands-down the most popular skill in my tipi is diabolo. Some of my campers are into stilts, but it’s mostly diabolo and Magic the Gathering in there.”
“Today we did unicycle basketball,” reports Unicycle Instructor Mattias RowenBale. “It’s a really special tradition that only happens a couple times per summer. When I was a camper, this was one of the main reasons I got into unicycling. We made two teams, the Warriors and the Lakers. The final score was 3-4, but I don’t know who won because we never decided which team was getting which name. I’m just excited to be introducing this tradition to a new generation of unicyclers.”
“Never a dull moment,” says year-round Administrative Manager Mayahuel Montoya. “It’s the first two-week session of the season; it’s a circus marathon! The Tornado was really funny this session, and Tipi Clean-Up Sunday was revealing—literally.”
“Today I did the Beach Mop shift for the first time in like five years,” continues Mayahuel. “Being Beach Mop means going to the lake and making lists of swimmers. My whole job is making lists so it was no sweat. Plus I got to hang out with Annika and make a flower crown. I’m also really excited to be teaching dance again, ably assisted by Jojo here. I think the moral of this session is ‘teamwork’—for kids and for adults.”
Stay hydrated,
—J. Payseno, Editor
