Birthday and Sesame Workshop

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Panwapa World is officially launched!

This is my "Me Page"

I decided to be blue and wear a superhero outfit... so basically exactly as you would expect. My house is completely "green" because I wanted to be hip and save the environment!

Anyway, we were on the View this morning... and I'm sure the media hype is just beginning. Check out the site! I'm USA88 - drop by and leave a message :-)

And it's my birthday... I've decided it's a good day.

This American Life... wonderful.

Wow.

This American Life is a pretty wonderful weekly radio show on NPR. I listen to the Podcast every week or so and THIS week is about talking to children. The first act of the show is about two dirty 20-something comedians who are brought around to various camps... and they struggle... bomb... and eventually just resort to screaming and so forth.

It's inspiring to me, because I'm very good at working *appropriately* with large groups of children. In fact, it's probably the thing that I do best.

The kids *hated* the comedians... I wish I could have given a pep talk.

Find the show through here: http://www.thislife.org/Radio_Podcast.aspx !



OK... So I've been thinking about this for a little while and I have a response for the broadcast. First of all, the commentator says that they were doomed to fail from the start. This is untrue - completely bogus.

The concept is that people who are outgoing and possess the stage ability to entertain adults have the ability to entertain children. This is correct. Stage charisma and energy, two of the huge drawing factors to adult comedians works well for kids (unbelievably)... Look at someone like Robin Williams - his energy and spirit work for both *adult* humor and *kids* humor... interesting, huh?

Also, the commentator blames the fact that the 10-year-olds have been exposed to Dane Cook for their inability to enjoy *clean* humor. This is wrong. Dan Cook can be appealing without being dirty - HE HAS ENERGY; HE TELLS STORIES.

Dane comes along with sound effects, huge physical motions and recognizable characters. The comedians in the story were relying on one-liners; perhaps the hardest form of jokes for a younger audience. One-liners rely on the awareness of the audience - if you speak over their heads, then they zone out. STORIES are where it's at. In a story, I expose you to the information that will turn humorous... I can have multiple punch-lines or even disregard one completely!

If I could have talked to those poor young comedians, I would have steered them to Bill Cosby instead of Nickelodeon (where they did much of their research). Ten-year-olds don't get the same laughs from Sponge-Bob that they used to... but play them "Chicken Heart" or "Dentist" and they'll be laughing hysterically...

And I'm willing to publicly prove my theory anytime ;-)

Forbidden Songs!

Every camp has something that is forbidden.

My old camp had a ghost story about an ax-wielding psychotic named Stumpy. Back in the "old days," this was common fare for camp fires of any shape or size. When I took the reigns, though, it became forbidden - for several reasons. The story was incredibly inappropriate - especially for younger campers. I didn't want kids refusing to come back to camp because of fear... The main reason, though, was to keep Stumpy alive.

Wow. Crazy, huh? By forbidding something - EVEN with staff - it is immortalized. There never was as huge a collective curiosity in Stumpy than when everyone knew he was not allowed. Add in the fact that no one really knows the story (like I do) and you have a very powerful tool at your disposal...

I digress.

There are some forbidden songs... At many camps, "Titanic" is not allowed. I receive many a comment about "The Princess Pat" and it's basis (backtrack on the blog and you'll get a history lesson) and of course there are the gross objectors > namely "Great Green Gobs," "Baby Bumblebee" and classically the "Pick your nose" verse of "Wishy Washy Washer Woman."

These are simply objections, though (oh yeah... "Baby Shark"... that always raises some controversy). Unbelievably, we (as in camp-song aficionados) know of many more songs that have been simply forbidden!

Here's one:

"The Prettiest Girl" [same as "Littlest Worm" with line repeats]

The prettiest girl
I ever saw
Was sippin' ciii-
Der through a straw

The prettiest girl I ever saw
Was sippin' cider through a straw

I told that gal
I didn't see how
She sipped that ciii-
Der through a straw

I told that gal I didn't see how
She sipped that cider through a straw

Then cheek to cheek
And jaw to jaw
We sipped that ciii-
Der through a straw

Then cheek to cheek and jaw to jaw
We sipped that cider through a straw

And now and then
That straw would slip
And I'd sip some ciii-
Der from her lip

And now and then that straw would slip
And I'd sip some cider from her lip

And now I've got
A mother-in-law
From sippin' ciii-
Der through a straw

And now I've got a mother-in-law
From sippin' cider through a straw

The moral of
This little tale
Is to sip your ciii-
Der through a pail

The moral of this little tale
Is to sip your cider through a pail!


^^^ Someone at work sang that for me today!

...and I have a faint recollection of this next song which was just requested via email... Needless to say, both of these songs would have some parents yelling ;-)

The Boy and his Canoe

Just a boy and a girl in a little canoe
With the moon shining all around
As he glides his paddle
You couldn't even hear a sound

And they talked and they talked
Till the moon grew dim
He said you better kiss me
Or get out and swim

So what you gonna do in a little canoe
With the moon shinin' all a-
Boats floatin all a-
Girls swimmin' all a rou-oun-ound!

History.

Camp is ever evolving. I know I've written this in the past, but it's an incredibly important idea to grasp...

CAMP IS EVER EVOLVING. This means that camp = change. What a bizarre thought - especially for those of us who have worked at a camp. "There's no change, Pete! It's tradition!"

Yes, tradition. Of course... In fact, I've written about the importance of tradition. But that's not what I'm talking about...

Remember camp... when you were a kid? Yeah. It was 10,000 times different than today. Absolutely. Why? Because people have changed! Parents have changed! Children have changed!

In the past, we wouldn't think twice about having riflery as a specialty area... Nowadays it takes a good deal of thought and insurance.

Ok, I'll be concise for once. Is camp worse off today? Are we overly protective? Has camp been transformed into a glorified day care?

In the past, you could scrape a knee at camp or even break a leg - it was a commonality. Parents don't find that acceptable anymore. I can't get away with saying that your child was acting like a child and therefore got hurt - someone needs to be accountable on the micro-level. Some of this change is good. It prevents abuse where there was the possibility of abuse; it makes safety the priority where it may not have been number one in the past... Is there overkill, though?

Let's start at the definition of camp. I'm not talking about Websters, here, I'm referring to what made camp special back in the day. Camp represents freedom - the first time in a kids life that they are free to be whomever they want. Mom isn't dressing me in the morning and I'm not being evaluated at every turn... I'm not surrounded by the same group of schoolyard chums that I grew up with... I'm free.

This freedom came at a cost, though. The laws of camp used to be wide open. I'm not talking about conscious neglect, but having a late-night all-camp all-woods game of capture the flag was foolish on so many levels. It was... and there *were* broken legs as well as smoking, relations and other activities that were not parent approved. Some of those were character building - the summer romance, the triumphant victory and etc. But the cost to some campers was fairly horrific - beatings, bullying, being left out...

Of course, it was an incredibly BAD camp experience that got me involved in making good camp experiences...

Anyway, there was a price to pay with the lawlessness of the past. Now there are laws that we as a community cannot avoid whether we want to or not. Inspections need to be passed, parents pleased and the ever looming shadow of accountability and insurance cast down their intimidating shade from every branch. Our programs HAVE to be safety conscious - and that's a great thing. I don't want any kid to get hurt ever... except!!!

EXCEPT - children get hurt. We're not walking the halls of a school, we're roaming the woods. There is no such thing as a SAFE camp. We strive to be the safest possible, but there are dangers of being in the woods, playing on fields and hanging out with other campers (among other things).

Accidents happen. They happen everywhere and they happen often. We're not the camp of the past, where a kid may break their leg because of staff neglect, but that doesn't mean that kids won't break their legs. And I know I'm being a little extreme, but we need to show parents that we've evolved past the days of their youth while maintaining the important parts of our history. This being said, campers get dirty, they scrape their knees and every now and then something unfortunate happens.

This is a very important fight because if we don't stand up to the ever-growing over protectiveness of the world, we'll lose the essence of what makes camp important - RATHER what makes being a kid important.

To clarify my point - Safety is always going to be the priority above all else... I just want to insert a little realism into the minds of our customers.

We cannot keep everything bubble wrapped - and frankly, the only fun thing about bubble wrap is popping the bubbles.

My Sesame Street project launches on my birthday, October 10th. Expect much rejoicing!

Why We Sing Songs

Most camp people never need to ponder the necessity of camp songs. They're tradition... normal... "wouldn't be camp without them"

I have encountered the question several times outside of camp and when hiring new staff. In fact, I've even heard the phrase "I don't do camp songs" muttered by a potential staffer. My reply is always the same: "You will."

I always demand a great deal from my staff. One of my common requests is the occasional song. This can come at any time, whether the normal "camp spirit" time, during lunch, in the morning, during breaks or while walking on the path.

Is this unreasonable? Of course not! Anyone is capable of learning and leading a camp song... anyone. They do not require any musical ability, nor a loud voice, nor a completely ridiculous and outgoing person. In fact, I've encountered many a staffer who appeared shy and reserved every other moment of the day... except when singing.

There are also some solutions for those who are reluctant. For the "too cool for school" (generally) male staff members, I'd have them create chants and shouts. Those aren't as "corny" (blah) because the army does them... For the incredibly shy team members, there's always a camper who wants to be leader for the day.

ANYWAY, the best solution is to sing... and when you're done singing, sing some more. BUT WHY?!?

Well, the number 1 reason is that camp songs are fun. When everyone is singing loudly and participating, the FUN is contagious. This is an activity that no one loses, no one is left out and everyone wins!

Number 2? It's an excellent way to kill time... AW... I didn't mean that! Hehe. Seriously, though, singing camp songs can effectively use 5 - 10 - 15 minutes with any size group. Anyone that has run a camp experience can definitely understand how useful that is!

Number 3 is exercise. Most songs get kids out of their seat... and on some days, especially stormy ones, there are only sitting activities. These kids need to use that extra fuel in positive ways!

Number 4 is [related to number 3] ENERGY! If everyone is jumping around and singing, it really livens up the group... This can be used to pump them up before some big event or to wake them from the afternoon lull.

Number 5... they're social. If I am new and see everyone singing and having a good time, I really want to join in. Those butterflies disappear and I forget how much I miss my Mom. In addition, I'm more likely to interact with the others around me who are also singing.

Number 6....? It's contagious... in a good way. Songs show the right kind of spirit - no anger or negative fuel in this fire! We sing together, we feel closer together... Bonding... etc.

There are more than 6 (educational / storytelling aspects not even covered)... but work beckons! I promise to have more entries as soon as my Sesame Street work finishes (and I will keep you in the loop about seeing all of my hard labor sometime in October!)

Until then, keep singing!