Melissa Plambeck’s camp experiences in the seventies influenced her entire life. Her husband attended camp, so when they met they knew the same songs. When her children came along, she wanted them to enjoy the same experiences she loved at camp, so she and her husband worked for a camp and their kids went to […]
Laurie Cone
Mixing With Mahn-go-tah-see
Some years there was fraternization with the boys’ camp and other years there was no social activities between the two camps. Marge Hasty (1946) had memories of meeting the boys by sailboat in the middle of the lake to pass “sneaky mail”, and said many of the counselors had boyfriends across the lake and this […]
Nicknames–
Nicknames were a way to make girls feel included with a sense of intimacy and camaraderie. “Magot” (or maybe Maggot) would not be the cutesy nickname a young girl would pick, but Karen Magidsohn won that name. It was very common for girls to be christened with new or short names at camp. Sue Purdue, […]
Hut Sayings and Expressions–
How many of you could identify the era a girl camped by the expressions, slang or sayings of the times? If you can’t remember some of the famous ones, go to this site for a memory refresher—-http://people.howstuffworks.com/53-slang-terms-by-decade6.htm Judy Alcorn wrote the famous sayings in 1947 for the “Loon”, which included Dona Johnson’s “We never do […]
Heartless Practical Jokers–
Dorthe Balaskas, despite her director status, was the target of many pranks, but was on the giving end of many reprimands. In 1965, the “Loon” chronicled the prank that was played on her on July 5th around the flagpole.“Bathing Suits Billows In The Balmy Breeze” was the title of the article that described the swimsuit […]
Smoking–
Helen Hasty recalled the clouds of smoke that billowed around the big tent behind the lodge in the early forties. (“Smoke virtually rolled out of the couselors’ smoking tent!”) Some years smoking was no big deal and other years, the directors warned the counselors about smoking on the premises. Lucille Greenwald (1947-50) had the […]