Camp Echo Monthly Alumni E-News October 22, 2002 Back issues are archived at The Camp Echo E-List is now at 534 members. Spread the word! If you want to be removed from this list, reply and let me know. ***** Next issue: mid-November ***** Save The Date ------------- Saturday, December 28, 2002 All-Time Alumni Reunion at Prairie Moon in Evanston On Sherman between Lake & Grove Starts at 8:00 pm, following the 2002 Staff Reunion Alumni Opportunities at Echo ---------------------------- Do you have a special skill that you would like to share with campers next summer? Are you yearning to get back to camp for a week? Alumni are welcome to volunteer to teach a Camptivity Class for a week at camp. We'll house you and feed you in return for the effort. Prior planning to meet paperwork requirements for all those who work with campers is required, so give it some thought in the coming weeks and let me know if you have an idea or two up your sleeve. Recent Happenings in Fremont ---------------------------- The piers have been pulled from the lake and stacked on shore for the winter. The boats from Small Craft have been moved into the Boat House under the Arts & Crafts Shop, and the boats from Sailing, along with the War Canoes, have been moved into the Social Lodge. Ten aluminum canoes will undergo welding this winter to fix leaks. The ski boats have been pulled from the lake and winterized for storage in cold weather. A big thank you to the adult volunteers who helped out. We are continuing with our Kybo improvement plan. A painting crew worked on Kybos East and West in early October; that effort will be continued in the spring. Molly and Bruce Baars removed the worn-out stalls from the women's side of Kybo North, and new ones will go in this winter. The floor will be painted and the counter replaced. Rob Johnston turned off the water to the peninsula on October 15th before the first freeze and cleared the pipes of water. With the leaves finally changing and falling, we're ready for Old Man Winter, who tends to visit Fremont Michigan well before he does Evanston Illiois. Recent Happenings in Evanston ----------------------------- Camp Director Rob Grierson has settled back into the Echo Office, hard at work on the Camp Guide and other promotional materials for 2003. With a new batch of slides, prints, and digital photos from summer 2002 you just might see someone you know in one of the pictures. Rob, Louie, and the four cats are back in their Evanston condo, very much missing the quiet of Camp Echo. Assistant Camp Director Dawn Summers wears a new hat for the next five months, working out of the Youth Center with the Club Mid Program, while continuing her work to improve the Outdoor Ed and Adventure Trip programs. We have some exciting trips in the works that will be announced in upcoming issues of this newsletter. On October 18, Echo alum and guitarist Steve Carver was scheduled to play the early evening gig at Nevins Live here in Evanston. He invited Family Camp banjo player Mike Kelly to join him; Mike brought his wife and two friends and they, along with a violinist, put on a great show. A good-sized group of friends of Echo were on hand to show their appreciation, and we all adjourned to -- where else -- Prairie Moon for dinner. Alumni Notes (Send in your notes or memories, folks!) ------------ Bob Ettinger writes, "I am currently on an island in Boston Harbor working for Thompson Island Outward Bound. We work with middle school students from the Boston Public School system ... mainly students from a low socioeconomic status and about 90% students of color. Talk about a different population from Echo! We do lots of adventure-based programming on a wide variety of ropes course elements. The island has an alpine tower, a full high ropes course (very different than that at Echo), and elements similar to what Echo calls the 'pamper pole' and the 'vertical playpen.' And tons of low ropes stuff. My job is really tough, but really rewarding too. I'm learning a ton right now." Dan Ettinger writes, "Saludos from Guatemala! As many of you all know, the reason why I left Echo a bit early is because I was headed to Guatemala to travel and study for the semester. I´m here with a program called Guatemala: Politics, Development, and the City. It has been great learning Marxist theory, learning about local politics, going out with my new Guatemalan friends, and saying 'nature nature' after checking out thermal waterfalls, rainforests, spider monkeys, and huge volcanoes. For the last few weeks I was living in an indigenous community and that is when I taught the kids in my house and their parents face telephone, caught you peekin', look up look down lock on, and other camp games. Real funny, real real funny. The best part was when they asked me to teach them a song and then hearing them struggling to pronounce the last part of "beesting." Well, anyway, I just wanted to let you all know I am well and very much still thinking about Echo as well as next summer. You know I would appreciate an email. danielito" Andy Hammerman , owner of the Black Sheep Inn, Ecuador, writes, "No one from the Camp Echo Newsletter List has replied to our job advertisement [see 9/10/02 issue] ... but we have had a few inquiries for the volunteer position from other postings. So the position is still AVAILABLE! See ya! Andres" -- Song of the Week ---------------- BEESTING (a repeat-after-me song) Flea! (Flea!) Flea Fly Flo! (Flea Fly Flo!) Beesting! (Beesting!) Coomalata, coomalata, coomala-beesting! (Coomalata, coomalata, coomala-beesting!) Oh, no, no, no, not the beesting! (Oh, no, no, no, not the beesting!) Eenie-meenie, catcha-keenie, Ooo-wa-OM-ba-leenie Okka-rokka, you-ka-rokka, okka-rokka-YOU! (You get the idea) Share The Spirit! -- Rob Grierson Camp Echo Director rg@mcgawymca.org