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Looking for a book to read this spring? Homesick and Happy, by Michael Thompson, author/co-author of 8 books including Raising Cain, is due to be released in May. A link to an excerpt can be found below.

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Amazon book description: “An insightful and powerful look at the magic of summer camp—and why it is so important for children to be away from home . . . if only for a little while. In an age when it’s the rare child who walks to school on his own, the thought of sending your “little ones” off to sleep-away camp can be overwhelming—for you and for them. But parents’ first instinct—to shelter their offspring above all else—is actually depriving kids of the major developmental milestones that occur through letting them go—and watching them come back transformed.

In Homesick and Happy, renowned child psychologist Michael Thompson, PhD, shares a strong argument for, and a vital guide to, this brief loosening of ties. A great champion of summer camp, he explains how camp ushers your children into a thrilling world offering an environment that most of us at home cannot: an electronics-free zone, a multigenerational community, meaningful daily rituals like group meals and cabin clean-up, and a place where time simply slows down. In the buggy woods, icy swims, campfire sing-alongs, and daring adventures, children have emotionally significant and character-building experiences; they often grow in ways that surprise even themselves; they make lifelong memories and cherished friends. Thompson shows how children who are away from their parents can be both homesick and happy, scared and successful, anxious and exuberant. When kids go to camp—for a week, a month, or the whole summer—they can experience some of the greatest maturation of their lives, and return more independent, strong, and healthy.

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To further whet your appetite, here is an excerpt from Homesick and Happy, from the 2012 January/February issue of Camping magazine.

We are delighted to announce that the Geological Society of America has named Larry Davis as a Fellow of the society. Larry, who spends the off-season as Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of New Haven, is in his 43rd year at Pemi where he serves as Director of Pemi’s renowned Nature Program.

The Geological Society of America (GSA) cited Larry for “distinguished contributions in building the public’s awareness of geology and its impacts on environmental problems; his extensive service to GSA’s Geology and Public Policy Committee, Northeastern Section, and to the Geology and Society Division; and his assistance to local government agencies in solving environmental problems.” The society has over 24,000 members worldwide. GSA members are elected to Fellowship in recognition of distinguished contributions to the geosciences, an honor that is bestowed on the best of the profession.

In recent years, as the citation notes, Larry has served on GSA’s Committee on Geology and Public Policy, which writes position papers for the organization. Of special note is his contribution to the position paper on climate change, one of the strongest statements of its kind from any geoscience society and which reflects the scientific consensus that has developed around this challenge. He also helped write position papers on several other topics including Land Use Management, Diversity in the Geosciences, and Natural Hazards. He is currently the vice-chair of the Society’s Division on Geology and Society and will become chair of this division in October, 2012. Larry also serves as the Chair of the Science Committee (the “Chief Scientist”) for the Northeastern Cave Conservancy.

Larry has long advocated for summer camps as ideal venues in which to promote true outdoor education and stewardship of the environment. A member of the Children and Nature Task Force of the American Camp Association (ACA), Larry will chair a panel on Models for Nature Programs at Camp and More: In Summer and After School; Rural and Urban Settings, part of the “conference within the conference” on Children and Nature at the American Camp Association national meeting in Atlanta this February. Participants also include Pemi’s Associate Director of Nature, Deb Kure, representing Campfire International.

Most recently, Larry was invited to apply for participation in a National Science Foundation sponsored workshop/conference at the Smithsonian’s Natural History Museum in February. Limited to 100 participants, the conference is entitled 21st Century Learning in Natural History Settings: A Conference to Initiate Research-Driven Innovation in Informal Natural History Learning. At Larry’ suggestion, conference organizers have also invited Pemi counselor, Conner Scace, to apply. Conner is planning a career as an environmental educator.

Please join us in congratulating Larry, not only on this significant honor of having been elected as Fellow of the Geological Society of America, but for a lifetime of sharing his expertise and passion with others, especially the campers and staff at Camp Pemigewassett.

I am thrilled to write to you as the new Alumni Community Coordinator for Camp Pemi. I first visited the shores of Lower Baker Pond at the age of 8 along with my mother Kay, my brother Grant, and my stepfather Scott Withrow. Pemi holds a special place in my heart like no other. The memories I have of working hard and playing hard at Pemi—with friends both new and old—are woven into the fabric of my life. One of my favorite memories is how Tom Reed, Sr. would introduce me at the annual opening staff meetings as the person who had held the most varied number of positions at Pemi – even though I was never “a boy.”

From its very first days when Gar and Win Fauver and Dudley Reed convinced a dozen venturesome families to entrust their boys to their care in the Northern wilderness, Pemi has always been a place that forged a remarkable sense of community for those who were fortunate to spend a summer (and in many cases, many summers!) at Pemi. I always enjoyed seeing an unfamiliar car drive slowly past the Senior Beach, park in front of the Lodge, and have men of all ages step out to introduce themselves…alums from the thirties, forties, and on, who have come back to Pemi to “water their nostalgia plants” (as my mother would say).

Pemi’s regular reunions have always allowed us to reconnect with our extended camp family, but I am particularly looking forward to the 105^th, which is slated for August 17-19, 2012. We’re looking forward to celebrating the tried and true—vaudeville, sports, trips, campfires, etc.—but we’re also looking forward to adding a variety of workshops offered by visiting professionals (many of whom are already members of our community). Perhaps activities such as comedy improv, night photography, and fly-tying may find their way into the daily program of events.

Let us not forget Bean Soup, which even as I write is entering the 21^st century. From the very first 1910 edition to the most current serving, Bean Soup will be digitized so that you might read them on your own computer. We also plan to further develop and expand the Alumni section of the Pemi website and the Pemi Blog to provide more opportunity to exchange information, announcements, and accomplishments. We really look forward to becoming a comprehensive resource for the Pemi family.

Other ideas? How about events held in cities far and wide? How about travel? Imagine descending into the Grand Canyon with Larry Davis, exploring historical London with Tom Reed, Jr., or participating in the Gilbert and Sullivan Annual Festival in Buxton England. Suffice it to say there is plenty of room for brainstorming, and I hope you will share your own ideas by sending an email to me at alumni@camppemi.com.

I am eager to hear from you, to develop this new opportunity, and to support the extended Pemi community. As in the words of the Pemi Campfire Song, I wonder if anyone’s better for anything I’ve done or said, and whether good will in the heart may offset mistakes of the head. Perhaps when life’s mem’ries are gathered the camp ones will be with the rest…. Let us set out together to rekindle those memories and share in developing new ones for each new crop of the Pemi family.

Good luck, Long life, and Joy.

Warmest wishes

Nicole Wilkinson Tropeano

by Larry Davis

The Nature Lodge soon after it was built

This is my 42^nd year (1970-present) as Director of Nature Programs and Teaching at Pemi. My predecessor, Clarence Dike, was here for 41 years (1929-1970). Given my new longevity “record,” it seems like a good time to reflect on the history of natural history at Pemi.

Founding of the Nature Program

Pemi’s nature program began in 1925. The Seniors were split into five groups, and each group took “Nature” for one week, concentrating on collecting and identifying plants, shrub leaves, trees, and flowers. Clarence Dike came in 1929, and in 1930, the Nature Lodge was built. The building was named for Rev. and Mrs. Paul Moore Strayer of Rochester New York. He was a great amateur naturalist, and the Minister at Doc Win’s (one of the founding Fauver twins) church in Rochester.

Nature Lodge interior, 1930's

The interior of the Nature Lodge today is strikingly familiar to that of the 30′s. The two large tables with yellow birch legs are still in use today (although in very different positions). The workbenches are still in place and we still have most of the original benches to sit on, and the two original insect display cases are still in use. There have, of course, been many changes. The first is the addition of the “department” signs above the windows. These were in place when I arrived. We’ve also added a lot more lighting including two skylights. The original building had no electric lights and there were only two bulbs in place during my first years.

In 1995 we added the Phillip Reed Memorial Nature Library. This gave us about 65% more space and a weather-proof area to house our burgeoning book collection (now at about 1000 volumes). Local artisans, Roger Daniels and Richard Sharon, built the addition using native woods and the same, unusual, log construction as the original lodge. Phillip Reed was Tom Reed, Jr.’s cousin. He was a well-known environmental lawyer who passed away at a tragically early age (I actually first met him while wearing my other “hat” as an environmental science professor). He was passionate about the outdoors, and the library, built at the suggestion of and with the support of his family and friends, is a fitting and lasting tribute to him. Today, the library serves not only as a book repository, but also as a teaching station and a place where, during free time, campers and staff gather to talk about nature and dozens of other topics. I know that Phil is pleased.

Program

Clarence Dike and camper, making a butterfly net, 1940's

While today’s program is more extensive than it was in Clarence Dike’s day, it is very much built on the foundation that he laid. We are still making butterfly nets the same way…mosquito net bags sewn onto a bent coat hanger hoop and attached with electrical tape to a trimmed stick. We are still using those nets to collect butterflies, moths, and many other insects, which we pin out on the very same spreading boards that he made (which can be seen in the 1930’s photograph of the Nature Lodge).

Other program elements begun by “Mr. Dike” include the tree walk, the “What-is-it?” contest, study of ponds and streams, and the Junior Nature Book. These all continue today. Some things we do not do any more. For example, it was common, in the 1930’s, to routinely shoot and skin birds and animals for display. We continue to display those in place since the birds are long dead and we’ve got the display. But we always make it clear that this was an old way of doing things and we now realize that this is harmful to ecosystems and the natural balance of things.

In the early days of the program, campers took a general "Nature" occupation.

We also used just to offer general “Nature” as an occupation. In fact, this was still the way we did it during my first 8 years at Pemi. We usually had 20-30 boys all wanting to do different things. We never knew, until our first meeting, just who wanted to do what.

Note how, in the picture on the left, there are two  groups of boys doing two different things. In 1977, we experimented with a new format. We offered a “Butterflies and Moths” occupation for the first time. Since then, we have offered only this kind of specific activity. We are able to plan our lessons more carefully, separate beginners from more advanced campers (and indeed, offer more advanced lessons), and offer a much wider variety of topics.

Going beyond

Today, occupations offer focused topics, such as "Ants."

The advent of individual activity occupations has allowed us to build on the solid foundation that Clarence Dike laid and to go far beyond it. We now offer 14-18 different nature occupations each week. Some, such as Beginning Butterflies and Moths or Beginning Rocks and Minerals, are available every week. Others such as Orienteering or Non-Flowering Plants may be available only once or twice a summer. Many of these activities are taught at an  advanced level so that campers can grow in their knowledge and skills within a field that holds particular interest for them. In total, we offered close to 40 different occupations this summer. These include “interdisciplinary” activities with the arts such as Photography (both darkroom and digital), Environmental Sculpture (inspired by the work of Scottish artist Andy Goldsworthy), and Dyeing Woolie Critters along with Dyeing and Weaving (more on these below).

In the early 1990’s, Russ Brummer, as part of his Masters degree work at Antioch New England, developed a special occupation, Junior Environmental Explorations, that was designed to introduce Juniors to the Nature Program. It is a five-day curriculum that takes the campers through a series of activities in the woods, in the swamp, in the streams, and in the Nature Lodge, all of which are intended to acquaint them with the world around them, sharpen their observational skills, and let them know about the range of other nature occupations available to them. It is one of only two required activities at camp (the other is instructional swimming to Level 4) and all first-time juniors are automatically “enrolled” in their first week at Pemi.

Cyanotype, digital, and darkroom photography are featured in the annual Art Show

Our “interdisciplinary” art/nature occupations are particularly satisfying. They include Nature Photography, Nature Drawing, Environmental Sculpture, and both Dyeing & Weaving and Dyeing Woolie Critters. Photography has really expanded under the guidance of our own talent (Dan Reed on digital and Peter Siegenthaler in the darkroom) and visiting professional Andy Bale, who is on the faculty at Dickinson College. Many campers have their work displayed at the annual end-of-year Art Show.

Environmental Sculpture encourages careful observation.

Environmental sculptures are created out of natural materials and they are frequently ephemeral, lasting only a few days or even a few hours. Besides exercising campers’ artistic instincts, the activity also strongly encourages careful observation of the natural world. I have frequently seen boys pick up and discard a dozen different rocks before selecting just the right one for their sculpture.

Natural dyes create colorful wool.

A more recent innovation is the use of natural dyes to dye wool. This is a lot of fun, as combinations of plants and different mordents (the metal or substance used to “fix” the dyes) can lead to unexpected results. We have dyed yarn and woven it and, for the last three years, dyed raw (but cleaned) wool and used it to needle felt “woolie critters.” Thus the occupation name, “Dyeing Woolie Critters.” We get our wool from a farm right here in Wentworth, and we have even been able to go there and see sheep shearing.

Collecting milkweed pods to cook back at the Nature Lodge

Finally, we come to the single most requested nature occupation, Wild Foods. This is taught each week, but is only open to 8 boys at a time. We were getting 50-60 requests for it each week. So, two years ago, we began limiting it to uppers and seniors only. The boys love it because they get to taste some interesting food. For me, however, the most important lesson comes with the context. We are always thinking about what it would have been like to make a living from this hard New England soil 600 years ago, before the first Europeans made permanent settlements here. We talk about gathering food, preserving it for winter, knowing what as edible and poisonous, and how that information was passed on. Three years ago, we started a “farm” where we grow the “three sisters” (corn, beans, squash) using varieties as close as we can get to those used by the Indians. We get the seeds from Plimouth Plantation where they grow and maintain stocks of these old, old strains.  In the end, we hope that the boys gain an appreciation for the hunting and gathering lifestyle and for the work that was involved in just feeding yourself and your fellows each day, let alone storing enough for those long New England Winters.

Trips

Collecting minerals at Palermo Mine with Deb Kure

We started taking our first nature trips in 1971. They were to mineral collecting areas, and one of the first was to the Palermo Mine in North Groton, NH. Forty years later we are still going there, guests of the owner, Robert Whitmore of Weare, NH. In fact, he has given us keys to this world-famous locality and donated some spectacular specimens, found at the mine, for us to display. We usually run one of these trips each week, and they give the campers a chance to collect some really interesting minerals.

Older boys have the chance to go caving

One of the truly different things that we do through the Nature Program each summer is to run two caving trips to the Karst (cave) region of New York State, about 30 miles southwest of Albany. These are both adventure and geology trips and, as a geologist who studies hydrology in these areas (while wearing my University “hat”), I lead them. Pemi caving trips and photographs are featured in detail in Caving Trips with Camp Pemi, an article that you might enjoy reading.

We also take trips to sites of geological or ecological interest. This summer, for example, Associate Head of Nature Programs, Deb Kure, led geology field trips to Crawford and Franconia Notches. In past years, we have gone to the virgin spruce-fir forest in the Connecticut Lakes Region of extreme northern New Hampshire, to remote bogs in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont, to Plum Island in Newburyport, Massachusetts, and for fossil collecting on the Lake Champlain Islands in northwestern Vermont.

The Nature Instruction Clinic

In 1992, Rob Grabill, Russ Brummer, and I gave a workshop on teaching nature at camp at the International Camping Association meeting in Toronto, Ontario. This led to the establishment, in 1993, of the pre-season nature instruction clinic. This 5½-day class is designed to train instructors from other camps (and some of our own too) to teach natural history in a camp setting. It is a way in which we can share our experience and spread the good work to far more children than we personally could ever reach. The clinic is broken into two main segments. In the first, we introduce the participants to the natural history of the area. In the second, we work on teaching skills, including lesson planning and exhibit making. Everything is hands-on and tailored to the specific needs and interests of each year’s group.

In 2009, the Nature Instruction Clinic was accepted as a three-credit (graduate or undergraduate) course at the University of New Haven, the institution at which I teach. It is the capstone course in our new Environmental Education Concentration within the Master of Science in Environmental Science Program. This year we had five University of New Haven students participating along with two staff members from Pemi and five from other camps.

Closing Thoughts

It has been a long journey for Pemi Nature since 1925. Over the past 87 years, we have introduced thousands of boys to the natural world around them. Some have gone on to careers in geology or ecology or natural history teaching. Deb Kure, our current Associate Head of Nature Programs, came to the first Nature Instruction Clinic as a newly minted geology graduate. She went on to a distinguished career as an outdoor educator, having worked for the Los Angeles Museum of Natural History, among other places. She now does after-school nature instruction for Camp Fire International in Austin, Texas. Most, however, have simply taken what they learned here at Pemi and used it to enrich their lives and the lives of their families. All of this was made possible by the vision of the Four Docs who provided the impetus, the place, and the people that were needed to make Nature a key part of the Pemi experience. Over the years, every Pemi director has supported the vision and the expansion of the program to what it is today. I feel immensely privileged to be a part of the legacy and see Pemi’s Nature Program continuing to grow and evolve far into the future.

Nikki Tropeano joins the Pemi staff as Alumni Community Coordinator.

The Pemigewassett Board of Directors and the Fauver and Reed families are delighted to announce that Nicole Wilkinson Tropeano has joined the Pemi team as Alumni Community Coordinator, a newly created position aimed to serve and support a crucial constituency of our camp community.

Nikki grew up at the camp as the stepdaughter of Scott Withrow, the fabled Head of Music, and his wife Kay. Her formal roles at Pemi were many, beginning in the kitchen as a dishwasher and then a trip meal specialist, moving on to work in the office and then as an Assistant Counselor, Counselor, Head of Waterfront, Trip Leader, and then finally taking on the key positions of both Head of Staff and Head of Program. It’s hard to imagine anyone who wasn’t once “a boy” having a better handle on how Pemi operates. Nikki’s role as a member and recent President of the Rittner Fund Board has kept her closely involved in year-to-year operations and further consolidated her relationship with many alumni. Nikki’s Pemi credentials are striking, and along with her long and unquestioned love of camp, put her in a position to do a wonderful job.

Nikki’s training and experience in the professional world only add to our excitement in having hired her and our confidence that her impact will be immediate and profound. Nikki is a graduate of the College of Wooster, and earned a M.Ed. in Administration and Supervision at Antioch University New England. She was Director of the Middle School at Browne Academy in Alexandria, VA, before moving to Thayer Academy, in Braintree, MA where she served as Director of the Middle School. It’s our great good fortune that the recent birth of Nikki and husband Todd’s daughter, Brooklyn, has led Nikki to modify her career path, moving from secondary school administration to sign on with us.

Nikki will be in touch soon with her own vision for moving the alumni community forward. Most importantly, she will seek your vital input on such varied events and possibilities as:

• Pemi’s 105^th Reunion, slated for August 17-19, 2012
• Off-site gatherings that reflect Pemi’s instructional program of Sports, Nature, Music & Art, and Trips.
• The Pemi Blog: articles featuring alums or written by alums
• Bean Soup: digitalizing past editions
• Alumni networking: for college visits, in the workplace, and to support former campers who take the Pemi spirit and ethos into the world.

We couldn’t be more pleased to have added Nikki to the organization. If you know her already, you’ll be as thrilled as we are that she’s signed on as our Alumni Community Coordinator. If you’ve yet to meet her, we’re certain you’ll be quickly taken with her energy, dedication, charm, and hearty devotion to everything Pemigewassett. We look forward to working with her – and through her, with our Pemi alumni – for many years to come.

The bulk of this latest number will be Athletic Director Charlie Malcolm’s summing up of Tecumseh Day 2011. Those who’ve kept a close eye on Sportscenter will already know the results – but we won’t spoil the suspense for the rest of our readers here. After a week’s focus on preparations for T-day, however, the current week has seen a burst of activity on the trip front; we now stand only 21 miles short of completing our Appalachian Trail Quest, with 144 of us having trod at least a mile of the fabled pathway. Uppers Three and Four logged seven spectacular miles on the Franconia Ridge, and a select group of seniors seven equally stunning miles on the Presidential ridges (in perfect weather). The best staff-camper ratio by far, however, was found on the second of two trips in the Mahoosuc Range, as Trip Leader Sylvia Parol and Pemi West veteran Richard Komson accompanied Sparky Brown on the most far-flung miles of the AT in NH – including the most difficult mile of the entire 2,000 in Mahoosuc Notch. Were it not for “The Quest” I doubt the trip would have gone, but we’re on a bit of a mission, and Sparky’s walk was especially well-supervised as a result.

As one more stall before Charlie’s account, we’d like to say that our boys continue to make the kind of impression on the trail that we like them two. Our seven stays at Appalachian Mountain Club huts have thus far elicited two email compliments, out of the blue. The first came from a random guest at Greenleaf: “I would not normally follow through on commenting on such things, but your campers/staff were exemplary in their conduct and interactions both on the trail and in the hut. We encountered four other camp groups during our trek, and your Pemi boys were the most polite, inquisitive, and appreciative group we came upon. Plus one of your leaders came back to thank the hut crew before leaving! Sounds so elementary, but even the crew said that doesn’t happen often. If our three boys weren’t all grown up, I would have enrolled them at your camp.” The second came from an AMC employee: “I was at Zealand Falls Hut Tuesday night filling in for the hut croo and wanted to pass on my compliments to the Camp Pemi group who stayed there. I worked in the huts for years and have led camp trips myself and those kids were among the best I’ve seen – polite, friendly, interested, and respectful. They also seemed to be having fun!” (What a relief to hear that last!) Music to our ears – and we hope to yours. Now, over to Chas.

Pemi and Tecumseh have been competing against each other for over a hundred years.  Only gas rationing during war time and an influenza outbreak in the 1920s have interrupted this storied tradition.  Tecumseh, a camp dedicated to the pursuit of athletics, is always a formidable opponent, having won a majority of competitions over the last forty years.  Pemi’s last victory was in 1998, when a group of veteran counselors (Phil Landry, Ethan Schafer, Sky Fauver, Zach Rossetti and others) and great senior leadership pushed Pemi to victory.  It was these very ingredients that were in place for this year’s contest with Tecumseh.

Pemi enjoyed successful athletic days against Moosilauke and Kingswood in the first half, but at change-over, Pemi welcomed close to a hundred new boys to our teams.  Our coaches worked tirelessly preparing teams in five age groups (10-and-under, 11s, 12s, 13s and 15-and-under) in baseball soccer, swimming, and tennis.  As momentum began to build at Pemi, with each cheer in the mess hall getting a tad louder, the Seniors played a central role in getting the younger boys ready to compete with a camp singularly dedicated to winning what they call “Pemi Day.”

Down at Tecumseh, “Doc Nick’s Wonders” (“the junior division!”) played in what annually has been one of the closest contests of the day.  Willie Noble took the mound for Pemi and delivered a gem (5 IP, 2 ER, 6 Ks, 3 BB).  Pemi spotted Noble a 2-0 lead when Andrew Kanovsky, Mikey Suski, and Matt Cornell delivered base hits.  Tecumseh battled back to take a 3-2 lead, but Pemi mounted one last attack in the top of the 6^th inning, loading the bases before the final out was recorded.  The 15s Tennis team dropped their match 6-1 to a very talented and poised Tecumseh team.  Peter Traver and Austin Dorsey delivered Pemi’s sole victory, but Eric Herbert and Alex Dietl both fell only in super tie-breakers after winning a crucial second set to even up their respective matches.

In the second morning events at Tecumseh, the 10’s soccer team held a 2-1 halftime lead on two goals by Mikey Suski, the first coming off a beautiful serve from Jackson Welsh.  After Tecumseh scored three second-half goals to take a 4-2 lead, Pemi scored twice on free-kick shots, only to have the official call the goals back for off-sides.

The “flagship”15s baseball team sent Danny Murphy to the mound for his sixth and final voyage against Tecumseh.  After the team spotted Murphy four runs in the top of the first with several base hits and six stolen bases, Dan found himself in an early jam with the bases loaded and no outs.  He responded gamely, though, and struck out the side, crushing Tecumseh’s hopes of getting back into the game as our team cruised to a confidence-building 7-0 victory.  Matt Sherman and Daniel Reiff had great days in the field and at bat while Dana Wensberg called a brilliant game behind the plate and Eric Rolfs anchored the infield beautifully.

At Pemi, something that we hadn’t seen in quite some time was brewing from the opening whistle of almost every contest.  The 13s swim team fell quickly to a very deep and talented Tecumseh squad despite great efforts from Cole Valente, Julien Webster-Hernandez ,and Jack Purcel1.  In 11s tennis, however, Pemi defeated Tecumseh 5-2  behind singles victories by Carson Hill, Jonah Roque, and Robert Loeser and doubles victories by Patterson Malcolm/Johnny Seebeck and Owen Fried/Jack Wright.   A talented Pemi 12s soccer team withstood some early Tecumseh pressure as a goal-saving tackle by sweeper John Galbreath and several tough saves by Will Harned kept the game knotted at 0-0.  In the second half, it was all Pemi as Charlie Scott jumped on a Jamie Nicholas cross and pushed the ball home for a 1-0 lead.  Nicholas would send Scott in alone for the second goal before scoring one of his own for a 3-0 victory.

While the 12s took care of business on the pitch, the 11s baseball team was locked into an incredible pitcher’s duel.  Oscar Tubke-Davidson struck out 15 of a possible 18 batters (outs) for Pemi.  Tecumseh loaded the bases in the top of the sixth when a high towering fly ball was lofted towards right fielder, Greg Nacheff, who caught the ball for out number three while falling to his knee.  Unfortunately, despite having the winning run on third base in three different innings, Pemi could not scratch home the winning tally and settled for an agonizing 0-0 tie.  In the last of the home morning events, the 13s Soccer team provided the Pemi faithful with a spectacular game.  Pemi scored first when Julian Webster-Hernandez sent a ball to Nick Bertrand in the box and Nick drove a shot to the upper-right corner for a 1-0 halftime lead.  With Ben Chaimberg, Zach Leeds, Charlie Parsons, and Nat Healy shutting down the potent Tecumseh attack, Nick Bertrand made the save of the day as he pushed away a Tecumseh free kick headed to the corner, preserving the 1-0 victory and sending Pemi into a 5-4-1 lead after the morning events.

Lunch at Tecumseh was unusually subdued as Tecumseh found themselves trailing Pemi for the first time in several years. Meanwhile, at Pemi, there was boundless confidence after the boys of Lower Baker went 4-1-1 in the morning and demonstrated they could c-o-m-p-e-t-e.   Each camp met with their respective age groups after lunch with the day up for grabs and encouraged their boys to dig a little deeper.

Any veteran of Tecumseh Day knew that our friends from Winnepesauke would answer Pemi’s challenge with incredible purpose.  At Tecumseh, our 15-and-under soccer team ran into one of their most complete and talented line-ups and quickly gave up four first-half goals.  Eric Rolfs provided the 15s with an inspiring effort in the second half, and the boys only conceded one more goal for a 5-0 loss.  The 10s tennis team lost handily 6-1, with Spencer Hill winning at first singles in convincing fashion for Pemi’s lone victory.

Back at Pemi, the 12s baseball team jumped out to a 5-2 lead after two innings, powered by John Galbreath’s two-run triple.  But Tecumseh scored five unanswered runs in the third and fourth innings, powering their way to a 7-5 victory.  On the soccer pitch, the 11s also found themselves down 2-0 at halftime after giving up an own goal and yielding to a carefully-placed shot on a breakaway.  Much like the 12s and 13s soccer teams that played in the morning, though, the 11s responded with an incredible effort in the second half.  After Wes Farley set-up Carson Hill for the first goal, Patterson Malcolm sent Ted Orben in on the left side and he hit a brilliant ball off the far post for the game-tying goal.   With the Pemi fans urging the boys forward, Jonah Roque nearly scored the game-winner when he headed a ball off the cross bar, but the team settled for an inspiring 2-2 tie.

Pemi’s effort in the 11s game was a marvel to all in attendance from both camps, but what transpired in the 13s tennis match was equally so.  Victories by Florian Dietel at number-four singles and doubles victories by Nat Healy/Ned Roosevelt and Mac McCaffery/Max Pagnucco tied the match at three apiece.  It was in this high-pressure situation that Jeremy Roque found himself in one of the great tennis duels since Bill Pruden and Mac Cushing came from behind to deliver “The Hat” in 1967.  Roque, a wiry French lad with the heart of a lion and the slyness of a fox, was up against an outstanding athlete and competitor from Tecumseh.  Each rally lasted an average of 25 strokes while both players were surrounded by vocal, respectful supporters lining the fences.  As the boys kept the ball in play conservatively on their way to an 8-8 tie, Jeremy read his opponent perfectly and changed his strategy once he sensed an ounce of doubt in the Tecumseh player, as he began to aggressively serve-and-volley his way to a victory in the final game.

With the 11s soccer draw and the 13s tennis victory, Pemi entered the final baseball game and swim meets of the day trailing by only one event, 6-7-2.  Any time the outcome of the day is in doubt heading into the last events on the schedule, the boys have clearly had an opportunity to participate in a transformative athletic experience.  Anyone fortunate enough to see our boys compete couldn’t help but gush with pride as Pemi put together one inspiring effort after another.  The 13s baseball team, behind the commanding pitching of Ned Roosevelt and the outstanding coaching of Ben Walsh, won a convincing 8-2 baseball game.  Great defensive plays by Zach Leeds, Nick Bertrand, and Charlie Parsons never let Tecumseh back into the game.  The 11s swam hard but fell to Tecumseh 40-15 despite excellent efforts from Noah Belinowitz, Carson Hill, Wes Farley, and Johnny Seebeck .  The 12s swim team, however, delivered an impressive 37-18 win behind dominating performances from Colin Alcus, Sam Grier, Harry Tuttle, and Alek Novikov.

With the score tied at 8-8-2, Pemi anxiously awaited the results from Camp Tecumseh.  The 10s and 15s both faced Tecumseh’s strongest age groups and were collectively 1-5 after three events. It would have been easy for both Lower Baker teams to fold in their last event of a very long day.  But something magical happened at the Tecumseh waterfront that ultimately epitomized the meaning of the day.  With every member of the Pemi contingent cheering the 15s and 10s to victory, the boys put on a spectacular effort.  The 15s kept the meet close until the very end, when Tecumseh’s power and depth allowed them to pull away for the victory, 34-21.  Max Livingstone-Peters, Danny Murphy, and Will Oberlander swam particularly well for Pemi.  Then, with the 10s trailing by one point heading into the final relay of the day with both the meet and outcome of the day hanging in the balance, the freestyle team of Spencer Hill, Gray Farley, Byron Lathi, and Jeff McKee delivered a legendary performance.   As McKee entered the water for the last leg of the race and day, the raucous Pemi crowd screamed encouragement in unison, and erupted with amazement and joy as McKee gave every ounce of his energy to beat his valiant Tecumseh opponent by .3 seconds, securing Pemi a 28-27 victory and a stunning 9-9-2 overall record for the day.

There were clearly plenty of individual heroes who scored big goals and runs or won crucial matches and races – or teams that found the magic to reach their collective potential – but by the end of the day we had all learned something about our camp family and what it takes to compete at the highest levels.  In fewer than two weeks since changeover, Pemi became incredibly unified and the boys were able to discover joy in an extremely competitive environment with a community that was 100% invested in their success and well-being.

That joy and that sense of accomplishment is still sustaining us, potent evidence that success is absolutely relative. Everyone would like to have come out unquestionably on top. But on balance, we have rarely seen an effort that so markedly exceeded what we might reasonably have expected – and one where the support from the sidelines so clearly had a positive and instrumental impact on the active participants. Our personal memory of Tecumseh Days stretches back over half a century, and this really was one of the great ones. ‘Nuff said.

– Tom and Danny

Well, after almost four weeks with hardly any rain to speak of, we’ve finally had what is passing in 2011 as an inclement day. Nothing especially lingering, just an evening and night of on-again-off-again showers and a day of even less aggressive precipitation. It’s hardly held us back at all in a busy week when that finds us preparing for our upcoming day of competition with Camp Tecumseh. Scads of teams practiced yesterday for one of the twenty contests scheduled against our perennial rivals (soccer, baseball, tennis, and soccer matches in five age groups), and three overnights headed off into the mountains. Seniors Alex Baskin, Sparky Brown, Max Borges, Nick Butler, Nathan Tempro, and James Richardson set off with Trip Counselors Sylvia Parol and Will Sargent for a challenging three-day in the rugged and remote Mahoosuc Range right on the NH/Maine border. Meanwhile, travelling to the base of Mt. Carrigain in the company of Sam Day and Richard Komson, were Lowers Andre Altherr, Nick Gordon, Kai Soderberg, Oscar Tubke-Davidson, Sam Berman, Kevin Lewis, and Nick Oribe, poised for an ascent of the mountain today. Not to be outdone by their older colleagues, Juniors Dean Elefante, Dashiell Slamowitz, George Cooke, Henry Jones, and Darren Mangan eagerly joined Jamie Andrews and Ryan Fauver for a five-mile jaunt along the Appalachian Trail, staying at the remote Ore Hill shelter (in the company, we’ve learned, of a good handful of Maine-to-Georgia through-hikers.) It warms this correspondent’s heart that, even in a week when Pemi becomes about as much of an “athletic camp” as it ever does, boys are still sufficiently committed to the full breadth of our program to sign up for trips like these. That a committed and talented athlete like Alex Baskin should jump at the chance to spend three days hiking just as Tecumseh Day approaches as quickly as the Maine border says a lot for him and for Pemi’s sense of proportion. Alex will play in multiple sports on Friday and play extremely well, but he’ll also have stored away some wonderful memories of backwoods adventure to savor over the coming months and years – perhaps long after he’s forgotten the score of the Fifteen’s soccer game

Speaking of Pemi’s broad program, herewith the promised report on the occupation program from Kenny Moore, Assistant Director.

The Pemi program is a machine to behold with many moving parts, levers, and pulleys.  Athletics, trips, nature, arts, music, and special events are all key components; however the main engine is our daily instructional periods called occupations, presumably named in the early years of camp as wholesome activities to occupy the boys’ time. Daily instruction is the hallmark of our system as the boys have the opportunity to try new activities as well as to hone a particular skill in one specific area.  Given intentional designing for such a progression, a boy can take Beginning Archery in the first week of occupations having never shot a bow and arrow and then, weeks later, progress to Advanced Archery shooting for his Bowman or Jr. Archer.  We offer over 70 occupations over four hours (periods) of instruction.  We have over 60 program staff to mix into the fold before assigning roughly 170 boys into their three and possible four hours of daily instruction.  In our fourth week of occupations this summer, 621 assignments were given to campers and 248 for the staff.  We love that ratio: approximately 1 program staffer to 2.5 boys, allowing us to offer excellent and personalized instruction in all areas, from athletics to nature to arts and music.  Our program staff, many of whom are professional educators, excel in direct instruction and are able to relate to each boy, whether they respond best to verbal instructions, to a visual or kinesthetic example, or to the chance to practice by themselves.  Overall, the boys respond extremely well to this custom-tuned model of teaching.

Below is a snapshot of one specific hour of instruction to further illustrate the depth and breadth of Pemi’s program.  As I traveled through camp during 3^rd Hour, I witnessed some remarkable examples of our excellent pedagogy.

In Mixed Media, Florian Dietl watched Deb Pannell’s sewing technique to adequately stitch together his Ugly Doll (a 3-Dimensional stuffed felt doll, designed and created by each artist.) Andreas Sheikh’s Ugly Doll was a strategic masterpiece, coming together after Andreas had carefully sketched a plan before he deployed the fabric scissors for non-traditional cuts.  Beware, parents, of many Ugly Dolls coming your way in a few weeks! Forewarned is forearmed.

In thirteen-and-older Lacrosse, Zander Buteux and Will Clare led a hearty group of ten boys in warm-up drills, working on direct passes and ground balls.  Ryan Murray and Cole Boland followed Zander and Will’s lead by calling, “Ball down!” effectively communicating to their teammates.  Next, Zander and Will explained the necessities of “dodging,” an evasive skill used to beat your defender in order to open a shooting lane; change of speed, body position, juke-move, stick control, etc. were all skills demonstrated and then gained by the attentive sudents.

Next, I was off to check in with Cory Fauver and Alastair Bowman in Environmental Sculpture, a relatively new occupation that stimulates  the boys’ creative juices to produce visually-pleasing and –arresting artistic concepts using natural elements.  At first, the boys worked in the Nature Lodge library, sketching the idea for the day.  Soon the group voted on a concept and a location, a fantastic collaborative venture!  By the end of the period, a concentric stick circle had been created behind the Woodshop that entices any passerby to stop and contemplate their natural existence in the alluring spirals of a kind of woody nautilus.

Speaking of the Woodshop, I couldn’t resist stopping in and seeing what Harry McGregor and his team were constructing.  Each boy (unfortunately participants must remain anonymous in case surprise gifts may be coming your way!) was thoroughly engaged, working with Harry on the sander or Adam Sandler with the wood burners.

In A Cappella, Dorin Delhs, Zach Barnard, and Mike Plecha were putting the final touches on their rendition of The Whiffenpoof Song, a classic everywhere from the Mess Hall in Wentworth to Louie’s Lunch in New Haven.  The energy and enthusiasm was inspiring, and as I observed them, Greg Nacheff followed Dorin’s lead in the Soprano section, while Daniel and Peter Traver helped Mike anchor the bass.  The choreography was as impressive as the singing, illustrating tremendous collaboration from a wide range of boys.

Our athletic instruction provides a clear example of the positive benefits of small ratios and direct instruction from knowledgeable and committed instructors.  In 13’s Tennis, Jeremy Roque received pointers from Alex Reese to perfect his serve, and after four attempts, showed remarkable progress. In 12-and-Under Baseball, outfielders worked on catching pop flies on the move – then planting, and throwing, in order to hit the cut-off man.  Jack O’Connor and Nate Blumenthal showed great range, always delivering the ball to the cut-off with pop, much to the delight of counselors Ben Walsh and Wesley Eifler.  Athletic Director and Northfield/Mt. Hermon boys’ varsity soccer coach Charlie Malcolm led the charge for the 10-and-Under soccer juggernaut with a precise progression of skill development and live-action practice throughout the week.  Initially, they opened up with a 3-versus-1 keep-away drill in a small grid, as the boys were encouraged to move without the ball to improve passing angles after watching Jeremy Keys’ and Ben Ridley’s flawless example.  After establishing critical passing triangles, Charlie increased the grid size and had the boys play keep-away 4-versus-2.  As the boys knocked the ball back and forth, their coaches prompted them to look for opportunities to split the two defenders.  The final practice progression had the boys playing a small-sided game of 4-versus-4, with two neutral players attacking and defending goals. This allowed the boys to have constant passing options if they continued to move the ball.  This progression yielded major dividends, as it was clear that the boys picked up and developed this vital tactical skill.

Whether it was Charlie’s instructional progression on the soccer pitch or the conclusion to the Environmental Sculpture occupation, having the boys end with a culminating, capstone project is essential for the success of any occupation.  The A Cappella group performance at campfire was a magnificent example to the importance of the culmination activity for the boys, as they felt a sense of accomplishment for their work put in during the week.  The learning atmosphere that occupations foster is the creation of the Pemi Program Machine, as every member of Pemi learns and develops individual skills as well as teamwork.  The final two weeks of occupations will no doubt produce the same results, and your boys should return home better for having been part of our program.

As a coda to Kenny’s portion of the newsletter, here’s a brief account of the recent Allagash Canoe Trip, penned by trip leader Andy Kirk. This is one of Pemi’s banner trips, and every year takes our oldest campers on a extremely ambitious odyssey through some of the least-developed areas of the Northeast. The outing requires a week’s worth of training in a trip-specific occupation; selection to join the crew is an honor; and the challenging experinence is usually one of the highlights of a Pemi career.

On Sunday, July 17, ten campers and two counselors (Andy Kirk and Sam Day) rose at 5:00 A.M. to embark on a four-day canoe trip down sixty-two miles of the Allagash Wilderness Waterway, a nature preserve reclaimed from a long history of logging and farming along its State-O’-Maine banks.  Great was the enthusiasm of campers and counselors alike, and they were unfazed by the seven-hour road trip to meet Katahdin Outfitters, who supplied us with canoes—and another three-hour drive through Baxter State Park (and within throwing distance of Mt. Katahdin) and numerous logging roads.

After camping at Churchill Dam, we got an early trial by fire in a set of Class 2 rapids, and the campers demonstrated the capsize-recovery skills they had learned from guest canoe instructor Doug Hill (Porter’s dad) the week before.  Ridley Wills and Dana Wensberg set the bar high early on with some powerful paddling even with some heavy loads.  Dana later showed ingenuity in repairing a tent, and his only trouble was with the Tabasco sauce that occasionally blighted his meals.  Rodrigo Juarez kept the humor up throughout the trip and was always a good source of conversation.  Brendon Armitage got right back to basics on this trip: work hard, sleep hard, sparing no effort during the day and wasting few opportunities for shut-eye in the afternoons.

The group was up early every day and made good time; all campers helped willingly with chores, particularly Tommy Tranfo, Dana Wensberg, Max Livingstone-Peters, and Sam Harrigan.  The latter two distinguished themselves in two others ways.  At the 1/3-mile portage around Allagash Falls, an older gentleman canoeing alone needed help with his canoe, and Max helped him out right away.  Sam, throughout the trip, regaled his companions with arresting observations and rhetorically posited philosophical questions.

The weather was pleasant, and there were many opportunities to swim and enjoy the northern flora as well as sightings of bald eagles, moose, and other fauna.  Snack stops were frequent—something of an ongoing dope stop [Ed.: ancient Pemi terminology for a post-trip stop for soda pop, formerly called by Granite Staters “dope”] —with Matt Sherman most often piloting the candy barge, the most important canoe, and one for which all travelers had pledged to give their lives to protect and rescue.  No harm came to the candy though it was all eventually devoured.  Sam Papel came through as a motivated mover at the portage, energetically pushing and dragging canoes, often single-handed and doing extra work along the way.  Dan Fulham astonished all as he hoisted one fully-loaded canoe on each shoulder, carried them most of the way, and heaved them the last fifty yards into the water, holding forth on the writings of Kurt Vonnegut throughout. [Shades of Paul Bunyan? We think Andy, a Harvard grad, may be exaggerating a bit here!]

All in all, the trip was a success, and Pemi Seniors demonstrated all the finest qualities of Pemi men.

That’s it for this week. Stay tuned for our next number, which will feature Athletic Director Charlie Malcolm’s account of Tecumseh. For now, enjoy the next seven days in your own little corner of summer.

– Tom and Danny

Download this newsletter as a PDF.

Greetings once again from Lower Baker, where we’re entering the second full day of 2011.2. Yesterday morning saw occupations getting quickly out of the blocks, and the afternoon re-started the trip program with a four-mile walk on the Appalachian Trail for some full season veterans, augmented by new arrivals Nathan Tempro, Will Jones, and Grady Nance.

Lower 1 and Senior 1 paddled across the lake for supper, while Matt Turner and Junior 5 found their way up to the Pemi Hill Shelter for the night. Today, as the heat wave that has been baking the Midwest slogs into our neighborhood, Lowers 4 and 6 will be dining al fresco, but I think we may cancel all Pemi Hill-ton reservations for the night. The prospect of successfully stalking Morpheus in a snug sleeping bag in these temperatures is daunting. The heat, though, won’t stop Andy Bale and Dan Reed from taking an avid group of nature photographers to scenic Franconia Notch to capture the beauty of The Basin and Flume on their (What is it now?) memory cards. We’re off to a good start.

Let’s devote the rest of this letter, though, to some special events in the closing days of the first session. 2011.1 boasted an excellent 3 ½ weeks, and it finished off in a blaze of engaging and sometimes innovative activity. We hear first from correspondent Dwight Dunston on two signal activities.

On Thursday, July 14^th, the entire Senior division went along with Reed Harrigan, one of the Pemi’s professional drivers, to Campton, NH, where we lent our services for the afternoon to the Campton Historical Society and to the Campton community. The CHS is a non-profit organization geared towards protecting the town’s heritage by obtaining and maintaining artifacts and documents and making these items available to the public. The group was split in two and tackled three jobs on the day. The first group, of which I was a part, worked at the Campton Town House to help prepare a flagpole for painting, sanding it down and removing all of the rust that had accumulated over the years. We also dug a fire pit that will be used to cook and store beans for the upcoming Home Day, a town-wide event featuring various engaging activities for the 3,000 residents of Campton.

Down the road from the Town House, a number of other campers went with Reed and Senior 3 counselor Alex Reese to help clear an area of the town that was once used as a collection point [“pound”] for lost sheep and other animals but that had become a bit overgrown of late. The group of about 16 boys did in 90 minutes what would have taken two people a full day’s work, and their effort contributed substantially to the task of beautifying this charming mountain town.

Although we missed rest hour for the day, it was wonderful to see the boys enjoying each other’s company while working towards completing a worthy goal for the day. Seeing how happy we made the people at the Campton Hostorical Society was a huge added bonus. Great work, boys, and what a way to have a positive attitude and impact on the community around us!

Amen! And now Dwight again, on a more purely recreational topic.

Thursday evening, forty-four members of the Week 3 comedy improv occupation gathered together to perform in front of the rest of the Pemi community in the 2011 Comedy Olympics. After participants split into two teams, blue and white, the comedy athletes played a host of improvisation games that kept the crowd roaring with laughter for a little over an hour. The blue team was captained by Senior Dan Fulham, while the white team was led by Senior Thompson Bain, and all of the campers came equipped with wonderful imaginations and well-stretched funny bones to entertain the crowd. Sean Denson, Jeremy Keys, and Dwight Dunston officiated the event, giving the audience a quick introduction to each game that was played. They even lent their own improvisation skills at times. In the end, the evening proved to be fun for both the athletes and the observers, and we hope to have a similar event during the second half. Great job everyone!

Friday saw Pemi’s annual visit to Camp Robin Hood for their storied multi-camp archery tournament. Coach Carlos Yeung – who in fact resides not far from Sherwood Forest – escorted a dozen stalwart long-bowmen close to the Maine border, where they acquitted themselves extremely well. While the overall results are not yet in, we were impressed that the 15s finished with a total of 1294 points out of a possible 1800 and the 12s with 1057 out of 1800. Top archers in each division were Nathaniel Kaplan (with a sizzling 262/300), James Richarsdon (228/300) and Luke Mawell (220/300) for the 15s; and Max Crummy (191/300), Dylan Cheng (187/300), and Kai Soderberg (182/300) for the 12s. As far as we’ve been able to determine, no apples were involved in anything other than a digestive role.

Saturday we were visited by roughly thirty-five families of full-season campers, who enjoyed a near-perfect couple of White Mountain days re-connecting with their sons, watching some spirited athletic competitions with Camp Moosilauke (we went 5 and 5 in the results department), patronizing some local eateries (including the ever-popular Fat Bob’s ice-cream emporium), and enjoying a lively and entertaining campfire. Sunday, for the first time ever, we asked the Seniors to organize a camp-wide activity for the hour when the parents said their good-byes. The thinking was to re-engage all visitees quickly and robustly in the camp program, and by all odds the ploy worked wonderfully, thanks to the commitment and energy of our oldest campers. Strikingly dubbed “SuperAwesomeDay DAY,” the event bore a vague resemblance to Pemi Week’s traditional Games Day, but as you’ll see, it bore eloquent testimony to the whimsy and imagination of our 14s and 15s. Here’s a rough outline of the events, as framed by the promoters. Ask you sons for details.

Frozen shirt race: James Richardson distributing shirts, Carl Pohlman blowing the whistle as Official Starter, Harry Cooke tabulating results. Materials: Frozen t-shirts (preferably short sleeve cotton with the owner’s name in it). Goals: The whole team will work together to unwrinkle a frozen t-shirt and put it on a team member. The first team to do so wins.

Sentence relay: Run by Sompy Somp and Zach Popkin. Materials: Markers, paper, space, clipboards x5. Goals: Each member of the team will run one by one with a marker out to a distant piece of paper. They will each write only one word on the paper in order to write a complete sentence. Speed, sentence completeness/grammar, and humor are rewarded.

Apple fork: [Not actually conducted through a wise judgment call by staff on implicit risk of mayhem, but worth mentioning as an example of the innovative thinking involved in the whole endeavor.] Materials: Apples, forks x (a lot). Goals: One member of the team will toss an apple to another member of the team. The receiving person is holding a fork and attempts to catch the apple by spearing it with the utensil. Each team gets 3 attempts to fill the apple with as many forks as possible. One attempt ends when the apple is not caught with the fork. Apples will probably become progressively more mangled as each turn goes on. Complete this one cabin at a time to minimize the need for forks and maximize the time it takes. [As we said, this contest was sensibly scrubbed – but we absolutely love the realistic assessment of the apple’s chances of surviving! Better chance with Robin Hood!]

n+1 legged race: Run by Carl Pohlman, Nick Pennebacker, and Nathaniel Kaplan. Materials: Rope, n people. Goals: Tie one leg of each individual together. Have them race against the clock through a course. [Made a traditional three-legged race look like Nureyev and Fonteyn in their most refined pas de deux!]

Group knot: Run by a gaggle of semi-sadistic adolescents. Materials: People. Goals: Have the team stand in a circle. Have each person hold the hands of somebody not standing next to them. Without breaking any handholds, have the teams untie the knot they’ve created. It always works! [Confidence is everything!]

Frisbee Toss: Run by a gaggle of hip and laid-back adolescents. Materials: Frisbees, trash barrels. Goals: Each individual from the cabin will attempt to throw frisbees into a trash barrel from different distances. Rate of success will be the criterion for victory. [NB – we encourage the boys to do the same thing with their trash.]

As with any innovative activity, there was a learning curve involved; and when we do it again, there may be some refinements. But for sheer inventiveness and public-spirit, the event was truly commendable and we expect to see a semblance of  SuperAwesomeDay Day come Visiting Week-end II, in August.

Sunday evening, as Division Heads Ted McChesney and Henry Eisenhart fired up the grills for the Sunday cook-out, Ryan Fauver gathered the Silver Cornet Band on the porch of the mess hall for the closest thing Pemi has to the Proms. As the boys lined up for their marinated chicken breasts and hot dogs, potato salad, etc., Ryan led his charges in forty-five minutes of compelling tunes. Jackson Smith reprised their slick solos from the Fourth of July vaudeville on alto sax and French horn – Jackson in John Coltrane’s “Blue Trane” and Miles in Robert Grabill Jr.’s Pemi-scribed “Wear Your Pemi Blues.” New to the musical spotlight, though, was Jivan Khakee on clarinet, rocking Grabill’s “Work It Out.” We doubt there are many other camps where, in a setting this beautiful with Mt. Carr glowing distantly in the setting sunlight, a full jazz band regales diners with American and home-grown classics alike.

Speaking of regaling, Ian Axness stepped to the front of the Lodge for that evening’s meeting, basically entitled “How I Stopped Being Bored by Slow Movements and Learned to Love Adagios.” Surely some of the folks in the room were already classical music fans. But for those whose tastes run to Coldplay and Adele more that Chopin and Albinoni, to have Ian admit that he had once been impatient with slow movements but then matured into loving them may have provided to many of us just the prod they needed to give the classics another listen – a good listen. Playing excerpts from Haydn’s Surprise Symphony and a handful of Beethoven sonatas, Ian parsed the slow movements, suggesting the images and connecting narratives one might hear in them. “The Moonlight Sonata,” for example, evolved almost Fantasia-like into the prospect of a moonlit lake with tiny waves lapping on the shore while a pair of owls hooted in response to one another, each sound represented by something insistent in the music itself. We’ve sat through any number of musical presentations on Sunday nights, and none have surpassed Ian’s in candor, imagination, or instructiveness. When the program closed with Ian at keyboard and Larry Davis on flute playing the adagio from Khachaturian’s Spartacus, visions of the weary warrior dreaming of his past exploits in a slow-motion dream surely danced in the heads of many.

Monday’s most festive event was our annual Birthday Banquet, replete with roast turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and all the rest of the fixin’s – Thanksgiving in July. As the title suggests, the meal affords us not only the chance to put a culinary capstone on the first session but also to honor all of those Pemi citizens whose birthdays fall while they are with us. Everyone gets a Pemi cheer on their actual birthday, but at the banquet all are celebrated with a decorative poster bearing their name hiung high in the rafters (Thanks for those to Deb Pannell) and a birthday limerick custom scribed by Ian Axness or Peter Siegenthaler. The latter were especially entertaining in 2011, and we offer the following Siegenthaler creation as an example.

One thing I share with Alan Garcia:

Without glasses, we hardly can see ya.

It works out in the end,

My bespectacled friend:

The girls love you and guys want to be ya!

Word! (as people younger than we seem to say for some reason.)

Finally, an account of Monday’s multi-camp track meet. Once again, the information comes from the thumb-drive of Dwight Dunston.

On Monday, July 18^th, fifty-eight track and field athletes loaded up in the Pemi van and bus and traveled an hour away to our rival sports camp, Camp Tecumseh, to take part in the annual Jim Gibbons Track Meet. The team was a bit short-handed in the Senior division, as 10 full-season seniors were away on the always anticipated Allagash Canoeing trip [on which more next week], but the Seniors present represented their age group well. Carl Pohlman, Sparky Brown, and Nick Pennebacker ran a very impressive 440yd race for the 14yr-olds, pacing the field before making a late charge to secure a 1, 2, 3, victory. Pohlman then took a quick break, hydrated, and hit the track again for the 880, once again coming in first. He also placed in the top 3 in long jump and high jump.

In the 15yr-old age group, Zach Popkin, James Richardson, and Alberto San Roman were the only representatives, and each had to double up on field and track events in order to make sure that Pemi had a chance to score some points. Popkin placed in the top 3 in the long jump, and Daniel Reiff, age 14, stepped up to compete with the 15’s in the shotput and put forth a valiant effort.

For the 13’s, Nick Bertrand and Ben Chaimberg took turns dominating both the track and field events as Bertrand placed 2^nd in high jump, and Chaimberg placed first in the long jump. Both boys medaled on the track with Chaimberg winning the 60m dash and Bertrand coming in among the top three in the 440. Nick Schiciano also ran in the 440 and placed in the top five. Ned Roosevelt was a presence in the shotput arena, placing in the top five on the day.

In the 12’s division, highlights include Thomas Bono’s first place finish in the 60-yard dash, Jamie Nicholas and Ben Williams taking first and second respectively in the 880, and a 4×200 relay team consisting of Charlie Scott, Jamie Nicholas and both Leo and Chris Schmitz. The relayers were unable to beat a strong Tecumseh team, but still took second. In the long jump, Thomas Bono once again struck gold while Jamie Nicholas claimed second. In the shotput, Bill O’Leary won by a margin of eight inches.

In the 11’s division, highlights include Patterson Malcolm’s 2^nd place finish in the 440-yard dash followed by his 3^rd place finish in he 880-yard dash.  Dylan Cheng had an excellent day as well, taking 3^rd place in the 440 and anchoring the 2^nd place relay of Patterson Malcolm, Nick Todalagi, Sam Berman and Dylan Cheng.  Sam Berman also had a 2^nd place finish in the 60-yard dash

Finally, for the 10’s, Diego Periel led the way with a phenomenal showing in the shot put, taking away 1^st place with a throw of 24 feet, which was a foot further than the second place finisher.  Jack Elvekrog threw 22 feet to come in 3^rd place for the shot put.  In long jump, Ben Burnham led the way with a 3^rd place finish.  The 10’s relay of Andrew Kanovsky, Ben Burnham, Robbie McDonough, and Jakey Cronin had an excellent run as well, taking 2^nd place honors.

Great job Pemi Track and Field!

We could go on with an account of session’s-end awards in the Lodge, or the hilarious final Bean Soup of the stanza, or Charlie’s Malcolm’s useful but equally hilarious talk about how to pack for departure in a way that doesn’t destroy the planet, or some allusion to the group of ten Seniors navigating the Allagash Waterway in Maine, or the Lowers treading another crucial section of the Appalachian Trail between Zealand Falls Hut and Crawford Notch – but let’s instead draw this epistle to a close with a simple nod to a session well-finished. Parents of both full- and first-session campers can look to receive reports from their boys’ counselors within a week or so.  Everyone else can look forward next week to a rich and informative  missive from Assistant Director and Program Head Kenny Moore on occupations. Until then, relish those adagios!

– Tom and Danny

We are currently enjoying one of the most spectacular  days of the summer – cloudless blue skies without a trace of humidity, mercury in the mid seventies, and a mild zephyr whisking down the pond with just enough gusto to raise four-inch wavelets. Perfect weather for being anything other than a duck.  In extolling today’s conditions, I suppose we’re running the risk of suggesting the other weather we’ve encountered hasn’t been particularly good. Au contraire! If every first session were blessed with the days we’ve been having, we’d count ourselves very lucky indeed. If the ratio of sunscreen applied to firewood consumed is an indication of a great year, 2011 is truly a great one.

Lots has been happening the past week, as some of you have no doubt been informed by your boys. Last weekend saw a very successful day of athletics with Camp Kingswood, our friends and rivals just over the hill. We fared very well in the Win-Loss columns, but more importantly everyone who chose to compete did so with heart and commitment, and they displayed the kind of sportsmanship that we extol and treasure. Occupations continue to be inventive and remarkably varied (more on this from Program Head Kenny Moore in two weeks). Rehearsals for this year’s Gilbert and Sullivan show, The Mikado, are beginning to promise some truly stellar performances come August. And the trip program is running flat out. Today, we have Lowers 5 and 7 up Mt. Cube for a day hike, Upper 1 continuing a four-day that began at Greenleaf Hut and is continuing over Garfield and the Twins, Upper 2 crossing the Franconia Range after spending the night themselves at Greenleaf, a group of Lowers wrapping up a three-day on Mt. Potash, Junior Tent and Senior 2 heading off across the lake by canoe this evening for some sylvan dining, and Junior 4 hiking up to the Pemi shelter for the night. As for our bid to traverse the whole of the Appalachian Trail within New Hampshire, by week’s end nearly 100 walkers will have logged roughly 100 miles of the 189 we’re aiming for. Several boys have over twenty miles under their belts (boots?), with Pierce Haley holding on to a slight lead over Crawford Jones. All very exciting.

The bulk of this newsletter, though, will cover two topics, one of them treating a broad component of the program, the other something relatively minor. We’re extremely proud of the both, however, and expect that you’ll appreciate hearing a little more.

First, a survey of the Music Program at Pemi, coming from its very heart and soul, Ian Axness, whom we’ve been lucky enough to have at the piano and podium for five years now.

Greetings, listeners and music-makers!  The first half of Pemi 2011 has already yielded a tremendous creative output from all sides of the visual and performing arts, and music is no exception.  We may not have the knitted hats or 8×10 prints or Adirondack chairs to prove it, but the harmonies drifting out over Lower Baker Pond have been top-notch.  Vocal rehearsals for The Mikado, this summer’s Gilbert & Sullivan production, are in full swing, and dozens of campers have already participated in music occupations, including Silver Cornet Band, A Cappella, and Soundpainting, a method of instrumental improvisation.  (Think sign language mixed with orchestral conducting, with a splash of free jazz.)  The A Cappella group has flourished under the direction of Zach Barnard and Dorin Dehls, and they performed a fantastic new arrangement of Doc Reed’s “Clam Shell Song” at Vaudeville, to the delight of all. Some boys— and even some counselors— decide to start learning piano at Pemi, and they may very well be playing Mozart or Coldplay or “Don’t Stop Believing” by the end of the summer.  In short, Pemi’s climate of musical enthusiasm and curiosity is alive and well.

At the most recent Saturday campfire, the Pemi community heard a poignant Modest Mouse cover from senior Dan Fulham and an original song by counselor (and M.A. candidate in poetry) Dwight Dunston, in addition to the latest ditty from the A Cappella group.  Counselor and Bean Soup editor Peter Siegenthaler also performed a song on guitar, accompanied by Bridgid Ruf on viola, and junior Eli Brennan led a rousing sing-along of Mess Hall favorite “Are You From Wooster?”  Counselors Sean Munck and Henry Eisenhart rounded out the music for the evening with instrumental solos on guitar and tenor saxophone, respectively.  The variety and quality of music at the campfire circle never fails to astound and inspire.  And speaking of astounding and inspiring, last Monday’s Bean Soup featured one of the best song rewrites in recent memory: “Teach Me How to Dottie,” re-written by Jeremy Keys and Dwight Dunston.  The accompanying dance moves will undoubtedly be remembered in Junior Camp for weeks to come.

As for my own playing, I can’t decide which venue I prefer: the Mess Hall (accompanying college fight songs and Pemi originals, sung with abandon by the entire camp) or Sunday Meeting (classical music, usually Beethoven, to ease the masses towards contemplation).  Fortunately, both are equally important in keeping alive the musical spirit of Pemi.

I can think of few spaces dearer to my musical soul than the main dining room of the Pemi Mess Hall.  My knowledge of the connections between music and health is limited, but I can say without a doubt that spirits (and, certainly, vocal cords) are strengthened as a result of Mess Hall singing.  In this way, music exists as a living record of tradition, just like the plaques and trophies that hang on the walls.  The unwritten call-outs, the pauses and ritardandi learned by rote and repetition, the Jones Junior High song— these are all a part of our shared Pemi musical foundation.  And this foundation, like the root system of a huge tree, is always growing slowly: a few weeks ago, on the first game day for the “Flagship” 15s Baseball team, Coach (and Director) Danny Kerr led an exciting double chorus of “Take Me Out to the Ballgame.” Just a few days ago, Tom Reed, Jr. added a second part to the end of perennial favorite “Mabel” which segues into the old American war song, “Over There.”  A startling contrast of styles and subject matter, but cohesive and exuberant nonetheless.

Sunday meetings, on the other hand, are an opportunity for the Pemi family to gather together in the Lodge and listen to words and music that speak to our collective spirit of personal integrity.  (Also a good excuse to wash up and wear a collared shirt!)  I’m always glad for this opportunity to expose campers to short pieces from the classical canon, be they Beethoven piano sonatas or Mozart flute quartets or Khatchaturian flute transcriptions.  This Sunday’s meeting will be all about music, in fact, as I attempt to illustrate the unusual creative merits of slow movements, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Adagio.  I’m hoping for a good audience jolt from Haydn’s Surprise Symphony.  The Sunday evening convocations are a wonderful time to experience the wordless, mystical imagination of the great composers.

Music is everywhere at Pemi, and it always has been: even now, as I write this article for the newsletter, I hear Taps being played out on bugle over the Intermediate Hill.  And then, seconds later, Taps in Junior Camp.  Played by a real person, not a loud-speaker.  This is unique— and it’s particularly special in today’s age of electronic music players and limitless digital sound manipulation.  Music at Pemi communicates feelings of joy and sincerity, performed and heard in a fresh, natural context.   And I’m glad to say that our central musical motivator is curiosity— the simple (and simultaneous) act of playing and discovering.

Many thanks to Ian for that richly descriptive piece. By the way, it has to be said that Maestro Axness is one of the most dynamic and inspiring music heads we’ve ever had at Pemi. It’s now hard to imagine a summer without Ian’s manifold contributions to the culture and joy of the community, given his dual role as musician-in-chief and Bean Soup editor. If any of you can give us a lead on a “winter job” that would leave him free to return to Pemi for decades to come, please, please, please do so! Seriously!

Now a word or two from another of our infectiously enthusiastic and talented staff members, Deb Kure – Associate Head of the Nature Program. Nobody brings more energy, knowledge, and enthusiasm to the task of teaching at Pemi, and Deb augments her contributions with her oversight of our Recycling Program. Here she describes a recent – and recurrent – initiative which she oversees.

5 A.M. on Saurday, July 9^th, found 12 campers being awakened by Assistant Counselor Wes Eifler and Nature Staffer Deb Kure to volunteer with the 30^th annual Prouty fundraiser. “The Prouty” typically involves 1,000 volunteers, 4,500 bicyclists, and $4.5 million raised for Cancer Research and Patient Services through Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, a good neighbor in Hanover, NH. Pemi boys host a SAG stop at nearby Mt. Cube Farm, providing food, water, and shouts of encouragement to riders 28 miles into the 100-mile route option.

Nick Gordon and Nathaniel Kaplan fulfilled the Community Service portion of their quests to become Pemi Braves, as Ezra Nugiel did for the start of his efforts towards being a Pemi Chief. Thompson Bain, Daniel Bivona, Harry Cooke, Rodrigo Juarez, Luke Maxwell, Sam Papel, James Richardson, Matt Sherman, and Ridley Wills volunteered for the sheer enjoyment of being involved with a local community event known for its team spirit, athleticism, and life-giving research value.

Our campers were in full production slicing fruit, mixing Gatorade, keeping water jugs filled, and making specialty sandwiches for hundreds of riders – for four hours non-stop. Nick Gordon “yelled” every rider up the ascent to the SAG station, shouting sincere encouragement and “Welcome to the Best Party on the Prouty!” for hours on end. Riders commented repeatedly that our stop is their annual favorite, and that Pemi campers make the best sandwiches on the Prouty!

We’re extremely glad to be able to involve our campers with such a spirited and worthwhile community event, planting the seeds of volunteerism for their years to come.

Amen. And thanks again to Deb for spearheading the effort. By the way, this editor drove Matt Sherman up to Mt. Cube Farm shortly after 8 AM, after Matt had graciously agreed to accompany a Junior cabin up Pemi Hill as a “big brother” for the night and had just come down the trail. As we approached the SAG stop, against a steady flow of very buff riders, the early morning sun lit the scene with magical clarity and sharpness.  Off to the right stood the lushly forested ridge of Mt. Cube itself, on an apron of which stands the farm. As I parked the van, I could see distant Mt. Moosilauke off to the north as clearly as though it were riding shotgun. I opened the door, and the chatter of the riders, milling here and there in their tight and bright attire, filled the air, punctuated by Nick yelling his greetings. There must have been 200 participants there at the time, and one could absolutely feel the force of their will and determination and collective spirit sweeping up everyone in their draft. To see Deb and Wes and the Pemi boys there, so clearly sensing the human nobility of the effort and equally clearly being appreciated by the athletes brought some moistness to the eye. We wish you could have been there. If your boy was, ask him to share. It was a rich experience.

With that we will close for the week. We look forward to seeing many parents of full-session boys tomorrow, in the first of our annual visiting days. Please, if you would, take a moment to review the Parents’ Handbook on “the drill.” Others of you we will see on Tuesday as you come to pick up your campers. We’ll be happy to see you but sad to lose your sons. They have been part of a wonderful first session and, while we wish them all the best for the rest of the summer, we hope equally to see them back soon. A bientot.

-Tom and Danny

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Well, our cozy little community of 250 has now been dwelling on the shores of Baker Pond for well over a week now, and the program is at full throttle. The weather has been extremely helpful – mostly sunny days in the mid-seventies and low eighties – and the lake has warmed enough that many of us are electing to continue our Polar Bears after the obligatory first week. We’ve enjoyed two days of athletics with our neighboring camps. Over fifteen trips have already been logged, with six more slated for today (Thursday), including a group of Seniors headed for the newly-renovated Madison Hut perched in a stony col at the north end of the Presidential Range. The Mikado has been cast, and rehearsals are underway. A second week of occupations follow hard on the heels of the first, with Deb Pannell’s hugely-popular art offerings setting a torrid pace for interest and productivity. The Beginners’ Caving Trip departed this morning for New York State for a tour of three separate caverns, an activity very rare in the camping world and certain to provide its participants with memories to last a lifetime. 2011 is well out of the gate and picking up speed in the first turn.

For the second Sunday meeting of the season, Danny Kerr manned the lectern for a talk entitled “Nothing Is Impossible,” based on his training for and successful finish of the New York City Marathon in 2005. Complete with charts of a sixteen-week training regimen and photos of the route and various participants over the years, Danny’s presentation gripped the room with its simple and direct messages. The journey is as important as the destination; if you want to get somewhere or achieve something in life, take the first step, commit yourself to the next one, and patience and persistence will ultimately deliver the goods. Danny then invited Senior Max Livingstone-Peters to the front of the room, and Max added to Danny’s examples with an account of his own battle with and triumph over nagging homesickness during his first season at Pemi. The third speaker was Trip Leader Sylvia Parol, whose participation in the Pemi West Mountain Leadership program in Washington State truly stretched her limits but quickly brought her to the same realization as Danny’s and Max’s. A number of striking photographs of Olympic National Park put the exclamation mark on a compelling evening that left no-one in the room missing an extremely useful developmental point: confidence and determination for young and old!

The Fourth of July celebration got off to a leisurely start with an 8AM reveille and 8:30 breakfast. After a hearty rendition of “My Country ‘Tis of Thee” (joined melodically  by our British staff singing “God Save the Queen”), counselors and boys headed back to the cabins to plan their floats for the annual Pee-rade. We honestly can’t remember  the results being any more creative and entertaining as your sons and their mentors mounted a dramatic procession that was half Kate and William’s wedding half Benny Hill.

As always, the Junior Camp led the way, three of their number (British counselors Ben Ridley, Alastair Bowman, and Matt Turner) marching in under the Union Jack in a convincing likeness of a Redcoat fife and drum corps. No sooner had they broken into “God Save the Queen” than the sound system thundered out the opening notes of “Born in the USA” – and the rest of Pemi’s “infant prodigy kids” burst in from every direction in their all-American gear, each of them gyrating in immaculately choreographed moves. It was like some opening ensemble spectacular on “Dancing with the Founding Fathers.”

The Lower Lowers featured L1 with a witty rendition of “The Night before Pemi,” with Andre Altherr starring as a first-time camper all snug in his bed while visions of Polar Bears danced in his head. L2 whisked us back to colonial and pre-colonial times to witness Columbus’s non-discovery of India and the first Thanksgiving, all accompanied by Robert Loeser singing “America.” L3 followed with the first of several “Jeopardy” take-offs of the day, also being the first to weave Danny’s “Nothing’s Impossible” speech into their drill. (It’s always nice to know the boys hear us, even if it’s not always clear they take us as reverently as they might.) L4 in turn evoked the longstanding (if utterly unfounded! We swear! Honest! Hope to die!) legend of Bakey, the Freshwater Shark, said to lurk in Lower Baker Pond. Played by Ben Williams with chilling verisimilitude, Bakey ultimately convinced all who doubted his existence that there is more in heaven and Lower Baker than is dreamt of in a naturalist’s philosophy. (First Hamlet allusion of the year, in case you’re counting.) The musical accompaniment? The Monkees’ “I’m a Believer,” naturally.

The Hill Tent led the way for the Upper Lowers with an unusually cerebral “Short Story about American Foreign Policy,” featuring Tristan Smith as John Adams crossing the Atlantic (aptly represented by a non-PBA Nalgene) to seek foreign favors. The skit took full advantage of Andrew Virden’s flawless French and Pepe Periel’s native Spanish to lend linguistic credibility to the story. Per Soderberg, as a gentleman from the Netherlands, offered up some Dutch to round out the language table. L5 uncovered the long-concealed truth about what really goes on at Pemi after Taps as, despite Nick Ridley’s Big Brotherish presence, the boys in his cabin conducted a lively late-night trade in black market goods, including chocolate milk swapped for two minutes of “Angry Bird.” L6 delved into Pemi’s past with a rendition of the first post-hike “dope stop” in 1919 (“dope” being then as it is now “New Hampshirese” for carbonated soft drinks) – only to follow with a decidedly Gangsta permutation reputed to reflect current practice and an avid craving for Monster. Wrapping up the Lowers was another “Jeopardy” clone, featuring Joe Robey as MC and asking stand-ins for Zander Buteaux, Fitz Steuber, Danny Kerr and the like, “What is the ideal reason for coming to Pemi?” Once again, Danny’s recent “Nothing is impossible” swam back into our ken, but the correct reason for being a camper turned out to be “To have fun, grow as a person, and do things for others.” [Editor’s question: Was last week’s Harrison “Paradise” Potts writing their material?]

Upper 1 tapped Americana with Thomas Bono as a hapless  Charlie Brown, moping through “the worst Fourth of July ever” while Miles Donnelly did a spectacular job rendering the appropriate “Peanuts” themes on French Horn. In what may be the most legally actionable skit of the Pee-rade, U2 then skewered Pemi’s reputation by presenting brutal tyrant Jamie Marshman as a counselor who forces his boys to do everything from taking Polar Bears in a bone-chilling lake to playing Frisbee-Running-Bases despite their being “covered with bruises.” As a last straw, this convincing simulacrum of a staff ogre read his charges to sleep thus: “And then the monster tore their heads off and fed them to the kids. Good night!” Yikes! U3 turned to recent Bean Soups for the latest number of “Gee Whiz, It’s News!” exploring the hypocrisy not only of Charlie Malcolm’s recent and totally unexpected concession that lacrosse is not “The Devil’s Game” – but also Danny Kerr’s alleged banning of peanut butter and sugary drinks in an attempt to horde all such delicacies for himself. U4 closed for the Intermediates with an inventive “Rap about the Pemi Kid,” which comically mined TRJR’s initial Sunday talk for various silly bits and pieces of Pemi lore.

The Seniors were as creative and risible as they have ever been. S1 set the bar impossibly high with what was, by our count, the day’s third evocation of Bakey the Shark. This time, though, the hideous aqueous creature, armed with huge, slathering jaws consisting of a blue Crazy Creek, devoured Danny Kerr and Tom Reed, Jr. before being vanquished by Nature maven Deb Kure (played by Thompson Bain with a bubbly effusiveness fully worthy of the genuine Deb). Bakey was then duly taken off to the Nature Lodge, no doubt to become part of the “What Is It?” contest. S2 followed with its own eye on tele-culture, presenting “Pemi’s So You Think America’s Got Idol Dancing with the Voice Stars Talent.” The so-called talent? Representations of the improv trio of Dunston, Keys, and Denson, Kenny Moore, Zander Buteaux and the like. Stealing the show, though, was TH Pearson as Jeff Greene, attributing his distinctive voice to having as a youngster been struck in the throat by a toad – and never sounding quite mellifluous since. S3 followed with its “Concise History of America,” featuring King George III (played with frightening tyranny and lunacy by Dan Fulham) dispatching Lord Jeffrey Amherst to the Americas not to found a highly selective liberal arts college but rather to slaughter the indigenous natives. (How squeakily post-colonial Pemi has gotten these days!) Best line of the skit goes to James Richardson as a falling Native American: “Ow! Bullets are my only weakness!” Finally, Lake Tent dipped into the history of the nation and the camp alike, representing the Founding Fathers morphing into the Four Docs and deciding that, while it may have been difficult to get everyone to sign on to The Declaration of Independence, putting one’s John Hancock to The Declaration of Pemigewassett was a no-brainer. Once again, the creativity and dramatic flair displayed by your sons was little short of breath-taking. We wish you could all have been here to witness it.

The 2011 resumption of the fabled Shrimps vs. Sardines baseball rivalry occupied the Juniors after Rest Hour. (Your humble correspondent captained the Sardines in 1958, while Pemi Board President Peter Fauver led the Shrimps. Plus ca change!) Lowers played Barrel Ball and Wiffle Ball, while the Uppers enjoyed assorted lawn games and the Seniors slicked up with sunscreen for a Beach Party. The highlight of the afternoon, though, was the dread Counselor Hunt, when our highly-paid and highly-educated staff flees from the Lodge to find a secure hiding place before hordes of paying customers seek them out like Jack Russells ferreting out a mole. Fun and harmless as it all is, there really is a place in your heart that is reached and racked as you hunker like some helpless critter sought out by waves of yelling boys. You should all try it some time.

Kudos for inventive evasion go to Corey Fauver, who shaved his mountain man-beard and donned female garb in hopes of escaping notice as anything other than a visiting bloomer girl. Unfortunately for Corey, the hunters had seen his “Year of the Beard” video on You Tube (half a million hits and counting – check it out) and knew what he looked like smoothly shorn. Meanwhile music instructor Dorin Dehls donned a Phillies cap and escaped the clutches of one camper who walked up to her, called her “Dude,” and then took her word that there were no staff members – male or female – in sight. So much did Dorin resemble a Senior camper that we’re tempted to send her dad a bill for tuition.

Once the ten minutes of chilling predation had ground ever so slowly to a close, the entire camp proceeded to the Senior waterfront, where the captured staff members were obliged to walk the plank on the high dive. Corey was a figure of Isadora Duncan grace as he fluttered towards the waves in his ankle-length chiffon skirt. First prize for the plummet, though, goes to Carlos Yeung, who backed out onto the very edge of the board before delivering a nearly flawless triple back flip, rarely seen and richly applauded by the boys at lakeside. In response to the constant and compelling calls for “Belly flop! Belly flop!” some wisely ignored the pressure, while others took one for the team, bobbing back to the surface amidst gasps and laughter and wild clapping. In sum, a good is vaguely chilling time was had by all.

Evening brought our second all-camp cook-out, and the entire camp family feasted on pulled pork and/or marinated chicken sandwiches while the sun once again painted the valley in warming tones of green. As Division Heads Ted McChesney, Henry Eisenhart, and others finally closed down the grill, the boys wandered towards the Lodge for our annual Fourth of July vaudeville. MC’d by Ian Axness and Corey Fauver (as fresh-faced now as George Stephanopoulos), it was a banner show, kicked of by the awarding of silver Revere bowls for those campers and staff for whom 2011 is their fifth summer at Pemi. This year’s cast is comprised of: Ian Axness, Thomas Bono, Daniel Bowes, Harry Cooke, Nancy Cushman, Ned Darling, Betty French, Oliver Kafka, Jamie Nicholas, Ezra Nugiel, Carl Pohlman, Zach Popkin, Daniel Reiff, Chris, Sargent, Will Sargent,  Nich Schiciano, Charlie Scott, Per Soderberg, Tommy Tranfo, and Andrew Virden. Now every one of them has an elegant and memory-inducing place to keep their spare change and thumb drives.

The show itself was an extremely entertaining one, launched by the first appearance of the year by the Silver Cornet Band, featuring camper soloists Miles Donnelly, Kevin Lewis, Jackson Smith, Ben Pinheiro, and Noah Belinowitz on Robert Grabill, Jr.’s “Wear Your Pemi Blues” and John Coltrane’s “Blue Trane.” Pounding out the rhythm was J2 camper Emmanual Abbey, for whom this was a first-ever performance on percussion. The show-stealer for serious acts, though, was Thompson Bain, whose smooth and assured rendition of Weezer’s “Island in the Sun” brought down the house. We knew Thompson had a guitar, but none of us had a clue of the vocal and instrumental talent he brings from the West Coast. As always, the evening was brought to a rockingly hilarious close by an appearance of “The Little People” – you know, arms as booted feet and your buddy behind you as arms – with Will Clare and Zander Buteux as the hapless demi-Hobbits variously eating, shaving, and brushing their teeth while (behind them under their ponchos) Henry Eisenhart and Ben Walsh did their best to gag them for the public good. Clean-up lasted longer than the act, but the impact made the mayhem well worthwhile. We’d bet a good dozen boys in the audience resolved to return to Pemi as staff simply in order to take up the torch as the next generation of Little Folk.

Well, that seems enough to have said about an especially solid week at Pemi. As noted, the program has really picked up momentum, and the few cases of minor homesickness we witnessed for a few days have dissolved into laughter and smiles and the sweaty brows of active boys. More in seven days or so.

Staff bios were posted on the Pemi Blog, and if you’re one of the savvy, you’ll have subscribed to the blog by now (see the upper-right corder of the page), so that these epistles and other postings of note are delivered straight to your inbox.

– Tom and Danny

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Photo © Jim Mauchly

Pemi’s greatest asset has always been the remarkable staff that dedicates itself, each summer, to making the Pemi experience rich, unique and nurturing for each boy, and this summer is no exception. While for a few of the staff this is their first summer at Pemi, the vast majority has years and years (and in some cases, years and years and years!) of experience on the shores of Lower Baker. We are grateful for their dedication and work ethic, impressed by their multitudinous talents, and humbled by their dedication to Pemi.

Cabin Counselors

J1— Zach Barnard: I just finished my Sophomore year at Boston University, where I am pursuing a degree in Ethnomusicology. I can’t wait to get involved with the Nature program, as well as return to the Music program, potentially bridging the two disciplines to create some great interest among the campers. I’m excited to be a member of the Pemi family once again!

J2— Ben Ridley: I am from a small town called Hexham in the North of England.  This is my first summer at Camp Pemigewassett and I am looking forward to teaching music, art, and different sports activities, including track/field, rugby, soccer and swimming.

J3— Jeremy Keys: I’m from Downingtown, PA and just graduated from Dickinson College in Carlisle, PA where I took part in many activities from running on the Track Team to doing Improv comedy and singing with an A Capella group.  This is my second year at Camp Pemi in the Junior camp.  I hope to coach come soccer, basketball and track, to teach some music and help the Junior Campers have a good time at camp and develop valuable friendships with other campers.

J4—Alastair Bowman: I’ve spent most of my life in Scotland where I have just finished my first year at University of St Andrews studying philosophy and psychology. This will be my second season at Pemi as a counselor where I will be involved in the music and nature programs. My aim this year is to help and encourage the campers to try new activities.

J5— Matthew Turner: I am from Birmingham in the UK and am currently studying Law at the University of Nottingham. I will be teaching in Pemi’s nature program and assisting with trips as well as serving as a cabin counselor. I want to make sure that the campers have a really great time at Pemi, as they learn and try new things, have fun, and develop as individuals.

J6—Zander Buteux: I grew up in Madison, NJ and am entering my Senior Year at the University of Denver. This is going to be my ninth summer on the shores of Lower Baker. As a lacrosse and soccer coach and as an art instructor, I hope to be a link between the arts program and athletics.

JT— Conner Scace: I just finished my first year as a graduate student working with Dr. Larry Davis at the University of New Haven and currently live in West Haven Connecticut. This will be my second year as a nature occupation instructor and camp counselor. Last year I ran insect occupations (with a particular interest in the ant occupation) as well as basketball occupations and was a Junior basketball coach. This year I would like to add Mound Builder Ant and Ant Lion activities to the insect occupations.

L1— Dan Reed: I grew up in Carlisle, PA, and enjoyed 2 academic years in Christchurch, New Zealand. I am a rising sophomore at Middlebury College, where I am focusing on Geology but am enjoying an array of other subjects.  This will be my 19th summer at Pemi: eight summers as director’s son, eight as camper, one at Pemi West and two on staff.  I hope to teach photography, nature, archery, and some tennis, and I look forward to another great summer.

L2— Henry Eisenhart:  I’m from Natick, Masschusetts and am a rising senior at St. Lawrence University.  There I am majoring in Environmental Studies and minoring in Music.   This is my ninth summer at camp and third on staff.  This summer I’ll be the Lower Division Head, and will spend time teaching athletics and music.  Pumped for a great summer.

L3—Sean Munck (Co-counselor): I am a native of Carlisle, Pennsylvania and am a rising sophomore at the Schreyer Honors College of Penn St. University.  This will be my first season at Pemi.  As an instructor, I will focus on wood shop and the music department, but I will also be assisting with various other occupations.  I really hope to teach guitar to as many campers as possible, and I am very excited for the season to begin.

L3—Robert Kerr (Co-counselor): this is my first summer at Pemi.  I am originally from outside Philadelphia but my parents recently moved to Keene, NH.  This winter I will be a sophomore at Colorado College.  Some of the areas in which I will be working this summer include Baseball, Arts and Sailing.  I am super excited for this summer, and cannot wait to meet all of the campers.

L4— Charlie Shiverick: I graduated from Colgate University last spring where I studied Mathematics and spent this past winter in Vail, CO operating a Snocat. This will be my sixth summer at Pemi, and my second as a counselor. This summer I hope to be helping out on the waterfront, as well as coaching baseball, and teaching waterskiing.

HT— Peter Siegenthaler: from Providence Rhode Island.  I’m a graduate of Roger Williams University, where I studied Photography and Art History.  Fourth summer on Staff; instructor in Nature and Arts; Emergency bugler.

L5—Nick Ridley: I am back for my 3^rd summer on the staff this year.  I knew immediately after camp closed last year I’d find it difficult to stay away.  I live in the UK. Chemistry at Edinburgh University, however I’ll be in the states until August 2012 completing an internship in Chicago with the Ridgley Company.  I’ve have really enjoyed the relationships I’ve built with the boys in my cabin in the past.  I can’t wait to get going with the guys in L5 this summer

L6—Willy Rittling: I live in Boston MA and am a rising sophomore at Clarkson University. This will be my 6^th year at Pemi including Pemi West. I will be helping out in the woodshop and windsurfing. This year I hope encourage campers to try new things and get everything possible they can out of Pemi.

L7— Will Clare: I am from Manhattan, New York.  This is my 11^th summer at Pemi.   I am 21 years old and am looking forward to another great summer teaching Lacrosse, Waterskiing, and a variety of other sports.

U1— Fitz Stueber: I’m a native of Cleveland, Ohio. This is my 7th season, 2nd on staff. I am going into my senior year at Washington & Jefferson College where I am on the Mens Soccer Team. With the skills I have acquired over the years, I will be teaching soccer and other athletics this year along with anything else I can help out with. Creating a fun and interesting summer for the camp community is my main goal for this year.

U2— Sean Denson: I live in Clementon, NJ and am a rising senior at Dickinson College in Carlisle, PA. I am excited for my first summer at Pemi, where I will coach campers in Track and Basketball, my two favorite sports. I hope to help each camper realize his full potential.

U3— Ted McChesney (Co-counselor): I am 22 years old, from Richmond, VA, and just graduated from the University of Virginia (and am looking for a job.)  This is my 11^th summer at Pemi, 5^th on staff.  This summer I will be the Upper Division head and involved primarily with the sports program.

U3—Galen Ryan (Co-counselor): I was born and raised in Riverside, IL and I am now a rising sophomore at Carleton College in Northfield, MN. This will be my first year at Pemi and I am looking forward to it. I love to swim, play ultimate Frisbee, and lead an energetic life in general. My goal for the summer is to teach campers the importance of leading an active life.

U4—Ben Walsh (Co-counselor): I am excited to spend my 10th summer at Pemi; this will be my 4th on staff.  I am a rising Sophmore at Carleton College where I played on the Soccer and Baseball teams and did homework on occasion (you can take this last part out).  This summer I hope to share my appreciation of camp with campers old and new.

U4—Carlo Yeung (Co-counselor): I’m from Newcastle in England, and graduated from the University of Essex last year where I did Sport and Exercise Science. This is my first time at Pemi and in the U.S.  I’m a specialist table tennis coach but what I really love is Xtreme martial arts and mental stunts.  I hope to inspire the kids to do something they would never normally do.

S1—This will be my twelfth season at Pemi, including Pemi West. I will be the head of the windsurfing program this summer, in addition to coaching soccer and ultimate Frisbee. I’m a rising senior at Carleton College. “This year I hope to assist the senior campers in taking leadership roles across camp.”

S2— Sam Johnson: I’m from the South East of England, and just finished my final year at the University of East Anglia in Norwich where I studied History and International Relations. I play several sports including soccer, field hockey, and golf, and I like to think I am a pretty good table tennis player too! This summer I will coach soccer and help out with drama, and I hope to share some British culture along the way. My goal is to teach kids new skills as well as to encourage them to learn from one another, and doing so, experience the reward that comes from helping others.

S3— Alex Reese: I grew up in Wyomissing, PA and will return to Johns Hopkins as a junior next fall. This is my 9th summer at Pemi, 4th on staff.  I look forward to spending lots of time on the tennis courts preparing for Tecumseh Day.  Among my goals are to enable each boy to maximize his experience, to find new avenues for returning campers, and to welcome first-year campers into our rich and diverse community.

LT— Dwight Dunston: I am originally from Philadelphia,PA.  I recently returned to America from Norwich, England where I completed an MA course in Creative Writing. This will be my third consecutive summer at Pemi. I will be coaching basketball and track, and I also will be leading poetry and comedy improvisation occupations. I hope to once again provide an exciting and safe atmosphere for the campers, where they are in the best position to learn from counselors, and also from each other.

Assistant Counselors

J1— Jay McChesney: I am from Richmond, Virginia and recently graduated from St. Christopher’s High School.  I am 18 years old and I play squash and Lacrosse,. In the fall, I will attend school just a few hours from here, at the University of Vermont.  This is my 8^th summer at Camp Pemi and I’m very excited for the upcoming season.

J2— Adam Sandler: I am 18 years old, from Westchester, New York.  This will be my 9^th summer at Pemi, and my second summer as a staff member.  This summer I look forward to contributing in lax world, on the waterfront, in the art program, and with frisbee.

J3—Wesley Eifler: I grew up in New Canaan, Connecticut and this will be my 9th summer at Pemi. I just graduated from Choate Rosemary Hall, and will be attending American University where I will be studying journalism. My goal this summer is to coach baseball and instruct in sailing and photography. I also hope to promote everything Pemi has to offer.

J4—Andrew McChesney: I am from Millburn, NJ and I will be a freshman next year at Trinity College. This will be my 6th year at Pemi and my second on staff.  My goal this summer is to teach sailing, lacrosse and to help the campers have the best summer possible.

J5—Richard Komson: I am from New York City, just graduated from Loyola High School, and will attend Boston University in the fall. This will be my 9^th season at Pemi and my second as assistant counselor. I will be doing the majority of my occupation and work as part of the Nature staff and will also be part of the archery program and help the physical fitness occupations. As an assistant counselor I hope to aide on a few trips as I also went to Pemi West two years ago.

J6—Mike Plecha: I will teach basketball, baseball, soccer, and swimming, A capella, and anything else I am asked to help with.  I graduated this spring from Lake Ride Academy in North Ridgeville, OH, and will be studying Music Industry at Northeaster University in the fall.  As a first-time counselor at Pemi, I am excited to work with the wonderful kids and staff that make this camp special.

L2—Charlie Pannell: I’m from Tiburon CA and will attend UMass Amherst in the fall. This summer I’ll teach in the Nature and Art programs, help drive the ski boat, and serve as lifeguard. I’m looking forward to an awesome summer.

L4—Ryan Fauver: I’m from Chatham NJ and will be a freshman at Skidmore in the fall. I’m the camp bugler and will be teaching music. I’m very excited for a great summer.

L5— Payne Hadden: I am 17 years old and grew up in Weston, MA.  I am currently enrolled at St. Paul’s School, a boarding school in Concord, NH, where I will be a senior in the fall. Though this is my ninth summer at Pemi, it is my first on staff.  I am excited about helping out with the lacrosse, soccer basketball and swimming programs.

L6— Andrew Brummer: I live in Chatham, NJ and I am a rising senior at Newark Academy, where I play Varsity Soccer and Tennis. This will be my 8th summer at Pemi. This summer, I hope to help instruct campers in tennis, soccer, and swimming as well as encourage them to try something new in an unfamiliar field.

Bridget Ruf: I’m from Southport, CT and this will be my third summer at Pemi. I just finished my first year at Wellesley College, and I am looking forward to teaching music occupations, performing at campfires, and spending time in the junior camp. I’m excited to be back again this summer and hope to encourage the campers to take advantage of all the opportunities at Pemi.

Kelsey Wensberg: this will be my third year at Pemi.  I am from Darien, CT  and will be attending Villanova University in the fall.  This year I will work in the art and music departments, and will help out with swimming and various other occupations. I am looking forward to an amazing summer with the boys and can’t wait to see how this season unfolds.

Olivia Walsh: My family lives in New Canaan, CT but I go to boarding school in Northfield, MA (NMH). I just finished my Junior year there and am beginning the college search process. This is my second summer at Pemi as an assistant counselor (though I don’t live in the cabin) and I join two of my brothers. I look forward to spending time on the waterfront teaching sailing and swimming, as well as playing soccer.

Trip Leaders

James Andrews: I grew up in Columbus, OH, and will be entering my senior year at Kenyon College. This will be my 13th season at Pemi, and third year as a trip counselor. Going on hiking trips with Pemi as a camper made a huge impression on me, and I hope that I can continue to teach younger generations to enjoy the outdoors.

Sam Day: This is the first time I’ve ever been to the USA! I grew up near London and study History at the University of Leeds. My life’s passion is travelling and adventures; I travelled the world last year and am a trip leader this summer. My goal over the next few months is to share new sights and experiences with like-minded, adventurous campers at Pemi.

James Finley: I am an instructor and doctoral student at the University of New Hampshire, studying American Literature. This will be my seventeenth summer at Pemi and while I regret that my time here will be limited, I’m looking forward to leading the Katahdin trip, fifteen years after climbing it as a camper.

Sylvia Parol- I’m from Worcester, MA and I just finished my first year at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. I’m studying Interactive Media & Game Development and I also play on the Varsity field hockey team. I attended Pemi West in Olympic National Park in Washington two years ago. I’m very excited to be a trip leader this summer. I hope to foster a love of the outdoors and backpacking in campers and to have a lot of fun!

William Sargent: I am from West Hartford, CT and just finished my freshman year at Union College.  This summer I will be a Trippie.  I am very excited to take campers out this summer to hike in and explore the White Mountains.

Program

Ian Axness (Head of Music):  I will be teaching piano, ensemble improvisation, and Gilbert & Sullivan occupations this summer, in addition to accompanying singing in the Mess Hall, auditioning acts for Campfire, and writing/editing Bean Soup.  Born and raised in Los Angeles, I attended Oberlin College and moved to New York City, where I work as a freelance pianist and music director.  I’m currently doing a close reading of Beethoven’s 32 piano sonatas— plenty of material for Sunday meetings! This will be my fifth summer at Pemi.

Andrew Bale:  I was born in Hummelstown, PA and I am a fine art photographer and photography teacher.  I became a photographer because a teacher challenged, inspired and encouraged me to see the world differently through the lens of a camera.  It is my goal to pass along that same creative eye to campers.

Deb Kure (Associate Head of Nature Programs): After studying Geology at the University of Rochester and learning how to teach kids in the outdoors— at Pemi’s first Nature Instructors’ Clinic in 1993—I’ve been grateful to have taught outdoor science in rural, urban, and wilderness regions, all over the US. I currently live in Austin, Texas, and teach with Camp Fire USA, but I’ll take moose over armadillos any day!  Glad to be back for my fourth summer with Pemi!

Larry Davis: Director of Nature Programs and Teaching. A.B., A.M. in Earth Sciences, Washington University in St. Louis. PhD in Geological Sciences University of Rochester. Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of New Haven. This is my 42nd year on Pemi’s staff. Flutist, caver in chief, wild foods chef, collector of waterfalls, lover of all things “natural.”

Dorin Dehls: I am from Woodstock CT, and I am very excited to student teach in the fall as a Music Education major! This will be my third summer with Pemi, and I am so happy to return as a member of the music staff. In the past I have worked with the Gilbert & Sullivan productions that are performed at Pemi each year. I can’t wait to start working with the rest of the camp staff and the talented boys coming to camp this year as we prepare for The Mikado!

Emilie Geissinger: I grew up in Darien, CT but now live in Bismarck, ND. I am a rising sophomore at Bates College where I study Biology, swim, and play water polo. This is my first summer at Pemi and I will be working on the waterfront as a swim instructor, sailing instructor, and lifeguard.

Jeff Greene: (Director of Tennis). This is my 13th consecutive summer at Pemi. I first coached at the high school level in 1985, and then went on to coach at the intercollegiate level for 20 years. During the winter, I teach tennis at Queens College and during the spring and fall, I run an after-school tennis program in Westchester County, NY. Described as having “a distinctive raspy voice and a unique sense of humor,” I am always on the lookout for Pemi’s next tennis star, but enjoy teaching and encouraging campers at all skill levels.

Harry MacGregor (Head of Shop) – I grew up in Lowell, MA and for the last 30 years have lived in Canaan, New Hampshire.   I have had a long career in commerical, industrial and residental construction.   I have owned my own business focusing on custom woodworking.  My focus at Camp Pemi will be to bring my knowledge of woodworking to the campers.

Brian Mitchell: I will be returning for my 12th summer at camp where I have had the opportunity to serve many different roles.  This summer I will be back to help coach soccer and lend a helping hand where ever it is needed for two weeks in July.  I recently completed my seventh year of teaching and my second at The Boys’ Latin School of Maryland.  At BL, I am the 9th Grade Dean, I teach Upper School Mathematics and I coach both soccer and lacrosse.

Ken Moore – Assistant Director and Head of Program Born and bred in Lakewood, Ohio, I teach 9th grade history at Lake Ridge Academy where I also serve as Director of Alumni Relations.  This is my 19th summer at Pemi, some as a boy, counselor and Division Head, and more recently as Waterfront Head and this year taking the role as Head of the Mess Hall, Head of Program and Assistant Director.  My BA is from Kenyon College and my MAED is from University School’s Teacher Apprentice Program.  My primary goal for the summer is to create an instructional program that allows our boys to try new activities as well as to learn and develop specific skills in a specialized area.

Deb Pannell (Head of Arts): I am delighted to be teaching art at Pemi this summer! I live with my husband, Jim, and our sons in Tiburon, a small town north of San Francisco where I teach elementary school. I am the mother of Ethan (13), a Pemi camper, and Charlie (18) a Pemi counselor. My goal this summer is to get to know every single boy at camp and to involve as many boys as possible in the creative fun that will be taking place in the art studio.

Abby Reed (Co-Head Junior Camp): I’m from Carlisle, PA, and just graduated from Middlebury College. In the fall, I’ll be attending a master’s program in literature at the University of Cambridge. This will be my (7th?) summer at Pemi, including Pemi West. In addition to being co-head of the Junior Camp, I also will teach swimming and nature.

Paige Wallis (Head of Swimming): I grew up in Norwich, Vermont and will be a senior at the University of Vermont this coming fall. I spent the past semester studying abroad at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. This will be my second summer at Pemi and my first year as the head of swimming. This summer my goal is to encourage and inspire campers to develop  their skills in and out of the water.

Johanna Zabawa (Head of Staff, Co-Head Junior Camp): I’m from Afton, Minnesota and work as a family support worker at the elementary school in West St. Paul, MN.  This is my 7^th summer at Pemi.  I’m looking forward to a new role as Head of Staff along with continuing as Head of Junior Camp.

Photo © Jim Mauchly

New this year: Order cabin photos, the all-camp photo, and the staff photo directly from Mountain Graphics Photography.

No more photos stuffed into duffles and coming out crumpled at the end of camp! We now direct you straight to the web site of professional photographer and longtime Pemi friend, Jim Mauchly of Mountain Graphics Photography. Jim has been photographing Pemi’s cabin and group shots for 23 consecutive years, since 1988.

Order your 5×7 cabin photo, 11×14 all-camp photo, and 8×10 staff photo online by clicking on the link above.

Enter: Event Name: pemi / Password: pemi (case sensitive)

Order online by 7/18 to receive discounted pricing (plus shipping).
Orders will arrive by the end of July/early August:

• 5×7 cabin photo: $4.00
• 8×10 staff photo: $6.00
• 11×14 all-camp photo: $9.00

After 7/18, photo prices (plus shipping):

• 5×7 cabin photo: $8.00
• 8×10 staff photo: $12.00
• 11×14 all-camp photo: $18.00

Pemi parents “in the know” will visit Jim’s studio, photo gallery, and custom frame shop in nearby Fairlee, Vermont when they are near Pemi. Consider visiting his online galleries of stunning landscapes and wildlife when you’re looking at the cabin photos, and stop by in person when you’re in town. In addition to the annual group shots, Jim also has photographed Pemi’s Gilbert and Sullivan production a number of times, as well as various sporting events. He was on hand at Pemi’s 100th celebration to record the events and has created aerial images of camp. In 1999, while living in Colorado, Jim actually flew back for the specific purpose of shooting cabin photos! To read about Jim’s professional background, click here.