Archive for the 'The Arts' Category

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.

Thank you for your patience in waiting for this last of 2011’s newsletters. We closed just a week ago, and the days since have been filled with putting the camp to bed for the winter, a staff banquet and farewells, a wonderful memorial gathering for Tom Reed, Sr., the 29^th annual Rittner Run, board meetings, and closing up the kitchen. This, too, hard on the heels of Pemi Week, with its tennis, soccer, triathlon, pentathlon, swimming, and archery championships; Games and Woodsdudes’ Days; two performances of The Mikado; the final Art Show; a lavish awards banquet; the final Bean Soup (at which counselors Jeremy Keys and Nick Ridley shared the coveted Joe Campbell Award), and the final Campfire – not to mention packing for travel home. It was a hectic but most satisfying close to a banner season. We wish we could recount all of the specifics here, but time and space militate against that. We’ll content ourselves, instead, with reproducing the approving review of the Gilbert and Sullivan show – recommending that you grill your sons for information on everything else. (Assuming, that is, that they haven’t already cornered you and delivered the goods with the tenacity of the Ancient Mariner.)

Clive Bean Reviews The Mikado

Jeremy Keys as Katisha

This year’s G &S production, The Mikado, opened triumphantly on Tuesday night last before powering to a tie for the longest run ever by a musical drama in the Pemigewassett Opera House – two. This reviewer honestly can’t recall a production that packed more energy and polish than this one, as the large and well-drilled cast rocked the stage with their dramatic fervor and melodic panache. Stealing the show was first-time leadJeremy Keys as the bloodthirsty femme fatale, Katisha, whose aggressive taste for younger men makes Cougartown look like Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood. JK’s powerful falsetto and over-the-top antics served notice that if Lady Gaga ever hangs up her act, Jeremy is the right man to slip into her meat mini-dress. Katisha more than met her match, though, in the Lord High Executioner, Ko-Ko, played by veteran lead Jamie Andrews. Ko-Ko’s reprehensible ethics, stretching all the way from bribery to lying to marital opportunism, doesn’t speak particularly well for the moral qualities of Jamie’s college, Kenyon – but no-one on the stage threw himself into a role more thoroughly than Andrews, whose ear-splitting screams of anguish and despair must have been practiced on especially tough days on the trip program.

Thompson Bain as Pish-Tush

Thompson Bain was smooth and professional as Titipu elder Pish-Tush, proving that his chops aren’t limited to Weezer and Eagles covers, while Sam Day and Zander Buteux took a walk on the wild side by donning lipstick and ladies’ clothes and nailing their roles as two of the Three Little Maids from School, Peep-Bo and Pitti-Sing. Sam more than evidenced his extensive university background in musical theater, complementing a solid vocal performance with some stunning acting. And Zander’s mom, who caught the second show, confessed that she might actually prefer her number one son as a girl. Larry Davis excelled as Pooh-Bah – a corrupt and arrogant official who allows that he “was born sneering.” Rumor has it that there were opposition-party operatives in the audience who were so impressed with Larry’s dramatic style that they approached him after the show asking if he was interested in a presidential run in 2012. Larry’s response was evidently unprintable. Tom Reed, Jr., was predictably type-cast as the unhinged and malicious Emperor of Japan and managed to scare everyone in the Opera House except his fawning lackey Peter Siegenthaler, whose innate fear of his master was overcome by bribes of candy.

Zach Barnard and Dorin Dehls

The romantic leads were played splendidly by Dorin Dehls, as the curiously named Yum-Yum, and Zach Barnard, as imperial runaway Nanki-Poo. Dorin brought truly professional vocal skills to the part – as impressive as this reviewer has ever heard in this venue – but added to her triumph with as nuanced and convincing an acting job as could be imagined. Meanwhile Zach – who supplemented his stage work with hours and hours of tireless work behind the scenes – presented Nanki-Poo with the vocal perfectionism we’ve come to expect of him and an understated dramatic flair that was perfect for the part of the only sane man in the whole pack. The two worked the charming kissing duet with unmatched timing and wit, turning what is sometimes one of the awkward and cloying moments of the show into a true highlight.

The chorus of schoolgirls

When all is said and done, though, it was the choruses who set the standard for the performance and sustained the energy throughout. Andre Altherr and Robert Loeser were camper stand-outs in the girls’ chorus (as anyone who’s been to campfires won’t be surprised to hear), while Sylvia Parol burst onto the Pemi dramatic scene with some remarkable singing and acting. Meanwhile, Ted McChesney, cast as the biggest girl, Mutton-Chops, got into his role so thoroughly that days later he’s still mincing around camp giggling. On the Noble side, Dan Fulham filled the stage (literally!) with his dramatic flair and booming baritone, while Dan Bivona annoyed the heck out of everyone with a laugh that sounded like a hamster getting an unexpected root canal.

ian Axness

Final and top kudos, though, must go to Maestro Ian Axness, whose deft and dedicated management of so many aspects of the production made a spectacular show possible. Aided and abetted by Producer/Director Penelope Reed Doob and a host of other dedicated folk, Ian hit the balance between making demands and being supportive in a way that allowed everyone in the cast to reach their full potential. Who more than Ian earned that big smack on the cheek from Sam Day during the final curtain call? Ian, you rock! Mikado, you’re a great show. Pemi, you’re a lucky community. This year’s G&S run was a triumph!

Wish you all could have been there. There IS, however, a DVD of the show available. If you’re interested, please contact us.

We’d like to offer one more insight into the last week or so – the toast Danny offered at the start of the Awards Banquet. It suited the event to a T, and seems like a fitting way to wrap up our newsletters for the year.

Danny Kerr

May I propose a toast…

Here’s to summer 2011 at Pemi, a summer that began more than nine weeks ago for some, when it still felt as much like winter as summer, a summer that ends with the days growing shorter and the first hints of autumn in the air, a summer that by all accounts has been a spectacular success, made possible mostly by the people in this room.

Here’s to over 270 campers who graced the shores of Lower Baker Pond this summer, campers from half way around the world, campers from 20 miles away in Hanover, campers from more than ten different countries, campers in their first year at Pemi and campers in their eighth.

Here’s to the amazing counselor staff at Pemi in 2011, cabin counselors, AC’s, program staff, administrators and program heads; here’s to the hard-working crew that Chris Jacobs leads so vigorously each day, to the folks in the office who never get enough credit, to the kitchen staff that takes on the herculean task of feeding us three times a day and, of course, the Reed Family and the Fauver Family who, in their loving and supportive way, continue to expect nothing short of excellence from all of us each and every day.

Here’s to the wonderful program at Pemi and the fine teaching that helps to facilitate it, to the arts and the athletics, the trips and the music, the nature program and tennis and all of the great things that happen down on the waterfront.

Here’s to the weather this summer, so many beautiful days, long days with crisp mornings, blazing afternoons and the peaceful golden haze across the pond at day’s closing. Here’s also to the brief heat wave that we endured (which revived a bit of Chillin’ with Lit), here’s to the powerful rain storms that sent us scurrying indoors and the all-clear signal that sent us scurrying back out.

Here’s to athletic contests against our friendly rivals in the Baker Valley, contests hard fought, the victories, the ones that got away, and a Tecumseh Day that ended in a tie but which reinforced what I think we already knew, that it’s OK to win and that anything is possible.

Here’s to the things that are so uniquely Pemi, Polar Bear, caving trips, sound painting and comedy olympics, FRB, all camp capture the flag, counselor baseball, distance swims, graffiti art and 161 miles completed on the Appalachian Trail.

Here’s to all camp events at Pemi, Bean Soup when we’re loud and we laugh at ourselves, Camp Fire when we’re creative and artistic, and Sunday Service when we’re reflective and thoughtful about such things as history at Pemi, the importance of written letters, the beauty of music, life in foreign lands and the belief that “nothing is impossible.”

But most importantly, here’s to the understanding that Pemi is the perfect place to try new things, a place where you may very well make the best friends you’ll ever have and a place where we so often become the person we most want to be.

Here’s to Pemi 2011. Good luck, long life and joy!

Well, that’s a wrap. Parents of second-session campers will receive a final report from their boys’ counselors within the couple of weeks, and Danny will be writing to parents of full-season boys very soon as well. For everyone fourteen and younger, applications for the 2012 season will be available in October. As for fifteens, interest in Pemi West 2012 has already begun to mount, building on the remarkable success of this year’s Washington-state session. We’ll be in touch with details on the application process. For now, thank you all so much for your trust in Pemigewassett. It’s been a truly wonderful year!

– Tom and Danny

The following article comes from Dwight Dunston, counselor in Senior 3 and Bean Soup co-editor.

I believe that in all aspects of camp life, and life outside of camp as well, there may be situations when one needs to be able to think and react quickly. Thus, the importance of a fun occupation that I teach: comedy improvisation.

During the second week of camp, I had the opportunity to teach the comedy improv occupation with counselors Wesley Eifler and Jeremy Keys. In a class with about 14 boys ages 10-15, we played a number of different games that often required us to create our own worlds in which we would act out a scene, most of which ended up being a bit ridiculous but were still very entertaining. There was one game in particular which required all of the boys to work together to make a story simply from a title suggested by the group. When one of the counselors pointed to a camper, the camper began narrating the story and would continue to do so until the counselor pointed at someone else. The next boy would first have to finish off the word or sentence of the previous participant, and then add his own twist to the story. Needless to say, the stories didn’t always relate to the initial title, but the entertainment value was much higher than the care for attention to detail. Although each game had certain guidelines and rules, the main goal was not to see how well the kids could play the games– we simply wanted the boys to be as creative and innovative as possible even if it meant looking a bit silly.

Comedy improv forces an individual to use his imagination, to react in a timely manner, and to be comfortable with looking a bit silly. If the boys took nothing else away from the occupation, I hope they learned that improvising is a way to better the imagination. And I hope that they had a laugh doing the occupation, as well.

-Dwight Dunston

Dottie Reed, Head Administrator at Pemi, has a truly excellent feature story in the current issue of the American Camp Association’s Camping Magazine. In it, she talks about the wonderful (and relatively new) Pemi tradition of rock painting, and its rewards, which are both tangible and intangible. Here is one of the more fascinating paragraphs of the article:

The tangibles are paint, rocks, shingles, and brushes. The intangibles are collaborative decision making, stewardship of place, creative expression, reasoning and communication skills, and unplugged imaginative play. Campers come to recognize the interrelatedness of people, topography, and structures within communities as they position their “houses” along the river, and the “library” in the center of town. They even find ways to express opinions on sustainability and ethics, as was the case when one camper painted a blue and gold Walmart to anchor the outskirts of our “Pemi Rocks” town. His nine-year-old friend countered with a painted rock positioned across the street: a sign that simply stated, “Buy Local.”

Read the full story, titled “Building a Community: One Rock at a Time,” here.

Photo by Rob Verger

One of my favorite parts of being a camper at Pemi was the mornings spent in occupations, hustling from one activity to the next. “Occupations” is the word Pemi uses to describe the organized activities that occur every Moday through Friday and some Saturdays; each activity is 55 minutes long. Campers sign up for new occupations each week, giving them the consistency of five or more days in a row of doing the same activity, but also a change each week, too. This allows the instructors to develop lesson plans that build day-to-day; occupations are where the most structured teaching happens at Pemi each day.

As a camper, I loved any occupation on the water: waterskiing or canoeing, for example. Lower Baker Pond is more than big enough to host lots of activity on it simultaneously and feel far from crowded. I’ve also always loved the chance to take a canoe or kayak under the bridge into camp and explore the quiet lily pad and reed-filled lower lake, or “swamp,” as it’s sometimes called, with a group of campers and staff. (All campers at Pemi are always very closely supervised by staff on the water, both on the lake and lower lake.)

But most of all, when I was a camper, I loved taking sailing occupations. I loved time on the water in a small Sunfish sailboat, and later, in a larger boat called a Puffin. (Now, the Puffins have been upgraded to more modern multi-person sailboats called Capris.) In my years on staff at Pemi, I taught sailing more than any other activity, and I liked the circularity of it: as a camper, I learned how to sail, and as a counselor, I taught it.

Pemi offers all the occupations you might expect: baseball, soccer, tennis, basketball, wood shop, music, and nature occupations galore. If you were to drive into camp on a busy morning, you’d see the fields and the lakes alive with activity, and maybe pass a fifteen-passenger van driven by Larry Davis for a quick outing to the nearby butterfly field. But there are also occupations you might be surprised to hear Pemi offers—night photography, for example, and other arts occupations, like rock painting.

What were your favorite occupations to take or teach when you were at Pemi, and did any of them influence the direction your life took? I know that I can’t pass a sailboat now without thinking happily of Pemi.

–Rob Verger