Good Funky

Good Funky

So much of camp was sort of funky—and I use this term as positive—worn jeans and converse creekwalk shoes are funky. This was not a fancy place. This was homespun, regular, interesting, and thoughtful. The people were a mixture of ideals and ideas; there might be a head of riding who was a pretty conservative ag. major from Davis, and a staff member who was drawing posters for Bill Graham. The place was overgrown and funky too. I look at the old pictures of the pool when it was new and then compare this to my memories—I remember a work party, “chores”, that discovered an old concrete patio next to the pool fence that was overgrown with blackberries, the Badminton court was pretty typical funky too. Each building had it’s own real character as well.

It was pre-organic, nature intruding, old worn paths, and old roads; people scaled lanes, and lichen-covered fences. The history, opportunity to discover stuff, that helped make it make sense. Arts and crafts was an open work shed, the beams covered in campers names, and old tables where we make stuff-nothing fancy here too. I did learn to use a kick wheel, made a few things, tried to fire them down at the campfire circle in a fire of redwood bark—the theory was that if we could get the bark to burn we might have a fire of 2500-3000 degrees—good theory.

The pool was filled with river water and at times looked pretty green—counting heads in the pool was an interesting task as a lifeguard. One year I taught riding and swimming—my eyes got so bleached out I was really having trouble even with dark glasses. Carol got me a great funky straw hat to wear and the shade was enough that I could stand out in the big ring. Great hat! I think she got it at Jack’s.

Maybe it was a chance to be who we were-all a little funny, interesting odd. Part of this was very sixties, emerging thoughts on how to “be” in the world. Camp was a hub for many strands: music, people, being outdoors, philosophy from Irv and Eda, creating a safe place, allowing people to be who they were (mostly) and n the process threading together much of what would profoundly take place in the next ten years. Not the media sixties but the sort of funky stuff that really mattered-Birkenstocks before they were hip (they were never cool.)

Thanks and take care