III. The Gender Panel
the gender panel (L to R) - Annika, Katrina, Laura, Whitney, Jess, Marni, Gaby, Sara, Alex (photo by jess r)
Riese: The Gender Panel was my favorite activity of the weekend and one of our best-attended daytime activities — we had so much variety there, from butch to trans* to “hard femme” to genderqueer to boi to femme to “grey area” and beyond. I know gender identity is something that rarely (if ever) gets discussed outside of queer/feminist communities and that this had serious LIFE-CHANGING POTENTIAL. Also I’d given myself this Activity Block off in order to attend the Panel, which was a big deal.
Marni: The gender panel was the only activity I got to really actively participate in, and I’m so glad I did. We had had a bit of an email string together leading up to camp, but only got a chance to really sit down and talk about it that morning before the panel. A few people weren’t sure they had much to offer, but everyone insisted that each person’s experience was valuable in its own way.
Annika, The Beats Counselor: We all met around an hour before the panel started to go over which questions we were going to discuss. I was expecting a crowd of maybe 20-30 people but OMG there were so many of you! I was nervous and didn’t even get to half of what I wanted to say, but the panel still went really well. I really enjoyed learning from the other AS writers’ experiences of gender. Sometimes it’s easy for me to get wrapped up in trans* stuff so this was a good reminder that cis people have gender identities too!
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“I thought it was amazing that there were all kinds of queer women on the gender panel, including femme cisgender women. It emphasized the fact that gender is everyone’s issue, and something everyone has to think about and deal with in their own way. This panel was phenomenal. Especially everything Marni said.”
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Marni: I shared some things on that panel that I’ve never told anyone. Afterwards, a few campers told me that what I’d said had really struck a chord with them, and one camper even told me it was the first time she’d heard something that close to her experience being articulated. It’s amazing how affirming it can be for us to just hear each other’s stories and think, “Yes, that’s it. That’s me too.”
Jess S., Forever 21 Counselor: The gender panel was not only the first panel of the weekend, but also the very first panel some of us (myself included) had ever been on. We were nervous, but I think we modeled through it pretty well.
Whitney, Rubyfruit Counselor: There were so many amazing perspectives on gender and gender identity in one place, on one panel. I talked about identifying as genderfluid and genderqueer, and how my gender presentation has fluctuated and oscillated over the course of my life — from binding and men’s hair cuts for several years to long hair and bras for another few years. It was great hearing about the experiences of other gender warriors (as I’d like to call them). WARRIORS.
Laura, Little Rascals Counselor: This was hands down my favorite thing to be a part of. It was one of those moments where something that would either go terribly wrong or nowhere in real life happened just how it should at camp. Everyone had such insightful things to say and I learned a lot from everyone else who participated on stage and in the audience. I also got really nice notes in my pigeon hole afterwards and that was a happy start to camp.
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“The Gender Panel was so raw and beautiful…without even meaning to do so everyone talked about the intersections of their own class, race, culture, height w/r/t their gender expression. It was beautiful. Annika did an AMAZING job moderating it. I think it was the best put together and thought provoking panel. Also, she’s super hot.”
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Carly: Lauren, Brittani and I stopped by the gender panel and I was completely blown away by what I saw. The room was packed and the lovely panelists were just completely killing it. I kept wishing I could have been there to see more, or that I could have been a part of it.
Riese: It was adorable that both my present girlfriend (Marni) and my ex-girlfriend (Alex) said that when they were younger, they used to see girls they liked dating douchebag boys and think, “I would be such a good boyfriend!” It’s true, they’re both really good boyfriends. There was so much applause and laughter.
Marni: At one point I actually got up and left the panel for a minute because I got a call from the hotel in LA. It was my new bff from security telling me that they did indeed have Tinkerbell, and that they would hold her until someone could come and get her on Monday. It was an A-Camp miracle!
Riese: (see?!)
stef & annika
IV. Meet & Geek
Lizz: The “Meet and Geek” activity was where I discovered I love Bren. It was amazing to hear Bren talk about leaving a civil engineering field after 10 years. Seriously, Bren is awesome. I talked about my background and sort of couldn’t believe that anyone would care about what I do for a living. It was sort of the first time I realized I actually have a story to tell that might make a difference in someone else’s life. I’m also 90% positive I bored the shit out of everyone when I explained my research.
Bren: I was freaking out because we hadn’t really discussed what was happening. Taylor, however, had this shit on lock. She’d made signs and designated meeting pods in Deer Lodge for each geeky interest of choice (comics, sci-fi, etc.). She made merit badges! Merit badges! (I still have mine.)
Bren: I don’t think you can truly call yourself a geek until you’ve traveled across the country, climbed a mountain, and slept in bear infested woods just to sit in a room and talk to other people about video games.
meeting/geeking -- photo by rachel walker
Lizz: Then I overheard Taylor talking with Julie and Brandy about the Meet and Geek and wondering what RNA was. I burst in science style and gave a full blown impromptu lesson on DNA, RNA and proteins. I ended up using a construction metaphor which is, by far, the gayest type of metaphor.
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Friday Block C:
Career Panel w/Crystal, Meredydd, Alex, Taylor, Carolyn & Jess R
Lesbian Jeopardy w/Riese, Haviland, Lizz & Jamie
Sand Volleyball w/Robin & Bren
Vegan Life w/Rachel & Croce
Speed Dating w/Hannah Hart
**
Friday Block D:
Kickball w/Jamie
Poetry Fest w/Carmen, Whitney and Gabby
Formspring Friday live with Rise, Laneia, Rachel, Taylor, Alex, Crystal and Laura
Style Workshop w/Sara Medd & Lizz
**
V. Love & Other Outdoor Sports
Jamie, Little Rascals Counselor: We had no bases or baseball diamond for kickball, and instead used pine cones and guesswork – all true facts. Also, altitude will kick you in the face! But I was pleased with the turn out and having any excuse to use my time drunk on Bud Lite Lime on a kickball team in Brooklyn last summer as a reason to contribute something else in this world. This time no one kept score which is to say we all won.
kickball (photo by jamie hagen)
Lizz: After Brittani and I discovered one of the campers teaches pole dancing/erotic dance lessons, Brittani hopped on board for a demonstration. I grabbed the campers camera and began filming what would go on to be, perhaps, the greatest moment in sexy dancing history. Brittani learned how to do “The hip thing” and “Booty stuff” and demonstrated her newfound skills for the gathered crowd. When I handed the camera back to the camper, she asked if it had always had the red pause sign. Apparently I never filmed a minute.
"Pole dancing" (photo by kate hinchey)
VI. Afternoon Delights
Alex, Design Director: Meredydd did an amazing job moderating The Career Panel.
Crystal, Troubletones Counselor: It was great because she was totally on top of her shit while the rest of us seemed to be winging it.
Alex: We talked about being out at work, how to use the internet to your advantage to get a dream opportunity, salary negotiations (knowing what you’re worth), how we got started at our current gigs, and other general gay (and not gay) things related to making your way in the career world. Everyone involved had quite different backgrounds, careers, and so there were a variety of insights.
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“My favorite panel was the career panel. Meredydd talking about spiraling up rather than moving up a “corporate” ladder was very encouraging. I also enjoyed that it was smaller panel.”
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Crystal: I learned a lot from everyone in that session, particularly Meredydd.
Carolyn: I especially loved how many people were freelancers — it’s always nice to find out that lots of other people are going crazy/trying not to go crazy alone in front of their computers too. Also guys! LinkedIn party?
Alex: It was a smaller panel than the others, which led lot of back-and-forth conversation between the panelists and the attendees.
Lesbian Jeopardy (photo by Jamie Hagen)
Riese: After a thrilling hunt for a computer/printer sitch for me to print the questions I’d written the week before (my favorite topic was “What’s the Root?” where we gave the origin of a certain aspect of Autostraddle Lingo and made them guess the lingo), we had Lesbian Jeopardy. I love trivia so it was awesome, Emma drank a lot beforehand and therefore won AND Chrissy knew more answers than Associate Editor Hot Laura.
Lizz: It was super important to me that we do Jeopardy properly, with answers in the form of questions and whatnot. I tried my hand at writing wordplay questions and was about 90% successful. “Gay Homophones” was not nearly as good of a category as “Gay Homophobes” would have been.
Jamie: Mostly lesbian jeopardy was an excuse for me to sit next to Grace (I like to think we have all sorts of inside jokes, but we really don’t) and awkwardly try to be useful to Riese. Like the champ that she is Liz came up with the best questions, including a bunch about STIs.
Lizz: As it turns out, “Health For Women Who Have Sex With Women” is the most depressing jeopardy category ever. Also one of the campers, Alice, coined the term “Dental Damnit.” I’m still not sure what that means. Honestly though, I don’t think Jeopardy would have happened without Haviland. She was so wonderful at pumping everyone up. It made me feel like we were actually on a game show.
Jamie: Haviland channeled Vanna White to keep the crowd abreast of the spicy competition. Buzzers were buzzed, Autostraddle trivia knowledge was tested.
Riese: I got to do a thing with Haviland! Yay! I was like “I’m gonna be Alex Trebeck, and you’re gonna be Vanna White, but as if we were on the same show.” She was like, “Obvs.”
speed dating is apparently a spectator sport (photo by kate hinchey)
Marni: Because the weather was so beautiful, we decided to do Speed Dating outside. We arranged a big row/circle of chairs facing each other and one side moved over one seat after every 2-minute round.
Brittani: I think speed dating was the surprise hit of the weekend. I spent most of the time hauling chairs from the lodge to the outside area while Jess and Hannah came up with conversation topics for each round. Campers kept showing up and I kept hauling chairs. All of that physical labor left me in dire need of “hydration.” I was so “hydrated” that when someone wandered up with only a few minutes left in the activity and they were looking for a volunteer to keep the numbers even, I figured it’d be fine if I jumped in. I was even lucky enough to spend a couple minutes on the Island of Love with Chicagostraddler, Rachel. There was magic in the air.
speed-dating (photo by rachel walker)
Carly: It was one of the most wonderful and entertaining things I’ve ever seen, and after a few minutes a crowd of Autostaffers had gathered to watch the shenanigans unfold. It was really something.
Laneia: Megan and I stumbled upon the speed dating situation on our way to grab a thing from our cabin and it was FASCINATING. So fascinating, in fact, that we were transfixed and had to keep watching it. Someone said, “It’s like watching National Geographic: Lesbians In The Wild.” And it was. It was just like that.
Marni: Nobody ever wanted to rotate! It was so cute and hilarious. Hannah would blow the whistle and everybody would look at us like “why are you harshing our mellow?” It was almost as though the whole “speed dating” thing was unnecessary posturing.
Sidenote: Have you ever tried raspberry vodka? It’s not great, but it’s better out of Hannah Hart’s cup.
Gabby, Rubyfruit Counselor: I never thought I’d be in the mountains, surrounded by queer women and having my mind blown by amazing poetry at the Poetry Fest. Surreal. At first, no one wanted to read their work. Everyone was focused on their black-out poems. Then one by one our people got up and did their thing.
photo by gabby rivera
Whitney: There were blackout poems and spoken word poems and written poems. There were collaborative poems and poems that started with anxiety and ended with sighs of relief and poems that started with trembling and ended with tears (the good kind of tears).
Carmen: Despite my efforts to not have overwhelming feelings at my own workshops, the poetry group ended up engaging in open crying, group hugging, over-sharing, and group poetry-building (which, thank God, took us to a hilarious and dirty place).
photo by gabby rivera
Whitney: I read a piece about my mother to everyone and cried one of those exhausting, good cries — everyone gave me a gigantic hug. The best kind of hug.
Gabby: Alex Roxx came to me for help afterwards on her poem and then performed it at the talent show like a badass, making everything that happened in that workshop come full circle.
Whitney: If there is poetry in the mountains, there will be feelings. And there were so many feelings.
photo by gabby rivera
Lizz: In a lot of ways I was most scared for the style workshop. I mean, this is what I’m supposed to be doing for Autostraddle. Was this going to be the moment where I was found out as a fraud who actually just likes online shopping too much?
Instead it went really super well! We just all sat in a circle and talked about out fashion feelings. What style meant to us, what we were all looking for. A lot of people said things I’ve often felt– that they wanted to spice up their look or look more queer but weren’t sure where to start.
If nothing else, campers left the style workshop knowing that J.Crew sells great button-ups for busty women and it’s okay to look nice for no reason.
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VII. Formspring Friday Live: The (Word) Limit Does Not Exist!
formspring friday
Riese: This was one of our first ideas for camp. Since Laneia and I sport 1,000+ unanswered questions on formspring — an online anonymous question-asking interface which feeds our answers onto the autostraddle tumblr — I thought we could knock five or six off the list by letting anybody ask whatever LIVE IN PERSON.
Alex: Based on the impromptu poll we took at the start of this panel, a surprisingly low number of people actually knew what Formspring was but so many people showed up at Formspring Friday Live! to ask their weirdo questions anyway! It was awesome.
Laneia: This was my first and only panel and it was so so neat and fun. We passed around a few notebooks so the campers could ask things anonymously, which helped alleviate some of the pressure that I think the audience might have been feeling — or maybe I’m projecting.
Crystal: Speaking in front of a full room is pretty much my worst nightmare, but thankfully no one else on the panel seemed to share that fear and so I didn’t need to say much at all.
Riese: I made a mental note to myself that it’s really important to get some sleep before you talk to groups of people all day — but again, like every time I talk in front of a group, I can’t really remember afterwards what I said. I hope it was funny.
Laura: I don’t have much practice with formspring, so I mostly sat there on stage drinking whisky out of a disappearing coffee cup and laughing because everyone is hilarious.
formspring friday audience
Laneia: Formspring Friday Live was exactly what I’d wanted the whole of camp to be — just all of us talking to each other. It felt like hanging out with a room full of friends, which sounds cliche but I’m serious. I wish we could’ve had dinner in there together.
Alex: We “answered” questions, but also asked the audience questions (“How many of you comment” etc) thanks to Camper Emily who suggested this idea. Turns out a lot of people just wanted to talk about the website itself and the behind-the-scenes stuff, which was a special moment for all of us I think. My heart grew two sizes that day.
Rachel: The embarrassment I later felt at telling the story of the first time I had sex with a boy was mostly outweighed by the intimacy and joy of the on-stage lesbian sex demonstration Laneia and I took part in.
Rachel and Laneia demonstrate lesbian sex (photo by Taylor)
Crystal: Rachel and Laneia’s demonstration of lesbian sex was magical / essential.
Riese: Emily’s idea for us to be able to ask THEM questions was awesome. We found out how many people comment, how long they’ve been reading AS, and had a long conversation about whether or not they felt like the site was cliquey or a “personality cult” — it was sweet to hear them say that our friendships and love for each other going on in the background of the site made them like it more. We talked about site-related tech stuff too, and afterwards Rachel W and Cee talked to us about being able to help with some of our tech needs. Also, I learned that NONE OF YOU BITCHES WATCH THE REAL L WORD, but y’all read my recaps. CHEATERS. It’s not fair to make me watch it alone!
It was like a Team Meeting, but with answers to the hypothetical questions that always come up in team meetings.
photo by vanessa friedman
Next: At night everybody gets wet!
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camp feelings
so many. too many. it hurts a little bit.
when i wrote this, my main camp feeling was that i couldn’t read about camp because i was somewhere and also part of conversations where it would be totes rude to be reading this recap on my phone… but now, reading this, i’m having EXPONENTIALLY MORE camp feelings.
the gender panel gave me a lot to think (/journal) about, esp. about my femme-ish identity and where that came from and how it’s changed and all this other stuff, where before i was absorbing messages that translated to “femme, whatever, it doesn’t matter and no one cares.” also I went through a (intense) stage as a child where I told everyone I was a boy because… i have no idea really but it was nice to be reminded of that in this context and to think more about it and to not feel alone in that.
via lesbian jeopardy i felt embarrassed about how many answers i knew and very happy i didn’t sign up.
via candid photographs i feel very aware of how much hair i have.
at formspring live the notebook reached me, after getting to almost everyone before me and it had nothing in it and i felt compelled to write down a halfhearted question (MY FRIENDS ARE BAD FEMINISTS) and watched the notebook go further down the line and i was happy that people were less intimidated by an almost blank page than a completely blank page. psychology is weird. i wish i had asked a better question. i didn’t have one ready. i’ve only seen one episode of the real l word, which was the first one. (i applied for the current season while drunk and got emailed back and it was so weird like “send us pictures of your hottest friends” and stuff but they were funny sober because i felt validated in thinking that bullshit is bullshit.)
i love all of you and i miss you all a lot. i miss the mountain and the sound of drunk stumbling and queer conversations.
this is so long. i’m drunk and i probably should’ve just journaled this.
via candid photographs where I’m sitting next to you I feel very aware of how I was a giant mass of black clothing.
seeing laneia really worried for everyone on stage friday night was one of the most adorable things ever.
If
We are all made of kittens
Then
Saturday’s campfire is best described by this tasteful kitty postcard
hahahahhahahahah ohmygod i’m so high.
that post is about saturday.
this is the friday post.
:(
HA Abbey. Just wait til Saturday… white girl wasted!
awww, these recaps are going to be printed out and taped to my fridge so that whenever I reach for carrot sticks/alchol I can feel like I’m back in the cafeteria with you guys again.
Brian warned me not to use the computer…
tell brian to stop it.
hey lizz, i want to let you in on a thing katrina and i found out about, it’s called owl lodge, it has a bathroom and it’s right fucking next to the fire pit. there were no 9-year-old boys in there.
that bathroom was occupied… a lot.
#OccupyBathroom #ThisIsAShitIn
What?!?!?
I love reading this.
That camper who does pole dancing is Launa – look! video! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-oxe4r9Dqg
(no pole dancing though)
I feel this is a safe space to confess my biggest fear RE:Camp was that I wouldn’t call Laneia by her real name. Not because I can’t pronounce Laneia, but because in everyday, regular life I don’t use her real name when I talk about her to people. By “people” I mean my cats.
Friday was the day that fear was realized.
b, you are hilarious
Like, it just feels so good to re-experience it, you know?
I CAN’T BELIEVE THAT PICTURE WENT ON THE SITE
i don’t know what picture you’re talking about but i bet it was awesome ’cause i put all the pictures into this post so it must be really rad
RT
My headlamp got a shout out! Fun fact: I asked Rachel before camp if she wanted me to bring a headlamp for her. She said something along the lines of “no, headlamps are dumb, you are a weirdo,” but then guess who had it all weekend long. Ye of little headlamp faith!
OMIGOD YOU WERE AT SPEED-DATING WEREN’T YOU???
Sorry. I’m still having intense regrets for not tracking you down and hanging out with you forever.
Nope, I was over at Wolf for Jeopardy during speed-dating. I’m really bummed about not hanging out with you, too!
One of the most important things I learned from camp it was that it’s practically a rule that one in three lesbians owns a headlamp. I freaked out the first night when I realized I’d forgotten my flashlight, but never once had to wander in the dark thanks to the plethora of queer, headlamp-wearing ladies at camp.
that’s not true! i think i said something like “well, i guess it’s true that i don’t have a headlamp.” although i will admit that i kept the headlamp with me all weekend in my pocket, so one of us was more right than the other.
also i forgot to mention that when we cabin bombed operation v.a.g.i.n.a. (very attractive girls in nice attire) was the best thing i’ve ever heard. i had also had a lot to drink at that point, so this memory did not come back until reading this just now.
Thanks for recognizing our creativity. We were quite proud of our acronym. :)
i love these recaps/i miss camp
Are there transcripts/videos of the gender panel?! I wish I could have been there more than anything else at camp.
I was thinking the same thing! I wanna hear all the amazing things that were said! Especially by Marni!
One camper (I remember you I’m just not naming names) talked about having to wear a dress at a wedding, and we commiserated about how it felt like being in drag, and I said that this past summer my brother got married and I was one of his groomsmen, and I got fitted for a tux just like my other brother and the best man, and we all took photos together and stood together on my brother’s side and it felt like finally, actually, my family really did get me and maybe I hadn’t given them enough credit. And while it might not necessarily happen that way for everyone, it might be possible that with a little time, our families could prove themselves to know us better than we think. That was one thing.
My mom also made me wear a dress for my brother’s wedding in March, I felt so uncomfortable the whole time. I wish I could have stood up to her.
Marni is good with shelves.
On a more serious note Marni did give a rather interesting anecdote about how she could never get really far in conversation with customers who just NEEDED to know her gender before getting help with home supplies, y’know? And there was a thing (either from Marni or Whitney, pretty sure it was Marni) about how sometimes “mistaken” misgendering is really just gender policing, which I really really empathised with because people will pointedly call me “sir” at home regardless of how feminine I dress because of my hair & how I walk/talk.
I want to see video of formspring Friday live! I missed it because I was hanging out in the queer barbershop.
I still remember you proudly setting off for your lesbian haircut, and even more proudly returning.
it was such an event! I never got a post-haircut picture though/
I’m pretty sure that what Liz might have interpreted as looks of boredom, while she told us about her research, were actually just the faces of everyone realizing they were intimidated by how smart she is/awesome her job is. At least that explains me.
Lesbian Jeopardy was super fun and made me realize I need to read more.
I also loved Forumspring Friday! Everyone admitting they don’t watch TRLW and just read Reise’s Recaps was one of the funniest moments of camp!
Also, reading this post taught me that every woman that writes poetry is also super pretty.
I’m totally going to agree with the intimidation thing there…
Lizz you’re AWESOME!
Lizz is amazing because she works with robots! ROBOTS, you guys, ROBOTS!!!
Also, I wish I was DNA helicase so I could unzip Lizz’s genes :)
I like when you talk nerdy to (uh not) me.
lizz is amazing cuz Lizz Is In Charge.
RIGHT? Was it you that I was whispering to during her talk about how Lizz had just become my new hero/biggest crush?
haha yep.
Very Impressed Liz! I also can’t wait to bro out with my coworkers when i finally decide to get an engineering job.
I definitely heard from like 5 different people how totally fucking impressive Lizz was so I know for sure no one was bored.
Oh you guys! My job just sounds impressive since it involves both robots and lasers. In reality all work is work.
LIZZ LET’S TALK ABOUT SCIENCE.
I’m not even joking, your biology explanation sounds like it was awesome. My life is science.
(I work on nitty gritty molecular biology in TB, if anyone cares/wonders).
I’m really impressed with how fast you guys are getting these recaps out. I’ve been trying to write my own recap (of just Saturday) and it’s been two weeks and I’ve still only got about half of the things. There are so many things you guys.
What happened at Hannah Hart: Intimate and Interactive? Or did the staff all skip that?
That was at the campfire – it was really just her hanging out.
There’s a picture of me, Harto and maybe 1/4th of my cabin out there somewhere.
Right here! http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=3671344937985&set=a.2860552548682.2156171.1105735869&type=3&theater
oh hey it is on the internet. I don’t know how The Facebook works so there’s probably a lot of photos I haven’t seen. That’s what you kids call it right? The Facebook?
(says someone who is not yet 21)
It was mostly her offering to sign boobs and posing for pictures.
Ooooh camp looks like it was so much fun. Hopefully I can make it to the next one, because this post is giving me envious feelings!
It seems relevant to note: I have no recollection of Friday night. I’m certain I had fun though…Right?
I suspect you don’t remember Friday night because it was preceded by the Friday Afternoon Golden Girls Drinking/Talking Extravaganza.
Someone should recap that! All I know is I came back from Lesbian Jeopardy and all these women who didn’t know each other 24 hours before were laughing like they were old friends.
That’s because some of us started drinking before Lesbian Jeopardy to overcome our social anxiety. And obvs it worked!
How can you re-cap what you don’t remember?
(And thus my cover story is set.)
In all seriousness, however, I think the fair amount of info I know about each of you is/ was the re-cap. It verged on the profound in there at points.
Incidentally, I’m reminded of my first drink before lesbian jeopardy – a “double” that touched the rim of my steel thermos cup, and so was probably slightly more than that, in actual measurement. Is that when we first started cutting into the limes I brought with tweezers?
That was totally one of my favourite parts of camp :) Oh, and our drinking game too, of course! So many feelings!
Bren siting in her bunk texting away about us..And yes..We became fast friends through liquid assistance!
TEXTING WHO AND TEXTING WHAT?
This was the best weekend ever, I miss you all so much it hurts!
Is that you, Heidi?
yep :)
Aw, Heidi!
(Anne)
Anne!!!
Agreed..Miss my Cougars! That afternoon just chilling and chatting with you all..That was truly my fav part of Camp. That and the double high-five Sat night from Heidi!
See, neither do I, but sadly I think it was because I crashed in my sleeping bag 394820934 hours earlier than everyone else and not because I was wasted.
You guys I’ve just returned home after 6 months away, and by home i mean moved back in with my entire family. Its really overwhelming so i retreated to my room to read about camp and deal with my feelings. My sister came to find me and accidentally made fun of my You Do You tote. It made me cry. I JUST WANT TO GO BACK!
It is so good to relive Camp, these recaps are fantastic!
But I after they are over I honestly need to forget about Camp for a while so that I can not fail my class on research methodologies, okay?
There is a vid of the last half of the wall dancing lesson and another friemd said she has one, but it hasn’t been posted. I havr a vid of the convo that led to the lesson, though. One day I’ll make a tribute video and use it yo get a job leading an exoyic dance workshop at the next A-Camp. I never thpught I’d get to share that part of my life at A-Camp let alone a staff member!
Also, I wanted to note that not only did you not bore me, Lizz, your talk about your work *fascinated* me. I remember saying after I left that you were so much cooler than I thought, and I already thought you were pretty darn cool. Anyone who can work math, genetics and fashion is super cool to me.
Sorry for the spelling. I’m writing on my phone and it doesn’t like the comment box/doesn’t let me see what I’m writing most of the time. My fingers weren’t made for touchscreen keyboards. This leads to atrocious spelling problems.
Grrrrl. I have that video and it should materialize in your inbox shortly. Sorry for the delay!
These recaps are making me feel feelings and I wasn’t even there. I guess this means I have to overcome my real-life anxiety before September, and also start commenting more.
Hi there, I think you stole my comment. I was going to say the same exact thing.
I didn’t overcome my real-life anxiety before April and I was mostly okay. You will be okay.
dude i have whole oceans of anxiety
and at camp a lot of my standard anxieties went away
and although they were replaced by other anxieties
they were more manageable,
like cute, miniature anxieties
i was okay so
i think you’ll be okay
i like your cat gravatar
oh man you guys are nice. alex! I’m digging your bandana.
Aw, thanks! Your cat wins the cute award though. ;)
my anxiety went from 100 to 0 in 6 seconds at alpine meadows
Anxiety can’t exhist at that altitude. Go. Do. You won’t regret it. Any of it.
in case you’re wondering, the staff favorite line of the recap is “seeing Julie’s flushed cheeks and thinking she was the funniest cutest girl in the world”
definitely my favorite part, wins all the things, etc.
<3
I got doubly mentioned in the recap by Laneia and Carolyn. I am full of warm fuzzies! Now I’m going to go back up and read the rest.
Ohhhh, this sounds exactly as totally great as I definitely thought it would be. I am so happy for you all! Again, though: I am so sad about the Atlantic Ocean, and that I am not a pilot. But also, I really think I could come next time and am already getting actual panicky adrenaline rushes about how all the places will surely sell out in five seconds…
I’m loving these recaps, it’s great finding out about all the sessions i didn’t go to. There was just so much awesome stuff going on at once it was hard to decide.
It’s weird, in some ways now that i’m home camp doesn’t seem real. Like it was so amazing a thing it feels like a dream. So i’m enjoying re-living camp through the recaps and hearing about other peoples experiences as well.
I was trying to explain A-Camp to one of my coworkers and tried to summarize the blocks, so I started saying “it was awesome, everyone had a choice each block: you could just hang out, or go do something sporty, or something crafty, or even maybe something scary…” and then I made this connection in my head, opened my eyes wide and blurted “OH I KNOW! Each block was like the Spice Girls.”
Not the most accurate analogy, BUT, I wish I had thought of it at Camp. Seriously, everyone was so welcoming, and open, and awesome. Plus, there’s something really pretty and shiny about a queer woman’s laugh.
Thank you for the recaps, Autostraddle! Can’t wait for the next two. So ready to go conquer the weekend now!
OH GOD IF WE HAD THOUGHT OF THIS BEFORE EVERYTHING WOULD HAVE BEEN DIFFERENT ALEX ARE YOU PAYING ATTENTION
SAME. YES.
GOD CAMP IS SO FULL OF BABES.
AND FEELINGS.
i can’t wait to go back. my heart explodes every time i read these recaps and remember a thing.
I’m pretty sure Friday of A-camp was my favorite day of my whole life. Don’t mind me, I’m just going to sit here and read this over and over again.
katie i hope it doesn’t get old as i keep telling you how much i love you
i just love you so much
AW LOOK AT US IN THAT LAST PICTURE! // i have no recollection of that picture being taken.
I’m pretty sure that cabin bomb “get out!” story was troubletones… cause it sounds really familiar. Was that us you guys?
OH GOD WHO WAS IN THE BATHROOM???
I’m giving you the side-eyes. You know why.
Yeah, that was our cabin, but I don’t remember who was in the bathroom.
I think so too and I’m pretty sure I know who was in the bathroom. It was a misunderstanding though — the person thought it was people pranking us (due to an earlier threat/situation) and she was defending the honor of the Troubletones cabin, not trying to yell at staff members.
Also, I just realized that my comment sounds a lot like an “asking for a friend” situation, but it actually wasn’t me in the bathroom!
Yeah, Carrie is right. It was a misunderstanding and a defense of honor thing and now one of the more embarrassing moments of my life. So, thanks for that. Seriously, when a group of people bust into one’s cabin just after one has gotten out of the shower (a totally solo, innocent shower) of course one will yell loudly at said intruders. So much for winning at camp. Love, Ranger
You’re the best, Ranger! Had it been actual prankers, I would trust you in a heartbeat to defend us! :)
did anyone meet a new gf? details
I have so many feelings regarding this. All of this. It’s so nice to know what happened in the other blocks because TOO MANY AWESOME THINGS WERE OFFERED AT ONCE.
The Gender Panel was my favourite thing as well, and I was really surprised/interested in Laura and Jess’s stories about when they realized they were homos that they started changing the way they dressed. I had the complete opposite effect: when I (should have) realized I liked girls, my mind rebelled so I wouldn’t have to dress more masculinely, so to validate my femininity I managed to convince myself that I liked guys. The ploy worked for about 10 years, and Camp was really the first time I’d been out as a full-fledged lesbian/gaymo/homo, so, this gender panel really hit home for me in a lot of unexpected ways.
Also: Riese, the fact that you played D&D makes me want to cry rivers of joy. I want to know what your characters were!!! What edition did you play? Were you ever DM?? Omigod you’d be amazing as a DM.
I agree. Though I never somehow managed to get into board game D&D (probably because I didn’t feel like I knew anybody who was enough of a geek to want to do this/not judge me *forever* for it) but I still enjoyed a few single player gamebook things and playing D&D-esque RPG computer games (Baldur’s Gate anyone?). And all the while I picked strong warrior-type and/or male characters for myself, which definitely helped me to inhabit and explore some of my genderqueer-ness and feelings about wanting to be/already being strong and powerful and being fully understood and respected as such by others too…
No-one, including me, was asking whether I was strong enough to slay the dragon hiding in the mountains, or suggesting that someone else did it- and that meant something to a girl who was fairly petite and nice and ‘adorkable’ in the ‘real world’.
Plus a busy imagination meant that said battle was fricking awesome.
But anyways. Thanks for mentioning D&D Riese, and adding to the huge list of interests that I’ve felt relatively alone in having until AS has completely blown that theory out of the water.
Ahhhhhhh Baldur’s Gate, oh god, let me love you forever.
Huzzah. I am not alone!
But seriously though. BGII especially. What a game. I also like that one of the loading screens reminded you that you, unlike your characters, were a real person and needed to eat sometimes. Hah.
Hahaha, the Wizards of the Coast pop can? Oh man, I’m getting so nostalgic thinking about playing that game… <3
Pop can? I am confused by this segment of the sentence.. please enlighten me. :)
And yes. I miss Minsc and Boo. I also had a hilarious moment lately talking to a friend about BG.. we were mentioning crushes on fictional characters and I let slip that I had a vague thing for Imoen… after which she reminded me that Imoen was my character’s sister.
Awkward.
My younger brother was actually the one who was super into Dungeons & Dragons, so I got into it vis a vis him because I’d always be Dungeon Master for him and his friends. Or it’s possible I cajoled him into having lots of people over to play D&D so I could be DM. I REALLY LIKED BEING DM. Also sometimes my brother and I would play at home just with each other. I kept it on the DL, I remember, b/c at my middle school it was all the dorky boys who played D&D and it was such a boy’s club to begin with. I regret that in retrospect.
I was actively attempting to find anyone in the entire universe willing to play GURPS with me (I don’t know if this still exists, but it’s like an insanely complicated RPG that I imagine seems outdated now that computer games exist) but I don’t think I ever succeeded in that!
Riese, for next camp, I will bring a GURP for us to play. I’m sure my friends have a copy of the rulebooks for Bunnies & Barrows…
Before I read this recap I have to say this. I’m somewhat of a new reader/lurker (only a few months) but AS has quickly become one of my favorites on Google Reader. And even though I’m literally on the opposite side of the globe from most of you (Israel), I just had to share that I absolutely love the sense of community and love and awesomeness you guys have here. After reading the previous recap, I seriously lied awake in bed for a couple of hours just thinking about how great that whole “camp will be out thing” bit actually came true! Really, this is kinda magical.
i’m really surprised but mostly happy the shark dick incident didn’t make the recap
shark dick is now one hundred percent part of my daily vocabulary.
Gabby’s hair is giving all the life. ALL THE LIFE!!!!
Hey remember when I fell over in my chair during speed dating next to the girl I was crushing on? And then Hannah Hart called me out? That was fun.
this comment makes no sense because i wasn’t at speed dating.
jk, WHO WERE YOU CRUSHING ON HUNGER GAMES?!
Hey remember that time when a large insect flew into my mouth while I was talking to a cutie at speed dating and then she made fun of me while I spent the rest of our time coughing and spitting and being absolutely mortified?
I’m not sure if I would be more distracted from homework by this post if I had happened to go or because I couldn’t go.
The band I’m with may be touring the US next year.. surely I could get this to coincide with vollying as a drum teacher at Girls Rock Camp AND immersing myself in this obviously fucking fantastic queer life-altering mountaintop experience, right?
Also, the prospect of actually meeting and befriending you all for realsies has encouraged me to emerge from my lurker cave and interact some more. Because the idea of going to a place where the positive, smart, progressive, accepting, hilarious friendly greatness of internet Autostraddle is translated into flesh Autostraddle means that there’s a reality in which I’ll actually be able to hug you all for being so phenomenal.. and we need to make sure we’re *at the hugging point of okayness* from the split second I arrive at Camp.
Because there will be hugs. Lots of them.
All this with your consent of course.. because we all know consent it important :D
CONSENT GRANTED
This response from you O Riese plus having coffee with a cute lovely girl earlier today = DAY MADE
I also got an extension on two massive assignments due tomorrow! Did I mention that the coffee was of an AMBIGUOUS NATURE and SHE WANTED TO PAY and then afterwards she said I was articulate and that she wanted to do it again sometime (and that I also have it on good authority that she thinks that I’m cute?!)
It doesn’t even matter that I did a sideways bike-plant onto the ground today because my right shoelace was caught on the pedal! TODAY IS AWESOME!
You definitely won the day!
Re: Marni and Tinkerbell
you are the best girlfriend ever that a mother could ever want for her daughter.
xoxo
aw happy mothers day this is so sweet
omg
Can you be my mom plz
ZOMG
Oh my goodness this is the best. Happy mother’s day!
I’m newish to this amazing, beautiful website, and I’m so glad I came along when I did. You are all fabulous and amazing, A-Camp is basically utopia, and I have started setting aside some moneys so I can go to there. :)
PFFT!
I have totally started drinking at 10 am before.
AND! I was doing an assignment too!
*Sighs Wistfully*
I want to go to there.
I thought this was fegging HILARIOUS-
“I don’t think you can truly call yourself a geek until you’ve traveled across the country, climbed a mountain, and slept in bear infested woods just to sit in a room and talk to other people about video games.”
WAIT WAIT WAIT. I did not even catch that. Oh God. Bren. You’re so slick. I can’t with you.
I love-hate those recaps ! I consider A-camp like a weird paradise with unicorns or the 70s: sounds awesomely fun, I want to know what was happening, and I try not to act like a frustrated kid, because there’s just no way I could have been there… Nothing Europe has to offer will make up for it. EVER!
PRANK WARS 2012 STARTED ON THIS DAY!
boom.
aw, the part about me as a success story at the writing workshop warmed my small heartparts. i don’t know where i’d be without AS, but probably somewhere markedly less gaymazing <3 <3 <3
Winning at gaily (AKA GAY-LEY) swinging.
I am SO not your demographic – I’m a lesbian, yes, but I’m also 42yo + married forever + two kids + a dog + fish + …
And I found Autostraddle one night while surfing and I have to say – you all rock! Despite Autostraddle making me feel as if my 20’s were a very long time ago, you really make me smile. And I am so glad you exist. Kudos that you’ve created a community can be so visible, vibrant, supportive and sexy.
Carry On!
I think it’s so cute that marni got tinker bell back for you… So cute!