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2021-07-19T21:53
Program Director's Monday Night Campfire Speech
Every week during camp at Camp Wolfeboro, the Program Director gives a speech near the end of the Monday night campfire. This is an audio recording of the last portion of the speech given by 2021's Program Director, James Mizutani. He mentions and discusses the pandemic that has taken place over the past two years in his speech. Transcription: So, it, it was a lot when I got up here, uh, to work as program director in 2021, it was kind of a shock. Um, I had to— the med lodge was new, the camp director's cabin was not habitable anymore, uh, Kneeknocker¹ was all shiny. The nature lodge, my home for a year as Eco-Con² staff, is now like [in remittal?], and you can't put people in there anymore. So a lot of things have changed, some good, some less good. The less good things are fixable, we'll get a new nature lodge, it'll be fantastic and it'll be great and it'll be better than anything Eagle's End³ will ever have (audience says "woah"). But one of the things that didn't change was my feelings about camp. I love camp. I love everybody who's up here. I love working with my staff. Now I just call them my staff, instead of me being a part of staff, I still am staff [unintelligible]. And getting to see all of you every week, I get to see Scouts every week, I get to catch up with them, I get to see what they're doing while they're not at camp, and I get to see what they're enjoying about camp, why they come back every year. And I find that it's a lot of the same reasons why I come back every year. You're out here, you're away from a lot of distractions, you're with some of your friends, you're doing stuff that you don't normally do on the day-to-day. I don't mind normal days, the last two years have been wake up, move eight feet over onto the other side of my room, and sit down at my desk. Now I wake up and have to like, jog 800 feet to the PO⁴ in order to make it to the staff meeting on time. So, it's a very different lifestyle. And, I think it's a good thing for all of us to have been reintroduced into that lifestyle, into that camping lifestyle. And so I want you all to take advantage of everything that Wolfeboro has to offer. Make the Wolfeboro lifestyle a full lifestyle, a busy lifestyle filled with program, filled with excitement, filled with singing, filled with swimming at the Waterfront and shooting at the Rifle Range and going on hikes and being out here in this beautiful valley looking at the stars. There's no light, there's no artificial light in the valley after 10:30pm. And that's something that you can rarely get anymore. Um, I want you all to take hold of all the advantages that you have here at camp and make the most of it because after two years, you have a lot of catching up to do. So, have a good week everybody and I'd like to reintroduce the 2021 Camp Wolfeboro staff (applause). Footnotes: 1: A bathroom (with showers starting in 2021) found between the Program Office and the Mess Hall 2: Short for "Ecology and Conservation". A program area on the Tuolumne side of camp that handles nature-related merit badges and activities. 3: A program area that handles civic-related merit badges and activities. Eagle's End staff and Eco-Con staff were engaged in a prank war during the summer of 2021. 4: Program Office, where the camp director and program director offices can be found. -
2020-08-11
Out of Lockdown and Sadness, Joy and Hope Spring Eternal
The oldest screenshot in this collection is from July of 2019, when my initial inquiry into attendance at St. Mary's University began. I was initially disappointed because I am located in Houston, St. Mary's is obviously in San Antonio, and they did not, at the time, offer online degree plans. In August I received an e-mail about the Public History scholarship program, which also announced the university's plan to have remote learning programs for this Master's program. I was ecstatic; I applied, and was accepted just in time for the semester to start. I received an informal acceptance in an e-mail from the program director, Dr. Wieck, and then a more formal one from the Interim Dean of the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. These screen shots mean a lot to me, as I was very interested in St. Mary's as the college for my Master's, even though it wasn't ideal location wise, it seemed like one of the more thorough and dedicated programs in Texas. I was disappointed at first when I first was told I there weren't online classes, and didn't think much about that specific program for a bit afterwards. With the craziness of the pandemic sweeping over the country, I decided what the heck, picked up a GRE study book and began the process of studying, to apply to a closer university when I got the e-mail about the scholarship and remote learning classes. Being able to "attend" my preferred school has been a welcome surprise amidst constant weeks and months of bad news, stress, and anxiety. It has been a wild ride, given the short time between my application and admittance, when I wasn't sure I'd be admitted to the program in the first place. However, I'm rather pleased to be going pursuing this dream, and trying to learn from my mistakes daily. -
2020-10-28
First Day Free
HIST30060. The first day out of the second lockdown in Melbourne, Australia, I got invited to a picnic with friends from high school. We went to a park that was local to everyone and no one at the same time, having been going there for parties and gatherings for the past six years. This photo is of a café local to Yarraville in the western suburbs of Melbourne, Alfa Bakehouse backs right out onto the train station where I get off and the only reason I went passed it was to check if a froyo place I loved had yet reopened with other retail and hospitality businesses. To see this many people together was both exhilarating and uncomfortable at the same time. Knowing that freedom was finally in our grasp but the overlying fear that we could easily return to lockdown if we are not careful. I made my way to my friends shortly after this picture was taken and talked and ate for hours, even getting a sun burn, and it reminded me how all that time in lockdown was worth it if people can see one another again and enjoy their time together. -
2020-04-16
Long distance letters
This photo is a birtday box my friend sent me from Maryland to Florida. We originally planned on celebrating together because we'd be at school still, riding out the end of our freshman year of college, but with all Florida universities being shut down in early March, we were forced to move out of our dorm and return to our homes. This image is important to me because with the craziness and uncertancy of the future, we went back to our roots and stayed in contact the old fashoned way, letters. While we still talked on the phone and texted, waiting to get your next letter in the mail was exciting and fun. In this particular box, I was sent a shirt that my friend tye-dyed herself & a couple of letters about different things she'd been doing (or not doing) and just letters about life. Even though we were apart, being able to write and send momentums made us all feel closer.