When I was in my teens, I spent one summer at a Hebrew immersion summer camp program with around 60 others at Olin-Sang-Ruby Union Institute in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin (usually referred to as OSRUI or Oconomowoc, for obvious reasons). I'd been up there many times before for the family Thanksgiving retreat our temple sponsored every year, but my main ( Read more... )

From 1966 to 1973, most years I went to YWCA Camp Newaygo (in Newaygo, MI; thus the name) during the month of August. It was an all-girls camp, not at all fancy, but I learned camping and swimming and a bit of horseback riding there. It also had its own traditions and songs, and I loved going there. For complicated reasons, I never worked there as ( Read more... )