WTF Wednesdays: I Need YOUR Help!
new job. new layout. new title. same LBN. some change is good. too much change is awkward. so update your readers and your blogrolls cause i’ll be over here from now on. and you don’t want to miss out on the fun. a huge shout out to ABN for making it all happen. for dealing with my constant “can you fix my blog” nagging and for just having the cutest cross bite around. did i tell you he bought me a rooster for my desk at work? he did. i love roosters. and peacocks. in equal parts….i’m just saying.
and now back to life
today was day three of the new job – and i spent it down (?) in no-way-san-jose learning about the camp accreditation process. that’s right, not only do i need to figure out how to run a camp (seriously, how?) i need to have camp ready for accreditation this summer which is full time job within itself. the funny thing is that as ginormous as this job feels, every time i start to get overwhelmed (and there have been a number of times already) i remember i’m a camp director and i can’t help but giggle to myself. and then i do a little jig. and then i burp…which has nothing to do with being a camp director, i’ve just been burping a lot recently – like this weekend when a waitress came over to refill our waters and i burped in her face. it wasn’t on purpose. but it did totally happen. my first freakout came when i realized that the kids only swam once a week for half an hour – seriously. that’s just nuts. my second freakout came when i realized the kids swam once a week for a full half hour! its seems dangerous and unnecessary. i have decided it best if they don’t swim. if they don’t run. or walk. they should sit. and draw. with crayons – that are soft. and they can eat nothing. because they could be allergic. or they could choke. doesn’t my camp sound so fun?!
with all the new, i’m also introducing a new feature to this blog…WTF WEDNESDAYS!?! today’s debut topic: the 7 PRINCIPLES! WTF?! what are 7 PRINCIPLES you might ask?! funny, i found myself asking the same thing. on monday, i was told that the theme for camp last summer was [redacted] – or the the seven principles that define jewish values. i had never heard of these values, defined in this way. and while i’m no expert, i feel like i know quite a bit about jewish values…i’m just saying. they are clearly illustrated by the HUGE installation in the atrium of the building. last summer, each week focused on one principle (justice, repairing the world…you get the idea) and when a camper took part they got a lance-armstrong-style bracelet, with the name of the principle in hebrew and in english. by the end of the summer there were hundreds of kids running around SF sporting their bling. so this summer…we’re in need of a theme. and it has been made clear there has to be some sort of SWAG to go along with it. WTF?!? and so dear blog readers, this is where you come in…
it’s the first ever I’M JUST SAYING give away! help me come up with a theme for camp and if your idea is chosen you not only win fame and notoriety (i’ve got lots of readers people! and parents in SF will be forever indebted to you!) but you will also receive this gorgeous, limited edition, hamsa bracelet! designed by my aunt – all the cool kids are clamoring to get their hands on one! in order to enter simply leave a comment with your idea. and don’t limit yourself to just one – the sky is the limit. while originality is impressive, don’t feel like you have to reinvent the wheel – mooching is completely allowed. is your idea incomplete? no worries! any sort of trigger is greatly appreciated. and if you feel at a loss, send your friends the link. if a referral wins the ultimate prize, you get a bracelet too for making the connection. and that’s not all (because, really, is it ever?!). there will also be prizes awarded for MOST INAPPROPRIATE THEME, MOST CELEBRITY FOCUSED THEME, and MOST WTF THEME?!?!
so go at it! thank you in advance
don’t forget to update your reader
and i’ll see you on the flipside.
Thank you 
On my way to updating my blog roll, but in the mean time:
1. love the new layout. looks great!
2. Regarding the theme: I’ve been reading a lot about WWII, and watching documentaries and such, but I think what’s missing from the Holocaust documentaries are before and after examples. Like, yeah they show these starving people, but it’s hard to relate because you have no idea what they were like before. I wish there were more comparisons, because I think it would make it easier for us to identify with the victims, and see that it wasn’t some crazy thing that could only happen in the past. Maus (the graphic novel) did a great job doing that, but before that I had a hard time identifying with the Holocaust. Okay so maybe the kids could “become” these people, and write and illustrate what it was like for them in the beginning? It’s probably a bit too heavy, and I’m a fatalist and also a bit tipsy, to be honest, but I don’t think my hebrew school or any of my Jewish upbringing did a very good job at helping me to identify with Holocaust victims, so I guess I’m just venting? I don’t know. Why am I getting so heavy on your comments section? Email me. Your job sounds amazing.
3. I’m hungry.
oh my god did you do holocaust programming at camp? i totally remember one evening program being told that we only had an hour to escape our german captors and running through the dark, possibly tripping by the pool and mostly sliding down one very steep fire trail. SCARRED FOR LIFE! i love camp
This is killing me that I did not come up with one immediately…but believe me, I am thinking real hard and will win this prize just cause I mean I really love camp and you are pretty fab and living the dream.
you have until next WTF wednesday!! you’ll think of something
how about the seven days of creation and with every day the kids can add a bead to their necklace spelling out breshit (in hebrew?) or creation. this way you can do lots of different types of activities from the natural world to asking kids what they think and create! this clearly works if camp is seven weeks long.
ellie – love it! camp is nine weeks but who knows, maybe some days took longer than others. i love having rabbis in the family
So something with the intertwining of what makes us Jews (I just can’t stop picturing the braided challah or the havdallah candles)…because if it is anything like the camp at the J here, there are all different types of kids coming to the camp (not necessarily all Jewish, or from different movements of Judaism). I wish I could think of a witty way of saying it (believe me my braid is working on it) and the swag…the Jews do love swag.
One of my favorite themes for camp is Jewish Holidays. If you make the first week’s theme “Shabbat”, you can set the standard for what you want the rest of the summer’s Friday afternoons look like. You can have a week on the high holy days, a week on Israel (yom ha’atzmaut), a week on chanukah, purim, passover, etc. You can tie in lots of other themes, like environmentalism for Tu B’shvat (or this year’s Birkat Hachamah). Arts and crafts can tie into the theme as well, and then the kids can go home with holiday decorations and possibly ritual objects that they’ve made.
rachel – i like this theme as well, and it allows for my favorite program ever – purim in july! is there some sort of name, or innovative way of grouping them all together? and swag? hit me back with your thoughts!