Once upon a time (May 21-26th, to be specific) in a land far far atop a mountain two hours outside of sunny Los Angeles, approximately 300 queer humans gathered for four days and four nights of revelry, renaissance, intellectual stimulation, dance parties and deep sea bonding. They called it A-Camp 5.0, and it was beautiful! This is the first of three fantastic recaps which serve to ease our collective separation anxiety, give you a behind-the-scenes look at how your A-Camp soysage is made, enable us to wax nostalgic over times gone by and provide prospective campers with a brilliant glimpse into the A-Camp Experience.
A-Camp was the genesis of an idea Riese had at 3AM in July 2010: the concept was to take the spirit of the website into three glorious dimensions by renting a summer camp in the off-season and jam-packing a long weekend with panels, workshops, discussions, crafts, sports, entertainment, parties and so much more! We gave the idea a spin with an abbreviated, smaller edition of A-Camp in April 2012, followed by full-size full-length camps in September 2012, May 2013 and October 2013.
This camp was our longest camp yet, and it still wasn’t enough time to spend with you weirdos. We were pleased to provide a resplendently fresh roster of special guests for you last spring like comedian Elicia Sanchez and musician/heartthrob Mal Blum. We were also blessed by the presence of new media superstar Hannah Hart, Little Horribles creator Amy York-Rubin, femme icon Aja of Fit For a Femme and home design expert AB Chao.
Camp Prep:
Robin, Photographer and A-Camp Co-Director: I think we should start recording our A-Camp planning meetings. We come up with some pretty random and interesting ideas, some of them make it through to the schedule and some of them don’t. For instance, this year I suggested a Renaissance Faire for camp and then suddenly we were having one.
Riese, CEO/Editor-in-Chief and Runaways Counselor: Everybody seemed really surprised that I’d been to like ten thousand Ren Faires. WE CONTAIN MULTITUDES.
Robin: It’s really rewarding to see your ideas come to fruition, even when not everyone is on board at first. Its also so much fun to work with a team that is so supportive of each other’s ideas!
Planning A-Camp, with beverages
Riese: We really wanted to do everything different this time — with five days, we had more room to try out new things and we just generally preferred ideas for Brand New Things over repeating things we’d done before.
Robin: One of the new things we did was to have only four teams or “houses.” Because we only had four teams, we were able to designate spots in camp to set up flags and create a feeling of being in a team village.
Riese: Also Robin and Marni were really serious about wanting to open up pranking opportunities.
Marni, A-Camp Co-Director: Four camps in, Robin and I were bemoaning the lack of pranks in a real way. Robin comes from a background of real honest-to-god pranking camp culture and our attempts at cultivating that at A-Camp hadn’t really landed. We wanted to create an environment where cabins would feel unified by the common goal of asserting their collective identity in a good-natured way on the humans around them. We decided to slash the number of color teams in half, group cabins in larger numbers and create symbols around which the cabin groups — or houses — could rally. Luckily we had the gifted and indispensable Rory on hand to meet this request.
Concept sketch sent to Laneia from Marni’s office notepad
Marni: Our vision was that each cabin/house would have a flag bearing a crest/coat of arms that would represent each cabin symbolically.
Robin: Marni and Laneia worked very hard on the concept of the flag and how they would look.
Laneia, Executive Editor and Runaways Counselor: Marni asked if I had a sewing machine and if so, could I make some flags, to which I replied YES and SURE I MEAN HOW HARD CAN IT BE..?
Somewhat unconventional pattern-making for the flags.
Marni: We sent Rory the cabin names and asked him to create a crest that would include a unique symbol representing each cabin in the house, and wow did he deliver. Not only did he create stunning and impeccably detailed crests, he was amazingly responsive to the print company’s feedback about little changes that would make them more stencil-friendly. The result was four unbelievable stencils in ABS that we’d later use to create flags for each house. Rory is the most amazing, you guys.
Robin: He was even more sweet and talented than I could possibly imagine a human could be!
The Red House
Robin: Marni and I also created a fifth, secret team: The Clear House, hoping to jumpstart pranks. This involved going on Amazon to find as many clear items as possible and thinking up challenges for the other houses. The campers ended up not only stepping up to the challenges we presented but pulling some pretty amazing pranks on their own, but we’ll talk about that later.
Riese: Last camp we were short on supplies for a few of the craft activities, so this time we went completely overboard.
Robin: My house was the shipping headquarters of camp this year so I was having three, four, sometimes five boxes delivered to my house each day for a month leading up to camp. I got to know my neighborhood UPS, FedEx and USPS delivery team really well. I wondered if they thought I had a serious craft supply hoarding problem.
Riese: I personally spent about two months gathering magazines for the QTPOC Speakeasy’s Zine-Making workshop, the Chingona Chats and Crafts as well as our own, getting ‘zines from our favorite distro Pioneers Press. But other workshop leaders had so many special needs this time! Thirty billion pounds of rice! 25 hand mirrors! One liter of blue fruit punch!
pretty boxes wrapped in ticky-tacky
Robin: Each time a box would arrive I would get so excited to open it and see what was inside. More scissors! Bondage ropes! Granola bars! It was like Christmas morning every day. The nights leading up to camp consisted of me in the living room, surrounded by boxes, laptop open on 10 different spreadsheets in google docs, stringing pieces of red, yellow, blue and green fabric onto twine.
Riese: I was looking forward to this camp like nothing else — it had been a really rough few months leading up to camp and I was so excited to see my friends and make new friends and MAKE ‘ZINES. On Sunday morning I packed up the rental SUV with a trillion boxes and my outfits, including a lot of large pieces of wood, and set off into the horizon. Driving to Los Angeles alone meant I lost precious name-and-cabin-facts-memorization time enabled by the passenger seat, but I made up for it the next day. As per every time I go to Los Angeles, I spend the last two hours of my drive frantically google-mapping the nearest Target. I don’t know, I just always forget something I need at Target.
Sophia, Cat Power Counselor: I arrived a day early and crashed at Stef’s place along with Liz and Cara because SLUMBER PARTY and Carmen San Diego bitches going up a mountain. We managed to both listlessly and stressfully wander Stef’s neigbourhood while having a close call with the Church of Scientology.
Riese: In a strange twist of fate, Robin got rear-ended like two days before camp? This would’ve been a disaster situation if we hadn’t been resourceful lesbians who realized we now had the opportunity to rent a mini-van largely on her car insurance’s dime, which we packed to the brim for our epic drive up the mountain, which was interrupted by ongoing updates regarding whether or not this one team member who had ignored all our emails for months was actually showing up. (Spoiler alert: nope.) Marni flew in late Sunday night and Robin and I picked her up at the airport. In less than 24 hours, we’d be back home on the mountain!
Pre-Pre Camp: Monday, May 19th
#keeptaylorweird
Carmen Rios, Straddleverse/Feminism Editor & Gladiators Counselor: A few days before A-Camp, I realized that my emotional state spiraling out of control may have been related to a lack of In-N-Out Burger in my life. I’d sent Kaylah a bizarre and emotional email about it, but she never responded. Brittani, of course, showed up with my exact order at the airport. That’s because Brittani, like In-N-Out veggie burgers and grilled cheeses with fries all animal style and a chocolate shake, always completes my life.
Sarah Hansen, Heartthrobs Counselor: I don’t know why I do this to myself, but I am always the first or second to arrive at LAX. I was second to Carmen this time, who offered me some cookies. This became a thing, the offering of cookies.
Carmen: As the human in charge of getting staff on to the staff shuttle and up the mountain, I’d ended up spending a majority of my day completing my exercises in The Desire Map and trying to hand out free cookies.
is just a bunch of Shane collages
Hansen: Carmen was the best helicopter mom, she literally called me ten seconds after my plane landed, asking where I was.
Whitney Pow, Foxes Counselor: When I got off the plane at LAX, the first thing I did was grab a $12 fish taco, which was a financial and gastronomic decision I immediately regretted (and also possibly an elaborate euphemism). The way LAX and its terminals are laid out is like this giant horseshoe of death, where I always find myself landing at a terminal that is the farthest away I could ever possibly be from the Queer Terminal where I am meeting staff for pre-camp. Always. Is there an A-Camp theorem for this? Like some kind of A-Campian Theorem in which the place you need to be in LAX is always the farthest terminal from your current position?
Carolyn Yates, NSFW Editor & Bloody Valentines Counselor: Every time I arrive in terminal 6 at LAX, it feels like coming home.
Whitney: When I found the A-Camp Staff Queers, Carmen asked me immediately if I wanted a cookie, and I said yes and I ate it and it was so M&M-y and crunchy and delicious. And so many hugs were had. The waiting-for-the-bus-up-the-mountain Pre-Camp is always a huge festival of the biggest hugs. There were so many people I hadn’t seen in so long since I missed A-Camp 4.0, so the last time I found myself in these tens of queer arms was a long while ago. Every time someone arrived, everyone stood up for hugs. It was beautiful.
Hahaha they all think we did this on accident
Ali Osworth, Geekery Editor & Foxes Counselor: I got to fly to camp sitting next to Gabby Rivera. That in and of itself is amazing because Gabby is an amazing human. But what was truly majestic was that we were flying Virgin America and Gabby had never seen their updated safety video. Watching Gabby watch the Virgin safety dance was the perfect opener to a wonderful week. It was full of wonder and amazement, laughter and joy and also full of all those amazing facial expressions Gabby makes.
Gabby Rivera, Speakeasy Editor & Mockingjays Counselor: Seeing everyone gets me super emotional, like I can’t believe it’s happening again and I get to be surrounded by all these loving, exceptional, and badass humanoids. Like thank you universe for giving us some peace and allowing me to share space with Carmen, her hair, and her laugh/shoulder bounce.
Crystal, HR Director & The Con Counselor: Kip and I discovered that the LAX food court no longer exists and so for sustenance we ate a bunch of chocolate pop tarts that had freshly smashed up in my check-in luggage. Or possibly it was just me. I definitely offered them around though.
Whitney: One of my favorite parts of the long, long wait for the bus up the mountain was geeking out with Cee about bow ties! True fact about myself: I don’t know how to tie a bow tie, or really a tie for that matter. My A-Camp resolution to my cabin this year (GO FOXES) was to learn to accessorize for the next A-Camp, which will include not only getting suspenders and a fancy tie clip but also buying a bowtie for myself and learning how to tie it. Cee showed me her tie-crafting materials for her Bow Tie Workshop at A-Camp, and all the really sweet matching pocket squares and ties she had made. And then, she gave me a quick run-through of how to tie a bow tie. I believe Hansen has an Instagram photo documenting this occasion, in which I learned how to tie a tie from the best.
Cee Webster, Tech Director & Thunderbirds Counselor: I really look forward to meeting everyone at terminal 6 and then the bus ride up the mountain. Everyone is so cute and excited to see each other. It’s like a chosen-family reunion.
First I’ll show you on my neck and then we can practice on my wrists
Hansen: We got a lot of Starbucks, then headed out.
Carolyn: I was terrified on the bus ride up the mountain, not liking windy roads to begin with and feeling like we were all going to die when the bus motor gave out, sending us sliding backwards through the guardrail and over a cliff, which it did not, thankfully.
Long Tall Bus
Hansen: Crystal and I like to sit together on the shuttle to review stats on our campers (last year we made flashcards but this year we just quizzed each other with facts we could remember from their intro emails, like “Who lives on a houseboat in Alaska?” “Who goes by the name Bearnicorn?” TRICK QUESTION SAME PERSON.)
Crystal: Sitting in the back of the bus and quizzing Hansen on details about our campers is definitely the most enjoyable parts of the journey. Everyone is so interesting!
Emily Gigler, Rhythm Nation Couselor: Roadtripping from Oakland to the mountain with Kaylah was like a queer coming of age movie ending with us charging up the mountain to the sounds of Circle by Lil Ronny.
Kaylah Wilson, Modtern & Rhythm Nation Couselor: Gigler and I rolled into Alpine Meadows bumping our favorite twerk jam and I finally felt like I was home.
Stef Schwartz, Music Editor & Firebrands Counselor: I drove up the mountain in a very fancy rented SUV with Soph, Lizz and Cara. Lizz had so many dildos and I had so much musical equipment that our colossal vehicle was completely packed to the gills. On the way, we stopped at ye olde Rancho Cucamonga Party City for last-minute cabin supplies and I picked up some very important items, including a sign featuring a parrot holding a margarita, some sparkly tinsel flamingos and an ALOHA banner which I cut up and re-imagined to say MAHALO and taped up above Carmen’s bed to greet her upon her arrival. We also stopped at Trader Joe’s for the semi-annual Gathering of the Hummus.
Cara searches for love in a hopeful assortment of Trader Joe’s bags
Stef: I have now driven up the mountain so many times that I don’t need directions at all, which is novel. I love driving up the mountain. I will drive that mountain right now. Wanna fight about it?
Riese: I could drive up that thing in a giant white van with nine passengers in the dark.
Going to Wally World
Soph: Our car of fabulosity reached the campsite before the staff shuttle but we were welcomed with open arms and hearts by Marni and the senior staff. WE WERE HERE ACTUALLY AT ALPINE MEADOWS WAS IT REAL?
Chelsea Steiner, My Bloody Valentines Counselor: As a first time counselor, I was super nervous to meet all the staff in person. When the staff bus pulled up, I had all of those “first day of school” feels. As those beautiful weirdos started flooding into Wolf lodge, it was overwhelming. I think the first person I really talked to was Rory, and I immediately grabbed him and demanded we be friends. I didn’t know then that Rory, in addition to being an amazing artist and human, is also a woodland sprite made entirely of magic.
Hansen: When we got to camp finally, there was a boob cake. This was the stuff of legends: queer camp with boob cakes. Rachel wore a cowboy hat with a veil for her Bachelorette Party and it was THE MOST GLORIOUS of sights. Lizz gave Rachel a lap dance to “Closer” and yeah, it was just as amazing as you think it would be.
Really excited about her Bachelorette Party
Chelsey Petty, Editorial Assistant & Blackhearts Counselor : I am a human who always has too many things on my to-do list. So when Stef mentioned they wanted to get Rachel a vegan boob cake for pre-camp, I was like, “I could make that.” It turned out, I could not make that. Thus, the boobs looked something like this:
Y’all are into this kind of thing, RIGHT??!!!
Chelsey: Possibly I will have an upcoming series called “I Cannot Make That” to highlight all my failed attempts at making things. (See also: Mine and Vanessa’s dresses for the “Once More With Feeling” Singalong). We can’t all be Hansen.
Gabby: Tried my first legal weed brownie, thought I was going to lift off the mountain and land in space or maybe heaven. Couldn’t handle my shit. Went to bed hella early.
Riese: That was the night I decided to never consume any kind of marijuana product on the mountain ever again for as long as we all shall live. We were in Wolfe Lodge and Lizz was talking about her vagina and everything felt really strange and far away, like all the Wolfe Lodge Nights Before Camp were sort of blurring into my brain, all starry at the edges. So I just got up and went back to the cabin. Crystal was already asleep and I just laid there alone in the dark feeling completely insane for about two hours.
Gabby: Was happy to be bunking across the way from the famous Brittani and was hella glad to be in a room with my Jewish baby sisters: Lizz & Vanessa. They make sure that feelings happen and that everyone is around to process those feelings. I was sad that Katrina and Laura, my boo, weren’t on top of Mount Queermo.
The Barracks
Carmen: Kaylah, Gigler, Skinz (Soph), Daniela and I were put in Cabin 8 this A-Camp, a small (closet-like) cabin on the outskirts of camp (in the suburbs). We named it the Slut Shack and covered it in crop tops. I also hung my MAHALO banner, which Stef was kind enough to make for me, prominently.
Yup
Gigler: Slutshack! There once was a charming, cozy little cabin at the edge of the forest where there lived the saltiest, the most turnt, the baddest bitches on staff. #8isGreat
Soph: Soon the rest of cabin 8 alighted and the Slutshack was born. Where the party never stopped. I’m sure children are hearing the ghost of trap to this day. And whoa meeting the wondrous person who is Rory, who could forget?
Pages: 1 2 3 4 5See entire article on one page
“the bi one with the long name and the dips”
rory midhani i love you.
I laughed so, so hard
Rory’s email to me with the recamps was obviously prompting me to fill it in with the actual title but I COULDN’T IT WAS TOO CUTE
excuse me, chelsey, but your dresses for the “once more with feeling” sing-a-long were perfect and adorable. you CAN make that! also, I can’t wait for the recap of the “once more with feeling” sing-a-long! xoxo
I was so anxious this first day, since I knew approximately NO ONE! I quickly learned that being a social inept weirdo at camp is the best. mockingjays forever!!
CASEY!!!!!!!!!!!!! this means the world to me
I knew NO ONE at camp either! Wasnt it great being all anxious going up the mountain to see the AS celebrities. Lol. =)
I am shocked, because I always think of you as the Autostraddle Ambassador and Permanent Representative. Maybe it’s the confident fist-bumping.
FEEEEEELINGS.
Aaahhh, showing up so early from my crosscountry train trip to see that noone was at the buss meetup yet was a minor disapointment, but watching everyone show up and a large mob of queers emerge was truley amazing (not to mention the looks of the other people around us).
Also, I have a feeling this comment section is about to get out of hand, the club deer of comment sections if you will.
*I* thought the owl shark sketch was funny
ditto! also the mockingjays are dominating the comments so far. can we get extra points?
SO much fun!! I am surprised i was in one of these pictures
#klubdeer5ever
When i get to camp this year Im wearing those cufflinks into camp. And also maybe deer tats.
But the drinking thing with my cabin!#!!! #redsolocup
Real talk, I’d never had wine before this camp, and Allie and Amy told me it needs to breathe first and I told them it could breathe in my cup #redsolodaritycup
I think we were the only cabin to have alcoholic beverages at the dinner table on the first night.
I blame Jameson up to this day you guys.
I forgot to do anything for most of this day cause the numbness in both thumbs from my ride up hadn’t gone away! (It got better!)
so much bubble bath warmness in my life reading this…
A-CAMP 2015 LEGGOO
ALSO GLADIATORSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yes guys, Rory knighted me Sir Clarecles. It’s okay to be jealous.
Is it the 27th yet?
I got so many feelings from reading this! I am so homesick for camp right now. A Campers give the best hugs in the world and I need about 5 billion of those hugs at the moment. I am so so sad that the next camp is the week before finals and I can’t go. But remembering camp and all you lovely people made my week, and I coincidentally wore my a camp hoodie today. <3 <3 <3 so many feelings, so much crying
i’ve been waiting to relive these moments in time for so long and now it feels so sweet. also, this makes me excited for next camp’s klub deer antics because HEAR YOU ME THEY ARE GOING TO BE GOOD
We need tats @carmenrios some antlers or something
Also also also TBirds! We have the experience and all the goods!
Happy happy snow snow
that is adorable and also looks like you could be standing in front of an a-camp greenscreen, which i really wish was an actual thing
Feelings explosion: commence.
Wowowowowww I miss everyone so much! All of the sharing and crafting and love fests and getting high and going on exquisite nature walks. I need to start putting away money for next camp immediately. I actually like that this recamp was delayed. It is making me look forward to next camp a little bit more than I’m missing last camp. Though I’m definitely experiencing both emotions. Among others. Many others.
By the way, major props to all of our camp counselors and our camp directors. I am always stunned to see the ending of work that goes into making a camp happen. You are our fairy godgays, and we are #blessed
Also, i can’t help but geek out every time it happens, but OMG! look! It’s my face on Autostraddle dot com!!!!
“I actually like that this recamp was delayed. It is making me look forward to next camp a little bit more than I’m missing last camp.”
Yes! Me too. It’s like now I can read these and get excited about the next camp, as opposed to in the past when I have to read these and think about how sad I am that the next camp is a whole year away!
Yay! It worked out perfectly! :)
You are all so beautiful and amazing and perfect.
OMG I WANT IN. I can’t wait to meet you all and other first-timers. I know you’re lurking out there, fellow first-timers, thinking that you are not cool enough, but you are!
Also, is everyone just ridiculously beautiful at A-Camp? Everyone is so perfect!!! How do you all survive it?!
I know exactly how you feel. Everything seems so bright.
I was totally thinking the same thing! lots of gorgeousness going on at A-Camp.
*raises hand* among many thee reasons, a-camp is a big motivator to get that big job thing soon so I can go to my first one. I want it.
Oh man, what if I just cried a little?!
It took me almost two hours to get through the whole recamp and I can promise you I was crying for most of it. (and a lot after)
We are gonna be crying a whole lot with the wedding one
yep. totes crying a lil bit.
FEELINGS, YOU GUYS
my eyes were watering and i’ve never even been to camp. y’all are just queertacular.
The House crests were so awesome!!
This was the night i learned about Kings Cup lol. That was fun.
Apparently there were a million things going on basically all the time that I missed wandering around alone or getting drunk at breakfast.
YOU GUYYYYYS
this was so worth waiting for. It’s the perfect reminder that camp REALLY HAPPENED and will really happen again; that in just a few months, I’ll have access to this magic and this beautiful cuddly kinky loving community of humans where I can just be me.
also, the introvert meetup really was a big turning point in my campsperience. SO GOOD.
I loved the introverts meet up. Instant conversation starter for the rest of camp: “Hey, remember how we were both at that thing where we were talking about being afraid that we wouldn’t meet people?” Also, I loved that like 75% of the camp was there. :D
“Bottle service went to one of my own Gladiators that night for being the first to dance the pole.”
me yes good it was me
In case I forgot to tell you yet this week, you’re my hero
Why must you live far away, I need you to teach me to pole dance
May camp can’t come soon enough
-a poem by me for Keely
WHERE CAN I SIGN UP.
am I missing something or. . .?
Registration isn’t open yet! We must eagerly await the 27th!
a-camp.org yah, hope you can go! I hope/ wish everyone could go
marked my calendar & bookmarked the page. I really, really wanna go!
ugh ugh I want to go to camp SOOOOOOOOO BAAAAAAAAAD but I can’t because 1. I’ll still be a couple months shy of 17 for this Year’s camp which seems rather outrageously young and 2. I have a different (also gay) camp I hope to attend this summer so I’ve been saving all my money for that and 3. “oh hey parents I want to fly halfway across the country to spend a weekend on a mountain with a bunch of adults I’ve never met before, I’ll be seeing you”
Most of the time I’m like “I never wanna grow up ever I’ll just be Peter Pan pls kthx” and then there’s stuff like this and I’m like “all I want is a job and my independence”
No.3 is how i first felt when my friend told me about Acamp. I said ‘a gay camp in LA i dont know about??? Clearly ive been living under a rock’ then i was like what do i even tell my parents…’im off to go into the mountains for the weekend with queer people from tbe internet i dont know in real life yet bye’
Yup. But I still think the words ‘we do what we have to do to get there’ ring true.
Ha right! It was pretty awkward when I told my parents about it. My parents are always skeptical of what I am doing
During the first three camps I was in a similar situation, I was too young and there is no way I could go. But then I was old enough and I was in college away from my parents and I went to a camp 4 and 5 and ill go to every camp I possibly can for the rest of forever. I remember wishing I didn’t have to wait, but it is worth it and you’ll time will happen.
Ugh that was supposed to be a reply to @juliet, but I was on my phone and it didn’t work. Sorry.
Thank you. I suppose, really, the time will fly. It already seems so strange that I’m not far off from graduating high school, because it doesn’t seem like it should be happening so quickly. I have all the time in the world to be older.
Aghh, I’m in the exact same boat!! I totally understand how you feel. I look forward to the day I can go to A-Camp, but I am also trying to enjoy the time I have right now. :) I won’t be able to relive these days of high school.
“Everytime I arrive at Terminal 6 at LAX, it feels like coming home.”
Truer words have never been spoken.
Beyonce’s Dance Grooves made my life. We were hot.
Elicia is my favorite. Whitney is also my favorite.
WATCHING Beyonce’s dance grooves performance made my life.
#HOT CABIN.
Also, that first night we somehow all went to bed at the same time and said goodnight to each other and it was really cute.
ah whoops wrote this in the wrong spot. Sorry Brittany….
It’s okay, I know you think I am a #hotcabin
Ah yes, first day of camp, AKA the only day of camp I managed to get up for yoga. I went to the Mal Blum songwriting workshop mostly to stare at their handsomeness and thought I could get away with not participating but NOPE. Luckily the rest of my group was super talented at song writing.
Also walking around, feeling not gay enough, the Bisexual panel being on the first day was great. I had been hiding my past dude stuff, and hearing the affirmation that I was DEFINITELY gay enough almost made me cry. I also spotted one of my cabin babes at it, which relieved me a lot at the time.
Introvert panel was also great, cause there were SO MANY OF US. Also one of the questions they answered I wrote, which made me feel warm and fuzzy. And Hana is best human, I aspire to be more like her.
Oh man, first day was so nerve wracking and awesome! I’d re-live it in a heartbeat.
kalyyyyy you’re making me blush
I LOVE YOU
YOU GUYS. Also yay recamps!
I loved the bi panel. I usually think of queer women’s spaces as being mostly for lesbians. It was awesome to see how many people identified as nonmonosexual. And I think it really made people more comfortable to mention a boyfriend or husband without worrying that it would be a conversation stopper.
I am so happy to see the dates of the next camp, I was worried they’d be a bad time for me to take off work but I think this will actually work out!
One day I will make it to A-camp.
When the first night of KlubDeer ended I was outside shining my flashlight to everyone going home/to their cabin yelling be careful! And fist bumping everyone who came inside.
I can’t even IMAGINE how amazing it would be to go to A-Camp. Like making up for all the shitty childhood bible camp memories. This one would be full of rainbows and butterflies and queers. So.many.queer.ladies.
“Hi, my name is Cara, I use both pronouns, and I’m fucking beezin’.”
#alwaysbebeezin
#nevernotbeezin
Desire Map workshop led by Carmen and Lex at Camp 6.0?
okay
My greatest regret in life/camp was not attending the speakeasy. I love the online version, and I’m sure in person would have been 100x more amazing. I didn’t go because I didn’t know anything about zine making! Then later on I found out that that wasn’t a big deal. Fie upon me. D:
Anyway, the recamp is bringing back so many awesome memories. Camp 5.0 was so wonderful, so transformative, so healing. I had never really been in an all queer space before. To spend four days surrounded by queer people was amazing. I spent most of camp skulking around in the shadows and didn’t meet a huge number of people, but it was still such a turning point in my life. I’m actually a little nervous for 6.0, because 5.0 made such a huge difference in my life that I know the next one won’t be able to compare. Regardless, bring it on. :D
4.0 was huge for me, and 5.0 was great but completely different. As long as you head back up the mountain with your heart open to whatever camp is supposed to do you’ll be golden.
That’s how I felt about camp 4.0
Then camp 5.0 came and it was better because I carried myself in a more confident and experienced way.
Maybe better is not the right word. It didn’t have the novelty and all the emotions of the first time but you know what I mean
OMG the ladies in these pictures are all so attractive and look like so much fun and awesome! I am going to A CAMP 6.0. It’s decided. When is it?? The suspense is killing me!
This was my first A-Camp so sorry for being all awkward and a little imitated lol. I can’t wait to do it again
Every A-CAMP post makes me nostalgic for something I’ve never been to! I would love to join in on the festivities this year and am going to make it happen, dammit. You all look like you’re having too much fun!
finally! was worried we’d never get a-camp 5.0 recamps. i LOVE reading about a-camp.
Oh man, now I’m insanely jealous of y’all because I can’t go to A-Camp this year since I’ll be in China for school. :( Please have LOTS of fun for me!
The comment about having the Bi Feelings Summit on the first day of camp so people could get over any lingering feelings of inadequacy = ON POINT. That was my greatest worry when getting into any queer spaces pre-camp, and it was my greatest worry when applying to A-Camp, and it was my greatest worry once I got there.
And then we got all those fears out of the way on the first day, and I spent the entire week thereafter not giving a rat’s ass because we were all happily, merrily queer and could feel united without having to size one another up or make each other explain ourselves.
And then I came home and have been waving my big ol’ attracted-to-everybody flag all over the place for the last eight months, because camp helped me understand that anyone who has a problem with my pansexuality can suck it.
BOOM, TRANSFORMATIVE POWERS OF A-CAMP.
<3 <3
Love all you guys so much. This made me even more pumped for A-Camp planning which we officially started THIS WEEK!
you are amazing. Every time I am so impressed with the amount of work you put into this beautiful fun amazing thing that I love so much.
Anyone else live approximately 16 hours away by plane from LA? No? Just the Australians?
*sobs*
It’s 20 hours from Singapore to LA by plane, but well worth the trip!
I have never been to A-Camp but reading the recamps is so wonderful and I love hearing about them
It’s funny – the day before this was posted, I was thinking to myself “I wonder when camp is. Wouldn’t that be cool? That sounds like such an amazing experience!” And then this post came. I want to go so badly! This is such a wonderful community on internet and I suspect that you humans would be even cooler in real life. :D (Of course, there are a couple hurdles. Like money. And also still being in the closet to the people I’m close to.)
I just love camp sooooo much!!
I would have been so much more excited about our cabin name, Gladiators, if I had known it was in reference to Scandal. Stop crying Carrie Washington!
Oh gosh. this has just pumped me right back up. I am so excited for camp this year. It seems like it has been FOREVER since I have seen y’all.
Also, I had soooo much fun helping with the bow tie workshop. I am glad y’all liked it!
I KNOW IT HAS BEEN SO LONG
We are so ready for the mountain
Overdue!