Thursday Afternoon
Fanfic Workshop (Geneva) // Queerituality: The Panel (Vanessa, Hansen, Mey & Fikri) // “Ropes Course” & Kink Workshop (Ali, Lizz, Dani & Carolyn) // Scrub a Dub Dub (Laneia) // Thank You For Being a Friend: Peer Counseling For Everybody! (Liz C.)
Gender Panel (Marni, Katrina, Mey, Dani, Carly, Chloe, Lane & Cara) // Nerdcraft (Taylor, Carolyn, Bren & Ali) // DIYke Hardware Jewelry (Liz C.) // Twerkshop (Kaylah & DJ DasGigler)
Vanessa, Blackhearts Counselor & Contributing Editor: Oh man, the Queerituality Panel! I was so nervous about moderating and participating on this panel. I told the audience about 10 times how nervous I was? At one point I announced how scary it is to lead a panel. I believe this transparency put us all at ease (or that’s my story and I’m sticking to it…). Talking about religion is a scary thing!
Hansen: After a pretty busy morning with Merit Badges, I was excited to kind of chill out and talk about religion. I feel really comfortable talking about religion even though it’s a pretty touchy subject, so it was going to be fine, right? Nope. I burst into sobs when talking about being kicked out of my church when I came out, and campers actually came up to the stage and group hugged me. Vanessa got me tissues, and I was really embarrassed, but there was really no reason to be embarrassed because everyone was so sweet.
Vanessa: Even in a space as open and loving as A-Camp, I could tell that everyone was a tiny bit scared to be Talking About Religion. But we did it! We laughed, we cried, we acknowledged how wacky parents can be.
Mey, Flashdance Counselor & Contributing Editor: There were some funny moments and some moments full of feelings (like when half of the front row gave Hansen a group hug, my heart wanted to explode).
Hansen: Talking about hard things in front of a bunch of very sympathetic faces of humans who have probably had similar experiences is hard!
Lizz, Flashdance Counselor & Contributing Editor: If someone could track down the venn diagram of “people who want to attend the queertuality panel” and “people who want to attend the bondage workshop” with “Vanessa Friedman” in the middle I would really appreciate it.
Vanessa: My goal was to get the audience to share as much as possible because while my panel-mates were amazing, there was no way the four of us could cover all religious experiences in the world. And this is the part where I have to thank the people who came and listened and participated SO MUCH, because oh my god the panel audience rocked. Everyone had SUCH insightful things to share, and people really opened up and got real and honest and sometimes it hurt and sometimes I felt the room stiffen or sometimes I saw one person look down or tense up but we did it. Together we were able to have a conversation about religion and spirituality, and what it means to be queer and religious or not, and when the panel ended people stuck around to keep talking. I heard later from some campers that some of the conversations continued long after the panel ended. That felt like such a success to me. I was so happy.
Mey: One of my favorite things about camp is being able to meet a bunch of other queer people who I can share experiences and feelings with. Where I live there isn’t a huge lesbian community, so that means that it’s really hard to find people who are like me. A-Camp gives me the chance to find those people and talk to them and find that I’m not alone.
Hansen: By the end of the panel, Vanessa proposed to me on stage and I said yes and Mey is going to officiate our wedding and all is right with the world.
Laneia: Sugar scrubs! Mixing sugar with oil has inadvertently become a camp tradition. This was a super chill group — lots of Runaways and Blackhearts even came by! — and I was wearing my favorite outfit that day, so really a good time was had by all I think. We learned a lot about not rushing the glass etching process.
Carolyn, Amazons Counselor & NSFW Editor: Kink 101: Ropes Course was unquestionably my favorite workshop to lead of every camp so far. Ali, Lizz, Dani RDS and I decided on a mix of information, live flogging and rope restraint demonstrations and hands-on components that let everyone get a feel for kink in a safe environment. In the hands-on session and afterwards, we also got to answer a lot of questions we might not have otherwise in a giant You Need Help come to life. It’s nice to have a chance to bring people together, and then to keep them together with bondage rope.
Ali: We were so excited to have Babeland partner with us and provide demonstration toys for our kink workshop. Out of all the places on the planet to obtain sex toys, Babeland’s hands down my favorite establishment from which to purchase naughty stuff. And we’re super intentional about sponsorship – we only enter into partnerships like that with businesses we truly love and care about, and with businesses that are kick ass. Babeland fits all of those criteria – they’ve got the best selection and the most knowledgeable staff. And they supplied a TON of rope so we could all tie each other up. TBH, the kink panel is what I think people imagine when I say I’m going to Gay Camp.
Robin: Lizz, Carolyn, Dani and Ali are quite a team. With their expert knowledge and a generous donation from A-Camp sponsor Babeland, I hope to have more kink-centric workshops in the future at A-Camp! I loved the practical, quite literally hands-on aspect. And because these four staffers stressed the importance of consent and taught participants the proper and safe ways to flog and knot, they turned a possibly uncomfortable topic for some into a really comfortable and fun time.
Ali: They also sent us this paddle, which is both pretty and stingier than a swarm of bees. Fun fact – generally the shinier the material is, the more on the stingy end of the sting-thud spectrum that toy’s gonna be. I even slapped myself on the thigh with it, just to check. Whoboy. Sweet Lesbian Jesus.
Carly, Special Programming Director & Contributor: A Quick Note About the Kink Workshop: After hearing that Lizz was going to get flogged by Ali, several staffers who shall remain unnamed (including myself) hung out in the back and giggled and I want to apologize for how dumb we are. Obvs the giggles were hiding some WEIRD FEELINGS otherwise we would have been more well-behaved. I would watch Ali, Lizz, Carolyn and Dani lead a workshop on anything. Ever.
Donna: During the ropes workshop, during a very serious and hot flogging moment, Cee turned to me and held up a picture of a cat with the word “YUP” underneath. This cat was in direct opposition to the grumpy cat posters proclaiming “NOPE,” which were everywhere at camp. Something about the timing of this reveal, and the sheer silly randomness of both cats plastered everywhere, had me rolling and snorting and crying, at the kink workshop of all places. Awesome. I like imagining Cee scouring the Internet in search of the perfect cat to be juxtaposed with the Grumpy Cat that we all know and love. YES!
Carly: I had the honor of being on The Gender Panel again and this time we had a panel comprised almost entirely of newbs, which led to a revived discussion, different topics and a really great panel. To my fellow panelists & our incredible audience: it was an honor.
Yvonne: I helped Liz Castle setup for her DIYke Hardware Jewlery workshop and learned how to make one badass bracelet. Who knew hex nuts could be this cool? I’ve been wearing it everyday since camp.
Kaylah, Rockford Peaches Counselor & Moderator: The concept of the Twerkshop was developed after Gigler and I twerked our way through Camp 3.0 in the Bombshells cabin. The white board drawings and some of the awesome outfits I saw made it clear that the Twerkshop was going to be something out of this world. The conversation we had about the history of twerk and cultural appropriation was the icing on top of the ass-cake.
Emily: Kaylah rocked all the booties that came to our twerkshop, and I had a blast bringing the beats and throwing in a few of my vogue moves. Kai added her cheer energy and natural leadership to the mix!
Carmen, Holograms Counselor & Contributing Editor: I attended the Twerkshop hoping to learn what all the kids were doing nowadays, but instead found that I’ve been twerking for just about my entire life. And thus, I left – after recruiting Kaylah, Emily Gigler, and Kai for the Twerk Team and enlisting them to start that night.
Sophia: Carmen and I had agreed earlier that we absolutely had to go to Twerkshop because this was an Important Thing. We lost track of time but once we arrived in Wolf and saw everyone dancing we tried to hide but it never works out that way, at least not for Carmen. Kaylah and Gigler and Kai were super duper teachers bringing people out of their shells to dance and join in with them.
Emily: It really set the tone for all the ass shaking that mountain could handle. Twerkshop, Klub Deer, A-Camp-alooza, Prom, people just turnt the fuck out this camp.
Kaylah: Everyone was great and we had a blast twerking til we were out of breath and I almost shed a tear after our group huddle at the end. Who knew twerking on a mountain with a bunch of weirdos would be so special? Allison, Casey and Lisa continued to give me life every time I saw you dancing at camp. “Twerk Betch!”
Next: Live from Angelus Oaks, it’s Thursday Night!
