A-Camp September 2012 Recamp #1: We Absolutely Started The Fire

Welcome to the first of four fantastic recaps of our entire experience at A-Camp 2.0, which took place 2.5 hours outside of Los Angeles at Alpine Meadows Camp atop a mountain in Angelus Oaks, California, from September 12th-16th, 2012.

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 and create an affordable option for queers for whom other lesbian vacations aren’t always a perfect fit. In April 2012, we did it for the first time — along with 160 campers and 35 staff members, we rented out a summer camp in its off-season and enjoyed a transformative weekend of fun, friendship, panels, workshops, classes, sports, entertainment, events and so forth. It was probably the most awesome experience of our life and we knew from there it would only get bigger and better.

So in September, 220 campers and 40 staff descended upon The Mountain for four days of much-better-organized fun, friendship, panels, workshops, classes, sports, entertainment, events and secret initiation rites.

These epically long monster-posts will do their best to explain and extrapolate upon the camp experience, from avoided-shitstorms to emotional revelations to glory/triumph. But we can’t tell you everything. We must leave some things up to the imagination.

The next Camp Autostraddle will take place May 23rd-27th, 2012 in Angelus Oaks, California, Mark your Calendars!

Monday, September 10th 

On Monday, most of the A-Camp Staff arrived in Los Angeles via air, vehicle, or “already living in Los Angeles” and shipped out to Angelus Oaks for relaxing restful evening before Pre-Camp began on September 11th.

I. Hi-Ho, Hi-Ho, It’s Off to Camp We Go

Riese Bernard, Runaways Counselor/Editor-in-Chief: In April, about ten of us arrived at Alpine Meadows — our first time seeing the actual site — approximately 12 hours before campers began arriving. The rest of our staff arrived on the same day the campers showed up. This was a recipe for crazymaking so this time we scheduled for everybody to fly in/shuttle out or drive out on the 10th, attend pre-camp the 11th, and be ready eager beavers on the 12th.

Carly Usdin, Thundercats Counselor/Contributor/OG Autostraddler: At April’s incarnation of A-Camp, Lauren and I spent the whole time shooting the documentary, so I wasn’t able to fully engage in the activities and I didn’t get to form bonds with very many campers. I was determined to change that this time. I couldn’t wait to get on the plane with Robin; then I spent the entirety of the flight working on the Faggity Feud intro video and was so engrossed in that that I forgot to eat lunch.

Rachel Kincaid, Jetpack Counselor/Senior Editor: On my flight from Chicago I sat next to two girls of Scandinavian descent (Swedish? Dutch? I don’t know) who appeared to be some sort of Olympic-level athletes and also obsessed with eating Slim Jims. It was a harrowing trip. I do have to commend the in-terminal dining options at the Phoenix airport, though. Hats off.

Morgan McCormick, Battlestars Counselor/Calendar Girl: In the Atlanta airport, recovering poorly from the red eye that carried me there from DC, I noticed a cute short haircut, with a girl attached to it! I looked at her, she looked back and I looked away. Then she looked at me, I snapped my gaze back, and she stared intensely at her book. This went on. Then I pulled up bookface on my phone with a pic of A-Camp staff, walked over to her and said “Are you with Autostraddle?” “Oh my God yes!” Daniela and I intro’d each other, talked about our background in sexual health, boarded and, as we separated to our respective plane corners, we promised to meet again… AT A-CAMP.

Laneia Jones, Runaways Counselor/Executive Editor: Megan’s mom let us borrow her super fuel-efficient hybrid, which had satellite radio, so I didn’t even have to make mix CDs! How did we fit everything in it? The world may never know. We only had to go back to our house four times before we could finally leave the great city of Phoenix, so all in all, not a bad start.

Riese: Marni & I drove to Los Angeles on Sunday and then from there to Angelus Oaks on Monday. Economy Rental Car + Shit-tons-of-supplies = Riese spending hours with her legs on the dashboard because the legspace was full of supplies. It was pretty sexy!

Rachel: Because of my primo travel scheduling skills, I ended up with literally eight hours to kill in LAX. This was fine, as I had a ton of work to do and LAX has free wireless, shoutout LAX. I engaged in some really intense eye contact and aggressive body posturing to get access to the outlets in the baggage claim, and spent hours scheduling posts and working on grad school stuff.

Carrie, Forever 21 Counselor/Community Managerette: My flight got into LAX at about 10am Monday morning. I was giddy but also sleep-deprived and hungry so I stumbled to the international terminal to get food and coffee. About an hour later I met up with Daniela and then we ran into Katrina, Carmen and Gabby outside the duty free shop. (I credit the queer forces of the universe for bringing us together.)

Carmen Rios, Misfits Counselor/Contributing Editor: Then I went to Grace’s terminal to meet her in the action which sparked “It Takes A Village,” a week-long communal process led by Gabby to turn me into a proper butch woman. She made me chug a beer and meet Grace as opposed to having Grace meet us. I love to hug Grace, you know?

Crystal, Thundercats Counselor/Music Editor: Carly and Robin were the first people I found at LAX and seeing their excited faces reminded me that the 14-hour flight and subsequent jet lag is absolutely worth it.

Carrie: After Carmen left to meet Grace “Casablanca-style” at her terminal Rachel tweeted at us to get over to terminal 6 and catch the bus with the rest of the staff. The funniest thing about this is that twitter probably was the most efficient way to get our attention.

Crystal: I saw someone walk past who looked like Daniela Sea from behind and later discovered that it was our VIP camper, Jill!

Rachel: Jill is a superb human being and has excellent boots.

Riese: I think “HOW’S JILL” is the first question I asked Robin when she called. Jill was our A-Camp VIP — during our fundraising campaign, she picked the Megamillions “A-Camp VIP” Perk which meant she came to camp as a team member and got her own room and gifts and love and stuff. Robin said that Jill was both awesome and happy, which made me feel both awesome and happy.

Laneia: Was anyone prepared for how much we would love Jill? I thought I was ready, but I was not.

Rachel: There were some close calls — would the group that had gone to get Starbucks from terminal 4 make it back in time for the shuttle at 2:30?? — but in the end, all was well.

Riese: I spent a solid portion of the ride making sure I had everybody’s name memorized in case somebody asked and studying important facts about The Runaways I had helpfully recorded on index cards. I won’t tell you the memory games we had to play for Marni.

Alex, Avengers Counselor/Design Director: The night before pre-camp, I brought ALL the things in my car including Morgan and Mary.

Morgan: She buried me alive while Mary said soothing things.

Carmen: We stopped at the liquor store / grocery store / veterinary hospital for a quick trip to Vodkaland, in which I bought the cheapest glass handle of vodka that didn’t call itself “Seagrams.” It was Smirnoff. It was meant to last me the entire week.

Carrie: Jill entertained us with insane stories about cattle and tornados in Oklahoma. Daniela was nice enough to buy me a bottle of rum when I stupidly left my wallet locked in the bus during our pit stop.

Carly: I continued editing the video on the bus (when I wasn’t asleep), and Robin shared an email from Marni in which Beth (who was the Director at Alpine Meadows in April) (!!!) asked if she could come visit one day at lunch, and we all cheered.

Rachel: There was a brief, heady moment where we thought we might be able to get Carly to play her League of their Own DVD on the shuttle, but it wasn’t in the cards.

Carrie: I don’t know if they knew what they were getting into when they agreed to take a bunch of queermos up that mountain, but they did a really good job because no one on our bus cried or threw up or anything. Our driver even managed to do a three point turn on the edge of a cliff on the way up.

Katrina Casino, Snatch-22 Counselor/Writer: Bus driver man, wherever you are: thank you. Great job. I don’t know how the fuck you made that bus U-turn in the middle of that tiny, curvy road, but man. Go you.

Rachel: At last we arrived, and even though I had been awake for almost 24 hours at this point, it was so exciting to see everyone I love in one place that I kept just sort of covering my mouth with my hands and squealing quietly.

Whitney, Neverland Counselor/Writer: You guys, they are the best people, and the best kind of people — amazing and warm and open and lovely and so intelligent. I have all of the gushiness reserved for them. I felt so blessed to be in the mountains with such great, inspiring people, you guys. I’m so lucky.

Stef, Battlestars Counselor/Original Team Autostraddle: I headed up the Late Van Experience. Some of us had to go to work Monday, and some of us were just weirdos who booked late flights. Although I was super jealous of everyone who arrived early and got to the mountain Monday afternoon, there was something extra exciting about rounding up the latecoming staff (Malaika, Annika, Whitney and Laura) and piling into a van for old times’ sake. Once we’d excitedly gathered our tiny posse at LAX and picked out our trusty rental steed, we hit the road in search of late night tacos and lesbian camp adventures.

Megan O’Grady, Valencia Counselor: Every now and then, Laneia would screech, “We’re going to CAMP!!” And I could only say, “I KNOW!” in return because really, what else was there to say?

Carly: We were the first ones to arrive and I remember just looking around outside of Wolf Lodge, taking in the beautiful, quiet surroundings, and being overwhelmed with excitement and awe and gratitude.

Morgan: After the 2013 Calendar Girls shoot, I figured I’d never get to see Robin, Sara, Alex or Sarah again. Out, out brief candle as Bill said, but I never wanted to cling on like a Klingon and spoil that perfect moment on the beach. Then Riese asked me to join up as a counselor for A-Camp and it wasn’t until that late Monday night moment, when we’d finally hit mountaintop, that it hit me. Hit me in the form of Robin lunging out of the dark and giving me a hug to go down in the annals of hugdom. It’s good to come home.

Riese: Being back at Alpine was like going home for Christmas! All my friends are there and we’re planning this really awesome party! Except the food is probs a lot better at Christmas. I’m Jewish, so.

Laneia: Yes! I had that written down: “Going back was like going home. Where did that come from? Thank you.”

Rachel: There was much hugging and drinking of whiskey, and I think at one point Carly and Laneia and I spent thirty minutes just showing each other pictures of our pets on our phones. Laneia’s dogs are real cute, everyone.

Stef: We meant to stop for towels and other camp necessities, but by the time we got going it was almost midnight and the only open thing we could find was a WinCo in Pomona, where we bought champagne.

Malaika Alba, Misfits Counselor/Contributing Editor: And I also found the biggest bottle of Arbor Mist I had ever seen in my life! Yup, I’m classy like that. You guys, I couldn’t resist: they sure don’t sell wine bottles that big in Canada.

Stef: With the help of my trusty navigator/roadtrip DJ Annika, we ascended the mountain at 2:30 in the damn morning with minimal issues and crept quietly into our bunk beds.

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Tuesday, September 11th

Team Camp (minus Vikki, Fonseca, Ali, Brittani, Sara Medd & “The Talent”) prepares, prepares, prepares.

II. Be Prepared

Robin, Camp Co-Director/Photographer: Pre-camp was one of the greatest ideas we’ve had yet!

Laura: Saying Pre-camp makes me think of the word “pre-cum” which makes me shiver, so instead I’m going to call it Team Time. It gave me space to settle in before the roller coaster of joy that is real-camp began.

Marni, Camp Co-Director: We had teams prepping craft materials, assembling gift bags, organizing registration materials, folding tshirts, making the step-and-repeat (which looked amazing), setting up tech equipment, decorating cabins, and generally doing anything and everything to get the place ready for all the campers the next day. It was so much more relaxing to have that time to get ready.

Rachel: This is sort of what I imagine Santa’s workshop looking like, except colder and with elves.

Crystal: Carly and I had spent the past few weeks brainstorming cabin-decorating and gift bag ideas for our Thundercats cabin, and so being able to finally put those plans into action was super exciting. I got my craft on and spent the entire day in Wolf Lodge, making t-shirt stencils and posters and mix tapes.

Carly: Most of Tuesday was spent decorating cabins, realizing we were running out of tape, carrying things, and asking Team LA to bring things with them.

Daniela, Unicorns Counselor/Intern: I spent a long time trying to find literary quotes involving unicorns. Annika and I then cut eleven paper unicorn heads and planned cabin decorations that involved way too many markers and tape. There was a shortage of tape in this mountain.

Rachel: Co-counselor Geneva and I meditated deeply on what it really meant to be a Jetpack and/or Jetpacker, and tried to arrange cabin decorations and plans for cabin initiations accordingly.

Carmen: Since the Alpine Meadows staff made it clear that this time really was Bear Time, I was already freaked out about the possibility of being killed by a bear and demanded that Cee allow me to exact revenge on that feeling by making a bear stencil we could all use for tee-shirt cutting and stenciling. Cee is a genius and the Badass Bear was thus born that day.

Riese: Since I was on like six panels, I had like seventeen meetings about panels.

Laneia: I did my very best to organize supplies and find enough tape and markers to satisfy the masses!

Laura: I wrote all the campers’ names on name tags and told everyone about the real good ones; was introduced to King Taco by Annika, the Mexican food whisperer of southern California; and voted on which of Cee’s designs would become the official A-Camp crest.

Rachel: We stuffed gift bags with bandanas and love notes and tiny presents.

Carrie: The tote-bag + binder assembly line – never were so many queers so efficient!

Whitney: We hand-wrote everyone’s name, organized campers by color and cabin number and doled out colored bandanas accordingly. I was on a team with Morgan and Mary — Morgan and I danced a little bit, I got to hug Mary, who is the sweetest person ever.

Rachel: Once the bulk of cabin planning had been done and panels had been planned, it was revealed that Stef had a jar of apple cinnamon moonshine, so that was an exciting development, and there was much rejoicing.

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III. The Campfire of Tears

Carly: Tuesday night was one of my favorite moments of camp: the Campfire of Tears.

Robin: We sat around outside of Eagle in a big circle. Marni and I welcomed the staff and chatted briefly about our expectations for them and our schedules and then asked the staff, “what does A-Camp mean to you?”

Megan: I could barely handle how real this was.

Stef: I talked about joining Autostraddle at the very beginning, how I’d definitely drifted from the site over time but how the rush of feelings I’d experienced at the first A Camp gave me a strong sense of my community and made me want to be 100% involved with the team as much as I can be from here on out.

Crystal: I opened my mouth and all of these words tumbled out about how Autostraddle turned my life around and I guess I hadn’t acknowledged how true they were until that moment.

Daniela: I had this concrete, short story I wanted to share about what A-Camp meant to me but by the time it was my turn to talk I was filled with so much excitement and gratitude all I managed to do was squeak “you make me feel beautiful.”

Stef: This took several hours and by the end everyone was hysterically crying, especially when Riese presented Whitney with a check to use towards her honeymoon.

Riese: At dinner I’d asked Whitney about what her and Jessie had planned for their honeymoon and she said they were trying to scrape together enough money to drive down to Boston from New York for a weekend. In my head I was like, This won’t do. We just had this campaign, and after everything they’ve been through…

Carrie:  I seriously still cry when I think about Riese giving Whitney that check for her honeymoon.

Whitney: While we were sitting Riese stood up to give a speech and gave me a gift for my honeymoon — it was totally unexpected and it bowled me over completely and there were so many tears. I’m getting married on October 6 to my fiancée, Jessie, and the whole thing has been so hard and heart-rending. My relationship with my family has been difficult and tenuous for so long, and we’ve gotten a lot of negativity for getting married, for being gay — I was estranged from my parents for years and Jessie’s grandparents disowned her. Getting the gift from Riese was lovely, mainly because I had never experienced that kind of support for my relationship until then — the kind of “we love you and are so happy you’re getting gay married” support.

Jessie and I didn’t know if we had enough money to go on a honeymoon, and we hadn’t planned one yet. We were thinking about something small — taking a drive out of town to a bed and breakfast or taking a train down to Boston for a weekend. With the gift, we could plan a honeymoon that was just that — a honeymoon. It wasn’t an event we had to pick because it was the cheapest or the most convenient. We can choose where we want to go now, and we can choose where we want to stay, who we want to see. And that is the best gift I have ever received.

Riese: I think that’s when Alex started almost-crying (ALEX NEVER CRIES) — just to think where we were in 2009, broke, and that now we were here and were able to do that for somebody. All night there was so much people talked about that I didn’t even know. It was possibly the most profound experience of my life.

Rachel:  In order to process my feelings I clearly had to share a paper cup of whiskey with Laneia and Megan, don’t tell Adam.

Alex: We don’t see each other in real life very often, so I feel that these things are super important for team-building and also crying while saying “we’re doing it, you guys” which is a very popular activity at pre-camp.

Laura: One of my favorite parts of Team Time was the campfire, obviously. The crying campfire.

Stef: It was so emotional that by the time we made it all the way around the circle, even little Alex Vega was a bit teary.

Malaika: If I recap this properly, I’ll probably start crying again, so…that’s all you’re getting from me.

Crystal: I cried the entire time but then I think we all did.

Robin: We cried quite a bit.

Carmen: I don’t know how many tears are left in my body after this, to be honest.

Laneia: We just cut out our hearts and showed them to each other. It was life-affirming. Mountain-affirming.

Rachel: It sounds super corny (because it was!) but also felt like the most important thing I had done in years. I had already known that for many of us, both staff members and readers, Autostraddle gave us a family and a home. But it was heartrending to be reminded of how many of us call Autostraddle their only family and only home, and how central to our lives an imaginary slumber party on the internet has become. It was an opportunity to be so grateful and so happy that we’ve finally made it here, that we’ve even managed to make a camp on a mountain for all of us to be together, a physical space for us to belong in — and that we could share that space with you, too.

Stef: Just when we eventually finished our Most Lesbian Campfire Of All Time and headed back into Wolf Lodge, Haviland, Sara Medd and Sarah Croce arrived. They must have been super confused by all the sniffling, smeared mascara and weepy, dramatic hugs.

Riese: Gabby made me cry again after the campfire too!

Marni: I think it really helped bring us together and remind us why we were there, what A-Camp means, and how lucky we all were to be a part of this.

Riese: I want everybody who comes to camp to feel that way, too. That’s the big idea.

Robin: Standing there Tuesday night listening to the staff responses on what A-Camp meant to each of them solidified my belief that our love for each other and for our readership will always guide each decision we make. And because of this, I don’t believe we can ever really fail. We really all want what is best for each other and that was a very powerful thing to learn. I have so much gratitude to the staff of A-Camp for donating their time and energy once again for this very important experience!

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NEXT: The first day of camp!

Wednesday, September 12th – FIRST DAY OF CAMP

In which campers arrive at LAX via airplane and shuttle to camp, and other campers arrive at camp in vehicles, and camp begins

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IV. Let’s Get These Bros On The Road

Katrina: I woke up at 6:30. I didn’t mean to, but I guess I was just that excited. I walked to Wolf Lounge and cut up my camp shirt all special and went back to my cabin and put on my camp outfit and felt so ready for my day.

Rachel: At breakfast, we got to reunite joyfully with those staff members who had arrived in the dark of night, and then wait for campers to start arriving!

Gabby Rivera, Snatch-22 Counselor/Writer: 7am. I’m settled into the driver’s seat of a white minivan. Laura is in the passenger seat and Carmen’s riding backseat bitch.

Carmen: I woke up thirty minutes before my own shuttle to the shuttle and, being a great shuttle captain like I am, didn’t look for water and/or coffee before shuffling into the backseat of a van. Gabby was driving and Laura was riding shotgun and I was super miserably hungover.

Gabby: Part of me fell into big sister love with Carmen because in that van ride she was vulnerable, sweet and calm. The morning does that to people and I loved seeing the side of Carmen that mostly lives in her words, the stuff behind the wild and crazy she shares when in the spotlight, the just Carmen was just so perfect. I could also share that Laura is probably the best person to have as a co-pilot. Anyone that sings The Roots to me, wins life.

Laura: If you were at OG camp or read the recap, you might remember what a horrible terrible disaster transportation was.

Gabby: The three of us were ready to not only tackle the descent down dyke mountain but also ready to wrangle the gaggle of queer kitten behbehs soon to be arriving at LAX. The first A-shuttle crew was already gathered at terminal 6. Laura was checking off names and getting ready to herd everyone out the door.

Carmen: We herded the pack of wild lesbians onto the shuttle bus, which almost came on time! I was definitely in charge of a shuttle full of people from the smoker’s circle, as well as a ton of Misfits. It was super magical.

Gabby: I had a moment for a much needed cigarette. I lit up outside with my “spot the cute queer” eyes still on overdrive. A girl walked by green streaks in her hair, fresh kicks on her feet and one of those “I’m lost. Help me” looks on her face. “A-Camp?”, I asked. She met me halfway, confused and asking for a smoke, promising me she was 18. I hesitated and asked again if she was going to A-Camp. She had no idea what I was talking about. An actual A-Camper walked over and the three of us smoked in silence. Then the almost 18 year old girl with the green streaks said, “I don’t know what Autostraddle or A-Camp is but I just flew across the country. My parents found out I’m gay and they kicked me out of my house. I’ve got nowhere to go but my ex-girlfriend is picking me up here and that’s all I’ve got right now.”

Pause. I hugged her. What else are you supposed to do when someone tells you that? Fuck. I told her to come up the mountain with us, to be apart of happy homo camp. We smoked some more but it really didn’t click, the idea of what A-Camp meant that is. Then Laura was on the move with her crew of campers and they streamed out of the automatic doors to our left. One after the other, a slew of well-dressed queermos filtered out, past this girl. They came closer and the girl let me share her story with the group. All of the first shuttle campers encouraged her to come with us, some of them hugged her and then I think it all made sense. Like she got it and wanted to be a part of it and that we were real and it wasn’t just me, crazy at the airport; that we were a family of queers. Then out of nowhere Emily Goldsmith hands her a fistful of You Do You stickers. She tells the girl to look up Autostraddle because “We can’t wait to see you at next camp.”

In that moment, it clicked for me too. A-Camp is changing lives. It’s changing what we know is possible, is normal to do or think of in this fucked up world. So young girl, if you’re reading this then you’re on the right path and Emily spoke for all of us. I sure hope to see you at the next camp. Oh, and bring the ex too.

Laura: Watching you all walk towards our group huddled in Terminal 6 and try to figure out if we were your people was one of the cutest things I’ve seen in all of time and seeing the tiny pride parade of queers walk to each bus was magical.

Camper Quote: “Even though the bus was pretty late and the driver may have gotten lost (we aren’t sure but he probs did) it was still great! Laura and Gaby were awesome about making sure everyone was doing well while we waited (they even brought us real food!!!!!) and then the bus was nice once we were on it… Plus I bonded hard core with my bus mates and felt like camp started as soon as I spotted the group of homos sitting by the baggage pick up :)”

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V. Meanwhile, Back At Camp…

Carrie: Wednesday morning was all about last-minute prep before campers arrived. Croce, Mollie and I decorated the Forever 21 cabin. I brought streamers and Croce brought lube. Somehow this seemed fitting.

Daniela: At some point I started working on making the three schedule boards happen. I obsessed over this for hours. Now I think of A-Camp every time I smell Sharpie markers.

Riese: Laneia and I spent most of the morning cutting and taping things in The Runaways cabin. We kinda wanted it to look like a ‘zine.

Laneia: I couldn’t stop taping stuff to the walls. They eventually had to drag us out.

Riese: I was pulled away from decorating because somehow the “people who need linens” list had grown between “making the linens order” and “people arriving at camp” because computers are hard, and gahhh, and so we were short on linens. Typically, this would’ve sent Robin, Marni, Alex, Laneia and I into a hot panic BUT IT DIDN’T because 1) We’re not broke! This isn’t the end of the world!, 2) Our newly-employed piratette Alex Vega was totally into exploring the San Bernadino Area all afternoon!

Alex: I spent a lot of time at two Target locations and a Bed, Bath & Beyond attempting to obtain 15 sets of sheets, covers, pillows, and towels because we thought we were going to be short on linens but it turns out we were not short at all! In fact I still have these things in my car. Just saying.

Riese: All this means is that the original number I gave was correct after all, so it was a mixed emotional situation at the end of the day, but refreshingly less expensive than anticipated! Also, this bedding will come into play later in the recamps, so stay tuned.

Carly: Wednesday morning began with Crystal and I decorating the Thundercats’ cabin until the first campers began to arrive.

Crystal: Honestly, the streamers looked terrible, they were the worst – but we had faith that our campers who would appreciate the spirit in which they were hung.

NEXT: Campers come to actual camp!

VI. The Campers Arrive!

Campers started showing up around noon to register and move in to their cabins. We had some activities, like High Tea and Alternative Lifestyle Barbershop and T-Shirt Cutting/Stenciling to entertain the people before programming started at dinner.

Robin: Day One was about 1000 times less stressful for me than it was in April. In fact, it wasn’t stressful at all, it was really really fun!

Morgan: I’ve never felt so good to be so well-endowed in the upper body strength department. I was always kinda embarrassed for being a tiny chica with guns, but from camp day one I became a popular people-squeezing-destination. My muscles have a use other than scaring people whose hands I shake!

Katrina: We internalize a lot of things in this life and forget about them for a long time. A lot of those things are overwhelmingly difficult and sometimes scary, but once in a great while they’re not. There was something great dormant in me that I had long, long forgotten about. And that was my love of camp.

Robin: This time around we put Riese and Laneia at registration along with some other key staff members so they could greet campers they came in.

Laneia: I was so excited to be signing everyone in! We interacted with almost all of the campers before we’d even had dinner.

Riese: Last year, Laneia and I spent the first day at the airport and in a van. But working registration with Morgan and Carolyn meant we got to greet all the faces with our own faces! It was like my birthday except with human sacrifices instead of presents.

Laneia: I want to do sign-in duties from now on. Write that down.

Riese: Ditto.

Robin: I love that they did this because these are the rockstars of Autostraddle.com and I’m not sure we can tell them enough what their work means to all of us! Not being on registration allowed me to station myself outside Wolf to watch the campers coming down from the parking lot, lugging their suitcases over the gravel, looks of excitement and sheer terror on their faces. I couldn’t stop smiling.

Sara Medd, 21 Hump Street Counselor/Calendar Stylist: I stood proudly behind the gift bag table passing out swag and name tags. I loved getting to see everyone coming in and learning names from the get-go. I loved seeing familiar faces mixed in with brand new ones. I felt like the proud hostess of the party that was about to be A-Camp 2.0, greeting her guests and welcoming each one in to our utopia.

Megan: I was ushering campers to their cabins and trying my best not to grab them and scream WE’RE SO GLAD YOU’RE HERE WE LOVE YOU. Instead I just carried their luggage.

Morgan: One of my Battlestars, who’d only existed as an avatar and a slew of kind words, ran up to me and was real! REAL. I often wonder if you are all fig newtons of my imagination, but you’re not, you’re fun and smile a lot.

Riese: At some point the “release forms” station was being manned by Sarah Croce, Haviland and Mollie and I was like, “aw it’s all our eye candy at one table!” and they gave me a weird look. Luckily I had Tinkerbell with me this time and she gets me.

Sara Medd: My excitement was so much greater during this registration than last, to be honest. I wasn’t distracted by work or obligation, and I knew what these campers were about to experience during the following few days: a life-changing weekend that would send them out into the world standing a little prouder and more confident than before.

Rachel: Alice Motes got there early in the day with a trunk full of snacks and booze. Round of applause for Alice, everybody.

Carrie: She later gave me a Coke Zero when I was in a pinch. Isn’t Alice is just the very best?

Riese: Also whiskey!

Laneia: ALICE MOTES!

Carly: Most of the Thundercats (HOOO!) arrived in the afternoon, so Crystal and I got to hang out with them before dinner.

Crystal: Our campers got to work decorating their cabin — they had brought along posters of cats and balloons to make storm clouds and it was genius. Meredith even brought everyone Thundercats buttons.

Carmen: T-Shirt Cutting & Stenciling ended up being a great ongoing activity because so many people showed up! I met faces! I also saw faces passing me all of the time. Jill came by and made the first-ever Badass Bear shirt, and it looked badass. Also, the smokers’ circle was nearby.

Crystal: Carly and I hit it up and spray-painted the Thundercats logo onto our t-shirts in solidarity.

Whitney: I volunteered for Friendship Bracelet duty, which involved hanging out in Deer Lodge with a giant bag of gimp lanyard and embroidery floss and macramé cord and beads and feathers. We made bracelets, keychains and key fobs and I felt like I was my plucky, keychain-making middle school self again. Meredydd and Malaika were on bracelet duty with me, so we sat in a circle of friendship with all of the campers and braided and talked about friendship and generally felt it — the friendship, I mean.

Rachel: We had over a dozen types of tea for an Inaugural High Tea with varying levels of caffeination and herbs/flowers/etc. Last camp we had I’ll Show You Mine, which was a book full of vaginas, to look at while drinking tea. This time we had that book and several more! It feels good to be able to offer someone tea and books and vaginas when they’ve just gotten off a shuttle coming all the way up a scary mountain.

Sarah Hansen, camper/Autostraddle Contributing Editor: After we got settled into our cabin, Zeller got a haircut from Katrina’s Alternative Lifestyle Barbershop! You’d be surprised how many people want to just stand around and watch a person get a hair cut, but the duo drew quite the crowd and we met so many awesome people this way.

Katrina: How beautiful and slightly terrifying to meet you all at once. I hope you liked your bags. I hope you took a cookie. You deserve it.

Laura: With the exception of a few little bumps in the road on the way home, getting 100 people to and from the airport this time went swimmingly!

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VII. Cabin Initiation

Riese: After dinner, Laneia and I kicked the Runaways out of the cabin to prepare for the secret ritual ceremony and then we ushered them in and all the peanuts sat in a circle and then Meredith, sporting probably the cutest facial expression in the history of the human face, goes: “I’ve never been more excited for something in my whole life!” I think someone was like, “Really?” and she was like, “Yes!” Ever since camp, whenever I get sad, I think about that moment and feel happy again, seriously.

Carmen: We had our campers sit in a little circle that turned into a big circle and asked them questions about their lives. They demanded that they hear me rap by the end of camp and then told us how long they’d been reading Autostraddle. And dood, some of these people really fucking knew their shit! It’s amazing to meet a camper who’s been around in the community longer than me, you know?

Rachel: Initiation was a life-changing event that none of us will ever forget. We all have matching tattoos now. That’s not true, but we did realize immediately how awesome our cabin was and how lucky we were to be Jetpack together. Also, the cabin still sort of smelled like water damage. SORRY, JETPACK.

Katrina: Meeting my campers was great, even though I’m stupid shy and don’t always know what to talk about or how to introduce myself or say hi. I feel like there’s this thing that’s imagined where YOU’RE awkward, and everyone else is totally fine and socially ept and like the silence is your fault. But it’s not, or maybe it is, but we’re all working through it together. I think that’s what was cool about having the entire Snatch cabin be my age. I met my campers and looked at all their cute faces and saw this huge range of what it could mean to be queer at this age and and this time. It was like this quiet reassurance, the fact that we could all be up there together.

Crystal: Carly and I both really love music and so of course Thundercats initiation was music themed. We asked each camper to name a song that they really relate to and then sat around in the cabin listening to everyone’s selections. At the end we gave them all a Thundercats mix tape with the songs on it.

Carly: Mix tape listening party!

Alex: The Avengers initiation was less “initiation” and more “cawfee tawk” without the coffee. Because if it were up to me to actually initiate someone into something, there would be wedgies involved and nobody wants that. Vikki (my co-counselor) and I just asked my campers a bunch of possibly intrusive questions in order to better get to know their beautiful souls. I loved it.

Sara Medd: I loved the unity that almost instantly formed within the cabin. Obviously, one of the first orders of business was to figure out a cabin chant for the rainbow war games. We were green team and losing was not an option. After an intense couple of “never have I ever” ice breaking rounds, the cabin set out for rainbow war station games. HUMP HUMP!!!!

Morgan: Will my campers like me? I totally confess to fretting re: this. I mean, there’s a lot of redhead prejudice these days keeping my polka dotted people down. Don’t judge my ginger identity! Really though, Stef and I’s puppy pile of sweetness, the Battlestars, were like ambassadors from the planet of All The Best Things. I thought my happiness had hit its ceiling, but then it sank in: all A-Camperlings, all Autostraddle supplicants, are really fucking nifty people! Plus you smell fab.

Riese: I can’t actually tell you what the Runaways initiation consisted of because it is top secret. It involved a pledge and dim lighting and emotional exercises and Mazzy Star and facepaint. That’s all I can say.

Laneia: I painted their cheeks with love paint, and we were one.

NEXT: THE WAR BEGINS.

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VIII. Rainbow Wars Start Now

In which we introduced Rainbow Wars and opened our first night of competition with Photobooth, Tug of War, Balloon Tag, Map, Parachute and Auto Story

Riese: Robin kept talking about wanting to do “Color Wars” for camp this time and I kinda knew what she meant from friends who had color wars at their summer camps and Marni had no clue what she meant, because Canada, but Robin sounded really excited about it and the #5 rule of Autostraddle is “if a person you love is that passionate about something, you have say go for it.”

Robin: I was so nervous this idea of “Rainbow Wars” wouldn’t translate to adult lesbian camp, but it was always such a fun and exciting part of my camp experience growing up, I wanted so badly to try it.

Riese: Basically we were put into color teams — 2 or 3 cabins per team — and there were opportunities all week to win points and whomever wins at the end has good luck for life and won’t go to the reaping.

Robin: I’m so glad Marni and Riese allowed me to bring it to A-Camp because Rainbow Wars appeared to bring cabins together while creating a friendly competition between teams! I’m excited to make it even better for May’s camp and provide varied opportunities to win points!

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Robin: So Carly and I had to create a series of short games for 250 people that’d last fifteen minutes each and involve campers meeting up with / competing against different groups at each station. Carly made a really amazing color-coded chart and we ordered things like a 75 foot-long tug of war rope, which Marni will forever make fun of me for.

Hansen: The rainbow wars station games were hilarious. The Misfits really lived up to their name in these games. I don’t think we won a single thing we could win.

Carmen: Despite there being three teams competing max per activity, we came in fifth place each time.

Hansen: This became our theme for camp.

Riese: Alex and I led a game where each cabin had to make up the story of where the name Autostraddle came from, and seriously everybody’s story involved women addicted to straddling automobiles and/or every object in her path who one day found a website where she could relate to other compulsive straddlers. You guys are weird.

Carly: I was in charge of tug-of-war while Crystal traveled from station to station with our valiant Thundercats, who definitely should’ve gotten points for Best Photobomb.

Hansen: We made a plan to win the photobooth station by being really ridiculously good looking, but I’m pretty sure Rachel Walker won photobooth with her photobomb of us. I’ll never forgive the red team for this.

Crystal: I secretly felt so proud.

Riese: I became concerned for the Rainbow Wars fate of the Golden Girls when they spent the three minutes of story-building time talking about whatever and for their presentation had Digger stand up and say “fuck me with a strap-on.”

Alex: Almost everyone managed to work in “rehab” and “unicorns” (and sometimes robots) into their stories.

Whitney: My cabin, the Neverlanders, ended up putting together a pretty bad-ass Mad Lib involving cats and feelings and Riese and Alex. It was awesome, especially when the fill-in-the-blanks were filled by the other team with words like “dildo” and “harness.” Best. Mad Lib. Ever.

Sara Medd: PARACHUTE!!!!! I didn’t expect that to still be as fun as elementary school, but it absolutely was!!!

Carly: The highlight of tug-of-war was probably when I made Mary and Grace face off against Rachel and Geneva, which ended when Stef and a few others crashed the game.

Carrie: The balloon-stomping game was loud and terrifying and hilarious. I would love to meet the sick weirdo who invented that.

Laneia: The Runagays were up against The Avengers in balloon tag, and they were BEASTS! This was honestly the moment when I knew everyone in our cabin was going to mesh. It was super intense, even if Croce was half-dead with the plague.

Rachel: I still have to commend Ashley for her bravery on the front lines during the balloon game, and I am still inspired on a daily basis by my team’s performance during tug of war. We bleed purple, etc.

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IX. Opening Night Campfire

In which Julie Goldman plays a song, Robin and Marni talk about camp, and all the staff comes on stage so we can all look at each other’s faces at the same time.

Riese: Y’all, we made Brandy Howard miss a Fiona Apple concert so she and Julie could be there the first night to emcee the campfire and make Julie sing the Gay Baby Army Song.

Brandy Howard, The Talent: The opening campfire is always electric because it’s the first official activity with EVERYONE together. This time around, Carly and Grace strung up some lights around the area and the transformation was intoxicating. It looked like we were all gathered in the woods for a romantic, gay, group wedding. And we kind of were!

Alex: Julie Goldman killed it, as usual.

Brandy: When Julie got up to sing Gay Baby Army- the moment was magical. She’s looked so cute in her rainbow Vans with her little cheeks.  Gay Baby Army is the anthem of camp and while she sings it, it feels like she knows all the mysterious secrets of gayness, and by the end of camp- we’ll all knew them too;-)

Robin: I looked around during Julie’s songs at new and old friends singing and waving their hands together, sporting bandanas and A-Camp shirts, and it was once again hard to believe I wasn’t dreaming!

Morgan: Can we start a giant Google hangout and sing Gay Baby Army again? I want to sway again while we harmonize on one big queer wavelength.

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Carrie: Seeing everyone together at the campfire was magical. Now when I’m at home reading Autostraddle comments I try to imagine I’m at that campfire with everyone and we’re just hanging out and talking. This might seem more reasonable in my head though.

Laneia: Will the campers ever know how beautiful and literally amazing they all look at opening campfire?! Probably not. They’re just so epic, sitting in that stadium semi-circle.

Crystal: At the Opening Ceremony, the staff were asked to stand on stage in front of everyone – a thing that I find terrifying. Cee noticed how freaked out I was and helped to shield me from view; it was the first of many moments at Camp where a staff member or camper would make a small but significant gesture that made me feel accepted and understood.

Riese: Carly and Grace had found the light — and by that I mean “the outdoor lighting” — so I could see all the faces this time! Last time I was drunk and couldn’t see the faces, but it was electric. This time I was soberish and I could see the faces, and that’s a different kind of electric.

Carmen: After introductions I left the campfire because there seemed to be some sort of huge pilgrimage to Wolf Lodge occurring, and then I lost all the people I had walked uphill with because they went back to the fire pit but I didn’t even know it was all still happening, and met a bunch of new ones outside in the smokers’ circle. This was the year of the smokers’ circle. I spent the rest of this night in the smokers’ circle.

Vikki, Avengers Counselor/Contributor: I relied on the kindness of strangers to provide for me (Hello Alice! Hello Random Woman in Eagle Lodge with Two Bags of Ice!). When left to my own dev-ices (Get it? “Ices”? Yeah, I’m still tired.), I made drinks without ice. I learned a valuable lesson: I will never ever be desperate enough for a social lubricant to drink a warm cocktail.

Riese: We were all so fucking happy at the end of the night — not just because of the energy but because it was so fun! We weren’t stressed out and confused all day, like we could actually be part of the fun everybody was having. I think after the campfire I drank whiskey with campers and told all of our secrets to a Wild Runaway in a Cosby sweater.

Alex: Also the refrigerator exploded and I fixed it. I’m just saying, I feel like I should get lots of butch points for that.

Next Re-Camp: LET THE GAMES BEGIN