Welcome to The Spirit of Kanwana, an open journal dedicated to the history, culture and traditions of Kamp Kanawana.
I had the pleasure of having dinner with a couple of my old kampers last night, and of course, the discussion quickly turned to talk of days gone by and our mutual home-away-from-home.
There are few things I love as much as talking about Kamp, and as always, I wound up saying the same thing I always say after a lengthly diatribe on some esoteric point about the origins of a tradition, a finer point of Kanawana's history or the new development plan:
''I really should write some of this down....''
This time, I really mean it. And so, with this, The Spirit of Kanawana was born.
My goal is simple: share what I know about Kamp's fascinating history & traditions and learn more from others.
I invite you to bookmark this page and return often - I'll try to have a fresh story or thought about the past, present or future of Kamp. And I hope you will too. I strongly encourage my fellow Kanawanians to contribute with a thought or suggestion, question, comment or story of your own, because like Kamp, this blog belongs to all of those who have been moved by the Spirit of Kanawana.
Write soon!
Non Nobis Solum,
Matt Aronson
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Hi Matt,
ReplyDeleteReading the Kamp cheer brought back so many memories, and a ton of emotions,nostalgic, happy, witful to name a few. I often think of my Kamp days even now at 44 yrs.old. Kanawana spirit lives in all of us who had the good fortune of spending time there. I did as a kamper,C.I.T and councillor. It is hard to put in words what Kamp meant/means to me. As a kamper, just the freedom to explore different things, to be away from home, girls!!! the friendships made. L & V(undefeated proud to say,lol). Sneak outs to the Senior Girls, I could go on and on, as a staff member it was great fun to see the different personalities form session to session, going on the overnight to Wilson Lake, and having a camper that couldn't speak any english!!
Finally, going to Kanawana for one of the first Alumni weekends and hearing my old waterfront director play taps in his canoe on the lake like he did way back in the day, gave me chills then and did again. I had the same empty feeling at the end of alunmi weekend as I did as a camper and staff.
Kamp is a safe place in our hearts and minds, a place to go when times are tough, an inner peace that only fellow members no. No matter how many years pass, when you think of Kanawana, you inevitably stop what your doing and think of those gool ol days, just as I have done now. What a great few minutes they have been.
Mark Bray
Kamper:75-80
C.I.T: 81
Staff: 82-83