Camp Twin Lakes VI

Hey everyone! This next week we have a camp that's low on volunteers and we'll be staying in the cabins with the kids, so my internet opportunities are going to be even more rare. I'll post a couple new pictures that should hold you over until my next blog opportunity!

Strugglin' during morning stretches

Fighting Albert the Alligator in the pool

The Weetles

Dead Battery

Camp Twin Lakes V - SPIRIT CHECK!

During meal times, we have a few different cheers. If someone yells "SPIRIT CHEEEECK!!!" then there's a pattern that everyone bangs on the table and has fun. It's fun, but can get old real quick if it's done so much you can't eat. There's also a call that makes an individual get up and shake their booty, and if the kids get creative you could end up doing the worm, dancing with a trashcan, or serenading somebody!

Roger is a camper who is no stranger to Camp Twin Lakes. He's been to several other camps which he qualifies for, and absolutely loves it. Roger had a brain injury that left him with limited mobility; he is in a wheelchair most of the time but can go short distances on crutches. Roger is a big fan of spirit checks and calls them at almost every opportunity. He often calls on people to do ridiculous things such as trashcan dancing or I'malittleteapoting. As much fun as he was having, I had a hard time imagining what would happen if he was called on to do something, and that maybe he was even safe from it.

Eventually, it happened. "Hey Roger! Shake your booty!" "no!" "shaake yoour boooty!" "NO!" (that's the script, btw) "SHAKE YOUR BOOTY!" "OKAY!" and with a big grin on his face, Roger pulled himself up in between two tables and wiggled along as everyone in the dining hall sang the song "Jump! shake your booty, Jump Jump shake your booty!"

During the Luau Party at the pool (one of our regular evening events here at Camp Twin Lakes), Roger decided that he wanted to try going down the water slide. Bear in mind, Roger pretty much has to stay against the wall of the shallow end propping himself up against the wall any time he's in the pool. He'd never been down a slide before in his life, and it was time. After putting him in a life-jacket, two staff members helped him up the stairs while one waited at the bottom of the slide. The whole pool turned to cheer him on, and I (who was filling in for the band that canceled last minute) made up a song about him going down the slide on the spot.

I could tell from the ground he was nervous, and getting in the slide seemed to be a challenge all in itself. When Kaz, my roommate, pushed him down the slide there was a silence across the pool as we waited for him to come out the bottom. Sure enough - Splash! - Roger came flying out the bottom into the arms of Ben, another roommate of mine. "THAT WAS AWESOME!!!" I heard him say.

Roger is a reminder that things like brain injuries and wheel chairs don't limit, they just pose new challenges. Roger's constant calling for people to check their spirits can be taken outside of the dining hall and the pool to everywhere in life. The next day, Roger went down the slide eleven times.

And then made me sing "I'm a Little Tea Pot" at dinner.

Loganville

While driving to the camp where I currently work, I realized that I was very close to Loganville, the town where I had lived when I was about 4 to 7. A few days ago, I finally got the opportunity to go exploring with two other friends from camp. When we got to Loganville, and I called my mom to find the house where we lived. Aaaand we did!

Mom said the last time she was there, they were building a mansion behind it and using our old house as storage. Fortunately, the old house was still standing but it doesn't seem to be used anymore. The mansion itself is waay back and kind of hidden by a hill, but even still there's this big gaudy fence with lions all up on the front and signs that say things like "Caution - guard dog" and "Security Camera in use to aide the prosecution of theft." Sho nuff, there's a surveillance camera mounted on the corner of our old patio. Behind the house is a tree that I planted when I was five, it's really cool to see how it's grown!

The house I lived in when I was little

The tree I planted when I was five

We used to keep bunnies in this barn!

The big fanciness that is on the driveway now

Camp Twin Lakes IV

Hey folks! I thought I'd post some pictures from camp twin lakes. A big thanks to Ted Denning for the pictures!

Getting helped up the wall

Going down the zipline

CTL Outdoor Adventure Staff - that's me at the top of the arc!

Playing with the Ceetles

(Camp Twin Lakes, CTL, Ceetles... get it??)

Singing 'Bo Diddly Man' at the talent show.

Camp Twin Lakes III

Early on, I posted a link to a Bobby McFerrin thingy that I really liked. He tells the audience what pitches to sing by jumping different places on stage and then sings over top of that. I did that today with the staff of Twin Lakes and it went pretty well! I'm looking forward to trying it with campers.

Also, I've talked to various members of staff about Tourette's, it's always nice to spread awareness! It turns out that one of the staff here freakin KNOWS Brad Cohen! Like, she works with him! I'm so pumped for Twitch and Shout!

Peace ;)

Camp Twin Lakes II

So I'm not sure if I'm going to come up with creative titles or just number posts. Whatevs!

So some history of Camp Twin Lakes, it was started as somewhat of union between a few special needs camps, such as Camp Sunshine (for children with cancer), Camp Kudzu (for children with diabetes), and others that needed a place to host their camps. The original facility was (is) in Rutledge, Georgia. Over the years demand grew and they expanded and took over Camp Will-A-Way, located in the Fort Yargo State Park in Winder, Georgia. Will-A-Way is smaller and not yet as established as Rutledge; in fact, this is only the second year of it's functioning as part of CTL. I was hired as the Music Guy (official title) at Will-A-Way, and part of that is integrating what they do musically at Rutledge into the Will-A-Way scene.

Training is being done jointly between the Rutledge and the Will-A-Way staffs this year. For the past couple of days I've been in Rutledge doing training over there, and tonight/tomorrow they're going to come to Will-A-Way for the rest of training. A few of the counselors at Rutledge have a band called the Ceetles (get it? CTL, Camp Twin Lakes...) and I got a chance to jump in with them. I played djembe (although I was prepared with electric guitar and clarinet), two others played guitar, one played piano, and one sang. Actually the keyboard player and one of the guitars all sang, they had a nice little harmony going on. We played "Love Is," "Party in the USA," and "Burnin' Up" for the other counselors and they loved it. I can't wait to play for the campers at Will-A-Way!

We also got a chance to hear from some of the camper's parents. It was a great chance to hear the struggles of serious illness from the parent's point of view, which is often forgotten. It also reminded us that what we do at camp is not just for the campers, but it also gives the parents a chance to rest. While listening to one parent who's child had a form of Muscular Dystrophy, I was reminded about my own journey with Tourette Syndrome and how much my parents did for me. I remember my mom told me once that she lost weight during the time I was getting diagnosed. Because she didn't eat. Because she was just that worried. I remembered what I felt when she told me that and my eyes started welling up in the middle of our training session! Afterwards, I went up and told the woman that she reminded me of my own mother and I asked to give her a hug since I couldn't hug mom. She consented and it was wonderful.

This summer is going to be incredible, I'll keep you posted the whole way through!

How Cool Being Cool Can Be

Yesterday I went to Chick-fil-a for dinner. When I pulled up to the speaker box menu thing, the girl at the other end introduced herself as Christina and asked for my order. Having just learned about how to interact with people at camp training, I thought I'd make it interesting.

"Welcome to Chick-Fil-A my name is Christina how may I help you?"
"Hi Christina, my name is Michael!"
"Good to meet you!"
"You too! Can I please have a number three combo with a peach milkshake?"
"Okay! Your total is X please drive around!"
"Alrighty, I'm excited!"
"Yaay!"

When I drove around I got a big smile and a wave. The person bagging the food and tending the register also seemed to be in a particularly good mood too! I left feeling good, and I hope they did too. Sometimes, its fun to be the customer who goes the extra mile.

PS, I typed this all on my new blackberry. Cool, but definitely a one time only thing.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Camp Twin Lakes

This summer I got a job as an Outdoor Adventure Leader / Music Coordinator for a camp in Georgia called Camp Twin Lakes. It's a camp that caters to children with "severe illnesses and serious life challenges." Each week, a different partner organization hosts a camp meaning that each week we have a completely different set of kids with completely different needs. For example, Camp Weekaneatit is for children with Celiac's Disease, Camp High Five is for children who are HIV positive, and Camp Twitch and Shout is for kids with - you guessed it - Tourette Syndrome!

I got to camp on Monday and it's already Thursday. We've been doing training for ropes courses, and I've been learning to belay and work harnesses and hoist kids way high off the ground. I brought a lot of instruments with me and I can't wait to lead songs and stuff. Here's the banner for Twitch and Shout that's hanging in the dining hall:

I'll post again soon, I promise!

Graduation

Today, the UNC's class of 2010 graduated! The commencement ceremony was interesting, John Grisham was the speaker, and a very entertaining one at that.

I also went to the music departmental graduation, which was nice and more intimate. Several Phi Mu Alpha brothers graduated with degrees in music, including Myron, Danny, Dave, and Ford. The guest speaker was Anthony Griffey, and he gave a very... "gifted"... speech. At one point in t ceremony the graduation choir sang 'Sleep' by Eric Whitacre, a performance that put in context of the day almost brought me to tears.

Here's a picture of four of us from the ceremony. Danny and Myron graduated, Patrick and Danny sang in the choir, and I sat in the audience.

Me, Danny, Myron, and Patrick at the music departmental graduation ceremony

The Semester of the Rainbow

As a child, I grew up in a church that openly accepted individuals of all backgrounds. While this open statement is meant to be inclusive of all forms of diversity, everyone knew that it was particularly meant for gay (and otherwise non-heterosexual) people. I grew up being aware and understanding of the LGBTQ community and their issues, had a few gay friends, was a passive supporter of gay rights. I remember realizing early on that it must not be a choice; it would be a very silly choice for someone to make! They'd be consciously limiting their candidate pool and causing a bunch of potential controversy in their own life.

As a straight man, I'd not had many close encounters with the issue before. Nobody had ever come out of the closet to me before, nor had I had many deep conversations about it and what it means for that individual. This semester, four of my close friends came out.

Maybe I should be more specific, because 'coming out' is a different experience not only for each person but for each time they tell someone. 'Coming out' doesn't necessarily refer to the first time a person acknowledges their sexual orientation to someone else; even openly gay people can experience 'coming out' if they're telling someone new who didn't already know. Each of my friends had already come out for the first time to somebody else (close friends or family depending on the case), but I was one of the first of their friends to know. It is a very flattering experience to be trusted enough by someone for them to come out to you, and I want to share two of those (the second and the third) here on Music and Tourette's.

The first friend I want to write about is Danny. Danny pledged Phi Mu Alpha with me in the fall of 2009. We became particularly close while both learning to play trumpet together in the Marching Tar Heels. Danny and I had a tendency to laugh at everything, and laughter from one of us can get the other going like no other. We developed a very close friendship (in fact, we recently participated in a psychology study about how close friends interact!) One night after a band gig, Danny was driving me back home when he said (I'm paraphrasing) "I have something I should tell you:" after some hesitance he said (and here I quote): "I think I might be gay."

Now - at the time, my focus was drawn not to the 'gay' part but rather to the 'might be' part. I racked my brains for ways to have meaningful conversation about the 'might be,' because I assumed it was something he was trying to figure out. Since I didn’t really have any experience or anything to share, I couldn’t think of anything to say. Danny took my silence to mean that I was uncomfortable, and poor guy called me the next day to apologize for "freaking me out." :)

Later, I talked about it with my supervisor who is an openly gay man and an advocate for the LGBTQ community. He told me that people sometimes use 'might be' as a safety statement when they're first coming out. He said that when he was coming out, he used to tell people that he might be bi, even though he "knew damn well" he was gay. That conversation helped me realize what Danny needed from me as a friend – and more importantly, what he didn’t need.

In fact, Danny had no question about his preference and had already come out comfortably to his family and a few friends. He later explained that his nervousness was more about telling me personally. We had gotten so close as friends and it never came up that he was worried that the new information might not go over well with me. It didn’t really bother me at all, mostly because I had never really attributed any sexuality to Danny in the first place – therefore, when he came out, I was just learning more about him and not changing any thoughts I had about him before.

The next person who came out was Jill, also a trumpet player in the Marching Tar Heels. I had a crush on her all through fall semester and into spring. I had always been kinda shy around her, but I finally asked her to go to a dance performance with me at Memorial Hall; even though she had specified it was "just as friends," that didn’t change the fact that in my mind it was a date!

We had a good time at the show, and afterwards we went to get pizza at Artichoke Basil on Franklin Street. After a while of solid conversation, I noticed she seemed to have something on her mind. It was the same look she often had during band and around campus, the same look in fact that had attracted me to her in the first place. It was a look of introspection, one of silently enormous contemplation. I asked her what was on her mind, and after warning me of the intensity of the following statement, she said she had just gotten out of a big relationship. That was it? Whew! Relieved that I was simply going to be a rebound, I asked her to tell me about him.

"Well..." she said, "her name was Ellen."

Lots of things ran through my head, and being caught off guard I went into automatic RA mode - I asked how she felt about it, talked to her about campus resources, and so on. We were both understandably nervous; I was one of the first people that she had come out to that wasn't a close friend or family, and I had just found out why it really was just friends. The more we talked about it, the more both of us relaxed and felt more comfortable. At one point during the dinner, something she said reminded me of Danny. They seemed to be in very similar circumstances, so I told her about him. She was surprised - "Danny? You mean Trumpet Danny??" The night ended with happy feelings and a hug.

Over the next couple weeks we talked, hung out, and texted each other super often. It was one of the fastest and deepest friendships I've experienced! I tell her all the time (although she still doesn't believe me) that although things didn't turn out like I had expected, it was the best date I've been on. It was in fact the inspiration for my second stand up comedy attempt. It may seem strange to make public jokes about something that just happened, but of course I ran it by her first and looking back I think that being able to laugh it off so quickly really helped us both in the long run. We’re still really good friends – watch this video we made a couple nights ago!

Shortly after our 'date,' the three of us (Danny, Jill, and myself) decided to dinner together at Noodles & Co. It was awkward at first, but Danny started conversation like a pro and it all went marvelously from there. Now the three of us are super close - when we're around each other, we go by Otis, Marvin, and Gretchen (it's a running joke dontcha know) and do all sorts of randomness – that is, as much as Otis and I can convince Gretchen to do!

Otis, Marvin, and Gretchen

I feel so incredibly honored that both of them would share such an important part of themselves with me, and lucky that they did it at almost the same time. Just by talking, both Jill and Danny have felt increasingly more comfortable with being open about who they are. I feel a strong connection with their paths, because I think that having Tourette's can have a similar social effect. Both being gay and having Tourette's involve being born with a certain difference that is often misunderstood. In fact, I sometimes think of it as 'coming out' when I have to figure out how to tell someone nicely that I have Tourette's.

I look forward to our friendship developing more in the future! I continue to be amazed by the deep ties and connections made with people, especially those made through music and Tourette's.

Changes

Made this little graphic and set it as the background to my computer. Makes me stop every time.