Sept. 5, 1990 "What I did this summer"

(Retrospection)

Yet another "What I did this summer" essay in which I was really struggling to find something to write. (I must have led a boring life as a middle school student).
The highlight of my summers was always when my cousins came up to visit, so I usually tried to work that into these essays (as with the previous example).
My family had the habit of going up every summer for one week to "Portage Lake Family Bible Camp". This summer (1990) my cousins and their parents joined us for the week.

There was also a 3rd family, with whom we always did our vacations together. They had 3 kids, including two little girls about the age of my youngest sister.

The playful wrestling of pre-teen boys, like sarcasm over e-mail, is something that can be easily misinterpreted when written down. Or in other words, even though I wrote this down in dramatic language, everyone was only playing here. Even the little girls, who acted a bit like the ball is to a football game for our purposes, were having a lot of fun. If they stopped having fun at any point, they could always leave and go find an adult to tattle on us, a tactic that they had absolutely no qualms about resorting to.

This summer my family and I went to a family camp called Portage Lake Covenant Bible camp. My cousins came there also, and our two familys shared a cabin together with a third family. My cousins are named Brian and Jeff.

Jeff is ten years old and Brian beats him up all the time. I don't know how he gets away with it. His parents don't even seem to mind. I wish my parents would let me do that to my sister sometimes.

Brian is twelve years old and is older than me by a week and a half. But he is a lot stronger than I am.

One day my sister, Jessica, who is 5, and her friend Kathryn, who is 6, were playing on the camp swing set. Brian, Jeff, and I were walking around and talking. Brian decided to chase Jessica and Kathryn. He sneeked up behind them and started chasing them. Jeff and I went on talking. As Brian chased the two girls, two boys, about 5 or 6, watched with interested. They cheered for and occasionally helped Brian.

Soon, Brian caught Kathryn and put her in "the closet". "The closet" is a small room that is part of the playground, next to the swing set and right below the slide. It has only one exit, which is a door. Brian closed the door, and leaned against it so that Kathryn could not get out.

"Joel, help!" she yelled. I thought it would be funny if I let her out. I went up to the door, and tugged on the handle to open it as Brian pushed to keep it closed. We struggled for a bit, but eventually I was able to get the door opened just enough for Kathryn to squeeze out. She ran as fast as she could back to the cabin.

Brian of course knew that I had only done this to bug him. He said that because I had let her out, I had to go catch her again. Fair enough, I thought. So I ran after her. Brian, meanwhile, continued chasing Jessica around the swing set.

Jeff also ran after Kathryn. But Jeff was trying to protect the girls from Brian. I thought that I would join Jeff and help the girls. As soon as we got out of Brian's line of vision, I called out to Kathryn to wait up. She had heard Brian tell me to catch her, so she didn't trust me and kept running. Just as I was about to catch up to her, she got inside the cabin and locked herself inside.

Through the screen window, I told her I was on her side. Jeff, who had also decided to help the girls, was right next to me at this point, but he didn't believe me either because he had also heard Brian tell me to get Kathryn. Jeff told Kathryn not to believe me. The only way I could make either of them believe me was by reminding them that I was the one who had freed Kathryn in the first place.

Jeff and I told her that we were going to rescue Jessica and to keep the door unlocked so Jessica could get in. Brian wouldn't have been allowed in the other girl's cabin without permission, so we didn't need to worry about that.

Jeff and I ran back to Brian. The two little boys had now joined Brian's team, and became his helpers. Brian had just caught Jessica
"Did you catch Kathryn?" asked Brian.
"She got away," I said. Then I jumped at Brian and pried his hands of off Jessica. Then Jeff, Jessica and I ran off with Brian right behind us.

Jeff and I had to go at Jessica's pace, while Brian ran as fast as he could. So when we reached Kathryn's cabin, we had just enough time to push Jessica in but not enough time to get in ourselves. Brian grabbed hold of me and, try as I might, I could not get free. I heard Kathryn lock the door, which I didn't like because now even if I did free myself from Brian, I wouldn't be able to get to the safety of the cabin. Brian knew what I was thinking, and he laughed.

"Unlock the door," I called out. Immediately someon did. Brian's two little helpers had caught up to us by this time. Jeff rammed himself into Brian. Brian let go of me and grabbed Jeff, and I was able to run inside the cabin.

Kathryn and Jessica were sitting on the bed and as Jeff was struggling to get free Kathryn yelled at Brian, "Let him go! You let him go!"

I led both girls around to the back of the cabin where Brian couldn't see us, and snuck them out the back door, and then into the back door of our cabin.

"Stay there!" I told them. "I'll be back in a minute," and I ran to where Brian was and charged at him. I got Jeff free, and we both ran to were Jessica and Kathryn where. I told them that I had freed Jeff and to stay where they were until further notice.

Then one of Brian's helpers saw us talking to her. "She's in there!" he said to Brian, pointing at the cabin. Brian and the other helper appeared. I sent Jeff in with the girls and told them to get away from the doors. Jeff left and ran towards the front. Briant ran towards the front too. "Keep them away from the front," I yelled. "That's where Brian is."

I ran to the front and found Brian had captured both girls. He took them back to his the prison and and didn't let them out. Me and Jeff got tired of playing, and the girls were on their own.

Useless Wikipedia Fact
"Don't Pass Me By" was Ringo Starr's first solo composition and he sang lead on this song, which apparently became a #1 hit in Sweden. Its earliest mention seems to be off a BBC chatter session introducing "And I Love Her" on the Top Gear program in 1964. In the conversation, Starr is asked if he wrote a song and McCartney proceeded to mock it soon after, but the song is unmistakably Don't Pass Me By with very slightly different lyrics. The song has a very predictable 3-chord blues structure, of the root, fourth, and fifth, with the chorus having the same chords and rhythm as the verse, apparently leading McCartney to mock it. The fact that it wasn't recorded until 1968 contributed to Starr temporarily quitting The Beatles during the White Album sessions. Ringo Starr refused to do more than one take on this song, thus getting all the mess ups on the album itself.

Link of the Day
An Article in USA Today on the Quran controversy:
The decision by incoming Rep. Keith Ellison -- who will be the first Muslim member of Congress -- to be sworn in on a Quran has lit up the blogosphere since radio talk show host Dennis Prager wrote in his Townhall.com blog Tuesday that the Minnesota Democrat "should not be allowed to do so -- not because of any American hostility to the Koran, but because the act undermines American civilization."
conservative bloggers jumped on the story this week with both feet, prompted in part by an "ActionAlert" from the American Family Association calling on them to "send an email asking your U.S. Representative and Senators to pass a law making the Bible the book used in the swearing-in ceremony of representatives and senators."

Also a previous article below
He should not be allowed to do so," Prager wrote, "not because of any American hostility to the Koran, but because the act undermines American culture."
He said Ellison, a convert from Catholicism, should swear on a Christian Bible -- which "America holds as its holiest book. … If you are incapable of taking an oath on that book, don't serve in Congress."
The post generated nearly 800 comments on Townhall.com and sparked a tempest in the conservative blogosphere. Many who posted comments called the United States a Christian country and said Muslims are beginning to gain too much influence.

This is part of the duel strategy of the Religious right. On one hand they complain that Christians are the most made fun of and persecuted religion in the US. On the other hand, they try and force their way religion down everyone else's throats. And then they claim persecution when someone (Simpsons, South Park, Sunset Boulevard) satirizes them for persecuting others.