Diana’s Little Corner in the Nutmeg State: Summer Camp

Monday, May 14, 2012

Summer Camp

When I went to summer camp it wasn’t like this, but I wished it would have been…

Camp Aranu'tiq is a weeklong, overnight summer camp for transgender and gender-variant youth ages 8 through 15.

I wasn’t a big fan of the summer camp that I went to because it was mainly organized sports and crafts. I liked the canoe trips, the swimming and hiking, but when it came to volleyball and baseball I was always the last one chosen on the team. I was never big on competitive sports with their pecking order. When we built birdhouses, I made sure that they had a large supply of Band-Aids because for some reason my thumb always came between the nail and the hammer.

I think this is a wonderful opportunity for trans-kids, to give them a chance to explore their gender in a safe environment.

5 comments:

Kwizgiver5/14/12, 7:54 PM
What a great camp!
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Daphne Prideaux5/17/12, 12:40 AM
Thanks so much for sharing this~!
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Jude5/21/12, 5:04 PM
It's never to late to have a happy childhood...there is also a summer camp for GLBT adults, called Camp Camp. http://www.campcamp.com/ - It's not cheap, but there are staff / work study opportunities, and it's a lot of fun....
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Diana_CT5/21/12, 5:49 PM
Neat!

I wonder how a overweight, out of shape trans-woman would do?
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Jude5/31/12, 5:01 PM
Well, this overweight transwoman did just fine, last year :) - although I got my bell rung chasing a pop-up in kickball....

Seriously, while some folks get all athletic (softball, touch football, ropes courses) - one could spend the entire week doing arts & crafts, hikes, kayak, etc. and be perfectly happy. And there is stuff that goes late into the night - dances, parties, campfires, movies. I teach yoga at 7 am so I turn in early, but some folks keep going!

They do have a bunch of staff positions open (including a photographer assistant) that can cover a significant portion of the weekly fee. Even if none of the skilled staff positions fit, there are some kitchen and maintenance positions.
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