LuLu-lations
(My step daughter LuLu has long wanted a presence on my blog. She has requested some space here to write about her view of growing up in Springfield. Here are her ideas, only lightly edited by me, the evil overlord of Rational Urbanism)
Urban Blues
So I live in the city of Springfield, MA. Yes, I have a garden; yes I can go to the park but sometimes that isn’t enough for me to really get in touch with nature. In the summer of 2017 my family suggested that I go to Camp Bonnie Brae.
My stepsisters went to Camp Bonnie Brae when they were about my age. Camp Bonnie Brae isn’t any normal camp. It’s a retreat from civilization of any kind and flushing toilets. I was nervous to go to CBB at first. I had never been away from my parents and now I was being sent away to a Girl Scout sleep away camp for a whole week.
Well my camp experience was AWESOME! The only things I didn’t like were being homesick, mosquito bites and mean girls. Being homesick was the worst. Mean girls and mosquito bites not so much. My counselors Oops, Fluffy and Marshmallow were kind, funny and fun to hang out with! In my group it was just me and two other girls. At camp some of the things I did were: swimming, boating, sewing, cooking and A LOT of arts and crafts! I loved camp so much that I went back 2 weeks later.
So, how does my going to camp have anything to do with urbanism? Well, a lot of people that live in cities don’t get to experience nature that much, let alone spend 2 weeks in the woods. Camp has changed the way I look at nature and has made me much more interested in the world around me. Also, I can’t wait to go back to camp!