"Reflections" Archives

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"Reflections" Archives

In 1984, bulletin editor Louise Dole Woofenden added a "Reflections" column to the yearly bulletin reflecting back on the 1983 camp session. She wrote another one for each of the following three bulletins reflecting back on 1984-1986, but did not write one about the 1987 and 1988 sessions. Evidently, someone must have liked the © Jesse White 2013idea and requested its return because in the 1990 bulletin, the column was taken up again by her son Trevor, the camp Activities Director, reflecting back on the 1989 session. The column has been written by him ever since.

Up until 2014, this column was written specifically for the camp bulletin that was mailed via the U.S. Postal Service to everyone on our mailing list each Spring — hence the frequent references in those earlier columns to "last year", "next year", and frequent urgings at the end to "join us this August".

Since 2014 when we discontinued the bulletin, the new column is written specifically for this website, allowing for longer columns with more and bigger photos.

SPEAKING OF THE PHOTOS:

Up until 1991, the decorations in the bulletin were hand-drawn pictures and art, as well as various clip art. From 1992-1996, the cover was a black & white photo with primarily clip art inside. From 1997-2007, there were black & white photos on the cover as well as inside. And from 2008-2014, the bulletin was full color inside and out.

Some of the "Reflections" columns from 2008-2014 have only some of the original photos here on this website. Because the originals transferred from the bulletin so poorly, many of the "Reflections" photos here on this site are not the ones that originally accompanied the article. However, nearly all the photos in those years' columns are from the actual year the column was written... just not the ones that originally appeared in those columns when they were printed in the bulletin.

For the 1997-2007 columns, however, it was pretty much impossible to reproduce the original bulletin photos in any way that made them even vaguely visually appealing. So although many of those columns here have photos from the year the column was written, the further back we go, the fewer photos for that year are actually available. And before 1997, all the photos here were added when the columns were reproduced for this site.

Therefore, some of the photos in the 1989-2007 columns — especially in the earlier ones — are from nearby years or else are generic photos just to give you the idea. For example, in the "Reflections" 1996 column, the opening paragraph mentions tent sites with a photo of a tent in a tent site next to it. If you check the photo credit, however, the photo is actually from 2011 --- but it's a photo of a tent site and since they pretty much look the same from year to year, it's appropriate. The other two photos in that particular column are from 1996, though.

So, if you're a stickler for that kind of detail, just check the date in the photo credits... nearly all of them have a date when the photo was taken.