My boy's the jam

This was just today. We had a station with line dancing for the kids and Cam was a co-leader.

Please note his crazy fresh style as he feels the beat.

Also note the extremely short attention span when it comes to the Macarena which he inherited directly from me.

I forgot one

In the process of recommending stuff to read on the interwebs, I neglected to point you towards the craziest story I've heard this month. Excerpt:

I sit up and observed my left pant leg bleeding around the ankle. I attempt to raise my left leg, see the limp and swinging jelly foot that is my left leg. Okay – double compound fracture of my left tibia / fibia. Bad news – no structural support, and I can feel and hear the bones rubbing together. Good news – I can feel my foot and move my toes – and I don’t feel the pain yet.

Read all of Mark's wilderness "adventure" here.

...and I quote "....

I've been woeful at posting during camps. Some is that I'm busy and the rest is a lack of motivation and content. To get you through my slump I'll give you a handful of intern blogs which you can check out for the latest at Hope Center. Here you go...

Because I made a promise - Tommy (from LA)

Here I am, Send me - Judith (MN)

Sarah and Charisse's Hope Center adventures (from VA)

Hope Center Summer 2009 - Naomi (MN)

These cover the whole gamut; from serious to ridiculous with plenty of pictures. All are worth checking out.

Kerch graffiti

I posted here about the homage to Sarah written on a nearby wall by some unnamed Anton. Since then I have been considering posting some of our other Latin-lettered messages so here are a few along with a guess at the mindset that was behind it. These are all on exterior walls in our neighborhood. Please feel free to guess if you have a theory.

Shoo Roop (peace) Rap... I wish I had something witty to say about this one but I'm stumped. Maybe I should have started with one on which I had some idea. Anyone else?

I like this one - it combines cryptically poor penmanship with an obvious drug reference and a hippie afterthought... very American. I read 'shaml' but I could see some other options too. None of the variations that I see make a word of any sort. At the bottom we have some Cyrillic which could actually come out as Gaw. The 'r' letter is a G but the W shape makes a 'sh' sound.

This 'staff' one is in several places and I don't really know why. I suspect that it was written by someone who heard the word at camp and decided that it sounded cool.

This and the next one are some of my favorites. I am shocked to discover that ODB is alive and well. Perhaps he made it over here after his faked death but someone recognized him.

As mentioned, ODB may not have counted on people in Kerch recognizing him after his 'death.'

Similar hand writing but I'm not sure I know much about the South Dakota rap scene. I'm nearly certain that Wu Tang Clan do not hail from the Great Plains.

Why it's great to be independent

I just came across a post at Powerline blog that clearly articulates why we as Americans are justifiably proud on this day - the 4th of July.

It references an Independence Day speech by Abraham Lincoln in 1858 regarding his ideological stance on slavery (and institutional racism for that matter) that eventually lead to its abolition after he was elected President.

Excerpt:

I should like to know if taking this old Declaration of Independence, which declares that all men are equal upon principle and making exceptions to it where will it stop. If one man says it does not mean a negro, why not another say it does not mean some other man? If that declaration is not the truth, let us get the Statute book, in which we find it and tear it out! Who is so bold as to do it!

Read the whole thing at Powerline.

More tough news

I don't know exactly why I decided to delay this post but I did. I always planned on writing about it - I'm just a few days late.

We got news on Monday morning that one of our amazing summer kitchen staff died of an epileptic seizure. Natasha was only 33 years old with a husband and a 12 year old son. She was quiet lady with a pleasant, shy smile. She was on the summer cleaning staff 2 years ago and seemed to enjoy being in the peaceful confines of our camp.

She has been a Christian for about 5 or 6 years and her husband had just begun attending church in the past year.

She was such a humble servant that we didn't have many pictures of her. This is her in the kitchen:

Natasha's death is our second in the Hope Center family in the past 6 months or so. We lost Yuri the security guard to a car accident in early December and I figure this is a good time to remember and memorialize him as well. We all take some measure of comfort in the fact that this brother and sister are with our heavenly father and free from the immense difficulties that challenged their daily lives.

Yuri with Cam and Alosha: