Tribes

As grade- and middle-schoolers we went to a native American-themed day camp every summer. This camp was run by the city of Oak Park and was well attended. This arrangement gave our mothers several hours of much-needed recuperation time every weekday, and allowed us freedom to torment and harass our counselors to no end. We pretty much ran riot over the place.

We laughed, we ran. We sang campy camp songs. We drank warm chocolate milk. We made headbands which we could populate with colorful feathers if we behaved ourselves.

We didn't get too many feathers.

We were split up into tribes at this camp, each with a real native tribe name. I remember being a Potawatomi one year, and Algonquin another. The various tribes would be pitted against each other in challenging games of capture the flag and hide-and-seek in the park woods, in a sort of premonition of Survivor.

There was no immunity in our camp though. And those woods could be dangerous, hot, and extremely smelly. Hushed rumors often shot through the camp community of unemployed drug-abusing teenagers known as "teenie-boppers" who lurked in the woods and preyed upon hapless day campers. So we were told to stay near the counselors and not run off. The counselors were a little bit better that the "teenie boppers" of course, being employed drug-abusing teenagers.

One of these counselors, who was nice enough but has likely spent the intervening time in some sort of prison, work camp, or halfway house, came up with some words that we still laugh about to this day. In fact Alisa brought them up this weekend. It was bothering her that she could only remember two of them. As they have been burned into my cerebral cortex like a "Mom" tattoo, remembering them has not been a problem for me. They are:

Throckmorton Gazutenplatz, Abercrombie Fafuffnik.

I have no idea what these words mean, but I have spent a bit of time wondering. Probably they mean nothing (although you might get a kick out of googling "Throckmorton's Sign"). I imagine they just spontaneously popped into the stoned head of this particular counselor at 2 AM during some late night weed-fest and he managed somehow to remember them at camp the next day.

We had many, many adventures in that camp. I remember the award ceremonies around the giant fire ring. I remember the sound of the whistle that announced the beginning of each tribal contest, and I remember the same whistle, faint and far away, as the contest concluded. I remember rainy days when we would do crafts like building popsicle stick boxes and making marshmallow taffy with our fingers. And eating lunch around the flagpole and singing the callbacks for "the bear song". I loved that song. I still do.


The Bear
Author Unknown

The other day (the other day),
I met a bear (I met a bear),
Away up there (away up there)
A great big bear (a great big bear)
The other day I met a bear,
A great big bear a way up there.

He looked at me (he looked at me)
I looked at him (I looked at him)
He sized up me (he sized up me)
I sized up him (I sized up him)
He looked at me, I looked at him,
He sized up me, I sized up him.

He said to me (he said to me)
"Why don't you run? (why don't you run?)
I see you don't (I see you don't)
Have any gun (have any gun)
He said to me, "Why don't you run?
I see you don't have any gun."

And so I ran (and so I ran)
Away from there (away from there)
And right behind (and right behind)
Me was that bear (me was that bear)
And so I ran away from there,
And right behind me was a that bear.

Ahead of me (ahead of me)
I saw a tree (I saw a tree)
A great big tree (a great big tree)
Oh, golly gee (oh, golly gee)
Ahead of me there was a tree,
A great big tree, oh, golly gee.

The lowest branch (the lowest branch)
Was ten feet up (was ten feet up)
I had to jump (I had to jump)
And trust my luck (and trust my luck)
The lowest branch was ten feet up,
I had to jump and trust my luck.

And so I jumped (and so I jumped)
Into the air (into the air)
And missed that branch (and missed that branch)
Away up there (away up there)
And so I jumped into the air,
And missed that branch away up there.

Now don't you fret (now don't you fret)
And don't you frown (and don't you frown)
I caught that branch (I caught that branch)
On the way back down (on the way back down)
Now don't you fret and don't you frown,
I caught that branch on the way back down.

That's all there is (that's all there is)
There is no more (there is no more)
Until I meet (until I meet)
That bear once more (that bear once more)
That's all there is, there is no more,
Until I meet that bear once more.