Staff - 2010 Oregon
Advisors
Advisors do lots of things: teach workshops; lead games, sports, hikes, fieldtrips, and other activities; help out with logistics; and other stuff. But most essentially, they connect with campers--individually and in small groups. Each advisor meets daily with his or her group of 11 or so campers, and is generally available for support, hugs, and conversation.
Maggie Levin, 26
New York City
Advisor and project leader
Maggie is a theatre artist with rock n’ roll roots and marvelously lofty ambitions. She is the founding artistic director of The Real Theatre Company, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to interactive arts experiences. She is a director & writer of plays, including the new musical US, with music & lyrics by Peter Gabriel, currently in development at UCLA.
Maggie began homeschooling at age 13. Her educational experiences include a year at Fordham Lincoln Center, two magical years at an acting conservatory called The Neighborhood Playhouse, and 10 years of living in New York City. She is an arts educator in NYC public & private schools, and the creator of a new youth Shakespeare program sponsored by The United Way. She was a camper in 2001 & 2002 and has the great fortune to return to NBTSC this year, after her first (amazing) advisor/project leader experience in 2009.
Maggie is a Pisces, with a Scorpio moon and Virgo rising. At camp, she’s likely to be workshopping, talking and leaping about excitedly on topics such as: entertainment, how to ‘make it’ in the big city, making a living through your art, Tarot cards, exploring your roots (I’m taking a trip to Israel this year to connect with the Jewish side of my family), costume design, Star Wars, awesomely bad movies and music, cooking harmoniously for all tastes, and falling in love.
Blake Boles, 27
at large (California, Oregon, etc.)
Advisor and Project leader
Blake is a sun-seeking world traveler who is slowly (but surely) inching closer to his long-standing goals of (1) being fully self-employed and (2) working exclusively in camp or trip-leader roles. This past year he led two Unschool Adventures trips--a 4-week Novel-Writing Retreat on the Oregon coast and a 7-week Australian adventure--as well as a totally new 2-week challenge program through his company Homeschool Leadership Retreats. Blake’s also been tramping around the conference circuit and doing a bit of book touring, and after meeting dozens of awesome new home/unschooling families on these travels, he remains convinced that working with self-directed teens is as good as it gets.
Never having unschooled as a teen, Blake did the public school thing, went to college to study astrophysics, and had a change of heart half-way through thanks to a John Taylor Gatto book. He designed a new major and spent two years researching alternative education theory before graduating. Now, like the esteemed Nathen Lester, he considers himself a bona fide unschooler--just with lots of years of school under his belt. Since college, Blake has worked as a snowboarding marketing researcher, high-volume chef, outdoor science teacher, medic, summer camp director, freelance web designer, and windsurfing and tree climbing instructor.
“Where do you live?” is an hard question to answer, but Blake came up with a novel solution: He has an ecosystem ranging from San Francisco to Lake Tahoe to Ashland, Oregon. There’s a pretty good chance of finding him within that triangle. He’s also realized that he doesn’t stray far from the Pacific Crest Trail.
Please visit Blake's website, www.blakeboles.com, if you’re interested in learning more about my trips, retreats, book (College Without High School), or simply want to get in touch!
camp history: advisor, 2006-2009
Evan Wright, 28
Seattle, Washington
Advisor and project leader
Evan began his practice of self-education after reading The Teenage Liberation Handbook at 15. His curriculum included unlearning many unspoken lessons from school and re-establishing his own direct personal relationship to learning. He explored the British Museum; worked at a London soup kitchen run by nuns; raised harbor seal pups, disentangled sea lions from fishermen's nets in Mexico, and assisted in research of 5 ft. long green sea turtles in Costa Rica. Without school he studied the life of Albert Einstein, assisted with research on whales, and explored the writing of educational visionaries and critics.
Evan enjoys creating projects that bring people together and foster community among diverse groups of people. He serves on a nonprofit that offers leadership training in Seattle and is the founder/director of The Education Empowerment Project. For five years he was the founding director of a week-long adult unschoolers' gathering called Quo Vadis. As an adult, Evan has specialized in creating projects that bring people together. He enjoys facilitating connection among challengingly diverse groups of people and fostering community among those who may not fully appreciate what they have in common.
Evan has participated in Not Back to School Camp for a decade: for many years as an advisor and as a camper before that. At camp Evan has led or co-led workshops and discussions on: Marine Biology, How to Build an Underwater Robot, How to Change the World in 90 minutes, Stone Sculpting, Investing, How to Make Homemade Pasta, The Life of Albert Einstein, How to Begin a Project or Event, The Supreme Court of the United States, Barn Raising (a networking activity), Blues Dancing, The Effective Unschooler, and How to Get What You Want.
Abbi Miller, 25
San Francisco, California
Advisor and project leader
Abbi has worn the hats of a creativity coach, competitive figure skater, professional dancer/actress/singer, yogi, chef, waitress, nanny, photographer, hair stylist, yoga+pilates+dance+preschool+art+acting+figure skating+piano teacher, makeup artist, casting director, and choreographer. But hands down, her favorite and most exquisite hat is the one she wears at NBTSC.
A lifelong unschooler since age 8, Abbi had a precocious desire to explore and expand. Her curiosity has taken her across Europe and to 45 of the 50 United States. She moved to NYC at age 19 to pursue her love of the performing arts and nannied for broadway stars, ravaged Sephora on a daily basis, and learned how to roll out of bed into a ballet class. As an actress, she has boomeranged from the east to west coast and places in-between acting in regional theatres, and has flown around the world performing with the international tour of GREASE, making stops in South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia.
When she isn't jet setting, you'll find Abbi upside down on a yoga mat. She currently makes a living as a yoga and dance teacher. She fueled her insatiable love for yoga by completing her Vinyasa Flow Teacher Training at the unbelievably dreamy Laughing Lotus College of Yoga, in San Francisco. She also holds a Karma Kids Yoga Teacher Certification from New York City.
Her partiality to the wonderful world of alternative education led Abbi to attend Not Back to School Camp in '01-'02 as a camper. She was instantly smitten, fascinated by the unbound creativity and infectious inspiration running rampant in the incredible teenage unschoolers of our beloved world! This is her 5th year on staff.
Abbi likes to think about honest communication, acting in a leading role in a Shakespearean play, connectivity between muscles and chakras, raw food concoctions, dancing and other ways of speaking through her body, traveling the world, kissing guys, making big things happen, and facilitating inner change in sticky places that feel stuck. Please talk to her if you have a sticky place in your life, and she will brainstorm a way for it to unglue!!!
"Let the beauty we love be what we do. There are a hundred ways to kneel and kiss the ground" - Rumi
Nathen Beryl Lester, 38
Eugene, Oregon
Advisor and project leader
Nathen is studying Family Therapy at the University of Oregon. That means in an average week he attends twelve hours of lectures in classes like Family Theory, Research Methods in Family Therapy, Gender and Ethnicity in Family Therapy, and Wellness & Spirituality Throughout the Life Cycle. It means he reads about thirty hours a week, on topics like human communication patterns, family assessment, mental disorder criteria, leading group therapy, and how illness and disability affects families. It means he writes papers on all of those topics and more, in another five-to-twenty hours. He loves it. He starts seeing clients as an intern in June 2010.
In his spare time, Nathen writes a blog (www.nathensmiraculousescape.wordpress.com), writes music for his band (www.abandon-ship.com), keeps in touch with his family (www.lesterfamilymusic.com/about.html), video-Skypes with his long-distance fiancé, Reanna, works shifts on the UO crisis line, and practices Lindy Hop, Vipassana meditation, hatha yoga, and co-counseling.
Nathen has been an advisor at every session but two of Not Back to School Camp since 1999. He is famous there not only for being sincere, friendly, enthusiastic, and sometimes potently amused, but also for the zeal, intellect, and originality with which he teaches workshops on subjects such as the human digestive system, partner dancing, and Einstein’s theories of relativity. He says, "What I love about camp is the people who come--the staff, the campers--and how they interact, how they share their excitement and inspiration and how they form friendships and communities with each other."
Among his plans for NBTSC 2010 are a workshop on what to do if a friend is thinking about suicide and a sixth reprise of his Music Project, in which a group of musicians -- with a wide variety of skill levels and instruments -- co-create a piece of music and perform it for the whole camp.
Zen Zenith, 28
San Francisco, California
Advisor and project leader
Zen's main passion and focus is to make a living and save the world through the creation and performance of original music with his band Please Do Not Fight. In Please Do Not Fight Zen sings, plays guitar and writes songs.
Zen is also a teacher and mentor at The Riekes Center in Menlo Park, California, a non profit organization that helps students explore and achieve their goals in Athletic Fitness, Nature Awareness and Creative Arts. There he teaches guitar - which he went to school for in Hollywood at The Musicians Institute with friends and former campers Spike and Matt Henson.
Zen has been unschooled his whole life and is psyched to return to Not Back To School Camp this year. He was inspired to play guitar as a camper at NBTSC in 1998 and performed the first song he ever wrote at a talent show in 1999 -- so his love for this community runs deep. Being involved in NBTSC has always been the highlight of his year and he is so excited for the opportunity to help make it someone else's too!
Brittney Andrews, 25
San Francisco Bay Area, California
Advisor and project leader, Week One
Brittney grew up among various suburban landscapes of the US. By age 17 she had attended three high schools in three states and was tired of the status-quo. She was a curious girl, and you can imagine her delight when she found herself entangled in the words and substance of the Teenage Liberation Handbook. The beguiling notions of empowered learning and teenage liberation prompted her to defy conventional logic: she quit school to homeschool before her senior year. Then she ventured into the crisp, fall-laden hills of West Virginia to attend NBTSC. NBTSC would rivet and inspire her to fearlessly investigate her wildest, most profound dreams, and to never sell herself short or adopt someone else's story as her own.
Eight years later, she still finds NBTSC to be a place where sparks ignite, passion burns, and people come alive. She feels privileged to be part of the NBTSC staff: creating a sanctuary "where adventure, mystery, music, wild spontaneous fun, and magic prevail," and supporting young people in making leaps and strides in their unique and personal stories.
Other experiences:
At age 18, Brittney began meandering explorations in design:
* Interior Design Technology at community college
* Cathedrals and castles in Europe
* The Farm in Tennessee's Natural Building apprenticeship
* Permaculture at Maya Mountain Research Farm, in Belize, Central America
* Being immersed in modern designs of Australia
* The BFA program at the Academy of Art University
* Work at a showroom, architecture firm, and housewares store
In the future, Brittney hopes to delve further into appropriate technology and environmental psychology (the psychology of people within environments).
Other obsessions include: art-house, foreign, indie, and documentary films; plants; laying in hammocks; winding around back-roads in discrete corners of the country; houseboats; silverware; greeting cards; porcupines; consciousness; and other mysteries of the universe.
Camp History: West Virginia: camper-2002, junior staff-2004, logistics goddess-2005; Oregon: logistics goddess-2006, 07. Advisor-2008.
Tilke Elkins
Springfield, Oregon
Advisor and project leader
The first time I wanted to be an artist was when I was four. I pictured it this way: I would run a zoo, make paintings, and exhibit them at the zoo. Thinking about things to make is much faster than the sometimes grueling work of making them. I am a thinker first and a maker second, so I revere making and makers, and I’m a little shocked every time I make something myself. Thinking is easier. I’d enjoy being a sort of artist’s genie. When stuck or uninspired, artists could rub on the sides of their ink bottles or even pound on their tubes of paint in frustration and I’d shoot out covered in colored goo and brimming with ideas. One of the things I love about being an Advisor at camp: the opportunity to be a muse in small moments. And to witness anyone who makes one thing into another, new thing -- especially themselves. That and the potential to share such vigorous laughter with someone that we both fall down abruptly.
I have painted, made intaglio prints, written stories and unusual fact pages for a kid’s magazine I wrote and illustrated, been an underling permaculture gardener, designed album and book covers, and had outside adventures with tiny children. I’ve written and painted a book about color that’s currently in the hands of literary agents in New York and may be published one day. Right now I’m painting full time on wood coated with flour and white clay with pigments made from ground rocks. I’m planning for a show in a gallery before 2011 though I don’t have a gallery to do this with yet. I have an abiding thankfulness for plants, their shapes and smells and tastes and how thoroughly they take care of us. I’d like to walk around barefoot with anyone who wants to and investigate plants, maybe even edible ones, or climbable ones.
Here are my workshops: Very Cozy Story Hour with Beloved Picture Books (remember to bring your own favorites to share!), The Best Children’s Books Ever, Painting with Rocks and Eggs, Purple and Yellow Dye Plants and the returning classic, How To Eat Fruit.
I’ve been an Advisor in Oregon every year since 2001 except 2007, and once in Vermont in 2008.
I live in Springfield, Oregon (which is right next to Eugene) with my partner Nick Walker, Joe Dillon, and two black pugs, Luna and Winnie.
www.leafboat.org
www.allroundmagazine.com
Vanessa Filkins, 29
Advisor and project leader, Week One
I grew up in upstate New York, unschooled by my school-teacher mom and electrical engineer/salesman dad. I "graduated" from high school in 1995 and spent some time living in Central America on my own after that. I moved to Austin, Texas for a job in 1999, and have lived here since, only leaving once for an 8-month stint in St. Louis, Missouri.
I've been a professional nanny, a household manager, manager of a small law firm, and I have started a small business. I currently run my photography business, Common Good Photography, full time and also work part-time at a law firm in client and project management.
I'm now in my 30th year, and am finding lots of new things to do this year. I love music, art, dancing, design, logic, philosophy, and getting in touch with my inner child (I know she's in there somewhere). This year I've started taking Argentine Tango and find it to be challenging and rewarding. In the past, I have led workshops about Finding Answers to Questions, What It Means To Be Smart, How To Get What You Want, Organic Visual Composition, Dancing the Samba, and Portrait Photography. This year I plan on focusing on workshops about light and shadow. In Japan, photographers are sometimes called "warriors of shadow & ligh,t" which I think is a pretty darn apt description. Everything we see is defined by the light in which we see it.
I have also volunteered for the Education Empowerment Project, which used to put on the annual Quo Vadis gathering for self-educated adults and their allies.
I am passionate about being self-educated, and the time I can spend every year with you campers is a total highlight. I believe you are all geniuses and I am grateful for every moment I can spend witnessing your amazing selves!
Advisor, 2005 - present
Maggie Genthner
Eugene, Oregon
Advisor and project leader, Week Two
Maggie says:
My experience with academic education started in Montessori. I went to Montessori from pre-school to middle school. I spent one year at a private high school in Kentucky before deciding to take my education on the road. I moved to Hampshire, England, and attended a Krishnamurti school. I had a good experience there. I met and lived with people from around the world. We ate from our own organic garden. I learned yoga. I had normal adolescent experiences and heartbreaks. For the most part it is a euphoric memory. In my last year at the school I started to feel isolated from the outside world. I began to think, "This is all well and good, but what is going to happen when I leave school and am faced with having to make a living? How am I going to deal with the mainstream culture?"
So I left to find out...
Since then I've travelled and had a whole range of experiences in the world. My two passions and interests are yoga and midwifery. Yoga asana practice has been a huge priority for the past 3 years. It helps me feel optimal physically and positive mentally. I like overcoming self-imposed limitations. There's something exhilarating about finding strength in my body and mind that I never knew I had.
My first experience with NBTSC was in the Fall of 2008. It happened at the last minute. A position needed to be filled and I said yes. I worked in the kitchen. I was very impressed with the campers and staff. There was an openness, a creativity, and sense of curiosity that was refreshing. It reminded me of the magical period in my own life from age 15 years old to 16 years old, when I started to realize that I was on a journey. I think the great thing about NBTSC is that the people who are on staff have a lot of enthusiasm and joy for what they are interested in! That interest is infectious and supportive! I notice for myself that when I am around people who are living and exploring their passions, I automatically find new (dormant) parts of myself!
Camp history: cook, 2008
Damian Lester, 32
Joshua Tree, California
Advisor
Unschooling history: Damian grew up in a pioneering unschooling family and has been unschooling for most of his 32 years on the planet. He attended public school for periods in his youth but was generally disappointed with the experience. As a young adult, Damian studied the natural world through the Kamana program at the Wilderness Awareness School in Washington. Over the last few years Damian has enjoyed taking college classes towards a music/Spanish major.
Damian makes his living as a professional bassist and singer/songwriter. Currently he plays with a latin jazz ensemble, an R&B soul band, an Americana/bluegrass band, a trance/kirtan band, a folk singer/songwriter, and he also does the occasional studio gig.
Damian is deeply committed to ethical, ecological, and purposeful living and is a long time practitioner of yoga and meditation. He is married to the lovely long-time NBTSC staffer Maya Toccata.
Damian first attended NBTSC in 1997 as junior staff. He was so inspired by all the creativity and spirit there that he has been coming back every chance he gets. NBTSC history: Jr. staff, 1997, cook 1998-2001, advisor and cook 2002-2007.
Gabriel Lester
Eugene, Oregon
Advisor, Week Two
photo by Gayatri Janine Banks
Born to a large family of musical unschoolers, Gabe grew up in the wild Mojave desest. He received a mixed educational experience, unschooling at home and attending conventional school when his curiosity took him there. When he was 17, he attended NBTSC. He describes the experience as an eye opener. Meeting so many brilliant unscoolers helped him see the potential for his own growth and learning. Inspired, he took on new adventures such as snowboarding daily, traveling by bike, living in experimental communities, and attending silent meditation retreats.
Gabe now lives in Eugene, Oregon, where he continues his practice of yoga and meditation. In 2007 he became a certified Bikram Method yoga (hot yoga) instructor and has taught at studios in Oregon, California, Colorado, Kentucky, and Florida. Musically, after many years of playing the guitar, he has focused in recent years on the drums. He now has a lot of fun drumming for a band called May Harpoon and has been involved in the making of two-going-on-three albums with MH. He also continues to work with his brothers on music for Abandon Ship, their band of many years.
Unschooling history: Gabriel grew up in a famous homeschooling family, the Lesters. (They were famous mainly because of musical tapes the family produced, and also because their mother, Darlene, was an early and significant contributor to Growing Without Schooling magazine.) Gabriel went to school but quit when he was 15, and attended camp at 17, which fueled his interest in unschooling. Since then, he has continuously been inspired by his participation in NBTSC.
Camp history: Camper in 1997. Supervised dishes 1998-2005, with a brief detour in 1999 to be on junior staff. Advised in 2005 and 2006, advised and cooked in 2007.
Cooks
At camp, our fabulous cooks prepare 3 meals a day, harmonizing with each other and with the many campers who help out in the kitchen. Food at NBTSC definitely does not happen in a factory atmosphere; while making dinner, the kitchen crew is liable to sing together and to discuss life, the universe, and everything--or garlic, blackberries, and pizza crust, which often amounts to the same thing. Anyway, because they have so much interaction with campers we consider them unofficial advisors and hire them with that in mind--they are advisor-caliber folks who can also make magic with potatoes and other miracles of nature.
Marlene Depierre
Maui
It's a pleasure to welcome Marlene (who happens to be Nicole's mom and Lou's grandma!) back to camp for the second year in a row. She once did a fabulous job of coordinating our Oregon kitchen, and Nicole learned many of her own amazing ways with food direct from her mama. She says:
I am excited to work as a head cook and enjoy spending time in the kitchen with you.
I am part of the World Wide Association of the Study of Dreams and It would be my pleasure to assist any one of you in your understanding of your dreams. I do not interpret them, rather, I'm more like an interviewer asking you questions that lead you in the discovery of your own understanding of your dream symbology.
I am an esthetician as well and can advise you on how to take care of your skin using simple home remedies.
A few months ago, I purchased a copper Alembic still and started making my own essential oils and hydrosols which have enriched my existence on so many levels. I love using hydrosols in my cooking or drinking water.
I have an extensive knowledge on nutrition and continue to educate myself. I consider myself an eternal student.
I love swimming and I play frisbee golf almost every Saturdays which I have Josh (previous breakfast cook) to thank for.
I recently acquired a new passionate job by recovering old family slides from the garage where time, weather, neglect, molds and fungi have turned these slides into beautiful artwork . I now have a new relationship with molds. Meanwhile, I am mesmerized by this phenomenon and I intend to share it with the world.
I love to be part of the staff at NBTSC because I learn so much from you. It is always a great adventure!
Franny Bannen, 23
Oakland, California
I grew up unschooled on an organic vegetable farm in rural Wisconsin, an experience which still affects my life in so many more ways than I ever thought it would. After 18 years of that I picked up and moved 2000 miles across the country to go to college and haven't stopped moving since!
In the past year I have graduated from college while still trying to figure out if college was the right move, moved from Oakland to northern Minnesota to my home of rural Wisconsin and back to Oakland where I currently am. Currently working as a nanny for some adorable French-speaking children and loving it. Avid bike-rider, book-reader, and gardener. I consider myself to be a pseudo-expert in all things book-making, pizza-baking (and other cooking), French-speaking, and plant-growing.
I'm a lifelong unschooler and really like to talk to other unschoolers about all things college related. Applying to college, choosing a college, deciding whether or not you want to go to college, and being an unschooler while in college. I also like to talk to campers about unschooling in rural areas and the specific problems/advantages that are related to that. I'll be in the kitchen again at camp this year and love hanging out with campers in the kitchen!
camp history: I was a camper 2000-2004, and cook in 2009.
Rosa Oesterreich, 24
Portland, Oregon
photo by Kitty Pelham-Bush
I grew up unschooling in rural Minnesota with five siblings. I love horses and have shown and trained, and was a riding instructor for some years. I quite enjoy snowboarding and did that professionally for a bit. I have experience starting and working in collectively run businesses, and have lived in collective households for many years. I love cooking and baking for myself and professionally. I have attended four colleges for free -- I have knowledge to share about translating life skills and experiences such that institutions will want you to attend their school/program and will let you do so for little to no money. I have struggled with an eating disorder and would love to talk about learning to like living in your body. I have experience living with/coping with/supporting family members with mental heath/substance abuse/ family violence/sexual abuse. I volunteer at a sexual violence center and crisis line (as a counseler and advocate), and also in hospitals. I have experience living and caring for family members with disabilities. I also have worked at an art center for persons with disabilities. I like harvesting wild foods and have studied herbalism for some years. I like riding bikes and do so for transportation. I indeed love traveling and am versed in doing so cheaply or freely -- I went to Peru this the winter and have traveled in Central America, India, Canada, and 48 of the states. I love playing with paint. I have studied at art school, with a mentor, and on my own. I like making things with with my hands. I also quite enjoy etching, woodcuts, drawing, and making my own paint.
I like it when a person sighs after taking a sip from a refreshing beverage. I like how my hands look after eating berries. I am ambidextrous. I can eat solely fruit for 33 days and never once get diarrhea. I like stories about people who find in themselves greatness. and stories that are surprising. I like how horses smell. I like feeling burly. I enjoy eating the inside of green grass. I am fond of how suspenders feel. I like talking about color and words and everything else. I like it when my brother laughs with his whole body. I am often using my head. I think there are things worth dying for. I think it's okay to smell like yourself. I am constantly surprised how everything just keeps becoming more beautiful. Deeper. Sadder. I am a ninja. I think feet are worth looking at for a good long time. I like swimming in lakes that are small. I like biking in snowstorms. I stamp my feet when i walk. I like how my face looks when it is dirty.
Dish Queen
Jake Matilsky, 27
photo by Dave Minchin
I grew up homeschooling in New Jersey, but at fifteen I started working on a ranch in Montana for the father of a friend I met at NBTSC. We worked together for several summers, traveled the west, fixed cars, broke cars, and by the time we were 19 and in Europe, had traveled back and forth across the USA more times than we could count. I began attending community college at 19, and traveled through Europe working and taking pictures. At 20, I began work for the Department of the Interior as a Wildland Firefighter. After spending a few more years with DOI where I worked for Fish and Wildlife and the National Parks Service, I returned to university to receive a B.A. in political science and international affairs from Columbia University. Since graduating, I have been running around the world, taking pictures of poverty and environmental degradation. I hope to attend law school in the near future, focusing on international environmental law.
(Grace adds: for the first 6 years of camp, Grace and Jake were tied for the one and only perfect attendance award. Suddenly he had grown up and gone away and we realized that there had been no ceremony, and that there should have been one -- thus, NBTSC "graduation" was born.)
Night Owls
In early camp years, we had a few vigorous staffers--the most memorable was our beloved Billy (Upski) Wimsatt, also the author of a couple marvelous books--who tended to stay up all night right along with campers. More recently, as our staff aged and wrinkled, this niche didn't get filled as automatically, so we made an official position. Now, at each session somebody sweet and strong stays up late--until 2 or 3 a.m., depending on when most campers have nodded off--to be a reassuring and attentive adult presence.
Andy Pearson, 22
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Night Owl, Week One
I'm a lifelong unschooler. This will be my ninth year at NBTSC and my fourth as a staffer -- I'm thrilled to be coming back! Two days before writing this bio, I returned home from a three-and-a-half-month stay in Europe, three months of which I spent living in Madrid and interning with a Spanish company that invests in renewable energy projects. I improved my Spanish skills immensely and had a simply great time. That's still where my head is at the moment -- the trip was definitely one of the most significant events in my life over this past year.
At the moment I'm finishing up a self-created undergraduate degree at the University of Minnesota, which is a combination of Sustainability Studies, Communication Studies, and Environmental Sciences, Policy, and Management. It essentially means that I'm interested in environmental work (always have been) and want to work as much of that into my life as I can. Also at the U of M (though not in association with any classes), I've co-founded a student program called the Power Police in which student volunteers help university office workers become more energy-efficient. It's been very inspiring to see that project take off.
I used to be involved in theatre a ton and haven't done much theatrical stuff for a few years, but I still love to talk about it. I'm also a fan of trains, and I've done a fair bit of computer work and graphic design. I've worked with nonprofits as a canvasser, going door-to-door and making phone calls for donations or to have people sign a petition or contact their legislator, and I love that work -- if you want to get me started on an endless conversation, ask me about canvassing.
I also play guitar, really enjoy it, and am slowly getting better. I'm looking forward to coming back to camp this year as your Night Owl, the same thing I did last year. Thanks for reading!
NBTSC history: Camper 2002-2006, Junior Staff 2007, Dish Queen 2008, & Night Owl 2009.
Dandy Dewar, 24
Winnipeg, Canada
Night Owl, Week Two
I am a photographer, print-maker, and lover of silly bicycles. I frequently find myself on both the east and west coast during the course of the summer, and fall in love with everyone all the time, a fact which helps to battle my growing cynicism about the state of the world. I greatly enjoy conversation on the topic of art of any sort, and adventures of all kinds. And that's just for starters! I'm a life-long unschooler, having never been to public school, and having very little experience with university or anything of the sort. I do my best to get by without much of a source of income, by reducing the cost of living however I can, a vague plan which tends to work out surprisingly well, from time to time. I have spent the last three years living in various different shared housing situations (six people in a 3 bedroom house, for example), and love to talk about fostering a sense of family with roommates, and how cooking breakfast for a big crowd is wonderful. My lack of employment allows for lots of time to volunteer, which I do at a free photography class, an anarchist library, and the local chapter of Food Not Bombs. These are all things I love to talk about. Please come and share similar stories and experiences with me. I'm not hard to find.
Junior Staff
The junior staff does all kinds of logistical and grunty stuff that frees up the senior staff to focus on caring for campers directly--they scrub lots of pots and pans; supervise bathroom cleanup, the dish-line, and other chores; wake people up in the morning; count heads twice daily; cook; and do all kinds of other important stuff. We really appreciate and love our junior staffers! Their week on jr. staff also enables us to get to know them in a different context and find out how we think they might do in the future as potential senior staff, and it helps them see what being on staff entails. (Lots of fantasies are dashed, actually, when people discover for themselves how hard the staff works, so not everyone ends the week begging to join the senior staff!) Almost always, junior staffers are 19-21 year olds who have come to NBTSC previously as campers. Once in a while, they are folks completely new to our community. (As a bit of historical trivia, Nicole, Damian, and Jasmine all made their first appearances at camp as junior staffers.)
The 2010 Oregon Junior Staff team is
Week One: Ellen Pajor, Murm McKinney, Rachel (Bean) Greene, and Ronny Sanchez
Week Two: Zephyr Goza, Cassia Gordon, and Jono Vincent.
Back to administrative staff page
Vermont Session 1 staff
Vermont Session 2 (Wild Card Week) staff