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Tiny moments…big memories of 2007
At first glance, the last days of
2007 paint a gloomy picture indeed. We are still locked in a war with no
end in sight; the home mortgage crisis, rising cost of oil, and a sinking
dollar have painted a big question mark on the economy; Atlanta is drying
up; California is burning; the polar bears are standing on thin ice; and
with strikes on Broadway and in Hollywood even our “escape” routes are
threatened.
Still, for those of us lucky enough
to live at the beach, life is not so bad. Looking back, the past year was
full of surprising moments and unexpected laughter. As we prepare for the
2007 World AIDS Day activities on December 1, I’m reminded, as I am
every year at this time, of how good it is to have made it through another
year—how good it is to just be alive. This is, after all, the
“holiday” issue of Letters from CAMP Rehoboth and the first holiday in
the line-up is Thanksgiving.
On the desk beside my computer is a
binder containing contact sheets for every photo I took over the last
year. In it are reminders of all our many events and activities over the
year. All the usual stuff is there—from the Black and White Beach Ball
to Sundance it is an archive of the “big” moments of the year.
Fortunately, it also contains the little ones as well, and it is to those
that I really turn when considering what I am most thankful for and would
most like to remember. The following is a mixture of both.
01-28-07 The Frying Pan. Fay
Jacobs and I were on the beach shooting a frying pan for the cover of her
new book Fried and True. My goal was to shoot the pan on the wet part of
the sand with ocean, sand and sky reflecting in its shiny finish. I got
two shots before a wave washed the pan straight out to sea where it sank
like…well, like a frying pan.
04-18-07 The Double Rainbow.
After a real “April shower” a full double rainbow arched from horizon
to horizon. From where I was standing, the rainbow looked like it was
emanating from the CAMP Rehoboth Community Center. I took it as a good
sign of things to come.
05-28-07 The Double Dippers.
The mural in the Double Dippers Ice Cream Parlor makes me happy for some
reason or other. Maybe it’s because the lady looks like a drag
queen…then again maybe I’m just happy when I’m eating ice cream.
06-11-07 The Hat. No matter
what the occasion we can always count on David Lasher and Larry Pennington
to create, not just an outfit, but a whole character to go along with it.
At this year’s Black and White Beach Ball it was all about the hat—I
really wanted to try on that hat.
06-25-07 The Father and the Son.
Josh Love and his father made Bachelor Auction history (and raised a
lot of money when they stepped on the stage together at this year’s Blue
Moon event for Love 2007.
07-23-07 The Big Fruit. Last season’s Fruit Cocktail
Follies’ theme inspired the CAMP Rehoboth troupe to don Fruit of the
Loom attire. In this photo I shot them backstage with the amazing
Christopher Peterson right before they performed “A Chorus Vine.” I
still laugh when I think about Steve dancing with all those Grapes
dangling out from under his tutu in the “At the Ballet” number in the
Second Act. That number, by the way, can still be seen on YouTube.
09-05-07 The DJ. I’ve
known DJ Mark Thomas since his days at New York City’s legendary Saint.
Though the light was too low and there was too much smoke in the air for a
clear shot, I loved standing back stage and watching Mark at this year’s
Sundance.
09-05-07 The Crowd. When the
event ended at 2 a.m. the dance floor was still packed and nobody wanted
to go home.
09-22-07 The Monument. On a
recent trip to Amsterdam we discovered the Homomonument. Somehow I guess
we’ve been too busy here in Rehoboth to even know there was such a
thing. I took this photo of Steve and Allen and Ward standing on the part
of the monument that sticks out in a canal. Talk about coming out…they
all looked a bit uncomfortable to me.
09-26-07 The Pete. I can’t
talk about being thankful without including a photo of our beloved dog
Pete—he spends as much time at CAMP as we do. I love keeping his hair
long and I always tell anyone who will listen that he “satisfies my
inner hairdresser.”
In many ways this little photo
journal of sorts is more personal than I intended it to be when the idea
to look back over the past year first popped into my head. But after
spending several hours pouring over photos and digging up memories, I
think it was the right direction to take. Life is a series of fleeting
memories, tiny stories we collect about ourselves and the way we interact
with others.
The story of the CAMP Rehoboth
Community Center could be told in a similar series of fleeting memories
from the perspective of any one of the many members of our community. No
doubt, the story would never be told the same way twice. Each of us brings
our own version, experience,
and history—our own voice and vision.
As we share the tiny bits and
pieces that make up the stories of our lives with one another, we create
family, we create community. Our Rehoboth “family” has been growing
for years, and this winter the “house” we are building for it will
make a huge leap toward the day when we will truly have “room for
all.”
Digital photos are made up of
countless little pieces that when seen alone are not recognizable. A
community is the same way. Only when we come together does the big picture
begin to emerge.
Murray Archibald, Founder and
President of the Board of Directors of CAMP Rehoboth, is an artist in
Rehoboth Beach.
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