LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth |
CAMP Matters |
by Murray Archibald |
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 yearhow 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 therefrom 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 hatI 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 Petehe 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 historyour 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. |
LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth, Vol. 17, No. 15 November 21, 2007 |