We’re kicking up a lot more than dust in our white wedding tent. Check out the TAL-to-the-ENT on display at Wednesday’s Variety Show. When cohosts India and Max started running out of corny jokes, Corey and Andrezj filled in. Anyone who had the time, desire, and energy to cobble together an act was guaranteed a slot. Skits! Songs! Tap Dancing! The sheer variety of it was so bangin’, it caused three of Domain Guest Raphael’s weather balloons to explode! KAPOW! A glimpse of the proceedings:

Speaking of Peeks, here’s a taste of this week’s Domains in action.

RITES OF PASSAGE

DEMO TIME

UFO

TAIKO DRUMMING

REPRESENT YOURSELF

OPERATION STARLIGHT

MASKS

LAYERS COLLAGE

KNITTING

DRAWING

BUNRAKU

ACTION PAINTING

LONG DISTANCE SWIM

CRYPTOZOOLOGY

A QUICK TIP FROM THE POST MISTRESS:
If you’re still hurting for a letter from the camper dearest your own personal heart, try creating a fill-in-the-blank and return form. Remember that Yes or No questions may result in a terse reply. Those who know what an adjective is could be nudged toward specifics with a cliffhanger such as “The food at lunch today was __(insert adjective here). Artistic campers might respond to a request for a drawing of some memorable domain… Some other topics that might rev them up are campfire, swimming, froccer (an unholy hybrid of frisbee and soccer) and snack.

Whoops, got to go before some kid gets to ring the Panano instead of me! Wait, some kid always gets to ring the Panano instead of me…
Flickr Video

BUTTERFLY!!!!

We like to do things a little differently here on Sundays, so a few days ago, we threw together some costumes, carved ten watermelons, turned one of our furthest-flung buildings into a mad scientist’s lab, and bobbed for apples in the Trout section. Halloween comes but once a year, but Beamoween is whenever and whatever you make it!

AFTER DINNER:

On evenings when we don’t have a massive, all-camp activity, cabin groups sometimes elect to join forces. Last night, as Big Willey Yacht Club, Banshee Avalanche and Pandora’s Bunk were enjoying a moonlit swim in the Trout Section, the gentlemen of Steambunk escorted the comparatively older ladies of Heliocentrics to a beachfront prom. Couples were matched up according to bunk placement within their cabins, music was provided by Al Green, and the paparazzi was out in full force to capture the fabulously dressed participants promenading on the dock.

PROJECT!!!!

There is light at the end of the Trip to the Sun tunnel! All pistons are firing. Filming is underway. The weather is cooperating!

DOMAINS
For those who’ve lost track of time, it’s WEEK 3! Which of course means a whole host of new domains. Which would you choose?

UFO
Drawing
Knitting
Taiko Drumming
Mask Making
Layers Collage
Rites of Passage
Demo Time Volume 1
Action Painting
Represent Yourself
Operation Starlight
Cryptozoology 2 (The Advanced Seminar)
Long Distance Swimming

Dept of Deja Vu:
Our campers may get bigger, but the dance remains the same.

A few nights ago the big white wedding tent came alive with the sounds of the summer’s first talent show. This one showcased some of our musically minded campers and staff – click on the picture for a fuller view:
[flickr album=72157624508965041 num=10 size=Thumbnail]

We’re going to shower you with Week 2 Domain Photos soon. Hopefully this will tide you over til then.

BEAST FEAST:

LIMBS AMONG US:

ZEN GARDEN:

SOUND MONSTERS:

CREATING A VISUAL LANGUAGE:

COUNTERFEIT:

DANCE:

CRYPTOZOOLOGY:

Possible evidence of Big Foot poo.

And now a lunchtime exclusive with the Zen Monkeys, the youngest of the female Beamers, who are determined to ignore age and gender gaps to forge an alliance with their Dude Zoo counterparts:

Interviewer: So, you’ve all been here for almost a week. Why don’t we go around the table and everybody say her favorite thing about Beam so far?

Eve: Well, there’s Rest & Reading, and sleeping, and swimming… and Tire!!! (hee hee hee hee hee!)

Interviewer: Tire?

All (simultaneously): Our friend! His name is Tore, but we call him Tire!!! (hee hee hee hee hee!)

Eve: We’re trying to turn Tore into a tire!

Phoebe D: And Misha is Mushroom!

Asha: Don’t forget Grandma! I don’t know his real name. (points?)

Interviewer: You call Dexter ‘Grandma’?

All (simultaneously):Hee hee hee hee hee!

Interviewer: What’s the origin of that one?

All: We don’t know!

Faith: You guys! Let’s shout “Let’s thank the Chef!” but instead let’s thank Tire!

All: LET’S THANK TIRE!!!! (slapping table) HUHHH!!!!

Faith: Now let’s do “Tire, we salute you!”

All: TIRE WE SALUTE YOU!!! (hee hee hee hee hee!!!_

Lorelei: Now let’s thank Mushroom!

Interviewer: I think you’d better save that one for another day. Give another table a chance to shout something, you know?

All: ooooo-kay.

Lorelei: Hey! There’s little pieces of Ritz Cracker in my Mac n’ Cheese!

Interviewer: Is that a good thing or a bad thing?

Lorelei: It’s good.

Interviewer: So, getting back to our favorite things at camp…

Eve: Eating…

Diana: We have pulleys all over our cabin.

Asha: This morning me and Lorelei had a chat with the pulleys. Like during Rest & Reading, we want to talk, but we’re not allowed, so we send notes by pulley.

Asha: Faith’s making vines with furry string, so that when we walk to our bunks we’ll walk through the string and feel the furries.

Lorelei: There’s breakfast, dinner, and dessert…hey! I think Tire goes to my school. He’s ticklish!

Eve: And my brother’s as tall as him.

Phoebe: Jake calls me Vicious.

Interviewer: Why?

Phoebe: I don’t know.

Interviewer: Are you?

Phoebe: Maybe! Hee hee hee hee hee!

Lorelei: I don’t know who…I don’t know their name but they call me Troublemaker?

Interviewer: In a nice way?

Lorelei: Yes. I told them they could. Because I am a troublemaker. My mom won’t be surprised.

(Unbelievably, all fall quiet simultaneously)

Iris: Hmm… moment of silence.

All: Hee hee hee hee hee!!!

Phoebe: I like 5:35, and Periods 1 & 2…

Asha: I don’t have a favorite because everything’s really fun.

Interviewer: I notice that you guys talked about the guys in Dude Zoo, and I was wondering if you have much interaction with teenage boys outside of camp, or if this is something new.

Iris: A lot of my cousins are teenagers and they’re boys. Also girls.

All: (simultaneously) We should have an evening activity with Dude Zoo!!! We should have a campfire! We should go swimming with Dude Zoo!!!

Phoebe: No! They’ll just go in the Bass section*.
(* campers receive different fish-themed designations following their swim tests. The highest rank a Zen Monkey can be assigned to, as a Junior Camper, is Trout)

Lorelei: Tell them the Bass section is broken!

Asha: Tell them they’ve all been moved down to Sunfish!

Iris: Tell them they’ve turned into Juniors…

Lorelei: We could have an evening activity in the field.

Faith: Girls against boys in Tag, and girls go first!

…

A couple of nights after this conversation, the Zen Monkeys dream became a reality when Dude Zoo joined them for an evening of handicrafts in the Art Barn. Our interviewer caught up with some members of Dude Zoo to see how this odd pairing went from their perspective:

Misha: I don’t know why they call me Mushroom. I cannot even begin to fathom what it could possibly mean.

Eli: We made Exquisite Corpses with them, and buttons, and they made us give them piggyback rides. They all want piggyback rides. We had piggyback races. I raced with Faith.

Interviewer: Did you win?

Eli: We lost.

Interviewer: Is she heavy?

Eli: She’s not heavy.

Interviewer: Does it give you an interest in babysitting?

Eli: No.

Interviewer: (to counselor) Dean, what about you?

Dean: Well, I had a great time.

Interviewer: And the rest of the dudes?

Dean: The ones who were into it participated and those who weren’t made buttons.

Interviewer: Lucas, what did you do?

Lucas: I made buttons.

Interviewer: Misha, can you sum up the evening for us?

Misha: There was a whole lot of piggyback riding, racing, drawing, fighting, a lot of semantics with Sharpies. We said, “Go get Sharpies” and they brought us X-acto knives.

Confidential to Mama Accardi:

He swears his mother gave him the greenlight for a haircut…