Campers 2007:

Don't forget to send
your Camp Forms by May 31st!

• Major/Minor Selections
• Health Form
• Supplemental Form
• Camp Contract

To download copies,
click here.

The Appel of Our Eyes

Across

1. The guy who plants all the trees is _____ APPLEseed
2. An APPLE drink
3. These kind of APPLES are found in front of North
4. APPLE pie served with ice cream
5. The Beatles label, APPLE _____
6. The title of this publication!
7. They say the APPLE doesn't _____ _____ from the tree
8. She was almost killed by a poisoned APPLE
9. An APPLE dessert
10. An APPLE dessert
11. Don't sit under the APPLE tree with _____ _____ _____ _____
12. A singer and piano player with the last name APPLE
13. Who lives in a pineAPPLE under the sea?
14. Peter Brady thought these went with APPLEsauce
15. Who does an APPLE a day keep away?
16. The city known as the Big APPLE

Down

1. Mr. Moreno's column is called Adam's APPEL _________
2. PC or Mac?
3. An old movie, The APPLE _____ Gang
4. A field of APPLE trees
5. People go _____ for APPLES on Halloween
6. The founder of APPEL Farm
7. A tasty APPLE cereal
8. This celebrity named her daughter APPLE

Click to check your answers!

“People don't understand that not only can they make a difference, it's their responsibility to do so. ”
-Florence Robinson

Appel Farm has always been a place where amazing art has been created and celebrated.  For almost 50 years, campers and counselors have come from around the world to learn, teach, explore, and develop their artistic skills and creativity.  However, Appel Farm is not just an arts camp.  We have always stressed the importance of environmental and social awareness, as well.  Long before Al Gore and An Inconvenient Truth or Live Aid and Live 8, before hybrids and WholeFoods, before Livestrong bracelets and “Support Our Troops” car magnets…Albert Appel founded a place where everyone can take part in creating change in our world.  48 years later, Appel Farm continues his philosophy with classes like GREEN Corps, Art for Social Change, and the Pangaea Project…workshops about gender equality, oppressed countries, and queer issues…and events like the Tibetan Freedom Concert.  As we look forward to the summer ahead, we know that we will not only grow as artists, but as individuals who are empowered to make a differences in our schools, our communities, and our world.

“Change starts when someone sees the next step. ” -William Drayton

When were you at camp?
I attended camp from 1996-1999, all first session.

What was your major and what were some of your minors?
Every summer I majored in Music. Mainly drums and percussion, but I also played french horn my last summer. My minors over the course of the four summers included Music (Rock), Sports, Video, and Ceramics.

What was camp like when you were a camper and what are some (is one) of your favorite memories?
My last summer, when I was a CIT, we played a lot of Ultimate Frisbee, and my bunk (I think it was 23) beat the other boys' bunk in coop by a lot. It was all caught on tape and featured in the Friday night video. I also look back fondly on how I was introduced to new music, and the discussions that I had with campers and counselors about music in general. I have a ton of great memories of camp.

Where are you located and what are you doing for work and fun?
Right now I'm living back home in Roseland, NJ. I graduated from the University of Maryland in 2005, with a degree in Anthropology, but knew during my senior year that I wanted to teach. So currently I'm in the process of getting certified to teach Elementary Education, and am working at an elementary school in Montclair, NJ.

For fun, I play music with both of my bands (one more than the other), hang out with my friends, and follow my beloved Maryland Terrapins during football and basketball seasons.

How do you think you were influenced by your Appel Farm experience?
It's hard to say how summers at Appel Farm influenced me. It was just a great overall experience, and really let me be around kids who loved the arts as much as I did. My time as a CIT, however, was phenomenal because I was able to influence kids who were younger than me, and they truly appreciated what I did. That may have kindled my desire to teach.

What advice or suggestions do you have for present day Appel Farm campers?
First thing is, don't be afraid to be yourself at camp. This place is where you should just let loose and be who you are. Second, don't let little fights/quarrels/dramatic situations get blown out of proportion. You're only at camp for 4 weeks (some of you for 8), so make the most of your time at camp and try to enjoy everyone and everything the camp has to offer. Finally, pick the brains of every single counselor you can. Each and every one of them is a treasure trove of knowledge in many aspects of life, but especially their focus. I learned a lot from the staff at camp, and you will too as long as you ask questions.

Out of My Mind - The Meditation Minor

I find it hard to sit still. When I was a kid people often referred to me as “hyper”. Fact is that I ran more than I walked and my mouth moved even faster than that. Those were the days before the alphabet soup of diagnosis that we have today. I probably would have been seen as ADD or AHD or even ONO. But, as it turned out, I was just hyper.

You can imagine that sitting absolutely still with eyes closed is not my cup of tea. For years I thought that was what meditation was. And for some people it is. More power to them.

It wasn’t until I was forty that I discovered that meditation has many forms. There were meditations where I could move around. There somewhere I could dance. Somewhere I could shout, laugh and even cry. And, yes, there were some that let me be absolutely still and quiet.

Whatever form, these meditations all had one thing in common. When they worked, I would be out of my mind. Yes, out of my mind. Now I don’t mean crazy-hallucinating-running-around-screaming out of my mind. I mean that my mind would rest for an instant or two.

My mind is always chattering. I have this to do. I have that to do. I’ve done this. I’ve done that. Somebody hurt my feelings. Does so and so like me. And on and on and on and on.  My mind is very resourceful. If there is nothing in the moment that I can mind chatter about I can bring up things from the past. A few years ago, for example, as I was driving I found myself finishing an argument that I had with someone in college thirty-six years earlier. Now that’s crazy.

We all get caught up in routines. There are daily routines like school. Or at camp, up in the morning, breakfast, cleanup, majors…we know the routines. They do serve a purpose. Would be exhausting if, at camp, majors were at a different time every day.

We also get caught up in mind routines. Our minds are always chattering and most of the time we don’t even know it. We worry—about how we look, about who likes us, about things we’ve done, about friends, about former friends….

It’s wonderful to give the mind a break. That’s what meditation does. It gives the mind a rest. And, even if it’s just for a second or two, it feels great.  Sometimes I find that, when I meditate, I actually get creative inspiration. That makes sense. Creativity does not come out of routines or mind chatter. It comes in those gaps where we are exploring something new. When I was writing my first book, How to Read Signs and Omens in Every Day Life, every one of the chapter titles came while I was meditating. And titles are what organize a book. But even when I don’t get new ideas I am definitely renewed and refreshed after meditating.

So, first session this summer I am offering a meditation minor. I enjoy it so much that I want to share it. For one hour every day, five days a week, we will leave our minds at the door. We will explore a wide variety of mediations. But don’t worry. If, like me, you find it hard to sit still, you will be able to enjoy meditating.