When I was a kid I dreamed of going to sleep-away camp. That's where it all happened. Whatever monumental or even somewhat meaningful thing that was going to happen to you in your young life, required a backdrop of campfire sing-alongs, compulsory activities— involving macrame and demonstrations of athletic inferiority, and matching shirts with some bastardized word taken from a native North American language strewn across your chest. And though the name implied as much, these things seemed to have very little, if anything, to do with sleep.
I knew this to be true, but resigned myself to the fact that I would never experience such wonders. For one thing, it was financially and logistically impossible for my family. Parents had to work— for the essentials, not extras—and younger siblings had to be looked after. Even if it had been a possibility, I don't know that I could have followed through. I had a hard enough time with the occasional sleep-over, being done and ready to return to my own home and own bed before the lights were even out. I wouldn't have done well at sleep-away camp, but the idea of it was so powerful that twenty-some years later it caused me to pack up my family and head us off to the Catoctin Mountains for four days and nights of a homeschool family sleep-away camp. Yes, such a thing does exist.
There were no matching shirts nor compulsory anything, and even the campfire sing-along got rained out on the last night, but we managed to make our own meaning. Adam called it Bike and Scooter World because with sixty children and paved paths winding through the dormitories and common spaces of the large camp area, what else would it be? For me it was, Flirtation with Communal Living because of the shared responsibilities, group meals, and the fact that you were just as likely to be keeping an eye on or helping out a kid that was not yours as you were your own.
Each family was responsible for cooking dinner two nights and cleaning the kitchen two nights. Our dishes, which were chosen for their ease of preparation and transportability were somewhat disappointing.The baked sweet potatoes and homegrown salad (which ended up looking really plain next to the vichyssoise) and vegetarian chili (which was hearty and flavorful on Saturday night when we made it at home, but watery and slightly charred after being defrosted and reheated on Wednesday night) were kind of embarrassing, especially because we like to think ourselves pretty capable in a kitchen. Overall, I was very pleased with the food, which was mostly vegetarian with a fair amount of vegan.
The setting was lovely— very green, very tranquil (when there wasn't a kid flying past you on a scooter,) with open spaces and secluded nooks. The weather mild and pretty cooperative, except for two rainy nights and a brief hailstorm, which was kind of cool. There were plenty of activities scheduled for those times when scootering, biking and generally wandering, without the impositions of adult anxieties and expectations, got to be old; which was never for my children. Some of the most memorable offerings were: sushi-making, rock-painting, friendship bracelet knotting, morning hikes, yoga, a variety show, and the ever-popular "Capture the Flag."
There were some bumps and bruises, literal and figurative. Like Sol wiping out on his bike attempting a stunt on a course the children dubbed "The Devil's Pass." Also, those ten minutes when Luna went missing and, after searching the entire camp, we finally found her playing in the van with her doppleganger. For me, it was shaking the feeling that I was someone's date at a massive family reunion. Most of the families there had known each other for years and that kind of intimacy can often resemble exclusivity, even among the best-intentioned, (I have been guilty of this,) but there was very little of that. In fact, I can't say when I've been around a more welcoming group of people.
There was the added bonus of being the only black girl at the party, which is not a new experience for me, but each time a surprise. (I am relearning my balancing techniques as I familiarize myself with the homeschooling communities in D.C. and its surrounding suburbs, belonging to one homeschooling support group for black families and one homeschooling group that does not specify, but seems to attract mostly white families— maybe because of the unschooling bent?) There is another homeschooling family camp in August, sponsored by African American Unschooling, that I'm seriously considering attending.
One thing that I am learning about "learning as you go," or "learning all the time," or "life learning," or whatever you call what it is that we are doing— this taking our education into our own hands and shaping it into what works best for our family— is that we are rarely at home. We are freed up to wander as far and as frequently as we like. As Sol once observed, "We homeschool, but we are hardly ever at home." One of those great ironies; that and the one about sleep-away camp.
At around 11pm we got a text message from a friend at the Shepard Fairey opening in DUMBO, saying that the "Splasher got caught at the show tonight". So far the information we're hearing is that two guys attempted to set off a stink bomb at the show, but were stopped by security. It remains to be seen if the stink-bombers are the same guys who set off a stink bomb at the Faile show last week (and then called 911 reporting a gas leak, which got the show shut down), or if they were indeed the ones splashing streetart pieces all over town a few months back. Wooster Collective was also at the scene, and has some details and a possible picture of one of the suspects:
Two young guys entered Shepard Fairey's opening night party at 81 Front Street in Dumbo with a backpack. Moments later they were seen attempting to light a homemade stink and smoke bomb that was hidden in a coffee can. As they were setting it off, two guys nearby saw what was happening and managed to stop the guys from igniting it before it went off. Seeing the scuffle, the security guys hired for the evening caught one of the two guys (shown above) while the other was able to get away.We'll add detail tomorrow, once we find out what the hell is going on-- if you were at the show, tell us what happened in the comments. Stay tuned. UPDATE: some questions we'll need answered before we'll believe the identification: 1. Is the kid in the photo the mysterious "Zac" referenced in the NY Magazine piece? 2. Are either of the suspects known to anyone in the streetart scene? 3. Were either of them seen at the Faile show last week? UPDATE: here's a picture of Shepard at the show-- if you missed the opening, we've put pix of all the pieces up on Streetsy.So as we write this the police are now detaining the guy as they figure out what, if any, charges to file. So why might this be connected to the Splasher? For the last few weeks speculation has been circulating amongst the art community here that is was the Splasher who lit off a similar stink and smoke bomb at the Faile show a few weeks back in Nolita. Going beyond it just being a practical joke, the guy who lit the smoke bomb then called the police informing them that there was a gas leak in the building. Minutes later fire engines arrived and the show was cleared out. One thing seems clear - there are two motivations that have been driving the Splasher. Attention and a jealous desire to sabotage and ruin the work of well known artists who have gained a certain amount of notoriety. It then makes sense that after gaining a ton of press over the last few weeks, that the Splasher would try to take things to another level by not only ruining the artwork on the streets of people like Faile and Shepard, but by getting even more attention for ruining their gallery shows as well. Since it would be all too obvious to walk into an art show and throw paint on the wall, why not then attempt to close down the show by causing a panic?
UPDATE: a few comments of note-- the first is from our friend who was at the show:
eyewitnesses say that he was the same guy as at faile withthe stinkbombs and the same guy as at the bma. the guy ny mag identified as swoon's old assistant. judith supine has an eye witness account of the details as does wooster apparently.Here's another that sums up a lot of the email we're getting:I was at the opening last night, and while I can't say whether or not those two people were collectively 'The Splasher', I can say what they were doing was extremely dangerous. The show was absolutely packed (I was told there were 3500 people on the guest list)., and it could have really turned into a stampede situation where people got hurt had they succeded.And we spoke to Marc at Wooster Collective-- he said the photo of the alleged Stinkbomber was sent in by someone at the show who feels that there is a big difference between splashing some work on the streets and setting off a smokebomb in a crowded gallery. The reason Marc put up the picture is to encourage people to come forward and identify these kids, and thereby discourage them from pulling these stunts before they cause a situation where people get hurt. Still no word on whether these guys are The Splasher, however. UPDATE: Sam scanned the front and back of the ObeyBucks that Shepard has been leaving around town. UPDATE: Juliana Bunim at the Brooklyn Paper is reporting that the captured Splasher suspect has been charged with reckless endangerment and attempted arson, which carries up to 15 years in prison as a penalty. Apparently the DJ was responsible for detaining the kid before he lit his smoke bomb:DJ scratches ‘bomber’: Keen-eyed spinner may have caught ‘Splasher’ By Juliana Bunim for The Brooklyn Paper A quick-acting disc jockey saved the day — and quite possibly helped catch the art world’s elusive Splasher — at Thursday night’s glitzy opening to graffiti legend Shepard Fairey’s DUMBO installation after one of the guests attempted to light a flammable device amidst a crowd of 500 street-art lovers. DJ 10 Fingers first spotted the would-be “art critic” as he prepared to ignite what cops called a “flammable device” towards the end of the opening of Fairey’s “E Pluribus Venom” show at 81 Front St. at around 11 pm. A witness said the quick-acting disc jockey subdued the man just in time. A half-hour later, the bomb squad rushed to the scene to “investigate some sort of flammable device,” and arrested the alleged would-be bomber, said an NYPD spokesperson. The suspect, whom police said was from Bushwick, was charged with reckless endangerment and attempted arson, which carries a maximum of 15 years in jail. Few noticed the attempted ignition — and 10 Fingers’ subsequent intervention — but the opening night celebration ended shortly thereafter. Security “immediately swept the entire room to make sure there weren’t more devices,” said event coordinator Michael Petrovich. “We went into shut-down mode, trying to get everyone out in an orderly fashion. Luckily, not too many people realized what was going on.” Petrovich said there was a second suspect who fled the scene, but police would not confirm that claim. The incident has left many in the art world wondering, could this be the famous Splasher — a shadowy figure who has made headlines (in some circles) by vandalizing outdoors works by established graffiti artists. Nobody knows his (or her) identity, but at a street artist gallery opening earlier this month in Manhattan, a critic set off a “stink bomb” — and many believe it was the Splasher. Fairey wouldn’t talk about the Thursday night incident, but in an earlier interview with The Brooklyn Paper, he made it clear that he disapproves of the Splasher’s approach: “If you want to critique the absorption of the street art world into the bourgeois system, then say it in a way that’s not just totally destructive and really meaningless. The Splasher is just destroying and not making any contribution. And he’s selective about splashing only people who do some of the best work because they’re the ones who end up succeeding commercially.” (For the full interview, see here). As of Friday, however, it was unclear whether the attempted bombing of Fairey’s opening was indeed the work of the Splasher. But then again, how would anyone know? “This is not a situation where someone is going to come out and say they’re the Splasher,” Petrovich said. “These individuals are either stupid or they just have some sort of jealousy.”Anyone heard anything else?
Reason Magazine has an 
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The main limitations were that the food would be served on paper plates, eaten with fingers or maybe a plastic fork, and that the dishes needed to be cooked on barbecues with charcoal provided courtesy of Brand-Name Sponsor #85. (Bravo, can we please just have companies sponsor the contestants, NASCAR-style, with large logos covering every inch of their whites? Frankly, it would be a welcome relief from the current mode of product placement.)
Other stories of worst-to-first and vice versa include last week's bottom-dweller, 
So a couple of days ago I'm tweaking Firefox to kill as much of the chrome as I can, leaving a single row of buttons, an address bar and a set of menus. In doing so, I removed the little search box, just to get more pixels for other things. Now, if you're not only a no-chrome-allowed minimalist but also a mousing-is-for-the-weak keyboard shortcut junkie like I am, you build muscle habits quickly...habits that are hard to undo. My two particular Firefox keyboard habits are CTRL+L, which puts your cursor in the address bar, and CTRL+K, which puts your cursor in that little Google search box in the upper right. CTRL+L is for going somewhere, CTRL+K is for searching for something.
On Sunday 
It's the countdown to the final meeting determining increases for rent stabilized apartments coming next week. City Comptroller William Thompson issued a letter asking the Rent Guidelines Board to either 
We've had 
Collective efforts to expose injustice and systemic hypocrisy manifest in many different forms. Some people take to the street, others get loud in the blogosphere, while the Yes Men head to the limelight, using web- and email-based trickery to commit sensational acts of 'identity correction,' capture media attention, and ultimately cast their targeted subjects into dubious light. In the past, the Yes Men have impersonated, representatives from Dow Chemical, McDonalds, and the World Trade Organization. On June 14th, Yes Men Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno struck again, taking the stage at Calgary's Gas and Oil Exposition, as Shepard Wolff of the National Petroleum Council and Florian Osenberg of Exxon Mobil. The featured speakers at the costly keynote luncheon, Wolff and Osenberg discussed their plans for Vivoleum, a new fuel made from the deceased human bodies of climate-change casualties. Their message had a twisted logic that doubled as harsh criticism of the oil industry: Vivoleum wouldn't help the environment but would rather ensure the oil industry wouldn't dry up. Wolff and Osenberg were forced off the stage after they began playing a video detailing their first Vivoleum experiment. (See 'Tribute to Reggie,' as well as photos and press on their site.) Their performance may not have saved the world from global warming, but it has whipped the press into a frenzy of activity, and the Internet into a cacophony of discussion. The Yes Men have proved, yet again, that two regular guys can put a wrench in big power machinery, with the aid of faked websites and rented suits. In the words of artist and Rhizomer Pall Thayer, 'Viva Vivoleum!' - Lauren Cornell
Our lovable, pragmatic mayor is 
Via Gothamist Contribute:
Controversial plans for high-rise luxury condos at Coney Island have 
How did Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes spend Father's Day? Find out after the jump.
