This American Life: Notes on Camp

I have probably at least fifty episodes of "This American Life" on my computer because I am obsessed. I remember the first time I listened to Ira Glass's soothingly monotonous voice. I was in the car with my parents on a road trip, likely to Chicago or Bloomington. I forget which. Regardless of the destination, we were driving through the scenic Indiana countryside, listening to NPR like the white, liberal family we are. It was Monday, and This American Life came on. 

The title was "Play the Part," centering around people who feel compelled to do crazy things and step outside their comfort zones simply because someone is filming. The first act was Louis Ortiz, an  Obama impersonator. Unemployed for a year, Ortiz shaved off his mustache, suited up, and stumbled into a lucrative new profession. His story was so immensely fascinating to me that, when I got home, I snuck into my sister's room and plundered her "This American Life" official flash drive with 35 hours on it. A longtime follower of the show, my sister supported the program in some way and was rewarded for her efforts. The reward was now being downloaded onto my computer. 

And then I forgot about it for a few months. In June, I was stumbling around on my iTunes library, searching for something to listen to. To my delight, I had 35 episodes of This American Life waiting for me. I selected "Notes on Camp" and pressed play. 

What made this episode particularly special for me was that I was packing for camp as I listened to it. A proud member of the special few with a "cult-like, mystical connection" to summer camps. I was preparing for a nine-week stay at Goldman Union Camp Institute in Zionsville, Indiana. This camp had been my home-away-from-home for the past ten years, and, after over a year away, I was itching to return. Camp instilled me with self-confidence and perspective and introduced me to my best friends in the whole world. 

As I listened, I realized that I wasn't so special. Evidently the ineffable experience I had at GUCI could be and was being replicated at hundreds of camps across the world. The daunting challenges of climbing towers, silly songs and traditions, even Israeli military training could be found at these other camps. Albeit disappointed, I continued to listen and simultaneously stuff as many white v-neck undershirts as I could into my trusty Rubbermaid tub. The program just reinforced what I'd been saying all along. It's the people that make the experience. 

This American Life reiterates that claim. America is about the people who make up her, and this enthralling radio program/podcast focuses on the hoi polloi who have interesting stories to tell but no platform on which to do so.