Target the Ear Drums of Your Audience

New work of mine has been added online. Check out a poem I wrote at Target Audience and a short story about catching whooping cough at summer camp down at Sick of 'Em.

Welcome, Welcome October

I have two poems up in the first issue of Howls and Pushycats. Download it and read them. The issue also features work by David McLean and William Doreski.

The first poem is In Abstentia, the refrain of which might be familiar to anyone who has seen the musical 1776.

The second is a little lyrical lot of lines I wrote while at SEP.

An Unlikely Story

Short story of mine is up at Unlikely 2.0. It has been divided into several parts. Go and read it here. It is a tale of twisted brotherly love and the underbelly of the music industry. I hope you enjoy it.

Quite Possibly the Last Word on SEP from Me

Or more accurately, from the Summer Enrichment Program itself:

Are you a college student looking for a fun and rewarding summer job? The Summer Enrichment Program (SEP) at the University of Virginia is looking for motivated, creative students who love working with kids. SEP is a world-renowned summer camp for academically gifted 5th-11th graders.

Some of the perks of the job include:

• being adored by hundreds of campers
• working with really cool people
• having a tremendous amount of fun
• getting paid to have a tremendous amount of fun
  

So come join us!

For more information and an application go to our website: curry.edschool.virginia.edu/sep
Application deadline: Jan 25, 2010

Also, check check out our Facebook group: facebook.com/group.php?gid=202565997365

Monsieur Funnington's Song

Here is the award winning (1st place at the SEP spirit competition) song my campers came up with third session. It is to the tune of "Sail Away"



I'm camping away
Back to the place that I love to be
'Cause I've got to be free,
Free to enrich the life that's ahead of me

'Round here I'm a camper,
Since 1979
We're creating tomorrow
At the camp divine

So I learn
Oh how I learn!
To have some fun,
~
~
Come camp away
Come camp away
Come camp at SEP...
(Repeat until dragged off stage)

See It Before It's Taken Down!

Apparently SEP isn't notable enough for Wikipedia. I guess it's up to all of us to change that by saving the world from falling pieces of Skylab. Until we can, here is the preliminary Wikipedia page. Credit goes to the kids for their work. You guys rock!

The SEP Counselor Rap

Well, SEP is almost finished, except for one more session. I thought I would post the lyrics to our counselor rap so that they might be preserved for eternity, and that 5-8 can see just how its done. I am also posting the original inspiration for our words, the genius of Brad Neely



Dunnington, Dunnington
Made out of bricks weighs a bunch of tons
Opponents beware, opponents beware.
We're coming, We're coming, We're coming.

Let me lay it on the line, we’re the fruit of the vine.
With fourteen counselors, so divine.
With sandals made of crystal, Dustin patrols the land,
With an Iphone and a latte in his perfect hands.

Here comes Dustin, in control.
Campers dig his stuff and his gallant stroll.
Eats opponent's brains, and can stop the rains.
He's coming, he's coming, he's coming.

Dunnington, Dunnington.
Eleven fine suites, summer enriching for fun.
Spread, spread, the C’ville air.
We're coming, we’re coming, we’re coming.

Sue me if I go too fast,
But the all the 5-8 campers wish we were their dads.
Got a collar for a collar, got a fanny pack for a heart.
We'll kick you apart, We'll kick you apart!

Ooh!

We'll save children, but not the 5-8 children.
We'll save children, but not the 5-8 children.
We'll save children, but not the 5-8 children.
We'll save children, but not the 5-8 children.

Lee has a pocket full of horses, Michael kills wild bears.
John threw a knife into Heaven, and Kelly kills with a stare.
Leiloma dances like an eagle Ben’s a rainbow in the sky.
Danny killed his sensei in a duel and never said why.

Dunnington, Dunnington.
Three stories high, made of radiation.
The present session beware, the future session beware,
We’re coming, we’re coming, we’re coming.

Did I mention Joe’s new baby?
Or Nancy’s golden shades?
And Courtney has cool shoes and Mag n’ Cheese’s mom is cool.
I heard... that Margles... has like... thirty swords in her room.
I heard Dustin once held a camper’s hand...in a jar of acid...at the dance.

What is SEP All About?

First off, happy birthday America. You lookin' fine for a 233 year old country. Minus Gary and East St. Louis.







Currently I'm working at a summer camp. The Summer Enrichment Program, to be exact. We're in UVA during the summer. If anyone wants to get to the essence of what we do, my 11th grade campers composed a Haiku:

Chilaxin' at SEP

Check out our sweet moustaches

Dustin is awesome

FIELD DAY!!!

Now I'm working at the good ole' Summer Enrichment Program at the University of Virginia. I have seven eighth grade boys that are personally under my supervision, but I get to deal with all kinds of kids between the 5th and 8th grade. They are all gifted in one way or another and they sometimes manage to surprise me with what they can do. Sunday was field day for the camp and before we got them sweaty and wet (along with some of the counselors)they had a pep rally where the suites were paired up. My suite is the 320s (we live in the dorms at UVA), and we were with a corresponding suite in the girl's quarters. Most counselors created team names around alliteration and unusual animals and let the kids do a cheer or song based on a pop tune or the old standby "We Will Rock You" by Queen.

However because I like to be different, engaged, and a rebel, I had my kids and the kids from the other suite come together under the theme of Paraguay. They created a banner celebrating the country's rich history and traditions, opening with a skit of one of my campers wearing a German general's hat and wondering where he could go since his country had just lost WWII. Another camper came out and told the beleaguered German that Paraguay was waiting to offer him a home and he was overjoyed. Then the banner was unfurled and a cheer was led by another one of my boys, John, who wrote the thing himself (though no one believed it):

Alright Paraguayans, raise a din,
'Cause this land-locked beauty is here to win!

We'll stomp you, kick you, shoot you in the knees,
Your puny lands with sea access, we'll seize.

From the canopies of Asuncion,
When we bomb you with artichokes,
You will be gone!

Look out Uruguayans, you're going down,
Upon your patheticness we do frown!

Your demise we'll weave upon a loom,
Upon you we'll spread the tablecloth of doom

Go Paraguay!