Summer camp, then and now

Also: Despair won't save the planet. Here's what might [Donate ❤️]( [View in Browser](  July 16, 2023 Dear Cog reader, I spent my summers in elementary school playing an endless round robin of wiffle ball games at my hometown’s summer recreation program. It was a barebones operation: a couple of picnic tables under a big maple tree, two college kids employed as counselors and a large, wood chest — padlocked at the end of each day — full of balls, frisbees and board games. I had a killer curveball and my knuckleball was the stuff of legends (or at least it was to 11-year-old me). On especially hot days, my friends and I would ride our bikes up the street to Food Bag, the local convenience store, and load up on icy blue slushies and sunflower seeds. We’d spend the afternoon playing cards (spit, usually) or careening down the slip-n-slide in somebody’s backyard. It was delightfully unstructured, inexpensive for my parents, and I loved it. It also bears very little resemblance to the experience my own kids are having this summer, which basically involves me slathering them in sunscreen and dropping them at a different camp every few weeks. It’s a wretchedly expensive game of schedule-Tetris, summer camp edition. Jenn De Leon had a summer experience similar to mine. She attended a state-subsidized program – they didn’t call it camp – housed in a town building with no air conditioning. “If I close my eyes, I can picture the tubs of generic brand peanut butter, packets of graham crackers and pineapple juice in large aluminum cans,” [she writes](. “I hear the contagious laughter and boombox bass and the splat from water balloons in the parking lot.” Jenn contrasts her childhood with the myriad of sports camps and enrichment opportunities she’s been able to give her 10-year-old this summer. She wants her son to take advantage of these opportunities, but she also worries he might not grasp how privileged a life he leads. “What if how you grew up looks different from how you are raising your own kids?” she asks. “Will [he] understand that summer camp is not a human right? Will he know enough about being bored, and how that can yield creativity?” She has some answers to those questions, too. Before I go: Extreme weather across New England dominated the news this week. The pictures are unbelievable: people kayaking through the streets of a washed-out Montpelier. Cog’s submission inbox is full of essays about climate change and biodiversity loss, and I’ve lost count of the pieces I’ve read this week about how the [climate crisis has come home to roost]( how our [weather will never be ‘normal’ again]( and [90-degree ocean temperatures]( off the coast of Florida. [Anita Diamant]( just as shaken as the rest of us. But in an essay that includes mention of frogs, ostriches, meerkats and Mary Oliver, she also reminds us of the dangers of despair: “Working for the health of the planet is not merely about self-preservation, but a labor of gratitude and love.” Until soon, Cloe Axelson Senior Editor, Cognoscenti [Follow]( Support the news   Must Reads [My son is in every camp imaginable this summer. I want him to love it — and appreciate it]( Jennifer De Leon spent her summers as a child in a state-subsidized program. She loved it. Her 10-year-old son is enrolled in a myriad of sports and enrichment camps this summer, and she’s been asking herself: What if how you grew up looks different from how you are raising your own kids? [Read more.]( [My son is in every camp imaginable this summer. I want him to love it — and appreciate it]( Jennifer De Leon spent her summers as a child in a state-subsidized program. She loved it. Her 10-year-old son is enrolled in a myriad of sports and enrichment camps this summer, and she’s been asking herself: What if how you grew up looks different from how you are raising your own kids? [Read more.]( [Despair won't save the planet. But gratitude and love might]( There is peace and awe to be found in the mountains and meadows, wetlands and forests, writes Anita Diamant. The answer to the climate crisis may lie in the solace of the natural world. [Read more.]( [Despair won't save the planet. But gratitude and love might]( There is peace and awe to be found in the mountains and meadows, wetlands and forests, writes Anita Diamant. The answer to the climate crisis may lie in the solace of the natural world. [Read more.]( [Families make us who we are. What remains after they’re gone?]( Jennifer Beard lost four loved ones since 2020. I feel a heavy responsibility to remember, for all of us, she writes. [Read more.]( [Families make us who we are. What remains after they’re gone?]( Jennifer Beard lost four loved ones since 2020. I feel a heavy responsibility to remember, for all of us, she writes. [Read more.]( [Why aren’t schools teaching kids about climate change?]( Parents and teachers want students to learn about the climate crisis, writes Sabine von Mering. But schools, even in Massachusetts, aren't preparing kids to live on a warming planet. [Read more.]( [Why aren’t schools teaching kids about climate change?]( Parents and teachers want students to learn about the climate crisis, writes Sabine von Mering. But schools, even in Massachusetts, aren't preparing kids to live on a warming planet. [Read more.]( [Massachusetts has a drug problem. Somerville's bold plan should be part of the solution]( In 2022, about 2,350 residents of Massachusetts died of opioid-related overdoses. That’s more than six people every day, with Black Bay Staters hit the hardest, writes Sarah Evans. By embracing safe consumption, Somerville is showing people who struggle with addiction that their lives matter. [Read more.]( [Massachusetts has a drug problem. Somerville's bold plan should be part of the solution]( In 2022, about 2,350 residents of Massachusetts died of opioid-related overdoses. That’s more than six people every day, with Black Bay Staters hit the hardest, writes Sarah Evans. By embracing safe consumption, Somerville is showing people who struggle with addiction that their lives matter. [Read more.]( What We're Reading "If the goal is for the planet to remain habitable into the next century, what is the right degree of panic, and how do you bear it?" "[What to Do with Climate Emotions]( The New Yorker. "Suddenly, my mom turned to me and blurted out, 'Where are your parents?' I had no reply. It was a question one might ask of a child — a lost child, one whose parents are missing." “['Where are your parents?']( The Atlantic. "I moved to Vermont 50 years ago, thinking it was high and dry, a place apart from the usual chaos of the world, protected from the kinds of weather events one read about in places like New Orleans or Texas or Florida." "[Massive floods have swallowed up the Vermont town I love]( CNN. "I felt like a frog in the proverbially slowly boiling pot of water, lulled to sleep while the heat cooked its goose." — Anita Diamant, "[Despair won't save the planet. But gratitude and love might]( ICYMI [How should kids spend their summer? Not in AP classes]( Many kids have too much pressure — the emotional stress parents and society put on children — and not enough responsibility, writes Ellen Braaten. [Read more.]( [How should kids spend their summer? Not in AP classes]( Many kids have too much pressure — the emotional stress parents and society put on children — and not enough responsibility, writes Ellen Braaten. [Read more.]( If you’d like to write for Cognoscenti, send your submission, pasted into your email and not as an attachment, to opinion@wbur.org. Please tell us in one line what the piece is about, and please tell us in one line who you are. 😎 Forward to a friend. They can sign up [here](. 📣 Give us your feedback: newsletters@wbur.org 📧 Get more WBUR stories sent to your inbox. [Check out all of our newsletter offerings.]( Support the news     Want to change how you receive these emails? Stop getting this newsletter by [updating your preferences.](  I don't want to hear from WBUR anymore. Unsubscribe from all WBUR editorial newsletters [here.](  Interested in learning more about corporate sponsorship? [Click here.]( Copyright © 2023 WBUR-FM, All rights reserved.