account of his very first summer camp experience: his mother dropped
him off with a garbage bag full of his belongings and no sense of
direction. After failing miserably to find inspiration during “free
time” – aside from testing all of the water fountains – Carl decided
to stick with helping the two, very Italian, old ladies who reminded
him of his Grandma. Despite, or perhaps in spite of, a thick language
barrier, the two women quickly put him in charge of manning the center
and taking care of the animals. Out of that blossomed Carl’s ability
to step outside his comfort zone, leading him to be the man he is
today.
Molly Snyder shared the story of her love and need for religion from a
very young age, noting that she wanted to be an “epicopalian” though
her parents were retired from faith. From her first religion, Girl
Scouts, through a series of interesting explorations, including the
Grateful Dead and the Easy Bake Koven, Molly gained a lot of insights
and uncovered truths. Yet, when she really needed it, faith seemed to
desert her, so Molly finally settled on a more universal religion.
Ironically, her husband’s divorce attorney offered the deep compassion
that led to Molly declaring, “People are my religion.”
Rich Christensen told the most touching story about his parents’ love
and the dots he connected to finally understand the big picture. Five
days after Rich was born, his mother received the telegram stating
that his father had been shot down mid-flight for the third time while
serving; he was missing in action. For four weeks, Rich’s
then-twenty-one-year-old mother waited, not knowing whether her
husband was dead or alive. Rich pointed out to a hushed audience that
his father’s survival made both of his parents aware that every single
day is a gift, an awareness that they passed on to him.
Becca Segal told the story of how her “pieces of self” were put to the
test as she left her “very Jewish” hometown to explore the world.
Following high school, Becca found herself having to, for the first
time, defend her Jewish heritage. After some viciously anti-Semitic
responses in France, Becca grew to be less proud of some of the
“pieces” that make her who she is. However, her pride was reinforced
when she stumbled across a traditionalist synagogue in France, where
the Rabbi questioned her intensely about couscous and she fell in love
very briefly with a very religious man. Getting lost in her own
culture ultimately helped Becca find herself.
adulthood came in the form of a Savage shotgun he received on his
thirteenth birthday. His father, a carpenter and good hunter, wanted
to ensure that his son didn’t grow up to be a cream puff – any man who
willingly wears a bowtie, works in an office, and plays golf – like
the in-laws. After months of practicing on glass bottles, it was
decided that Dave was good enough to really go hunting. And as he
stood aiming at the squirrel that his father had picked out,
struggling to find the words to explain that he just couldn’t do it,
the most unexpected thing happened: Dave’s father said “aw, that one
is kinda small,” and in turn gave Dave permission to be himself.
Jennifer Evenson‘s story bordered on nightmarish as she recounted her
efforts to find a roommate speedily due to financial problems. And,
where else would she have gone to find this roommate but craigslist?
One after another, increasingly strange people replied to the online
ad, and with increasing alarm, Jennifer changed her requirements in
the post. From posting that she was SERIOUS about not wanting a date,
to noting that she would do a background check, Jennifer seemed to
endure it all. But, for every nightmare there has to be a happy
ending, and this one came in the form of a normal, law-abiding, and
clean female who rented the room.
Lady Linda, the Ruler of Times Cinema, was back and as intense as
ever. Ms. Cieslik described, with incredible detail, her traumatic
ordeal at defibrillation training. After signing up for the volunteer
defib class, upon making it very clear that she was not signing up to
do CPR, Linda showed up to class only to find that CPR was the least
of her concerns. Working with dummies that may or may not have had
traces of her colleagues’ saliva seemed like child’s play when Linda
realized that she would have to strip completely the person on whom
she would have to perform the defibrillation. This, of course, brought
an onslaught of mental images that Linda can’t erase to this day.
