On Camp Owetti, Radiohead, and an Overdue Thank You
It has been a year since the warnings began to go out all over Minot, North Dakota. One year since the evacuations started. One year since so much of my childhood washed away.
A year ago today was the beginning of what could have been the end.
By the end of June 2011, 12,000 of the city's 45,000 residents had been evacuated. 4,100 homes had been damaged, over 800 of them beyond repair. Rebuilding is still going on. 1500 FEMA trailers are still occupied by Minot residents who continue to try to re-find their American dream. (I grew up with one of the people in that video, Liz Vibeto. She is/was seriously one of the nicest people on this planet and has the power to make me look like a total and complete pessimist. Put THAT into perspective.)
But, things are getting better. Slowly.
There was a lot about the flooding that I personally found devastating, but high on that list was the damage to Oak Park. Oak Park is where I spent many summers at Camp Owetti, the Girl Scout Camp. My mom was a troop leader for a few years, so some of those loooong summers at camp were forced, but others were nothing but fun. In my mind, I can still navigate the twisty trails all around the "island" the camp sat on. I can find my way to the abandoned cabin near the river, I can sense the stuffy heat of the now flood-ravaged main cabin, I can feel the itch of the nettle I ALWAYS managed to accidentally find. (Nettle = sort of like SUPER EVIL poison ivy that leaves you itchy, rashy, and miserable FOR-FREAKIN-EVER.)
Camp Owetti is where I learned to make Mountain Pies and where I mastered the art of Campfire Bananas. It's where I once spent a summer insisting everyone call me "Shelly," which is funny because now I would punch anyone who dared shorten my name that way. I learned to weave baskets there. I learned every ghost story I know there. I grew up there.
When I was too old for Girl Scout camp, I still called Oak Park home. All through high school I sat on top of picnic tables there, chatting with friends. When I started hanging out with people from the Air Force base, that's where we went. We just sat around in Oak Park listening to music and talking. Hour after hour, day after day, week after week. I can distinctly remember the echoes of Nine Inch Nails and Depeche Mode and Radiohead as I blasted the bass in my tiny Ford Ranger pickup. They were all bands that weren't on the radio at the time, but I knew about them and I loved them.
When I first heard that Oak Park had been virtually destroyed by the flooding last year, Creep was the soundtrack as memories rushed through my mind. Not to get all "get off my lawn" on you or anything, but they just don't make music like that these days. The good ol' days weren't always good, but damn they had a good soundtrack.
Some time after I learned about the damage to Oak Park, I received an email from a friend in high school sharing that the people of Minot had found an interesting way to get some of the money needed to rebuild the park. It was an online voting thing and could I please spread the word? Of course I did, and some of you I'm sure followed links in tweets and from Facebook and helped to vote Oak Park "America's Favorite Park."
$100,000. BAM.
The park is set to be up and running any day now.
I never really took a second to thank all of you who voted, so here it is. Thank you. Thank you for caring about a place that you've never seen. You played a part in rebuilding a place that was part of my life's foundation.
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As of right now, Pittsburgh's Frick Park is #56 in voting for this year's America's Favorite Park. I'd love for Coca-Cola to have to give $100,000 to help make Frick Park a better place for our kids, so that's where I'm throwing my votes this year. Here's how you can, too.
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Reader Comments (2)
:)
And, oh man, nettles. I have vivid memories of running through a big batch and, ow, ow, ow.
thrilled to hear they won the money