#Camp color war cheers code

Blue briefly takes the lead after a soccer shoot-out, only to lose it at the pool, where a girl on Silver Outer Space glides halfway across the pool on her initial dive to make up a half-length deficit. Before long, they’re off to the playground, to find a hidden totem of their team.Īround the field they go, coloring in a large square with chalk, leap-frogging as quickly as they can, weaving tricycles between traffic cones, putting a puck in the back of the net and navigating a jungle gym. A Blue Earth representative quickly joins the table. He hands the baton off to his teammates under the tent, who must carefully and completely remove Barbasol shaving cream from a balloon without popping it. After a few minutes, a Silver Outer Space marathoner comes tearing out side, trailed by his team’s generals. You can’t tell from outside, because the initial events take place inside the building. (Photo by Jesse Bernstein)įinally, 15 minutes after the original start time, the marathon begins. A wooden frame – B for blue and S for silver – marks the end of the marathon at Camp Kef’s Color War.

Blue Earth’s generals do a West Wing-style walk-and-talk as they animatedly backhand their marathon schedules. The beginning of the marathon is 10 minutes late. One must remember that children are innovators in finding ways to accidentally hurt themselves I watched a little girl trip on a water bottle that she was holding in her own hand. There are pages and pages of stops on the marathon, and each event will necessitate large groups of children running from one place to the next, following their generals. It starts to become obvious what a production this is, even compared to the other events of Color War. A few minutes later, the same administrator, walking in the other direction down the hall, now sans-deputies: “One of the puzzles is missing a piece, but we don’t know which puzzle or which piece it is.” An administrator barks into his walkie-talkie: “I’ve deputized the kindergarteners,” and he is indeed trailed by a line of them. The marathon is slated to start in about 15 minutes, which already seems optimistic. That this is analogous to a classic Seinfeld episode is, regrettably, lost on her.

Another Silver Outer Space member mentions that, in the boat race, held in the outdoor pool, Blue Earth launched their vessel on the first whistle, when they were supposed to wait for a second whistle.

#Camp color war cheers code

As one camper delicately smooths the curve of a painted Mars with his brush, he mentions that someone on Blue Earth told him that “Silver team sucks,” a clear violation of the governing speech code of the Color War. In here, away from the judges and referees - i.e., camp administrators and senior counselors - campers seem to feel that they can speak a little more freely. “Plaque” is even a bit of a misnomer, because the wooden board that they’re working on is probably 6-feet-by-6-feet. Before they begin fight song practice, the generals instruct them to cheer for the other team, which each belligerent in the Color War must do to stay in the good graces of the judges and referees.ĭown the hallway from the practice room, a handful of older kids on the Silver Outer Space team are putting the finishing touches on the plaque. To get the kids sitting back down, the harried generals at the front of the room use an elaborate hand gesture and a command: “Blue – Earth – Is – Cool!” The youngest kids assume the position up front - criss-cross applesauce - and the older kids splay their legs out in the back. Blue Earth’s friendship song is to the tune of Taylor Swift’s “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” and, as it goes with the general population’s experience with a radio-friendly hit, everyone seems shaky on the verses and very solid on the chorus. It’s actually friendshop song/fight song practice, to be exact, and the distinction seems to be the force with which the lyrics are yelled/sung.

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