Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of “There’s No Place Like Summer Camp”. I’m your host Andrew Waterhouse. And in today’s episode, we’re taking a look at and reviewing Michael Eisner’s Camp Book. So coming into our tent, and I’ll spill those juicy, juicy beans.

Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of “There’s No Place Like Summer Camp”. I hope you’re doing well. It’s a nice summery day, which feels very out of place for January. And I’ve just spent the last probably week or two reading Michael Eisner’s Camp Book. Now, this was touched upon in a previous podcast where I was looking at the celebrities that have gone to camp, or famous people should I say? And Michael Eisner stood out because he’s the former CEO of Disney. And what stood out even further was, as I was recording the podcast, I found out that he released a book all about his time at summer camp, which is cool to see. Of course, if you’re brand new to this podcast, you may not know this. There’s No Place Like Summer Camp is all about summer camp, of course. But there’s also the book that’s been in the works for a long time. So let me just start with that.

So the book is coming on well. I am so close to finishing it. I’m not sure if I should give you the full ins and outs. But let me just say, some very progressive stages have been completed now. And the release date will be very imminent. I’m getting some author copies just to double-check that the book looks right and feels right in the hand. I can’t say too much more. But “There’s No Place Like Summer Camp” is not only just a podcast, it is a book as well. So when I stumbled upon any summer Camp book really, I always make sure to give it a buy, and try and give it a review. I think I’ve only done one of these reviews before, but I have read a fair few. So look out for those future episodes. But anyway, let’s crack on with Michael Eisner’s Camp.

Who is Michael Eisner?

So who is Michael Eisner, that’s probably a good place to start? Because maybe you’re not all familiar with who he was. But when I saw his name and my research, it stood out to me, because he is the former CEO of Disney. And that’s a big name if I’ve ever seen one in business. He had volunteered at a camp called “Keewaydin” for many years. So he volunteered at camp as a staff member for four years, but he had gone to camp as a camper for many years too. He once told in an interview, obviously, as a CEO, you get interviewed quite a lot by the press and the media and that sort of thing. One of the questions that came up to him one time was, where was the place that you learned everything you needed to become the CEO of Disney? He pondered about this question for a little while, and then came back with summer camp Keewaydin. The interviewer sort of like chuckled, and I think the rest of the room did too.

Ex-CEO of Disney

But the more he thought about it, the more he was assured that he learned the most for becoming a CEO of such a great company as Disney at summer camp rather than school, university college or any of that, and that was telling. I might butcher the name, but I’m gonna stick with Keewaydin as the name and that was something that I’ve found with this book. There are so many different names and funny names for things. So not only have you got a strange name for the camp Keewaydin. There are so many funny things or terms for things that I was reading in his book where I was sort of like, what’s this? So he’s got a thing called by, this is probably common lingo for someone in America but I’d never heard of beds referred to as cots. So throughout the whole book, he was talking about sitting on their cot, and I was like they’re caught this. There are all these campuses are sleeping in cots because obviously, a cot in the UK is sort of like a baby bed, very small baby bed is the best way I can describe it as like sort of gated sides. So the bed you drop the baby in, you put the baby to sleep, you can look over, should they’re still in the bed, they can’t roll out or anything like that. And that’s what a cot is to me. But during this book, they seem to be using a cot as a bed a lot of the time.

Americanisms make the book great

So I don’t know if that’s just an American thing, and I was just getting confused. But they also have words like coupe, which is like their version of certifications and getting some recognition for the stuff that they do around camp, which was pretty cool. Week wham, which is the night which is the word for the names of the units. And they refer to their staff as staff men, they don’t call them counsellors or specialists or anything like that. They call them staff men. And that was interesting. That was cool. Just to get a bit of perspective into how different summer camps run and their terminology of things was cool. And right at the back of the book, you do get a camp dictionary, which I kind of wish at the start of the book, they said that the dictionary was there because it wasn’t that well spelt out. And another little minor point, this is where I’m touching upon some poor writing. I’m talking like I’m a fucking JK Rowling over here. It’s not the case, trust me. This is just my first venture, but I like to review books. I’m an avid reader, and this genre appeals to me. But just when I was reading the camp dictionary at the end, as well, there were so many times in there that weren’t referenced in the book. And I get that there’s a lot of nostalgia for Keewaydin. And the terminology that he may have used around camp, but when I was reading that camp dictionary, I was just like, you haven’t even mentioned half of these words. But that’s just a minor point. I’m talking like, I’m JK Rowling. So I need to get off my high horse and continue with the rest of the review.

Keewaydin Summer Camp Book Review

So, what is Keewaydin? Well, Keewaydin, and this is what I really liked about reading this book. It offers you a different perspective on what different summer camps are like now. You will know that the summer camp that I volunteered at for two years, was a Jewish summer camp. And coming from an outside perspective, with no Jewish upbringing, no knowledge about Judaism or anything like that, and not being religious myself at all. I sort of came into the summer camp that I went to, with sort of open eyes and learning a new culture. Keewaydin it’s a different type of camp. It’s not a religious one. It’s a canoeing camp, and it’s only for boys. So that was interesting, just to get a different kind of camp. One of the things that they often do, Keewaydin is tripping. Now, this is a big part of their camp where they take a few days out of the camp schedule to take campers canoeing and going on massive canoe trips, camping outside of the normal camp bounds of Keewaydin. And sort of getting that independence to cook your food, make sure you get there in one piece and make sure you’re sort of surviving in a way.

So going to read about a different camping experience was cool. And I think if you have the passion for summer camp a little bit over the top as I do in a way, I think you’ll enjoy reading this book, it gives you a different perspective and how different camps can run. I loved this book, how he talks about a lot of the firsts, like the unease of growing older, taking responsibility, being a bit of a counsellor, and staff men for these kids, and feeling like an adult for the first time and making the sort of mistakes as you do as you’re growing up. But I have to say, it’s a completely different experience to what my camp was like. Now, of course, my background when I was volunteering at my summer camp was as an outdoor living specialist. So I was responsible for taking the kids out on their campouts and it was similar in a way too there. So the Keewaydin way of taking kids out on their canoe trips and staying away from camp for a little bit. I can see there’s a cross similarity there. But what likes baffled me was hearing about these spa sessions, these staff men would set up for these kids so they’d be doing their campout stuff and they’d be doing a campfire and the tents would be all sort of like, maybe a bit wet, maybe their clothes are a bit wet. So what these staff members would do, would put rocks within the campfire. Cook up some rocks, get them to really hot temperatures, pick them up with like a shovel or something and dump them into a tent. And what essentially that would create is sort of like a spa inside the tent. And that was ringing so many alarm bells for me. As someone that took kids out on camp trips, I would never put boiling hot rocks within the tent to try and create a sparse theme room sort of atmosphere.

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