I've been thinking a lot about this lately. It seems that I'm always trying to find the social connection between demographics and the stereotypes and issues they face on a day to day basis. Since I'm a Sociology major, I figure this is a perfect mindset for me to be in. So what on earth does this have to do with what I've been doing at camp? Well, being the kind of person I am, the kind of person who enjoys just observing social groups and situations, I have been spending a lot of my time here trying to understand why these campers are in the situations they're in.
Ok, so last week's campers were mostly individuals with cerebral palsy. I hadn't started paying much attention to demographics then, so I'm not entirely sure what group I would be looking at. But this week I was able to pay more attention to the kids and the families as they dropped of their kids. I have noticed that these kids (this is the communication disorders camp) seem to come from more working class and poor families. There are a lot of autistic kids among them, and I don't know much about the autism statistics either.
A few of the kids are also illiterate which might have to do with their inability to communicate. Perhaps there's a piece of the learning process that's missing for them in tasks like these which those of us with language and reading abilities might call "routine."
I'm fascinated by observing these social connections, but I'm not quite sure what to make of them quite yet. Perhaps I can try to learn more about these connections as I continue my education.
Anywho, today has been a good day. Its about 80 degrees and partly cloudy (Sven would be proud of my weather vocab skills). It rained a little bit which ALMOST ruined my fishing time with the "Bring Your PCA To Camp" group, but it cleared up quickly, leaving us with a good 15 minutes to fish. The mosquitoes weren't bad on our hike(well in some parts they were, but in clear parts it was totally mosquito free!), two of my last minute programs were canceled, and there was apple snicker salad with lunch today. Score! I actually ate a full meal with some variety at lunch! Chips, a sandwich, apple snicker salad, milk, and a heaping bowl of the happies!!!
Now all I need to do is finish getting my program building ready for classes (I haven't had any programs there yet, but we're doing owl pellets and microscopes tomorrow. EXCITING!!!), this shouldn't take too long, but I think I'll need to wrangle me some more chairs so that everyone can have a seat and just clean the place up cause its a MESS!
Things are looking up. I'm looking forward to a visit from Nicci on Monday and dinner with her as well! It will be good. Life is good.
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