Pauline's Story

Our depiction of Pauline Bunyan that hangs in Nash was made in the 1950's. Created by famous illustrator Nancy Ekholm Burkert whose work you may have seen in her illustration of Roald Dahl's James and the Giant Peach. I doubt she may have never known that her painting of this giant woman would have been looked up to by so many. Our Pauline is known as a ruff gruff lumberjill, but upon searching for actual stories about Pauline, I couldn't find much at all.

There is not much folk lore behind Pauline Bunyan. Ol' Paul stories date back to the Civil War. Stories of a larger than life axe toting lumberjack - men of men. From there the stories escalated into tall tales. But Pauline is different. She doesn't really have a story. The earliest account of Pauline I can find is a 1929 summer camp event where numerous camps would come together for lumberjack type games. With women competing in these events along with the men, the Paul Bunyan award turned into the Pauline Bunyan award - just a female take on the male figure. From there to now, Pauline is mostly used to describe a woman that does burly and outdoorsy things - chopping wood, predominantly. 

Some stories put her in the camp cook, camp seamstress - no one can sew a button like Pauline. But again, these stories are rare and hard to find. There some are accounts of Lumberjanes and Lumberjills, even a few mentions of Paula Bunyan, but still not much substance to be found anywhere. And again, these are all ways to describe women doing burly things. 

With our Pauline just finishing her makeover / reconstruction a la Joan Christgau, I thought it would be a good idea to create some folk lore behind the giant woman that is Pauline. If you have any stories, or ideas of what Pauline depicts or means to you - by all means tag a comment on this post and help create this legends identity. Until then, Pauline will be taking a little R&R until Nash construction is completed. 

Joan will be working on Paul next. One of the things she mentioned is not making him look so scary, maybe put a few more teeth in his mouth. We'll get pictures up as her work progresses. 

Paul & Pauline Undergo a Well Overdue Makeover

Joan Christgau, mother of Mali Christgau, also the crafts-women who makes all of our plaques, has a new project on her hands: to give Paul and Pauline Bunyan a makeover. 

Paul and Pauline were removed from the walls of Nash prior to construction in hopes they could be saved and put back up this spring. Paul was made in the mid-1940s by Bob Ulrich, and Pauline came later - I know there is a story behind her, but I can't remember it. 

Regardless, the figures were constructed of a particle board type of material - not unlike cardboard - of which, squirrels took their toll on. When they were removed form the walls, they came down in pieces (I won't go into how Pauline's head came off...).

Joan has taken on the task of reconstructing these beloved figures. Here are the first set of pictures she's sent in:

Ol' Pauline - still looking as intimidating as ever. 

Introducing Winter Elmer Ott Interns

Three folks from our staff community have taken on the task of helping us this winter in planning for summer and running a successful winter. Their main responsibilities will be assisting Drew, Mark, Jay and myself in the following areas:

• Staff Recruiting and Hiring - For over 296 seasonal staff positions.


• Winter Programming -Hosting Family Groups and Facilitating Leadership Groups. That's 50 to 200 people at Camp every weekend Christmas to March.


• Special Projects: Everything from updating the Staff Manual, to repairing gear, to developing better map system in the MLC.

Cr@ig Sweet

Sweet has worn many hats at Camp in the past - from Tripping Assistant to Seasonal Admin for more years than I can count. He held a term and a half as a Seasonal Staff Board Representative, where he was an active member of the Board of Directors representing you our staff. Needless to say - he is knowledgeable in the field of Manito-wish.

He has spent the past three years as a Project Manager at ARTech - otherwise known as the Northfield School of Arts & Technology. He worked closely with students grade six through 12 managing students projects, teaching seminars, and helping track their academic careers.

We placed an "@" in his name as he has a fear of being googled. He would also like you to know that in his spare time, he delights in making tile mosaics, bobbing for apples and assembling Ikea furniture. None of which you can prove or deny. We are glad to have him on board this winter.

Mary Glenn

Last winter and spring Mary worked as a Certified Therapeutic Recreation Specialist for the Bend Metro Park and Recreation District. From this she brings to Camp the experiences of running and developing programs, managing staff, and working with tight budgets and busy schedules. If this experience weren't enough she has Therapeutic Recreation major and minors in Recreational Management and Psychology from UW LaCrosse.

A third generation Manito-wisher, and eight years of staff experience under her belt, Mary is ready to take on the challenge of the cold northwoods winter.

Andy Roe

President of the Carnivore Club is usually something that may not hold much clout - until you hear what that really entails. This past year Andy Roe was the head of a catering service that catered to thousands of students and the majority of major campus events and Colorado College. More than flipping brats, he also had to manage a tight budget, work closely with event coordinators, and make sure he could still get to class and make hockey practice.

Andy spent six summers as a camper, six as a staff member, and has been stocking up on extra pairs of long johns as he moves back to the Northwoods for the winter.

Bring them back to Camp...

One Mountain Hardware fleece pullover, a $25 gas card,
two-nights lodging at Camp, one pizza dinner...

No, it's not the latest Christmas song, it is what the
first 6 volunteers receive when they come up to Camp
and help us call our unenrolled campers from 2007.
What a great way to connect with the kids and keep
enrollment strong.They will love hearing from you!

When? Wed. Nov. 28 and Thurs. Nov. 29.

Come on up to Camp, check out Nash,
and have fun. We'll make phone calls from
4 p.m. to 7 p.m. each day. The rest of
the time is yours.

Contact Gami by Nov. 16 if you are interested in helping out
gami.miller@manito-wish.org

Newly Nominated Staff Board Representatives

Congratulations to Sarah Judkins and Katie Lindahl for being selected to be our next Seasonal Staff Board Reps. And a big thank you to Kevin Collopy and Kyle Mernitz for ther service and dedication to our organization as their term ends.

Pictured left to right: Dana Roberts, Sarah Judkins, Anna Ficken, Katie Lindahl and Kyle Mernitz. Kevin Collopy was unavailable for photo.

Judkins and Lindahl will be taking on a two year term as voting members on the Board of Directors, and taking the seats of Collopy and Mernitz whose two year terms have just ended. They will be joining Dana Roberts and Anna Ficken whose terms expire in November of 2008.

The main purpose of the Seasonal Staff Board Representative is to serve as a conduit between the Board and Seasonal Staff. The Board looks to them to hear wha the seasonal staff are saying, and vice versa, they are also a voice of the board to you our staff.

Shoot me an email and I can get you their contact information.

First Snow of the Season

First snowfall of the season at Pinewoods Chapel.

River Mom

Marge Cline, also known as River Mom, passed away from a heart attack last Monday on October 26. River Mom was known nation wide as a one of the top paddling instructors in the country. She used to co-teach our flat water paddling course along with John Connet for a number of years - they were one of my first introductions to Manito-wish.

Her obituary can be found in the Chicago Tribune by clicking here. Our condolences to the family, and hats off to Marge - you were amazing to watch on the water.

The Legend of Mike Dietrich

A long, long, long, long long, long, time ago, when girls drank from the wishing well, when "B.O." island call was truly justified everyday in Nash, there was a man, and his name was Mike Dietrich. A man is not a legend, and his name is not remembered until his actions rise above those of his peers. So was the fate of the man, Mike Dietrich. Until that fateful night, when the sun hung low and the sliver of the moon rose up from the horizon. It was a game , like any other, played a million times by a million people over the years, with Frosty Balls flying o'er the rope line, some were caught, some were not, until Mike Dietrich stepped onto the field.

Clutching the slightly deflated roofball-esque orb in his Paul Bunyan-esque grip, Mike Dietrich moved down the field at full speed, spinning his weapon of choice wind mill style and screaming his own name "Mike Dietrich!" he let the ball fly and as Zeus unleashed his unstoppable lightening bolt, so did the playground equipment soar over the heads of so many boys, connecting square in the chest of a wee Near Souther. Had the players on the field not succumbed to wide and deep sense of shock, one of them, one of the clever ones, would have shouted 'Timber!" as the little boy splayed out on the dusty floor of the North Ball Diamond.

Truly, not even the Manito-wish Square is safe from the Legend of Mike Dietrich. And the game they played that fateful night so long ago is known as FROSTY BALL!

Section Announcement from Girls Camp, August 2006

Where are they now?

Every now and then we like to give a shout out to those who have been doing the extraordinary. This posts theme has to do with English study and travel.

Matt & Ellie Neinow are taking the year traveling the globe. Currently they are in New Zealand Wwooofing - working on organic farms. Next their travels will take them to South America, and after that? Where ever the wind takes them.

On top of that Matt was featured in the June issue of Canoe & Kayak magazine. He recently had his poem “Six Ways of Looking at the Moon,” selected by Pulitzer Prize winning poet, Natasha Trethewey, for inclusion in the Best New Poets 2007 anthology. And if that's not enough his manuscript, Two Sides Of The Same Thing won this year’s Copperdome Chapbook Contest from Southeast Missouri State University Press and is also getting published.

Erik "Linus" Brandt and his family, Hanna, Eloise and Henry, are in Budapest, Hungary while he completes a Fullbright Teacher Exchange, teaching high school English for a year.

Zoe Schirmer has been living in Greece teaching English since September 2006. Zoe reports she is thoroughly enjoying herself and wishes everyone well.

Carolyn Herman in grad school at the University of Hyderabad in India studying Indo-Anglian Literature.

You or someone you know doing something amazing? Let us know! We would love to hear about it.

Seasonal Staff Retreat will be Jauanry 4-6, 2008

How would you like a free weekend at Camp with friends? Free food? Free housing? Sauna, snowshoeing, climbing wall? You can’t say no to that.

We want to get staff together to discuss some of the bigger topics and issues from past years and put them into planning for the coming summer. We need you to do this! What were your biggest successes this past year? Your concerns? What do you want to see happen? Now’s the time – mark your calendars.

Contact Drew, Mark, Jay or myself to register. We need to know by December 21.

Tenative schedule:

Friday, January 4
4:00 Check-in at Boyce - Housing in the Huffy Dens
6:00 Dinner - MLC
7:00 Begin Meeting
9:00 Free Time

Saturday, January 5
8:00 Breakfast
9:00 Meeting
12:00 Lunch
1:00 Free Time
3:00 Meeting
6:00 Dinner
7:00 Meeting
8:00 Free Time

Sunday, January 6
8:00 Breakfast
9:00 Wrap-up
11:00 Roll out!