Hey, Comic Strip Lovers!

Interest in Comics has held the fascination of children and adults alike throughout the decades. Summer camps know how cool comic strips are so most are sure to offer a comics program. This art form—and, yes, it IS an art form—is a genius combination of the written word and drawing.

The inventor of comic strips seems to have some confusion surrounding it. Many people credit a Swiss schoolmaster Rodolphe Töpffer who lived in the first half of 19^th Century. He published ‘The Adventures of Obadiah Oldbuck,’ along with others. His work made use of panel frames that are commonplace today but his panels had no space between one another (referred to by cartoonists as ‘the gutter’).

But despite Mr. Rodolphe typically being credited as inventor of the comic strip, it is ‘The Yellow Kid’ which is generally considered to be the first comic strip—first published in the New York World in 1896. ‘The Yellow Kid’ is the work of Richard Fenton Outcault. This strip was a single-panel comic featuring a kid-like cartoon who always wore a yellow garment with words printed on it, giving a short commentary.

‘The Yellow Kid’ gained popularity after the turn of the century along with comic strips altogether. The art medium gradually became more polished with multiple panels and gutters between them. Cartoonists experimented with overlapping panels, word bubbles, and other stylistic choices.

By just 1913, the legendary ‘Krazy Kat’ debuted which would go on to become a great inspiration for modern comic strip artists like Bill Watterson—creator of ‘Calvin and Hobbes’. It was Bill Watterson that I selected to feature last year as an installment to our ‘Pioneers and Record Setters’ Blog post series as he holds many records with his magical strip. Check out that Blog post by clicking here.

Nowadays, comic strips are found in every newspaper and online publication. I wrote the comic strip back in the day for ‘The Mirror’, my college newspaper at Lakeland College. I called it the ‘Chase & Eddie’—two college roommates whose personalities were different sides of myself. Comic strips are a great way to express yourself, even if your drawings are just stick figures! Give it a try for yourself today. As always, thanks for reading! See you in the funny papers.

- John

Hey, Friends of the Environment!

When your room is clean, your mind is at peace. And, in similar fashion, the rest of the world isn’t any different than your room; we’re all much happier in a clean environment than we are in a smoggy, littered landscape. Unopposed Nature brings abounding beauty and fortifying fresh air to make us feel even more valuable than a million bucks—something priceless!

Yes, Nature can have that effect on us but, in order to reap its benefits, we must take stewardship over the land. It falls on all of us to care for a piece of the world regardless of who owns it. Caring for land means maintaining it, taking into consideration all the facets of what your particular land needs to achieve great health.

Some goals may be loftier than others if you don’t have access to the necessary equipment or understanding (restoring balance to an ecosystem, for instance). But no matter what your experience level is or what kind of equipment you have access to, there’s always a favor you can do the environment…

Put a Lid on the Litter
This is probably the easiest to do. Just devote some time to combing your yard or local park or woodsy trail for trash. All you need is a trash bag and maybe a pair of gloves for sanitation’s sake. Cleaning up trash outside will not only make you feel better, but everyone who passes that area as well.

Eliminating Excess
Eliminating the waste of our resources is essentially the definition of Conservation. Practice conserving the energy that goes into running water as well as electricity and gas in your home by turning off switches and faucets when you're not using the commodity.

Enriched Recycling
Composting your yard waste and kitchen scraps is a great way to practice conservation. Simply by discarding organic items together in a designated spot will reduce landfill waste, introduce valuable organisms to the soil like bacteria, fungi, and protozoa, and add nutrients to the soil. The land will thank you.

You can learn more about composting in particular by checking out this previously written Blog post right here. And learn what the #Trashtag project is when you read this Blog post about the UCO Gear challenge. Make the land that you love shine with compassion and care and, as always, thanks for reading!

- John

Hey, Hornists!

Some folks are naturally drawn to percussion while others are drawn to strings. Some people are gifted with a wonderful voice. And others are born to play the horn! Learning an instrument is hard work, but some instruments can be tougher to learn than others. Playing a horn requires a muscle that most folks don’t use regularly. Horns require long hours of daily practice and building lung power.

There are many different kinds of horns you can choose to pick up. Whatever feels most like your style is the right pick! There’s the trumpet, the trombone, the French horn, the tuba, the saxophone, the baritone, the cornet, and even more. But for each one, there are four critical things that great horn players have that you need to develop and practice.

Going the Distance
If you’re going to play a horn instrument, you gotta have strength and endurance. How do you develop that? Mouth muscle workout! Simply practice getting your lips into the best position for a nice clear note. Play that note over and over, repositioning your lips each time. Mastering the application of your mouth to the mouthpiece of your instrument is known as embouchure.

Tone-tastic
Achieving a great tone is a matter of a number of factors all hitting in unison, but a great point to practice on is pitch placement and pitch bending. Bending a note is a way for players to hear the point in the bend that the tone sounds clearest. The point that sounds best is where the note should always be played.

You can change your pitch by opening your throat, giving your jaw a slight forward motion, and relaxing your embouchure.

Blow on the Range
Strength wasn’t just for your mouth exercises! It takes great strength to play the really high notes just as much as it does the really low notes. Develop your skillsby practicing your high notes as well as the low ones.  

A Good Sense of Music
If you’re interesting in playing a horn instrument, you probably already have a love for music, but listening to the greats and discovering your own musical preference is what it’s all about! The better understanding you have when it

comes to listening to music will come through in your understanding of playing music as well!

Of course, even the great horn players throughout history have always struggled to be truly great in all four of these areas. Everyone will have different strengths and different weaknesses. You’ll likely never master each of these points, but to develop your skills, these areas help to build a strong musician! Enjoy making music! And, as always, thanks for reading!

- John

Hey, Camp Folks!

Similar to Archery, Trapshooting requires focus, patience, and a keen eye. Shooting a shotgun at a clay targets that are launched from a machine away from the shooter is sort of an accidental sport as it got its start as a method of practice for bird hunters. Live pigeons were replaced with targets (which is why they are now referred to as clay pigeons).  

This sport’s been around since the late 18th century—back when real birds were used. It’s recorded that by the year 1793, Trapshooting was "well established" in England. The passenger pigeon was abundant and the typical bird used before the transition to artificial targets was made. Glass balls were the original step away from live birds which would sometimes be filled with colored powder to add a visual effect that would easily indicate a hit.

Famous Trapshooters of the day such as Captain Bogardus, the wing shot champion of the world and Doc Carver who outmatched the trapshooter he idolized: Captain Bogardus. But by 1880, clay targets were introduced by a man named Fred Kimble though another man named George Ligowsky took credit for the invention. The new targets were dubbed Ligowsky targets and were welcomed as a replacement for the glass balls.

Trapshooters must develop their skills in patience, watchfulness, readiness, focus, leading accuracy, and more in order to advance their abilities. One way to differentiate skill levels is whether a shooter is capable of double target presentations or just single—in other words, are their two targets launched at once or just one.

Along with Riflery, Trapshooting can be found as an available program at many summer camps across the country. Look into the activities your camp offers or get out to a Trapshooting facility near you and test out your skills to see how much you enjoy it. Have fun out there and, as always, thanks for reading!

- John

Hey, Volleyball Fans!

Volleyball is a game of great coordination and skill. From volleying, to setting, to spiking, and serving, players have been perfecting their performance since the game saw its beginning more than a century ago in 1895. The game was invented soon after basketball and was made to be a combination sport, drawing from basketball, baseball, tennis, and handball.

The game was originally called “Mintonette,” invented by a man named William G. Morgan, a graduate of the Springfield College of the YMCA. The net was one of the original elements of the game—derived from tennis but raised higher. Next up was finding the right size and weight for the ball. Basketballs were too heavy and a soccer ball was too hard. Lastly, Morgan and two buddies wrote up ten rules to explain the concept of the sport.

Once their game design was complete, William G. Morgan took his new sport idea to a conference in 1896 where he demonstrated his idea with the use of two teams that showed the objective of Mintonette was to keep the ball in motion back and forth over the net. Professor Alfred T. Halstead was one among the spectators at this conference and, after watching the demonstration, proposed the name be changed to “Volley Ball”. It became a single word a little bit later.

In the next year, Morgan kept at it, ironing out the rules to Volleyball and 1897 marked the year of the first official North American YMCA Athletic League handbook. Decades passed and Volleyball had remained just a recreational game until the 1930s when it started getting recognition as a legitimate competitive sport with referees and championship games.

So find a net, pick up a ball, ask a couple of people, and give Volleyball a try if you’re not already an avid player. Enjoy volleying and, as always, thanks for reading, Camp Fans!

- John