Hey, Campers!
Here at Everything Summer Camp, we learn about plenty of celebrities who were once summer campers like yourselves. It’s hard not to discover them when so many went to camp! We’ve talked about tons of pop stars, actors, athletes, entrepreneurs, and more on this Blog and today, we add Norah Jones to our list of Celebrities at Summer Camp!
I can’t imagine anyone isn’t familiar with Norah Jones, but, in case I’m wrong, she’s that singer/songwriter and actress responsible for such hits as ‘Don’t Know Why’ and ‘Come Away With Me’. She’s won lots of awards (including nine Grammy Awards) and sold more than 50 million albums the world over.
But before any of that, she attended Interlochen Center for the Arts. Located in the beautiful northwestern region of lower Michigan, Norah spent her summer days soaking in the summer sun as it beat down on 1,200 acres of Interlochen, nestled between two lakes. But Norah Jones wasn’t her name back then. It was Geetali Norah Shankar.
And even before that, she was born in Brooklyn, but raised in Grapevine, Texas. She went to Colleyville Middle School and Grapevine High School until she later transferred to Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in Dallas.
Previously she had sung at mass services during her weekly visits to church and, there, she discovered a passion for singing and so she took piano and voice lessons. But it was in her high school days that her love for music truly blossomed. She sang in the choir, participated in band, and played the alto saxophone too.
She went to the University of North Texas to further her study of music, majoring in jazz piano. She also spent her time there singing with the Jazz Singers group at the school. Fresh out of her graduation in 2002, Norah launched her solo music career with an original talent for lounge music. Every coffee shop was playing her album that year.
Norah followed her passion and look where it took her. Where will yours take you? You can check out Camp Interlochen for yourself and, as always, thanks for reading.
- John
“This story starts back from a campfire on night two of ten. My tent-mate had received a care package full of goodies and sweets, but was lazy enough to just leave it out on his camp box. I was the first one coming into camp and when I walked down to our pod of tents, I saw four green eyes staring at me. I shined my flashlight and sure enough, there was a raccoon in our tent and one just outside of it. They had eaten all of my friend’s treats and were searching for more. One was on my cot! The whole entire rest of the night, my friend kept shining the flashlight to scare the raccoons off because they kept coming back. We called it Five Nights at Camp after the popular game Five Nights at Freddy’s. Later, my friend decided to hide the rest of his food; in a trash can, when we woke up, it too was all gone. He was really angry now. I told him that it was a bad idea but he didn’t believe. Finally, someone made a bag we could haul up into a tree to keep out of the reach of the little critters. I never moved my food, it was all safely in my wooden box.”
your own collection or trade issues with a friend to check out one you haven’t seen yet? Whether you’re into the classics like the members from the Justice League or superheroes of the newer generation such as Spiderman or X-Men, get lost in the worlds that you love the most today.
wn for his work inking the Spider-Man comic books, Randy has also put his magical touch to series like Dark Horse’s ‘Ghost’, ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Origin Series’, the ‘Left Behind’ series, ‘Star Wars Tales’—issues 12 and 15, and more. He’s been expanding his creative work for the last 30 years!
time, let’s get excited about the fall season. Summer may be old news now, but fall is as fresh as it can be today.
People from all around the world celebrate with feasts and festivals, marking the arrival of the holiday. Dependent on your location on the globe, you may even be able to see the Aurora Borealis, also known as the Northern Lights. These are beautiful colors that always appear in the sky this time of year. The phenomenon is actually radiation from the sun interfering with the earth’s magnetic field!
“My son went to Woodruff Boy Scout Camp for a week. I was very nervous about what to pack and how to pack to make sure he had everything he needed. I love the trunk he got from Everything Summer Camp. It really helped him stay organized. He said it was cool to have a trunk that was different from everyone else’s so he could find it easily. Then he said, “Mom, when I took out the wheels and popped them on..everyone was talking about it and that they wished they had wheels on their bin/trunk”. When my son came back from summer camp I could tell he was more confident and willing to try new things. One of the things he talked about was all of the new friends he met and how there were scouts from far away states. He thought that was so cool and he even exchanged info with a couple of scouts so he could keep in touch. He also said how we like the fireworks even though they got rained out but he kept dry in his rain gear. I never got a chance to go to sleep away camp, but I am glad he is able to go and make memories that will last a life time.”