This will probably be a shock to some of you, but as a native St. Louisan, growing up watching Bob Gibson, Lou Brock and others (too young to remember watching Stan the Man), I have, from time to time, had a very moderate bias towards that fabled franchise, the St. Louis Cardinals. Most kids at camp would probably tell you they had absolutely no idea I feel this way, as I am careful to not allow these personal biases manifest during the summer. And, as a veteran camp director, I would NEVER use a venue like this newsletter to boast about my Cardinals winning their 11th World Series (Can you believe it? How incredible!! Who’da thunk?)….No, no. I’m much too polished to engage in that sort of unprofessional conduct. HOWEVER, in the role-modeling department, there is certainly a huge lesson to learn from the way those amazing Red Birds (clearly an objective description) conducted themselves this season and post-season. We can save the discussion about stats for this summer while we’re sitting outside the Lodge waiting for a meal to start. And, of course, I will be factual and avoid any chest-thumping type behavior during those discussion. Remember…I’m a professional. If you just consider the way that epic team continued to work hard, face adversity head-on, and ultimately persevere over the course of the last few weeks of the season and throughout the post season, it is most instructional. Winning is not everything, even in the MLB, which might not precisely match our campy non-competitive philosophy. Even if the Cardinals had ultimately lost in Game 7 (an unlikely proposition…neutrally speaking), their spirit and team work would still go down in the books as inspiring. So, when the chips are down, as they were for those lovable Cards (an impartial observation), remember how they pulled it together when they were down to their last strike and their last out (twice!), and never ever gave in or gave up. Let’s all take a moment to dab our eyes and just soak in the whole evenhanded, open-minded wonderment of it all. And let’s also not forget the great effort that the Texas Ranges put forth all season. Their manager, Ron Washington, is such a kid-in-adult clothing, and a true baseball fan at heart. Watching him was one of the best parts of this year’s World Series. Sure, it was serious business to him, but he never let that get in the way of his unabashed love for the game, which you could see with every pitch. Our hats off to all of them!
We hope you all had a fantastic month. It was fun for us, but as we do most years, October is the month we tend to miss living in the Midwest. October is a beautiful month up at camp, and back in the old days (read “before we had our own children”), we used to stay up at camp for weeks before heading home to Milwaukee. So we caught the fall colors up north, and then they followed us down to our winter home. We knew we’d miss that when we transplanted to Tucson, and we do. Especially this year since Tucson has had a hard time shaking off that summer heat. We were setting records left and right last month with days in the high 90s, approaching 100 degrees….in October! So, finally it is beginning to cool down here, just as the snow is starting to fly in the Rockies and the east coast, and soon will across much of the country. Then we’ll be in that time of year when we really don’t miss living in the Midwest, thank you very much. One of the side benefits of living in this climate – once it cools down to bearable levels – is how easy it is to be outside. We know it can be tough to plan and do outside activities when the weather turns cold, but we just want to remind everyone to keep an eye on how much time our kids are spending inside watching TV or clicking away on a keyboard. Enough needs to be enough after a little while, and we hope you will remember to encourage your kids to bundle up and step outside. Easy for us to say, of course….
Our traveling has begun, with Michael Breen and I heading to our own respective airports a few times already, including quick trips to Columbus, OH, Boulder, CO, and Houston, TX. This current month we will be in Chicago, Milwaukee, and Nashville, with much more to follow. We have mailed out reunion invitations already to everyone….since everyone is invited, of course! We travel a long, long way to see you, so please make some time in your busy weekends to come by and have some fun with us. PLEASE REMEMBER TO RSVP TO THE REUNION HOSTS IN YOUR CITY! This does NOT apply to Chicago area folks. Reunion invites to St. Louis and Dallas will be coming soon. All other cities will have their reunions after the winter holidays, and we’ll let you know when those are coming up too. We can’t wait to see all you guys!!And wait till you see the 2011 Reunion Video. Just when you thought there was no way RYAN COHEN, our producer extraordinaire, could top last year’s movie, he proves us all wrong. It is absolutely incredible. You’ll see…
Our enrollment is continuing to set a dizzying pace, and we anticipate filling age groups before the winter break. Welcome back to the following “old-timers” who re-enrolled this past month: JONAH RAWITZ of Buffalo Grove, IL; BLAKE BERKOWITZ, RYAN GALOWICH, and ETHAN GOMBERG of Chicago, IL; ARI ASARCH and DAVID GLAZER of Denver, CO; MATT MOSSLER of Carmel, IN; ZACH ORLOWSKY, MILES PADZENSKY, ALEX POBERESKIN, and DYLAN SALDINGER of Deerfield, IL; ALEXANDER WEITZMAN of Nashville, TN; ROY WALKER of Evanston, IL; NATHAN FRIEDMAN, BEN KITE, HARRIS LERNER, and NICK PAPPAS of Glencoe, IL; GRANT KIBEL of Brookline, MA; JAKE FLOM and IAN & JACK LYNCH of Chesterfield, MO; TYLER NEWMARK, MAX PUGH, DEVIN SHAW, ARI SINGER, and MARSHALL & MICHAEL STRAWBRIDGE of St. Louis, MO; BEN & DANIEL FELDMAN, NOAH KRAUS, MICHAEL NATINSKY, JACOB & MYLES ROSENSTEIN, and ETHAN VICTOR of Highland Park, IL; IAN SETZER of Orlando, FL; DUSTIN EPSTEIN and LUCAS PRIZANT of Northbrook, IL; ZACH KALLMEYER of Highland Heights, OH; GARRETT GLOVER and SAM KAGAN of Bellaire, TX; KESHAV KRISHNAN of Houston, TX; ADAM SUSMAN of Oak Park, IL; DREW SCHWARTZ of Wheeling, IL; MICHAEL WHITMAN of Rockford, IL, and after an absence of two summers, SPENCER LAVIN of Wilmette, IL.
And Welcome Aboard to the following new campers who will join us this summer: PENN BAKAL of Chicago, IL; HENRY LEVY of Evanston, IL; DOX & LEVI RASKIN of Oak Park, IL; and ISAAC BLUE of Louisville, KY. Glad to have you guys with us. What a great summer we’re going to have together!
We are very happy to welcome the following CITs to our 2012 staff: ROSS KRULISKY of Scottsdale, AZ; JACK GOMBERG and DANIEL MOLTZ of Chicago, IL; AARON BERKOWITZ and RICKY JACOBSON of Deerfield, IL; ELIAH HIKEN and JARED LIEBMAN of Louisville, KY; JOSHUA KOHN and EDDIE ROSENBLUM of Highland Park, IL; MICHAEL BLOOM, JOSEPH KUPERMAN, and SAM SPIER of Bellaire, TX; CAMERON CAVALIER of Houston, TX; BRANDON CRAMIN and DANIEL NEWMAN of Northbrook, IL; and DAVID GAIDAMAK of Vernon Hills, IL. This early in the “off-seas
on,” and already we know our staff next summer is going to be fantastic!
St. Louis finds IAN LYNCH playing on a select soccer team. Brother JACK LYNCH is playing oboe and tenor sax in a jazz band and trying out for Honor Band. CARSON ANDERSON auditioned for and got a part in his middle school’s fall musical, “Aladdin.” He’s playing a palace guard with speaking parts! Bar Mitzvah congrats coming up to MAX GOLDENBERG who will be a B’nai Mitzvah with his twin sister Carlye. Max is expecting a big group of Timberlane guys to be there, including MICHAEL NATINSKY, SAM JAFFE, and JONO ROSENBLUM, who are coming in from Chicago. ZAC WARR just finished his first season as a cross country runner. LIAM O’MALLEY is playing tackle football, and his team, the Wolverines, made the playoffs. In Houston, JOEY BURSTEN, JEFFREY GOLD, JOSEPH KUPERMAN, BEN ROBERTS, JONAH ROSENBERG, and Ben & Sam Spier are all playing soccer for the Emery/Weiner High School Soccer Team! Bar MItzvah congrats to GARRETT GLOVER who celebrated at the end of October with a bunch of camp folks in attendance, including BEN SCHACHTER who traveled from Dallas, and AARON & DYLAN KATZ who came in all the way from Salt Lake City. Congrats also to HARRISON ATLAS who celebrated last month and did a fantastic job! Here in Tucson, BEN SKRILL performed in his high school’s production of “Macbeth.” Brother JOSH SKRILL celebrated his Bar Mitzvah at the end of October. Congrats, Josh!! In Milwaukee, AARON GLAZER just finished the high school volleyball season, and is now starting tennis. In Minneapolis, COREY LENDWAY finished 10th for all 8th graders, and 29th overall in K – 12th grades in the World Archery Tournament last month. Way to go, Corey!! The Chicago area finds ETHAN and JARED LETWAT looking forward to a family trip to Turks and Caicos over the winter holidays. Wow! DANNY & SIMON LEVY are both playing hockey, and have had their games refereed by counselor JOEY RODIN. AIDAN LEVYNE ran the 5K Pumpkin Stampede for Cancer last month in Crystal Lake. Aidan can’t remember his time, but he remembers that he finished before his dad! A belated Bar Mitzvah congrats to JACK EICHNER who celebrated in September. He also made his middle school’s basketball team. JACOB ROSENSTEIN recently broke his arm…again…this time in a roller blading incident. It’s actually the other arm this time, and hopefully he still has his sense of humor! And SAM WETZEL is making plans to go to Israel this coming February. Amazing!
JORDAN TAYLOR is spending the semester in Zermatt, Switzerland. We think he’s taking classes, but we know he’s doing fun things like hiking, climbing, and biking. His parents, and his brother JOSH TAYLOR recently paid him a visit 
there. AARON ZEMACH is at school at Washington University in St. Louis, and with all the World Series excitement going on, Aaron got into it! Is he now a Cardinals fan? Ask him about it! We also thank Aaron for the expertise he loaned to Michael Breen in getting our Facebook Place Page Thingy all set up and making it look nice. You should check it out! In Denver, the HITCHENS’ house is a busy place. Liam Hitchens is walking all over the place and starting to talk a little, and Carter is a busy girl and talks about camp a lot. Hitch and Corrie are doing well too. HANNAH JONES paid a visit with her dad, RICK to the US Military Academy at West Point last month. Hannah has been accepted by the academy, and is almost done with all of the requirements to attend. This would make her one of the very few of the many applicants to be accepted into West Point. A truly remarkable feat…not that anyone who knows her would be surprised. HEATHER WRIGHT is back in Washington, and she writes, “I'm going to be traveling all over England December 19th through Jan. 5th visiting with the Brits from Camp! We're celebrating New Years at JUSTIN LOWRY’S house in Sheffield, and SARAHJANE TIERNEY and JAMES WOODS will be joining us as well. I know AUSTEN DRAPER, MIKE DUMENCIC and LAWRENCE TOYE are coming too...possibly EMILY JONES and JAKOB SCHARNAGL”. Sure sounds like a bona fide camp reunion across the puddle! We know MEGAN HAGER will be joining the mix, as she’s preparing to head toward Europe this month! She just completed a long trip in the back country, and now she’s headed for a party in the UK. You guys better take lots of pictures!!
The Juice
A special section from Michael Breen
I have made camp recruitment history. Yes, I am proud to say that on a recent home visit I leg-wrestled a prospective camper’s mother. 
Now, while most would be embarrassed to lie down on the floor of a complete stranger’s home and throw their leg up in the air against a woman with surprisingly strong quadriceps, I was not. And, I’ll tell you why—because I was a camper at Timberlane! Take a moment guys; think about all the times growing up or working at camp when you had to expand your comfort zone. Karaoke night anybody (cue Zach Orlowsky’s hip shimmy)? Elaborate costumes for casino night anybody (cue 2011 Hawk cabin’s mega-mustaches)? Wild dancing at a social anybody (cue Jacob Rosenstein—enough said)? Now, take a moment and think of a time you have gone out of your own comfort zone at home, school, or work thanks to the excellent practice at camp. We will all be faced with new challenges and environments as the years go on and I know we will all be better prepared due to the profound goofiness we have experienced, proudly, together at Timberlane. 1, 2, 3, Wrestle! Now, let’s wheeze some juice from the amazing summer of 2011:
· You are a first session camper and the weather leads us to do the swim assessments at the local high school—you make it through and now consider yourself a lifelong Lakeland Lumberjack supporter
· You are a second session camper and you are little teary-eyed as the guitar music starts at the final campfire. However, tears of sadness quickly transform into tears of laughter as two college graduates (Ryan Cohen and Scott Breen) throw on dresses and do a surprisingly accurate recreation of “Belle” from Beauty and the Beast. (Once when the Breen brothers were both home, Michael caught Scotty hugging the candlestick holder and clock in hopes they would come alive and perform a jaunty choreographed dance. Editor’s note: the editor can neither confirm nor deny the above statement)
· You are experiencing one of the most historic UN Days of all time as Norway, Chad, and Wales are all within a few points of each other going into the tug-of-war. After some of the most epic tugs in UN Day history, you witness Wales achieve the elusive repeat victory. Indeed, the tug is all that matters!
Remember fluffies, if you have a memory you want to share from this past summer, please email it to mike@camptimberlane.com.
-Michael Breen
BRAVO TO OUR NOVEMBER BIRTHDAY BOYS AND GIRLS: Jerris Kirkwood - 11/1/1997, Kyle Benson - 11/3/1998, David Fine - 11/5/1992, Jeff Kaufman - 11/7/1957, Izzy McKenzie - 11/7/1995, Jordan Taylor - 11/9/1995, Zachary Zlepper - 11/9/1999, James Boshes - 11/13/1996, Phil House - 11/16/1987, Noah Kraus - 11/17/1998, Holden Rosenthal - 11/17/1996, Noah Foster - 11/18/2001, Max Goldenberg - 11/19/1998, Ben Spier - 11/19/1996, Asa Hiken - 11/20/1997, Emily Jones - 11/20/1991, Jack Rosenthal - 11/20/1998, Jonas Monieson - 11/21/1999, Josh Siegel - 11/26/1997, Adam Sherman - 11/28/1997, and Norm Dudek - 11/29/1935.Thanks to all the moms, dads, kids, and staff who sent us some news we could use this month. We appreciate it and hope for more to come. Got any big plans for the holidays? That’s newsletter-worthy material! Please keep us in the loop! Thanks, and have a fantastic November!
Benches up,
(Editor’s Note: This month’s issue was published in Cardinal Red because…uh…the computer ran out of black. Yeah, that’s it. Has nothing to do with the World Series.)
