L
UNA LaMARCHE
BEST
SUMMER
EVER
HUFFINGTON
05.26.13
LIFESTYLE
TRAVEL
Pound Puppy/retainer buried in
the dirt under a blanket of morning dew. If there’s a more profound metaphor for the journey of
life, I’m too lazy to think of it.
CBS PHOTO ARCHIVE/GETTY IMAGES
Simon and Garfunkel Is
the Great Party Equalizer
There was always a dance at
some point during camp (because
why waste such an opportunity
for mosquito bites and abject
humiliation?) which I looked
forward to much more than I let
on. I looked forward to it because
my elementary school crush also
went to my camp, and I always
fantasized that he would ask me
to dance to “In Your Eyes,” which
was played without fail every
time, because it was the early 90s
and John Cusack was still ruining
romantic gestures for everyone
between the ages of 12 and death.
But whoever was in charge of
the dance music had put together
a carefully curated set list that
never varied over the years, and
after the inevitable letdown of
Peter Gabriel’s lusty pack-a-day
vocals playing to an all but empty
dancefloor, the cafeteria would fill
with the irresistible hand-clapping
intro to “Cecilia” by Simon and
Garfunkel, and we would all rush
in from our spots along the wall
(or, if you were me, by the cookies), acting out the words, getting
down on our knees and begging
each other please to come home.
That song remains a crowdpleaser among my now thirtysomething friends. (And I still listen
wistfully to “In Your Eyes,” but that
doesn’t really count as a lesson so
much as a recurring therapy topic.)
Una LaMarche is a proud graduate of
Camp Onas, which is still going strong
and might even still play the same mix
tape at the dance for all she knows.
She is the former managing editor of
the New York Observer, and her debut
young adult novel, Five Summers, also
set at camp, is available
wherever books are sold.
Simon and
Garfunkel,
a.k.a. providers
of perfect
summer camp
moments.