You're Sending Me Where?

"Dregni specializes in describing the detail of human interaction. His stories of discouraging camp romances, love triangles, how to deal with staff who melt down over bats, cabin-to-cabin antics (and revenge) are witty and engaging and make the reader both reminisce and feel a part of the whole scene."—Concordia Language Villages 

"By the end of the memoir, you’ll find yourself in the same shape as the campgoers on the last days of camp—you don’t want it to end. "—Italian America

Welcome! Benvenuti! It’s summertime in northern Minnesota and a bus full of kids is about to arrive at the Italian Concordia Language Village, better known as camp. Inexplicably the chief lifeguard has chosen this moment to conduct a “missing villager drill,” prompting staff to strip to their underwear in a simulated rush to search the lake. It’s an inopportune time for a surprise visit from the Health Inspector, but there he is—just as an Italian counselor calls through the walkie-talkie, “My God, there’s blood everywhere!” He’s finally clobbered the chipmunk that’s been stealing his candy. 

When at age six he had to be hauled kicking and screaming on the bus bound for camp, Eric Dregni could not have imagined this moment. But all the days and weeks of summer camp since then have shown him the abundant pleasures of this uniquely American experience—and given him plenty of stories to tell. In You’re Sending Me Where? Dregni takes us back to those boyhood days of running head-on into nature with his fellow campers and learning a few valuable lessons, such as don’t let the van driver leave you and your canoe until you’re sure there’s actually water in the “flowage.” 

From discouraging summer love to soothing homesick campers to—Oh no! Bats!—taking everyone to town for their rabies shots, to the difficulty of saying goodbye, Eric Dregni’s wise, funny book reassures us that there’s still a place in the woods where, unplugged from devices and screens, children of all ages can connect with the natural world—and with each other.

Eric Dregni is the author of seventeen books, including In Cod We Trust, Midwest Marvels, By the Waters of Minnetonka, and most recently Let’s Go Fishing!, all published by the University of Minnesota Press. He is associate professor of English, journalism, and Italian at Concordia University, and in the summer he is dean of the Italian Concordia Language Village. He lives in Minneapolis with his wife, Katy, and three busy kids.

Contents
What Did I Do to Deserve This?
Foxfire
The River That Wasn’t There
No Road to Camp
Another Day at American Camp
Me? A Dean?
Beaver Pride
Good Impressions on Opening Day
Mother Duck
Ninjas vs. Pirates
Not So Politically Correct
“Friendship” Tournament
Red Neck Days
Bat Camp
Beware the Sharktopus and Sidehill Gougers!
Keep ’em Separated
Cuddly Skunks
The Cheese Wiz Eats Crow
Going Sauvage
There Will Be Blood . . .
Coffee Emergency
The Last Day of Camp