Absolutely, there is a need for a program like the
old CCC.
When a kid, there was a recently abandoned CCC
camp on Cornell Univ. farm land just a quick bicycle ride down Ellis Hollow
Road. In the complex of vacant rustic
and militaristic buildings there, including a defunct radio
shack with notepads, crumpled documents, headphones and microphones
still on the desks in front of imposing grey metal cabinets with dials and
knobs, my friends and I spent endless hours playing "war", building forts with
the hay bales then stored in the former bunk houses and dining halls,
playing chef at the giant stoves, pretending to sleep and be ambushed on the
cheap metal spring cots, swinging by the ropes still hanging on the activity
yard skill building equipment.
What do kids have to play with today that provides
so much creative and physical activity? They need those old
abandoned places to wander in surreptitiously, places with no rules except
"Don't Get Caught", playing hide and seek and trying not to be caught by the
owners who really don't care at all. There is a need for new CCC
camps to be built so they also can be abandoned in a few years to provide
such fine informal playgrounds for the next generation, places with still enough
evidence of what is was to be an adult so you could play at being it too and
learn how to grow up.
cp in bc
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Saturday, May 22, 2010 3:40
AM
Subject: Re: [BP] State Parks,
I
have not been following this Park trend closely enough so someone may have
already brought this up: we need a New Deal type of program – civil
service for all – such as the Civilian Conservation Core (1933-1942). Of
course its abolishment in 1942 was in essence the immediate metamorphosis to a
standing army, but hey, they learned a lot, and got a lot of good stuff
done. Any thoughts?
Best,
Leland
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