Burt Lodge

For one week every summer a community, 600 strong, of family, friends and fellow spiritual seekers assemble on a beautiful lakeside campus in a small mid-western town. For the initiated it’s a bit like New Years where one comes faces the mirror of their last year since camp. For 35-70 teenagers it has been exactly 51 weeks since Burt. With parents or sponsors nearby the kids at Burt Lodge spend the week bonding with old and new friends. Through workshops, games, singing, dancing, vespers and free time a trusting environment is created. We consciously practice ‘inherent' worth and dignity for all.’ One of us counselors coined '“Burt Lodge, the gas station for the soul.” This was the year I returned as a couselor rather than a camper at large. The week has been filling my tank for eight years now. There is one particular night each year where this safe environment that exudes freedom of self-expression collides with a teenagers natural tendency to push the boundaries of identity, It is not exactly a scheduled event, more of an unsanctioned affair that without would not be a week at Burt. The boys and girls try on every piece of outrageous clothing in each other’s bags. Or they may make something new. Some outfits never make it out of Burt Lodge and across the woods where there is a camp wide dance every evening at Cratty, another lodge on Campus. The ones that venture out go for the trill of displaying their wears for witness.