The Dave Fleischner Interview

There is no way I would be where I am today if it wasn't for a place my guest helped lead and cultivate.

He cultivated land in a town called Elizaville  with but a deli, a fire station and a post office. Nothing for miles, space, Eternity, high skies and the Schain Shack.

What was built on this land in Elizaville is Camp Scatico. Call it a state of mind,  I always looked at it as a place to find yourself. 14 summers I attended their and I missed the summer of '97 because my guest told me I was expendable.

He was right, I slept away most of that summer. But you learn early on not to underestimate my guest.

This is a Jewish Summer camp but the closest thing we came to observance was The Friday Night Sermon led by Squirrel who was coming off a counselor softball game at Pontiac and than it was off to the C court....the spiritual part of camp came from the lineage that existed within generations of Holmans, Poritsky's, Roses, Cami's, Strauss' that came through this outdoor synagogue of archery, hounds and hairs, apache relays and flies buzzing around my army blanket looking to get their mouths around some Easy Cheese and Cracker crumbs.

Yet the magic remains in part because of my guests approach. He came to my Grandparents apartment with his father Flick in 1986 and they presented Camp in a very matter of fact way on film if I remember. Going to visit Scatico for the first time I remember the green paint chipping off the lower hill bunks, egg water the ball fields and Joyous Lake.

The backboards on the A court during most of my time there were wooden which gave unusual bank shots while I was barking out the starting lineups for the NAT tournament.

My guest has had to reinvent the camp since a tragedy my last summer. One that happened 4 days in to camp. Nobody went home.......but we live in a different time with a new captain Cory Schwartz at the helm on Boys Side.

My guest always said That The Feinberg Family brought that essence to camp that was irreplaceable be it Shakey or Steady we learned how to relate to people both older and younger, lost weight every summer and came home in August with someone else' boxers, socks and mix tapes that kept us burning on the  hot stove for the next 10 months.

Prove it all night, Dave Fleishner, welcome to the JFS...