[Life Back West] August 2011 – “Same Time Next Year”

Only the hopeful and the perhaps the ignorant confuse voluntary associations with work groups.

Yet the fact of the matter is that there are elements from the world of voluntary relationships that can help more than just a few work groups perform better and even have a little more fun.

These opportunities for shared lessons came to mind with the fifth version last month of what’s become an annual pilgrimage up to San Francisco Recreation & Park’s Camp Mather near the Hetch Hetchy and Yosemite Valleys in the California Sierras.… Read the rest

[Life Back West] August 2009 – How I (and the Millennials) Spent Summer Vacation

There are ways to mark time as well as waste it. Camp Mather is neither. Instead it’s a low-frills family camp where I spent last week on vacation with my seven year old son. It is a place for San Francisco families to affirm the milestones that come with personal development and growth for their kids and themselves.

In its 85th year of being a warm getaway place in the splendor of Yosemite for residents of the City with the big heart and cold summers, it’s a venue for the rarity of modern life: unstructured child centered play for kids in a natural setting.Read the rest