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Camp Cool, Not School Cool (Patreon)

Published:
2023-07-25 22:04:04
Imported:
2026-06
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Content

Julia is joined by Binchtopia favorite, her dad Gav, for a wide-ranging conversation about all things summer camp! They discuss the origins of summer camp in America, the extremely specific Jewish sleepaway camp experience, and why people still covet the 1970s summer camp aesthetic. Digressions include the new QAnon blockbuster, some father-daughter creative projects, and getting traumatized by Passover cosplay.

SOURCES:

Summer Camp Has Always Been About Escaping Modern Life

This Land Is Your Land: Native minstrelsy and the American summer camp movement

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Comments

meredith

GAV GANG RISE UP 😤😤😤

Emma

Thank Gav

jessica

gav slayy

Lindsay

does anybody have 8/14 tickets to the nyc show???!!! 🫶🫶🫶🫶🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏

Sara Weingartner

I didn’t like asteroid city at first either but I watched it a second time and honestly think it’s one of his best once you understand the subtext

Layne

does anyone have tickets to the nyc show 🫀🏺🦐💫🦀

Ally Kuhlman

GAV! Also excited to hear this episode- I worked at a summer camp in Maine and had minor culture shock when I learned all about the Jewish summer camp culture. I had so much fun there but I had no idea it was such a thing having come from across the country so I can’t wait to learn more

Emily

Gav seems like the most supportive dad, truly a king

M

I watched Sound of Freedom last night and I got a little weirded out when they started mentioning God. Honestly, it was pretty good but now my perception is muddled after I’ve read that it’s propaganda and linked to Qanon 🥲 Anyways, happy to have Gav on the pod!

avvsies

Sound of Freedom is based on a true story! It was a good movie and it’s sad it’s being twisted to seem like a crazy Qanon thing. My husband and I went and it was packed and most theaters around us were pretty full

Hannah

Haven’t even listened yet but was just talking w my Binchie friend about how weird our Christian summer camp was (it was 80% popular kids from our school and 20% neighboring schools) and how healthy Jewish summer camps sound in comparison. I think it’s so important for kids to be able to make friends outside of their school bubble - even as an adult that’s hard!

avvsies

Also I sent in an email of how my Jewish sleepaway camp was crazy toxic and supported substance abuse and statutory rape and then GOT BURNED DOWN in 2018 so if you Ladies saw it that was me lol

Alexis Sammon

Any of my marvelous mrs. maisel girlies also stuck in the trap of only being able to imagine king gav as king tony shaloub??? Just me??

ssteph
>>113729551

it’s a highly fictionalized version of a true story, and the guy it’s about is full Q, i think that’s why. vanity fair has a really balanced article on the whole situation titled The Sound of Freedom: the wild true story behind 2023’s most controversial film. i recommend it, it’s a good read!!!

Emily Klingaman

Got pulled over for not yielding while listening to this

hannah

God knows I needed this

Rachael S

as someone who grew up in a bird like cult of evangelicalism summer camp is huuuge in the evangelical community but it was very different and fully centered around god. Also for me personally boys and girls had completely separate camps there were no boys around.

lils

as a newer patreon member i now understand the gav gang and must go listen to the older ones i haven’t heard

Yara

In 2019 the assistant director at my Jewish summer camp dresses up as hitler for the tisha b’av evening program. Also pls share camp tisha ba’v stories, most perplexing day at every Jewish summer camp

Rylee Nelsen

Hearing Gav say “virginity slayer” was on my summer bucket list

Madeline Goodwin

Saw “Gav” and hit okay so fast it doesn’t even matter what this is about

Joey Cimino

Binchtopia summer camp who’s coming

avvsies

A third comment from me but I needed to say I was neither school cool nor camp cool lmao

jessica

omg no way i went to appel farm too!!!! i think it was the summer of 2014? LMAO i had the most insane bunkmate she did some really hilarious things maybe i'll write an email about it and submit it to the mailbox moments 😭

baby yaga

sorry to be pedantic but as an anthropologist i Need gav to know that whoever that historian is…he did NOT invent the familiar strange quote

Dianna Cohen

julia my bff went to appel farm in the early 10's and i distinctly remember printing out a meme and mailing it to her

Haleigh

it's still pretty common for summer camps to restrict phones for campers. for counselors, I didn't face the same scrutiny because we used them for alarms and didn't have service out in the middle of the woods anyways so they weren't as worried about us

✨

Why does Gav speak like a peer? Kept forgetting he's a father.

karlise loza

tell gav to stop having such a sexy voice 🤬😭

Samantha Tuleya
>>113739466

i’m on hour 5 of forcing my friend to listen to binchtopia on our 20 hour road trip- she says gav sounds like a dilf

Aarya Ghonasgi

I’m from Oklahoma and a bunch of white Christian kids from here to to a Christian camp that appropriates lots of native culture called kanakuk… they choose the best kid from each cabin (named after tribe ab and get called a princess of that tribe and get a headdress ex: Kickapoo princess… all while being white Christians eek

Susie McKeon

Waittt did any of y’all read the camp confidential books in middle school?? By Melissa j morgan

Alex

I basically live in the summer camp capitol of the world and most of them don’t allow campers to have phones :) camps are SO into tradition and so many have changed very little in the last 100 years as far as like the mechanics of everything go

Roni Yaffe

Amazing episode I missed gav!!! Would love to hear him speak on the right wing dictatorship rising in Israel and hear his thoughts

Charlie Wright

Shout out to my disgraced Jewish sleepaway camp (kutz) that closed down and is now the set for the theater camp movie

Taylor

i am so excited for the song release!!! i literally have had sinkhole love as one of my top songs for like four months <333

Kay

Gav Pod let's go

big booty marie

not my patner getting a text from their (male in his early twenties christian) cousin in thier cousin group chat urging everyone to watch "the sound of silence" minutes after i finished the ep in my headphones 🤭

Tristan Breath

Are there any duke tip alums in here… that shit was bonkers

Alice Zhang

gav is the first father to ever mother

Alice Zhang

i’m betting on this patreon community being large enough to ask, was anyone else in the cult of duke tip summer camp🫣

Lauren O

I think we need a Binchtopia summer camp

Sofia

hearing appel farms sent a shiver down my spine as one of my elementary school homoerotic besties turned bully attended for YEARS

izzy

Gav’s voice is so calming!!!

Devin

Can I get a summer gov school head count in the chat PLS

Leslie

im three seconds in and Gav already has me cackling. you and ur dad are so funny Julia 😂

Sabrina Benchaabane

Gav is my parasocial supportive and communicative ethnic father

Micaela

I was at still at summer camp when the iPod touch came out and we weren’t allowed to have those or phones still but even if you could sneak them in, there was no Wi-Fi or cell service so it didn’t even matter

Meredith Floyd

GAV ON THE PODDDDDDDD (air horn noise)

Isabella De Meo

I am currently working at a sleep away summer camp… your minds

Ava Anderson

BINCHIES PSAAAA: I’m trying to sell 2 up close tix for the Philly show, 7pm Aug 10, The section is GA1 & I’m heartbroken I cannot go but I want someone else to be able to enjoy it!! I’m trying to sell them for $95 (I bought for $124) if anyone is interested pleeeease hit me up on ig @aavaanderson thank you baes

Dorothy

Gav’s voice makes me wish he had his own podcast🔥🥵🤭

Meredith Floyd

hearing gav say “quirked up shorties” cured me of something i didn’t even know i had

Padmini

I know this is a long shot but anyone here went to Gandhi camp? 😅

Sarah Ward

gav calling a panic attack a growth experience sent me luv him

Ayo

As a Jew who went to sleepaway camp, this episode hit extra hard 😂

Berkley 🌸

Michigan native here! Grew up wearing uniforms to Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp. We did all the camp songs and rituals. I went for like 5 summers :)

Livvyy

Gav is the bestttt

Rach

Gav episodes never disappoint

mace

Do y’all think the love island cast experiences post-camp depression

ghislaine5000

Gav DEMANDING that you read the mailbox moments is sending me

Zoe

Gav’s big three (astro)?

alannah notley

Today I realized I imagine Gav looking like Jeff goldblum in my head

ilovelisteningtopodcasts

My mom went to a super hippie camp in the seventies and her and her friends had a secret pack of menthols cigarettes hidden in a jar of cold cream- whenever they wanted to smoke one of them would say “i need to go put on some cold cream”

ilovelisteningtopodcasts

Also i went to a ymca camp and i would say like 40 percent of the kids there were jewish which is so weird cuz we literally had to do Christian prayers before every meal? I was a little baby atheist and always made a big deal of not praying with everyone else

Becca Kirkland

Gav saying “is this when you get to say ‘Ruth Curry’” before you read out the godly wives took me out 😭

Lucie

I have listened to 2 mins of this but I actually work full time year round at a summer camp. It’s crazy!!! I love it

mace
>>113743469

Isn’t this the camp where the long-term director was outed for child sexual abuse a few years ago?

Aarya Ghonasgi
>>113743469

I’m not sure about the director, but I looked it up and employees have been exposed as sexual abusers and also campers would abuse other campers… the victims were told to just forgive as that’s what Jesus would do… so yea yikes

Margalit Goldberg

I can confirm that the Holocaust reenactment still happens. We had to pretend to flee the Holocaust and make a list of everything we would take in our one suitcase. We also had an Israel day to promote Zionism and I have a clear memory of being an 8 year old girl and reenacting IDF training where the older male counselors would throw water balloons at us and yell at us to do push-ups.

alexa schnur

CANT BELIEVE I MISSED THE CALL FOR EMAILS WOW i went to a girls (brother sister) (kinda jewish) camp for 6 years and then worked there for a year. the queer dynamics were crazy!

alexa schnur

camp kenmont/kenwood…..sound off id ur here

Emma West

The Sound of Freedom movie is letting people buy tickets for other people who “couldn’t otherwise afford to see the movie” so everyone can have access to the “truth” so it’s a bunch of people buying extra tickets for no reason to boost sales

alexa schnur

we need to talk about the camper to counselor shift…crazy shit

alexa schnur
>>113793949

aka learning the other side of your home of however many years and the mirror side to all the child hormones (young adult hormones)

alexa schnur

oh my god my first summer camp where i went for a year claimed the local natives haunted the camp??? totally forgot that so odd

alexa schnur

MY CAMP HAD UNIFORMS………

reilly

literally only a couple minutes in, but just had to jump on here and say justice for asteroid city 😫 cause that movie profoundly moved me and is actually one of my new favorite movies

Sydney Michalenko

Guys she mentioned my email I was literally shaking ILYSM

avvsies
>>113729551

It was an interesting article for sure! It was pretty balanced; the movie itself didn’t discuss any conspiracy theories in any way, Christianity or anything (I’m a atheist and Jewish and highly highly aware of anything like that.) there was literally one line that was “gods children are not for sale”. the movie itself was enjoyable and really well done, and I recommend watching it and like anything, taking it with a grain of salt, most movies are highly fictionalized and I knew it wasn’t an exact play by play of what happened and they didn’t pretend it was. like any movie, it’s entertainment. There was no overlying message or anything to take away from it, really. I think it’s weird that the far right takes the issue of child trafficking and pretends to care about it. But I also don’t like how the far left downplays child trafficking. Did you watch the movie? Most people who have shared their opinions on the movie haven’t even seen it so… i really encourage folks to experience something for themselves before casting a judgement that’s based on what other people tell them to think. :)

lauren baker

was a counselor at an insane christian Texas summer camp for wealthy white girls. basically sorority girl training with a side of religious trauma and hazing

holly

nothing could have prepared me for gav saying “quirked up shortys”

Caitlin Feely

wait did anyone else do camp kesem? its not officially Jewish but we did color wars and I think kesem is a Hebrew word

baby yaga
>>113743469

omg also from OK and two of my childhood friends went there every summer it sounded so culty

Carli Leppard

Gav & Julia are against Zionism though, right??

sarah

literally paused my outdoor shower to answer julia’s question re: phones — i’m a program director at a sleepaway camp and have been working here for 6 summers, and was a camper for 7 summers before that (ps this episode is giving me life). our sleepaway kids range from 8-15 years old. we do not allow our campers to have phones at all, even since i became a camper in 2009 we were not allowed phones (though they were less common among children then anyway, but even as i became a teenager i left my phone at home). staff are allowed to have them obviously but they can only be used during free time, away from campers in private spaces. this is because while being away from their phones in the first place honestly doesn’t have much effect on most kids, but if they see counselors/other staff on their phones, it immediately reminds them what they’re missing and can cause issues. homesickness is a problem almost every week, though we have hundreds of campers a week and usually only a handful have issues with it. it’s usually unrelated to lack of technology, and more so from being away from family for the first time (especially post-covid, a lot of them have never spent a week let alone a single night away from home). also the increase in delulu parents since covid is UNREAL !! but that’s another conversation. if anyone ever wants to talk about present day sleepaway camp, i’m your very passionate girl !!!!!! (ps for context if it matters my camp is nondenominational)

Aarya Ghonasgi
>>113743469

Omggg hiiii OK binchy! Yea I had friends that went there… I never really got much of an experience w sleep away camp bc all of them were so culty Christian (I went to Girl Scout camp for one week even tho I wasn’t a girl scout tho so shout out to that)

Calín

I went to a [redacted name] bc the person who showed me the pod went on them too] catholic RETREAT. We stayed in century old cottages and once there was a horrible snowstorm and there was no hot water or heat in Massachusetts in fuckin January and we all slept in the same bed to not die because it was little house on the prairie FRIGID and got a catholic guilt lecture on how 2 people of the same sex shouldn’t share the same bed…slay.

Jenna Stoltzfus

The Jewish adjacent sleep away camp I worked at did not allow phones for campers or staff!! We had to put them in lock boxes and only get them on nights off. The CITs and Senior campers had special nights where their evening activity was phone time. Families literally change their carrier to make sure their kid gets service at camp. This specific camp has a “marriage gazebo” where any couple that meets at camp and gets married gets a plaque hung 😂😂

Lauren Baker

I NEEED to hear the girls report on the Hop/IPA flavored GOODLES coming out

Hannah June

Gav needs a pod!!! Expand the Binchtopia universe

avvsies
>>113729551

I already knew all of these facts but I do appreciate the effort you put into your response. As a new mom (I’m older than most binchtopia listeners i think) I’ve known for years that the vast majority of abuse comes from people the child already knows. The reason I believe that it’s still important to take seriously even though the right leaning Christian’s have exploited the issue because there’s been multiple attempted and successful kidnappings in my area (and I live in a “Nice” area. One devastatingly resulted in a murder a few years ago. it was literally grooming by a stranger.) and I myself was almost a victim a few years ago as a literal adult by a random man who spotted me, chased me on a deserted beach and immediately dipped out when he saw my husband in the car when he chased me around the corner into the parking lot where we were the only car. Is it excessive to be paranoid and assume everyone’s out to get you/your child? Yes. Is it smart to be vigilant of your surroundings in public? Also yes. People don’t think things are a real Problem until they witness or experience it first hand.

avvsies
>>113729551

I also firmly believe that it’s extremely dangerous and unethical to brush something off as a non issue or ridiculous to be concerned about simply because it is more rare than other causes of the issue. Back when I went off to college, rape by drugging someone’s drink was written off as “very rare”, doesn’t happen as often as people think it does, “stopped after the 90s”, the “data doesn’t back it up as a common cause of rape”, etc. people didn’t take it seriously and i remember other girls thinking I was silly for trying to stop my friends from drinking the “pink jungle juice” in the huge containers pre made by the frats… By junior year I had personally known 7 people who it had been drugged and or raped after being drugged. The reason why people believed it was a false boogieman was because it was, in reality, a severely underreported issue.

Lauren Powers

🎂whatever happened to the cake on electricity free schabbat??? did the people get salmonella? 🍰 i loved this episode and i am very sad summer camp isn’t really a thing in germany. i went to summer camp 2 times and once me and my 4 friends from home were the only people there and both times it only was for a week! feels like i have been robbed of an amazing childhood memory 🥲 on second thought german summer camp in the times of neonazi uprising in the aftermath of german reunion … very bad idea!

avvsies
>>113729551

Also! Sorry one last message because I re read yours and wanted to confirm your point that yes most child trafficking is done in underdeveloped countries and orchestrated by rich western white people; that’s a huge part of the plot of the movie. Another reason why I encourage you to go see it. :) it may surprise you. The movie also never implied that mass international child trafficking rings by strangers were the only or main cause of trafficking/abuse. It was just the story of two kids and a man who was invested in saving them, who ended up digging up way more than what he bargained for. I haven’t looked too deep into the real man that the movie is based on; I just took in the movie for what it was and genuinely felt it was a good movie and an important one to watch.

Janie Olivia

Hearing gav say “shorty” is the best thing that has ever happened to me

izzy

my parents made me do confirmation class and a weeklong Lutheran sleep away camp (neither of my parents have ever been Lutheran and my dad isn’t religious so ???) in middle school and it was pretty awful! but my earliest baby feminist memory was that i brought a “regular” bathing suit that i’d normally wear (a bikini), as did my bunk mates, and we were told that we weren’t allowed to swim in the lake bc we were showing too much skin!!! as middle school children !!! so we all just refused to swim rather than put our shirts on over our bathing suits to be more modest

mimi

everytime gav is on the pod i cant stop thinking the entire ep: the way you and your dad speak to one another absolutely, truly blows my mind. it's so honest, sweet, interactive... i can't imagine like, having any sort of reciprocal conversation with my dad in which i feel heard. it's really mindblowing but nice to listen to. ❤️ like i forget that dads can like... be like this??

Emily

does anyone have DC tickets 😰😰😰

Emily

when i was 13 i went to a christian summer camp (i was raised catholic to achieve the childhood sacraments but wasn’t religious at this point) just to get away for a week during my parents divorce LOL. i would’ve looked elsewhere less religious and more girl-scout-like as i usually had, but a friend was going there already. lemme just say,,, long nightly hikes to a chapel where i was expected to sing along to MANY songs by heart for what was 1-2 hours was a nightmare simulator for me

Acacia Kole

This made me so nostalgic for when I went to sleep away camp in Georgia, which was very much the will of my mom who went to a northeastern camp in the 70s. Things actually did go wrong at my camp though including a girl getting bucked off her horse which then proceeded to step on her. I did not sign up for horseback after that year

Bea

did any jewish binchies go to NJY camp “nah-jee-wah” 👀👀👀

Bea
>>113860467

some girl punched me in the stomach bc i didn’t know what a hickey was— i was 8 lmao truly an unregulated lord of the flies vibe

Amy

I love Gav singing the intro ❤️

Kae

Gav has SUCH a sexy voice + great history knowledge....but seems pretty boring to hang with. (No offence)

milly stephenson

holy shit…was not expecting the camp longhorn mention. i was a camper for 9 yrs and when yall started mentioning native american obsession with camp i was absolutely thinking clh

milly stephenson

honestly the native american thing is the least interesting thing about camp longhorn

Sophie Fontaine

HI EVERYONE 🗣️ I am selling 2 tix to the binchtopia show in nyc on august 13 — $35 each which is what I originally paid!!! Message me on insta if ur interested @fontainesophie

Tari Civerolo

I went to the same camp as gav 😭😭 can confirm it has literally not changed

Amaya Brooks

i was neither camp cool or school cool either gav 🙃

Julia
>>113886397

Lmao what a roast 😭 don't discriminate against nerds pls

Luiza
>>113886397

wait wdym?? he sounds so funny and girly-pop coded I feel like a kiki would be fun

johanna

hi binchies i’m selling 2 philly tickets for august 10th!!! 50$ each which is cheaper than what i paid lol. message me on instagram @jo.hanna.james

Kamrin Baker

Gav is so delightful I can't even handle it

alexa schnur

my summer camp has no phones, ipods, etc, most you can bring is an ipod nano and you get one phone call home for the month LMAO

Robyn

You should really watch Crip Camp ❤️ one of my favorite documentaries of all gine

sophia perkins

the summer camp i went to still has no phones! campers cant have them at all and staff have to keep them in our bosses cabin, only to be used on off time

Jenna

i went to a gymnastics summer camp where we trained in gyms with no/shitty ac for 6-7 hours a day then had free time to do all the usual summer camp activities. it was like 90% girls so i did not have any formative romantic experiences but i did overhear one of my friends/teammates from home who was at camp the same week as me telling another girl how annoying i was when she didn’t notice me standing behind her in the concession line and that really influenced how shy and anxiety ridden i became as a teenager lmao

Ines

Can Julia’s mom fight?

Astrid Veal

julia i have to say. your single is so lorde. i love it.

Grace

maybe have gav on a video episode? just an idea

Fiona Wang

Gab: “You have ur introverted people and ur extroverted people-“ Julia: “Don’t you mean your repressed people and expressive people?” LMAO

Vanessa Carolina Marcano-Kelly

I only went to swimming day camp and HATED it lol. it was thru my mom's job (in Venezuela) and it started way before her start time, so I was always late and they made all the late kids do the chicken dance in front of the bakery (full of workers getting their breakfast and cafecito) before being allowed in. but swimming every day was fun, not so much the songs on the bus to the field trips. my cousins went to fancy sleep away camp thru their parents work in the oil industry, their social skills are incredible compared to mine 😅 thanks for this episode

Erin Healey

My best friend went to Jewish summer camp and I would write her letters on what was going on in pop culture and keep her updated

Christy Robertson

jooooliaaaa pls encourage gav to start his own history pod ! his voice is so lovely to listen to, i can see where you get it from ! icons only x

hal m

I worked at a 5 week sleep away summer camp in the Pocono Mountains in Pennsylvania and it was almost entirely no tech. None of the kids had their phones, we were only allowed to check our phones on our nights off but otherwise they stayed in the lockers. It was really jarring at first but I appreciated it SO MUCH because I had such a present and aware summer. To be fair we did sneak an iPod into our cabin for our girls since they were the oldest ones but the leadership knew and let us so they could feel cool lol

Marina Wallman

i’m selling ONE ticket to the 08/08 8pm Boston show!!! $37, but price is negotiable:) love y’all!!!! respond to this comment to get in touch :)

beep boop

I went to Christian / Methodist outdoorsy summer camp in Oklahoma and though it was fun and I got to make new friends, all of the intense emotional manipulation & brainwashing that come with southern protestantism definitely made it less of a good time than camp should be hahah. I really wish I'd had a secular summer camp experience instead!!

d

gav saying “quirked up shawty” healed me.

Sam Haimowitz

omgggg Jewish summer camp episode, I needed this with my SOUL

Sam Haimowitz

Julia describing conservative Judaism as “medium well Judaism” has me on the FLOOR

Sam Haimowitz

IS THIS WHERE YOU GET TO SAY RUTH CURRY LMFAOOOOOO

Sami Saunders

not me going to camp pontiac AND tulane feeling veryyyyy called out