James T Slattery

Camp Life in the Northern Kingdom James T Slattery

The most cherished memories of my childhood were formed in the Northern Kingdom of New York at the Haystack Mountain and Bear Paw hunting Camps. Unfortunately many of the men who were instrumental in making these memories have either passed away or have aged beyond their ability to pass on their legacy. Many younger men who would traditionally take their father's place have been trapped on the treadmill of "modern life" without the time, patience, or social support to make their own memories. This book is about the people and events that contributed to my gradual development from a boy to a Man. The recording of these stories is important because the opportunities for boys to learn to become men are slowly being eroded by efforts to implement a "gender neutral" society. The prevailing attitude of the self-appointed arbitrators of "rights" and "victimization" is that all male anything is dangerous and should be abolished, controlled, or mitigated by coeducation. My hope is this book will inspire a revival of camp life in the Northern Kingdom or at least be a record of what it was like to be a man before our modern-day culture discovered them and extinguished their existence.