Ashley Parker
“New, asterisk.” That’s how Ashley describes herself, leaning forward to speak with me in the gazebo after saying yes to a spontaneous interview. Ashley has been published in Echo Review Literary and teaches at Writopia’s Brooklyn location. This gung-ho, ready-for-everything personality is on her third summer at WriCampia—but her first as an instructor. I sat down with her to talk about it.
Q: What brings you to WriCampia?
A: I feel a pretty strong sense of purpose in watching writers grow.
Q: What’s your writing background?
A: I started out in screenwriting, so TV and film, and comedy sketch as well. Over the last few years, I transitioned into playwriting… It was the most challenging thing I attempted to write, and I like challenges.
At this point I ask her about her years as a counselor, and she describes the differences between her 2024-2025 tenure and her current role—“oh goodness… everything?” The wry, quick response time is undercut by sincerity, as she describes the inspiration she derives from teaching in a close-knit writing community.
Q: What have been the most inspiring or otherwise notable moments at camp for you this year?
A: This is the first year that I have consistently been in Plus (WriCampia’s LGBTQ+ affinity group)… and that has been really really amazing. So many campers have come out to Plus, some who are out… and some who are not in their outside lives. Getting to be a source of encouragement, and potentially a confidant means a lot to me, and that’s probably the biggest thing.
At this point she turns, hearing a battle whoop from the LARP tournament. The back of her Yankees cap belies the New York theater background—“it’s easier to self-produce, to get your stuff made”–and the rapid turn belies her enthusiasm for all things camp. The weird, the wacky, and the wonderful.
Imani Parker
Longtime Writopian, Middle Camp Division Head and eminently qualified instructor Imani Parker swats away a bug very kindly, punctuating our interview with the kind of gentleness she brings to every question I ask in our (similarly) short notice gazebo interview. Imani earned her MFA in Fiction from Columbia University and is an editor and Event Coordinator at Brown Sugar Literary Magazine. She teaches at Writopia’s Upper West Side location, and this is her first summer at WriCampia as an instructor.
Q: What brings you to WriCampia?
A: I’m the Specialty Programs Coordinator at Writopia on the Upper West Side, but I heard about Writopia through WriCampia. I was here when I was still in college as a counselor, and that was very impactful for me. I made a lot of my closest friends at WriCampia.
Q: I have a couple questions. First, can you describe to me the differences between your role as a division head and just the normal instructor role?
A: As an instructor, I have my three hour workshop in the morning. I start the workshop asking what they hope to get out of camp, what they’re working on now, and what they hope to leave camp with.
As a division head, checking in on kids and making sure they’re okay, checking in with the counselors and making sure they’re okay, making sure they have support they need. [Co-division head Alice Bethke and I] have a routine where we walk bunk to bunk during shower hour and ask how they’re doing. We really want to be a support system, and here for what they’re going through.
Q: How does your memory of having been a counselor inform how you approach being a division head, and supporting counselors?
A: Camp is really immersive, and it can be super intense sometimes. You’re responsible for people’s kids, and I remember how much pressure that could be. The fact that I’ve been a counselor helps me be in that position and understand what it’s like to wake up at WriCampia for two weeks, and think: how are we gonna make these kids feel good and happy?
Q: You come to camp with a very adorable little kid of your own. How has that been for you and for him?
A: Overall, the key is balance. When I’m on the Upper West Side, I leave home, I work for the day, and then I go home. But here, I might have three hours of workshop, then I’m with him for lunch, then I drop him off with the babysitter, etc… It’s a lot of back and forth and push and pull, but it’s also really rewarding when I feel like I’m doing well in both areas.
He’s been having a good time. He misses home a lot, but he’s also had a bunch of new experiences he wouldn’t have had at home. He fished for the first time, he baked cookies with the babysitter, he got to meet the other kids like Otis and Georgia, and he gets to walk around— he’s kind of on a “choose your own adventure” at camp. I hope this becomes one of his core memories in a certain way and a time that he remembers dearly.
