Sixteen years later

[truepenny]

I finally have an idea for my Gold Award project. It came to me in a dream.

Let me back up.

I was a Girl Scout. (Hard though that is even for me to believe.) I actually started out as a Bluebird (the Camp Fire Girls* equivalent of a Brownie), but my Bluebird troop "flew up" to be Junior Girl Scouts on account of a lack of Camp Fire Girls troops. So I was a Junior Girl Scout and then I was a Cadette and then I was a Senior Girl Scout (all of which seems to be now subsumed by Studio 2B which is seriously GIVING ME HIVES and would have ensured I quit Scouting a whole heck of a lot earlier than I actually did. I mean, really. When did Girl Scouting become about style and when did it start marketing itself like those repulsive girly teen magazines that made me think I was never going to be able to get this femininity thing right?), and I earned badges like a mad thing (talk about enabling overachievers) and I earned my Silver Award, and then I was a high school senior and supposed to be working toward my Gold Award (the Girl Scout equivalent of making Eagle Scout, and, yeah, "Gold Award" vs. "Eagle Scout"--lame, I know) . . . and I quit Scouting instead.

There were lots of reasons for that, including internecine politics which meant that my troop went from being extremely small--10 girls or fewer I think--to being part of a troop of 30 and that we went from having a scout leader whom I adored to having a scout leader whom I disliked very much, but one quite genuine reason was that I could not think of a project for my Gold Award.***

Well, now I've thought of one. I couldn't have done it when I was a Scout, and actually, I don't think it would have been nearly as necessary in Oak Ridge--which has an astonishingly good public school system. But goodness knows the college students I've taught here in the Upper Midwest could have used it. To wit: a one week course in how to close-read a text. Start with literature, sure, but the last day have everyone bring in a text of their own choosing. Advertising, politics, the damn mission statement of the Girl Scouts of the USA. Bonus if you bring in something that isn't text and close-read it anyway. You make it self-perpetuating (which is a condition of the award now and probably was in 1992 also) by having a younger scout serve as a teaching assistant/apprentice, on the understanding that she'll teach the class next year with an apprentice of her own. Make it something that students sign up for and make it available to everyone, not just kids in college track classes. I have a hobby horse about close-reading, but it is an actual skill and in a culture of spin and hype, it's actually pretty darn valuable.

So there. Closure. Weird and pointless, but closure nonetheless.

I do actually feel better.


---
*I notice that Camp Fire USA now prides itself on being coeducational**, which I think is pretty darn cool, actually. But back in the '80s in my hometown, no such thing.

**Whereas Girl Scouts prides itself on being girls only and Boy Scouts of America seems largely unaware that girls exist at all--and somebody could do a quite interesting study on the differences in presentation between these three organizations; finding the page where Camp Fire says "coeducational" and Girl Scouts says "girls only" took less time and effort than trying--and failing--to find anything on the BSA site that mentioned inclusion/exclusion policies. The "Organizational Identity" page is about copyright and trademark. I do notice that "Venturing" is at least nominally coed, but boy is that not where BSA is putting its money and its mouth. (And I wonder a little about how many teenage girls actually have the balls--if you'll pardon the expression--to stick it out when they're, in essence, joining a boy scout troop.)

Okay, longest digressive footnote in history, I'll stop now. Except that I should add that I'm well aware of the debate, both past and ongoing, about whether girls-only is a good thing or a bad thing. Having personally had rotten experiences with both teenage boys and teenage girls, my feeling is really that it isn't the sex of the group members that matters, but how they're taught to treat each other. It's certainly true that boys can be poisonous little shits to girls (and vice versa), but it's also true that girls, like boys, can be poisonous little shits to each other. So, I think girls-only can be a positive thing (cf. Carol Gilligan et al.), but I also think coeducational could work just fine, if the adults have a big stick handy and are willing to use it to whack the culturally conditioned sexual harassment bullshit when it rears its head. (And if the big stick is actually effective in getting it through kids' heads that what they're doing is cosmically Not Okay.) I also hope that the culturally conditioned sexual harassment bullshit isn't as bad as it was when I was a teenager, but, you know, I'm not holding my breath on that one.

Um. Oops. Okay, really stopping this time.

***Notice the requirement to purchase something. And then the further requirement to earn "charms" as steps along the way. Which, yes, the individual girl scout will have to purchase. This was a constant source of tension between scouting and family: the sheer amount of crap that Girl Scouts insisted you had to buy. For instance, Juniors, Cadettes, and Seniors all had different colored uniforms, which meant a new outlay of money every two or three years. Plus the handbooks. And all the insignia and badges and patches and this and that and on and on world without end. And let's not even get STARTED on the godforsaken cookie sales. Materialistic. Yes. And oh look. Of course they have an online store and a "boutique" aimed at the girls. Can't teach 'em too young to start searching for gratification through consumption.

Ahem.

I wasn't a really good match with Girl Scouts as a teenager, and I'm clearly even less well matched now. Although it seriously makes me want to start a program called Geek Scouts. Boys can come, too.

Comments

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I'm not surprised you were a Girl Scout. But I was a Girl Scout, too, so I probably have a different perception of it. (I quit when I was 12, because there was math club to be had, and anyway the other girls in my area didn't want to do GS any more.)

Also, we didn't have uniform requirements in my GS troop, and my mom (the troop leader) would have cordially invited anybody who got uppity about uniforms and buying crap to bite her, the end, don't let the door hit them on the way out.

[pixelfish.livejournal.com]

Yeah, my troop was very lax on the requirements. I had the sash, but only cuz I was a badge fiend.

[coffeeem.livejournal.com]

I would so join Geek Scouts. And you could introduce kids early to botany and environmental science and rocketry and and and...

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

And geocaching and bookbinding and ...

Yeah. Like that.

[the_rck]

I'd totally have signed up for a class in close reading when I was in high school (I'd do it now, but I'm not sure I could find a babysitter). I'm not sure that it's something I'd be good at, but I'm always curious about other ways of looking at texts. I tend to look at things a little more anthropologically, though, which always got me into trouble in college lit classes as the instructors really did not want me going there.

My girl scout troops didn't push uniforms. We all paid to get sashes, but uniforms weren't required. Some girls did get them, but nobody wore them, and I don't remember any social divisions based on who did or didn't have them (I didn't). Of course, our troop also didn't do much with badges. I think I earned three in two years of scouting.

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

I quit Girl Scouts when they had us making finger puppets instead of learning to build fires and survive in the wilderness. I think I got out while the getting was good, to judge by the current look of the organization.

But man, I so would have joined Geek Scouts. Can we get somebody to found that for real?

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

If anybody knows anybody who knows anything about starting and running non-profit youth groups, feel free to mention it to them! I personally got nothing.

[pixelfish.livejournal.com]

I was a Girl Scout in Utah. Ten years. Got the ten year pin. My experiences were a mixed bag, but mostly tending towards the positive.

The thing is, my dad wanted me to join the Boy Scouts. I'm sure I would have been one of those law suit cases, but the LDS church practically owns the Utah Boy Scout Council, so our local bishop put the pressure on my dad to drop the thing. So I was enrolled in Girl Scouts instead. (Which in the long run, I think was better, as I was exposed to a lot of non-Mormons that way.) But my memories don't really run towards the style and boutique-ness that you describe. We camped in snow and ice and started mini-businesses and scuba dived and rappelled and a bunch of other things, some of which tended towards the societally "girly" but most of which did not. Mormon church camp, by comparison, was more like what you describe: finding out if you were a spring or a winter, painting crafty country ducks in appropriately pastel shades, and discussing marriage goals. Mrfl.

I'll have to admit I liked the badges and cookie sales. But I was a competitive little bugger who actually sold almost all her own cookies. No making my dad haul the sales sheet around to the office. I sold over 2000 boxes one year going door to door in Utah County. And the badges? You could explain my attitude toward badges like a video game: I like games that reward you constantly and have a variety of things to level up. (Hence my WoW and Civilization addictions.) Getting badges was like...levelling up.

I do wish there was a co-ed program for Geek Scouts though. That sounds tres awesome.

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

What I'm describing isn't my memories of Girl Scouts, either. It's what their website looks like now.

There were actually a lot of things about Girl Scouting that I enjoyed. We went rappelling, and caving (the caving was freaking AWESOME, and Geek Scouts should totally do it), and horseback riding, and a lot of other non-"girly" things. Where I failed to mesh properly was with the social stuff of being in a Scout troop. (No, not surprising.) And I hated the cookie sales with a red hot passion.

But I loved earning badges, for--I suspect--pretty much the same reasons you did.

[michaeldthomas.livejournal.com]

I actually ended up being an honorary Brownie after I was kicked out of the Cub Scouts for being a bad influence on the other boys (I openly questioned the organization’s lack of religious inclusivity). Since my mom was a Brownie leader, I just started hanging out with them.

I greatly preferred the Brownies. Their activities involved a lot more creativity, learning, and collaboration. Our suburban Cub Scout troop was almost completely focused on macho competitive crap like the pinewood derby races. Perhaps I would have enjoyed the experience more if there had been some camping.

By the way, where can I sign my daughter up for Geek Scouts? :)

[kightp.livejournal.com]

There is a coed scouting program, if not for geeks, at least with geeky possibilities: Spiral Scouts (http://www.spiralscouts.org/). Although its origins are in the neo-pagan counterculture, it's now entirely ecumenical, with a focus on learning about/honoring the planet. I've run into Spiral Scouts at various festivals here in the Northwest, and they seemed to be having a blast.

[saiyamoru.livejournal.com]

The one thing I know about Girl Scouts--and no, I have never been part of it, mostly because as a child I aspired to be 'one of the guys', and Girl Scouts seemed like just another huge cement block to trip over--is that, as a sophomore in high school, the residing priest delivered a homily on how they were promoting lesbianism.
He ended up retiring early.

[libskrat]

Maybe the BarCamp types could be goosed into doing something like Geek Scouts? Because, yeah, how awesome is that?

[msisolak.livejournal.com]

The BSA Venture Crews are great... and my daughter's been a part of one since she was 14. She'd been a GS for the first several years, but was fed up with the programming available to her. She wanted to spelunk and camp and rock climb just like her brothers, so age fourteen did not arrive nearly fast enough.

She's still in her Venture crew, along with a bunch of her friends that got sucked in with her, and I'd say the girls are a majority of that particular crew, and the ones that really run the thing. But because they're aligned to a regular BSA troop, they can attend those outings in addition to their own. Which explains Joshua Tree and her climbing.

This summer, though, is all about a two-week trip to Philmont Scout Camp in New Mexico and a 75-mile backpacking trip at elevation.

I would join the Geek Scouts, though. As long as the uniform is cool t-shirts and jeans.

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

I am very pleased to hear that Venturing can work. Thank you!

[deepad]

My brain decided to remind me about your post ages ago where you talked about realistic school stories, and now I have visions of all the Chalet school books rewritten with Geek Scouts instead of Girl Guides in them, and the rest of the story squinched to fit accordingly.

[neutronjockey.livejournal.com]

Brilliant!Idea!
...second vote (can we vote an author "in" on a project?) ;)

[marykaykare.livejournal.com]

Volunteer to do a workshop on close reading texts at a con. Seriously. I'd sign up in a NY minute. Con programmers are always looking for new and spiffy ideas of things to do, esp. things that aren't panels. You can set a size and handle sign-up however you want. Please, oh please!

MKK

[gauroth.livejournal.com]

I am trying to encourage my neighbour's son with his Eng Lit course (he's 15) and he is fascinated by close-text reading, which he has never come across at all. What do they teach them in those schools?

Of course, it helps that he's studying 'Romeo and Juliet' and that close-text reading includes all the dirty jokes!

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

Of course, it helps that he's studying 'Romeo and Juliet' and that close-text reading includes all the dirty jokes!

Oh lord. The only reason to teach Romeo and Juliet to teenagers: dirty jokes.

Honestly, I don't know why high schools don't teach Macbeth instead. It's short and it's gruesome and it's got better poetry.

[jade-sabre-301.livejournal.com]

There are lots and lots of surprise former Girl Scouts in this world. I quit because I couldn't find a troop, but when time came to apply for colleges and scholarships my parents were retroactively disappointed.

Also, that is the coolest Gold Award idea EVER. *applauds happily*

[technomom]

Girl Scout experiences seem to rely completely on whether or not you have good, dedicated troop leaders.

My Girl Scout experiences as a Brownie and a Junior were BAD - like, I and another girl were kicked out of the Brownie troop at the end of the first year because there were "too many girls." (We were the least popular, and our mothers didn't participate.) My Junior leader ran off with the cookie money.

I really wanted my girl to have a better experience, and she did love being a Brownie. We've had trouble finding troops, despite the fact that my (male) life partner and I are both trained leaders. In one area, they didn't like having two leaders in the same household, and they wouldn't say it but really didn't want a male leader at all, and they refused to allow us to hold meetings anywhere but in a church. Oh - and then they realized we weren't married. Gasp! Several troops we checked out were clearly CHRISTIAN ONLY even though that violates all kinds of policies. A few were extremely insular, especially after the Junior level, not wanting any new girls in the troop because the other ones had been together since they were Daisies.

So I ended up driving our girls across town to another troop. I ended up being a co-leader because there are never enough leaders. It was a much better experience, with three leaders (one pagan, one reformed Jew, and a fundamentalist Christian), a mix of public, private, and homeschooled girls, and everything from Daisies to Cadettes (a "rainbow" troop). The rainbow part wasn't so great, because there are so many restrictions on what the younger girls can do - but many of the older girls' projects require teaching someone else a skill, so that worked out well.

After we moved too far away for that troop, Katie ended up joining a troop that was WAY north of us, but GREAT. She met the leader, her daughters, and several troop members in the district choir, and they were so welcoming that the drive was worth it. That was the best troop I've ever seen or heard of. The girls were responsible for a LOT of the planning, and they were constantly camping or caving or something, in addition to doing volunteer work that really mattered.

I think the Girl Scouts have a GREAT program, if you ignore Studio2B - which is optional. You can still do the old-style stuff. I don't like the new versions of the manuals, either - they've been redesigned to be "more appealing" (read: fewer words, more graphics). I got the impression that Studio2B doesn't require as much face time or adult involvement, because of the shortage of leaders and increased scheduling problems with girls of all ages.

I do like the fact that there's no statement of faith required, as there is in the Boy Scouts. My daughter did pagan and UU religious badges. They're totally queer-friendly, too, and the district just flat didn't care that we're polyamorous and bisexual.

She should be a senior now, but she got so busy when she went to high school after being homeschooled for years that she just didn't have time for Scouting. She's going to college soon, so I guess we're done with that phase. I rather miss it.

Oh - the Spiral Scouts are interesting, and I like the idea. Unfortunately, every single person I know who is actually involved is a scary flake. Like, the adults smoke and drink at SS meetings and generally act irresponsibly all around. The GSUSA has all kinds of safety policies, so I guess the lack of them shocked me. (It's possible the main organization HAS them, but the local groups I've encountered certainly don't honor them.)

[ebonypearl.livejournal.com]

The SpiralScouts started out as a good program, but with so little funding and no oversight, it really isn't as good as it should be. I helped write the leader's manual with Pete Pathfinder and I put a lot of work into including ethics in it and responsibility and all kinds of safety tips - medical forms, insurance suggestions, contact forms, number of leaders per number of SpiralScouts, and all of that.

[alevai.livejournal.com]

A little bit random, but if we're ranting about the perversion of female adolescent experiences, how's this one:

The Sweet Valley series, which used to describe twins Elizabeth and whatsherface as 'the perfect size 6' (which is damaging enough) has now been altered to reflect the new 'perfect size 4'. (http://popwatch.ew.com/popwatch/2008/03/when-the-first.html)

So offensive on so many levels. :/

[crowinator.livejournal.com]

Well, that's just . . . criminal. Boy, did I love those books when I was a kid. I think I will call up my co-worker (middle school librarian, I do high school) and make sure she doesn't buy these. The size is bad enough, but it's the word "perfect" that really gets me.

[ebonypearl.livejournal.com]

There is a Science Scouts (http://www.scq.ubc.ca/order-of-the-science-scouts-of-exemplary-repute-and-above-average-physique/) organization with some cool badges, and there's WoodSpirits (http://woodspirits.wordpress.com), which could be considered somewhat geeky - it's a website of badges for adults to earn - from auto racing to web building, from geocaching to brewing beer.

[batwrangler.livejournal.com]

Hearts Geek Scouts.

I guit GS when it became clear that our GS troop wasn't doing any of the cool stuff the BS did and weren't ever going to do so. :(

I moved to a 4-H horse project and was much happier there.

[(Anonymous)]

I was in brownies for a couple months, but then our troop leaders (local college students) quit without telling anyone. We had a fun couple weeks running amok in the school during our usual meeting time, until the teachers caught us swinging on the gym rope.

Btw, I love your books.

[cabell.livejournal.com]

I was a Brownie for exactly a week, and then I quit because I could not imagine I was going anywhere fun with an organization that started out having you make a faux-leather "sit-upon" from a kit. Also, I have to admit, I have never been a fan of groups. As I vaguely remember, the troop leader was actually very concerned that I hadn't felt welcome and spoke to my mother about it, but my mother, knowing how I felt about groups, didn't push the issue.

I was...

[themadblonde]

glad to be a Brownie in a small troop of girls I knew, but after my folks got divorced, my Ma decided that I needed to join the local GS troop to meet girls my age in our new area. The group had, mostly, all known each other for years, so I was very much the unpopular outsider. I started off w/out a uniform because we couldn't afford a new one, so after the first meeting (by which time I had decided I hated them all & vis versa, but begging my mother to quit didn't work), we went to the local thrift store to find a uniform & sash. Where I discovered that they sold sashes with badges. & I bought all the ones I could find & by the third meeting, I had a sash FULL of badges to show up the little snobs of my new troop (Ma never knew- I never put the "constructed" sash on until I got into the meeting. Ma worked two jobs so she was never able to be involved w/ parental stuff, & left the rest up to me.) I was often questioned on how I got one badge or another &, being quick of imagination, made up some fairly tall tales. This did not endear me any further to my troop mates, & by the end of the first year & a truly disastrous cookie-sale experience, Ma let me drop the troop & not enter a new one when we moved.

To do her justice, she recognised in me the social reticence that she had herself, & was trying to push me, with love, into meeting new people. Alas, it never worked.

[mikeneko.livejournal.com]

I was also a Girl Scout from first grade up to college. For me and sister, scouting was less about the cookies and badges, far more about the constant camping and bandanas -- y'know, tents and ticks and blissful grunginess in the woods. We'd periodically be shipped off to meet and mingle with scouts elsewhere in the state and the U.S. The only time I've ever been to Canada was with the scouts as was the only time I've huddled out a tornado warning in a tent. I can't begin to calculate the impact they had on my life.

But that was during the Girl Scouts' quasi hippies/eco freaks era of the '70s. Whole different world. :P

[corbae.livejournal.com]

So, I've just recently stopped being a GS--daisies on up, and my current lack of service projects is starting to get to me--and had an all 'round good experience. That is, until they introduced S2B, at which point my entire troop (at a staggering 15 girls) became deeplydeeply disappointed with everyone in charge. Charm bracelets? For serious?

Also, they're kind of ugly. If the whole point is to make girls more comfortable with symbols of scouting in their everyday lives--and yeah, it's not always cool to admit to being a GS in HS, unless you're selling cookies to classmates--then why didn't they work harder to pick an attractive symbol? So the vests and sashes are kind of old school. At least they don't look like something you got with your cereal. But yeah. S2B. Angry shudders of pain.

[cciele.livejournal.com]

Re: close reading --
"In reading, one should notice and fondle details".
- Vladimir Nabokov

I should do that more often :)