A Smorgasbord of Updates

LUCKY SEVEN YEARS! EXACTLY EIGHT

In April of 2014, I started this blog, and here we are seven eight years later!  Happy birthday GSWAC (Not a Council)! It’s been a fun ride.  Frustrating at times, but overall, it’s been entertaining and educational on my end. Like finding out that it’s spelled “smorgasbord” and not “smorgasborg.”  Addendum 4/16/22: Apparently I can’t do math and nobody else picked up on it either! It hit me while waking up this morning.

It’s been pretty slow around here since I published my paper, and I have a feeling it will stay that way for a while. I feel like I’m slowly transitioning to a different phase of my GS volunteer “career,” so my perspective is changing. Where this leads to – who knows!

NEW NATIONAL CEO

We haven’t seen much of Sofia Chang since she was announced as National CEO back in January. I realize it’s still early and she’s probably still trying to get her bearings, but I hope she has a presence at some point!

Meanwhile, check out this interview from 2014!

GOVERNANCE OUTLOOK

I threw a tantrum right after the 2020 NCS and stated on this blog and in-person that I was retiring from governance – both on the council and national level. And I stuck to it – until I missed a service unit leader meeting in October due to COVID. Later that night, I received a text from my CDM that read, “Congrats on being voted in as a delegate!”

Me:

So I accepted the role. I have to say it is a much more positive experience this time around. From a national standpoint, I won’t be campaigning for any proposals or jumping into the NCS fray like I have in the past for reasons that I won’t rehash. But I’ll still cover national topics (much like the GSUSA financial overview and CircleAround) on this blog, so if a National Delegate happens to find that information helpful, then they’re more than welcome to take it and run with it. Perhaps my role will now solely be NCS Historian and Keeper of Random Governance Facts That Nobody Cares About.

All that said, I don’t mind being an amateur consultant if you’re a delegate (local or national) and would like some advice. GSG will remain up and running as a reference. Here’s the best way to get in touch with us if you have with any governance related issues or questions.

MIDDLE TENNESSEE CASE

What’s going on with the Middle Tennessee case? It looks like there’s a game of attorney ping pong going on. I check this website from time to time to see the latest updates, but I don’t read legalese so I have no idea what some of it means. Also you have to have a paid subscription to read the attached documents, which I don’t have.

CONGRATS TO LEGACY SCARF

After much debate and internal discussion, GSWAC (Not a Council) is proud to announce that the Legacy Scarf has OFFICIALLY graduated to OFFICIAL Scarf status even though this isn’t reflected on the GSUSA Online Store. Sofia Chang wore the Legacy Scarf in her very first picture with GS gear on which automatically bumped it up to OFFICIAL status based on stature. The OFFICAL Scarf Showcase! has been updated to reflect its new status.

FRIENDS OF CAMP WABAK

Early last year, I announced that we were starting a Friends group for Camp WaBak! It’s going great!  We publish a quarterly newsletter and are also starting a quarterly meet-up over Zoom to share stories and update everybody on news. Additionally, we’re going to host the first annual in-person get together this September.  We also just finished up a campaign to raise money for two new pool pumps! WaBak is a very special place, and we’re thrilled that FOCW is off to a good start.

TRAILBLAZER TROOP

We’re starting to come to the end of our second year, and it’s still a work in progress. I’ll go over my thoughts in a separate post after the year is over.

Well that’s it for now! Thanks for your continued support through the years!