September 24 2024

Worst. Survey. Ever.

National Governance    7 Comments    , ,

I usually don’t do things like this, but I just wanted to bring attention to the absolutely most low key effort survey out there when it comes to the membership dues proposals. As my daughter says, this is Beta Ohio. Dog water. Not demure and not very mindful. And they actually use the words “democratic process” on this form.

Edit on 10/14/24: Well, looks like they pulled the form. Basically it was obvious that the leadership of that council already made their mind up to vote for $85 dues for girls and asked one question so that they could twist the results to match what they wanted.

September 23 2024

Membership Dues Redux

National Governance    11 Comments    , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

A friend of mine recently called me the Girl Scout version of Cassandra of Troy. I can’t think of a better description, especially lately. So once again, I bring you my ramblings. This time over a topic of which I am well familiar. After the Farthest North lawsuit was finally settled back in 2021, I kicked back and felt like I could finally retire from discussing membership dues.

Wrong. Continue reading

September 8 2024

CME History: A Writer Comes to the Rescue

Traditional Stuff    No Comments    , , , ,

The pen is mightier than the sword. — Edward Bulwer-Lytton

Back in 2016, I started a series of blog posts about the history of two GSSC-MM camps with one being Camp Mary Elizabeth (CME). CME is one of only a few camps left in the United States located in the middle of urban sprawl and is home to a very rare wildflower. Back in 1999, CME was in danger of being sold, but some folks in the community took action to save the camp from development.

I recently became reengaged with CME due to the wildflower restoration grant that we received earlier this year, and while working on the project, Tina’s husband and I started up a conversation about CME’s history and how close it came to being sold. Steve told me about John Lane, a poet and Wofford College professor who helped lead the charge to save CME through his writings. This piqued my interest, so Steve said he’d send me one of the essays Lane wrote plus an article about them. Here’s the article (click to see a larger version): Continue reading