In asking the question of whether or not we needed to own camp properties in order to make sure we continued to provide a camping and outdoor experience for girls, (May 14, 2009) we heard from many Girl Scout leaders and adults who believe that we should never discontinue our camping program. I agree. Outdoor education is an essential part of the GS leadership experience.
The question I continue to grapple with as we seek answers to strategic priorities as an organization, is whether or not each Girl Scout Council needs to own properties in order to have a rigorous camping program or whether we could put our collective resources together and offer even broader, more diverse camping experiences to girls. Looking around our region of the state, I wonder if there is a way to work with other GS councils and other owners of property in order to fulfill our mission to provide an outdoor education and camping experience in place of actually owning outdoor education property. This idea is based upon an economic reality and strategic thinking about our finances and the financial climate that we all are facing today.
To me, from a program perspective, giving girls outdoor experiences are essential. In May, we brought about 90 girls from the south side of OKC schools out to Cookieland (our council’s Girl Scout property in Newalla, OK). Girls who never experienced a walk in the woods were mesmerized by the beauty of the trees and land. Every year when we do this, it is a great experience for the girls. Most often, the bags we fill with donated goodies to take home are emptied and filled with pine cones, rocks and other natural materials they collect from the woods.
Like the volunteers from each of our legacy councils, I have a special place in my heart for the camp at Bear Mountain in New York where I went as a Girl Scout. While I think it would be awesome for my daughters to experience that camp, I know that it may not be possible to make that happen. Similarly, when I was little, my dad took me with pride to the site that once was Palisades Park. It was exciting to think about all of the images I had in my mind from the song of the same name and seeing the excitement in my father’s eyes as he told the story of going to Palisades Park as a boy. The bottom line is that the value of the outdoors is really the experience, whether it is in Oklahoma, New Jersey or upstate New York.
The challenge, I think for us as a movement, is to have a dialogue about this that helps us all continue to explore all of our possibilities. As a council, we are just beginning to explore a range of ideas regarding properties and our fiduciary responsibilities to the girls and to the future of the council in general. While I understand that many feel very strongly about the camps that they have a personal memory and connection to, it is important that we keep the dialogue moving in a positive direction, posing constructive questions and supporting the outdoor education program. We all believe in the importance of a viable Girl Scout movement for girls. The best way is to nurture the movement and address some stark realities. All questions and comments that encourage the spirited dialogue will continued to be welcomed from all corners of the council. I hope that in the future, reasoned responses will prevail and more girls will come to Girl Scouts to experience not only outdoor education, but all the leadership programs available to girls today.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Daughters and Dads
Eight years ago in August I lost my father to cancer. One Saturday morning while waiting for my car to be finished at the tire store, I read a magazine article about a man who lost his somewhat abusive father to Alzheimer’s disease. The disease had transformed his father and so while he was lost in one way, he became connected in another.
As a child whose mother did not work outside the home until I was in my tween and teen years, my father represented the world outside to me. Every morning he left the house in a suit and tie, clean shaven and smelling of cologne until his alcoholism got the better of him and meaningful work. He was a personality, most comfortable and animated in a crowd or telling a story. He never met a stranger. He drove a company car, knew how to deal with money (to my girl self). Unlike my mother, he watched the news every evening and read the paper every day.
As a girl, he represented a world that I wondered about, a world that I wanted to be a part of and at an early age, vowed I would not have to give up just because I was a girl. He was the master of mixed messages to me. He often chided me to be the best I could be and reminded me that I “could do anything that you put your mind to.” He set the bar high for me, his oldest child and I am sure that some of his critical messages were echoes of the ones he continued to hear in his own head from his childhood. His demand of perfection pushed me out beyond the girl boundaries my mother set for me based upon her upbringing and beliefs about girls and women.
He loved to drive home a point, a skill I probably relish in myself to this day. His love of history, music and storytelling enabled me to be the public speaker I am. While he never espoused any feminist leanings, he was always proud of his daughters (I have three sisters) and never saw, as my mother did, our gender as an inhibitor of something we wanted to be or do. He was not always a nice man, conflicted as he was with his own abusive behaviors and habits, but time and forgiveness has allowed me to see all of the positive ways he influenced my life.
As women and girls, the men in our lives, particularly the fathers in our lives, often shape our perceptions of the outside world. While they may be flawed individuals, as most of us are, they often instill in us a view of the world different from the world our mothers are able to share. Their influence, may have much to bear upon our willingness as girls and women to step out of our proscribed gender roles. Happy Father's Day.
As a child whose mother did not work outside the home until I was in my tween and teen years, my father represented the world outside to me. Every morning he left the house in a suit and tie, clean shaven and smelling of cologne until his alcoholism got the better of him and meaningful work. He was a personality, most comfortable and animated in a crowd or telling a story. He never met a stranger. He drove a company car, knew how to deal with money (to my girl self). Unlike my mother, he watched the news every evening and read the paper every day.
As a girl, he represented a world that I wondered about, a world that I wanted to be a part of and at an early age, vowed I would not have to give up just because I was a girl. He was the master of mixed messages to me. He often chided me to be the best I could be and reminded me that I “could do anything that you put your mind to.” He set the bar high for me, his oldest child and I am sure that some of his critical messages were echoes of the ones he continued to hear in his own head from his childhood. His demand of perfection pushed me out beyond the girl boundaries my mother set for me based upon her upbringing and beliefs about girls and women.
He loved to drive home a point, a skill I probably relish in myself to this day. His love of history, music and storytelling enabled me to be the public speaker I am. While he never espoused any feminist leanings, he was always proud of his daughters (I have three sisters) and never saw, as my mother did, our gender as an inhibitor of something we wanted to be or do. He was not always a nice man, conflicted as he was with his own abusive behaviors and habits, but time and forgiveness has allowed me to see all of the positive ways he influenced my life.
As women and girls, the men in our lives, particularly the fathers in our lives, often shape our perceptions of the outside world. While they may be flawed individuals, as most of us are, they often instill in us a view of the world different from the world our mothers are able to share. Their influence, may have much to bear upon our willingness as girls and women to step out of our proscribed gender roles. Happy Father's Day.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Images of Women: How Do We Continue to Tolerate?
In this morning’s paper, there is a syndicated cartoon of the Supreme Court Nominee, Judge Sonia Sotomayor on a rope suspended, a caricature of Obama with a bat outstretched to the GOP saying ”Who Wants To Be First?” The T.V. cameras drawn in the cartoon are poised to capture the spectator sport of misogyny. The caption on the cartoon reads “Fiesta Time at the Confirmation Hearing.” There is an Adrienne Rich poem in which she talks about the billboard-like images of women in the media, and she writes, “These images are so powerful and pure, we fail to ask, are they true for us?”
Anytime a woman is chosen for a position most often filled by men it seems that all of the images expose for me once again the underlying inability of us as a society to see woman as fully human, fully capable. After the last election, GSUSA Research Institute did focus groups with girls and boys around leadership and found that both groups, girls at a higher rate, believe it is harder for a woman to attain a leadership position than it is a man.
But what is even more disconcerting, more painful to see, with all of the violence against women in our society, is the image of the captive Sotomayor, about to be hit with a bat. I wonder if girls, little girls, will have the extra sense they will need to see the picture differently, to call out what is wrong, what is hateful. Images of a woman on a rope and men taking turns hitting her with a bat are too real, too every day to be played as a cartoon.
When did we, as a society, lose our ability to disagree honestly based on real merits of argument without resorting to out and out dehumanizing women? When will the collective civility of men and women say “enough!” When will fathers and brothers, husbands, grandfathers and uncles say “Stop. These images are insulting to me and my daughter, sister, wife, granddaughter and niece.” When?
Anytime a woman is chosen for a position most often filled by men it seems that all of the images expose for me once again the underlying inability of us as a society to see woman as fully human, fully capable. After the last election, GSUSA Research Institute did focus groups with girls and boys around leadership and found that both groups, girls at a higher rate, believe it is harder for a woman to attain a leadership position than it is a man.
But what is even more disconcerting, more painful to see, with all of the violence against women in our society, is the image of the captive Sotomayor, about to be hit with a bat. I wonder if girls, little girls, will have the extra sense they will need to see the picture differently, to call out what is wrong, what is hateful. Images of a woman on a rope and men taking turns hitting her with a bat are too real, too every day to be played as a cartoon.
When did we, as a society, lose our ability to disagree honestly based on real merits of argument without resorting to out and out dehumanizing women? When will the collective civility of men and women say “enough!” When will fathers and brothers, husbands, grandfathers and uncles say “Stop. These images are insulting to me and my daughter, sister, wife, granddaughter and niece.” When?
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