gsmom

Here is an article from the Chicago Tribune relevant to this topic:

 

By Lisa W. Foderaro

New York Times News Service

Published January 1, 2003

 

LARCHMONT, N.Y. -- In a chilly cabin here, the ambitious young

suburbanites brainstormed a few weeks back on ways to relieve stress.

The solutions were the usual: bubble baths by candlelight, yoga,

relaxing music, setting limits.

 

"There's nothing wrong with being busy," said Vickie Hage, an

architect in Mamaroneck, N.Y., helping the 4th-graders in Girl Scout

Troop 1839 work on their "stress less" merit badge. "It's much better

to be busy than to not be busy. But you don't want to be so busy that

it makes you cry or it makes you nervous or it makes you mean to your

mom."

 

Being a child in these high-stress, full-scheduled times is not what

it used to be, and, as the stress less badge introduced a year ago

indicates, neither are the Girl Scouts. In fact, while the Boy Scouts

have stumbled from one controversy to another, Girl Scouts locally

and nationally are prospering. National membership in the Girl Scouts

of the USA has hit a 20-year high of 2.8 million, with 11 percent of

all available girls signed on as scouts.

 

The organization is increasingly retaining girls as they enter their

teenage years, a traditional dropout point. It has done so, in part,

by offering rugged adventures like mountain climbing, as well as

internships and travel opportunities. One troop here in Westchester

County recently went to Kenya.

 

But the Girl Scouts have also steered clear of the controversies

surrounding sexual orientation and religion that have dogged the Boy

Scouts of America in recent years. The Boy Scouts' position on

homosexuality--that gay members are not welcome--has cost that

organization funding and members. And Troop leaders say the Girl

Scouts, traditionally known for the three C's of crafts, cookies and

camping, have evolved into a thoroughly modern organization. It has

formed an implicitly feminist message by plugging into contemporary

issues and trends, while maintaining its traditional values.

 

In Westchester and Putnam Counties, for instance, the number of Boy

Scouts has fallen to 9,500 from 13,000 in the last 10 years, a 27

percent decline. During the same period, membership in the

Westchester-Putnam chapter of the Girl Scouts has risen by 24

percent, to 16,500 from 13,300. The chapter also outshines the

national Girl Scouts in terms of market share, with 20 percent of

available girls involved in scouting.

 

Even the Brownies, who are in the 1st through the 3rd grades, are

exposed to a range of subjects. Yes, there are still badges in

puppets and dolls, as well as in manners. But in the last several

years, badges have been added in careers, penny power, computer

smarts, space exploration and math fun.

 

Years ago, there was a badge for 10- to 17-year-olds called matron

housekeeper, which instructed girls in using a vacuum cleaner and

identifying cuts of meat. Its counterpart today is a Ms. Fix-It

badge, for junior Girl Scouts, ages 9 to 11. To earn the badge, girls

need to be able to repair a leaky toilet and replace a broken window

pane, among other things.

 

"If you define feminism as a girl being strong-minded and independent

and making decisions for herself, then yes, it's feminism," said Mary

T. Stroock, chief executive for Girl Scouts of Westchester Putnam

Inc. "But I don't think that's necessarily feminism. I think it's

just life now."

 

Staying current

 

An example of how the organization has tried to stay current was the

creation of a Girl Scout Research Institute three years ago at its

headquarters in Manhattan. The institute conducts its own research

and pulls together existing studies to help Girl Scouts of the USA

plan for the future. One study, Teens Before Their Time, looked at

the pressures on girls to act and look older than they are.

 

Other research has shown the extent to which the older girls in

scouting are particularly interested in career development. Harriet

Fier, a filmmaker who leads a Girl Scout troop in Chappaqua, N.Y.,

says that as the girls reach middle school and high school, there is

a career component to almost everything they do.

 

Fier's own family illustrates the shifting fortunes of the Girl

Scouts and Boy Scouts in Westchester and Putnam. Her 12-year-old

daughter, Laura Mantell, has been active in Girl Scouts since

kindergarten. Her son, Will, on the other hand, left the Boy Scouts

two years ago, at age 8, when the Boy Scouts' decision to exclude

gays was making front-page headlines.

 

Jack L. Sears, scout executive of the Westchester-Putnam Council of

Boy Scouts of America, attributes the decline in membership less to

any opposition over the group's policies than to a loss of funding.

Responding to the Boy Scouts' position on homosexuality, the United

Way of Westchester and Putnam stopped its annual contribution of

$150,000; corporate support has also eroded.

 

"If we had the financial resources to get the message out, we would

have a lot more members joining," Sears said. "If we want to embrace

diversity, we have to embrace the right to associate."

 

For its part, the Girl Scouts do not prohibit lesbians from becoming

members or leaders. Whether heterosexual or homosexual, members and

leaders may not promote a particular sexual orientation or display

any sexual behavior.

 

As for religion, a member can substitute her own word for God in the

Girl Scout promise. If a girl were an atheist but was still

comfortable reciting the Girl Scout promise, the organization "would

not conduct an inquisition about what was behind that," said Sharon

Woods Hussey, senior vice president of membership, program and

research for Girls Scouts of the USA.

 

In November, the Boy Scouts ejected an Eagle Scout after he had

proclaimed himself an atheist. Even some Boy Scout leaders in

Westchester wish their organization acted more like the Girl Scouts

with regard to a scout's sexual orientation or religion.

 

"Both of those issues were poorly handled and the Girl Scouts, to

their credit, took a very different view and very different

position," said William H. Flank, a professor of chemistry and

environmental science at Pace University and a scoutmaster in

Chappaqua. "They don't discriminate, period, and I wish the BSA would

do the same."

 

The Girl Scouts' national organization has analyzed ZIP codes to make

sure they are attracting girls from all socioeconomic backgrounds and

has studied its existing membership rolls with an eye toward racial

and ethnic diversity.

 

There is a new push to attract Hispanic girls, who are not

participating at the same rate as white and black girls. Similarly,

the Girl Scouts have just started an initiative, with a grant from

the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, to introduce

scouting to girls living in housing projects.

 

The Girl Scouts reached their peak of popularity during the Baby Boom

years of 1947 to 1955, when 12.5 percent of American girls were

involved. Through the 1970s and mid-1980s, the "market share," as

Girl Scout officials put it, dipped to 10 percent. But it has since

picked up and has hovered around 11 percent in recent years.

 

Fresh air and service

 

The organization was founded in 1912 by Juliette Gordon Low, who

believed all girls should be given the opportunity to develop

physically, mentally and spiritually. From the start, the Girl Scouts

sought to get girls out of their isolated home environments and into

community service and the open air.

 

Community service and the great outdoors still figure prominently in

Girl Scouts. Recently, a troop in Briarcliff Manor, N.Y., was

frantically looking for a way to pay a $1,500 shipping charge for a

wheelchair and holiday gifts for a 6-year-old girl in Ecuador who can

neither walk nor talk. The girl is related to the housekeeper of the

troop leader, Diane Newman Kahn. The troop decided to use the money

they had raised selling cookies to buy a high-tech, collapsible

wheelchair for the Ecuadorian girl, whose family cannot afford one.

 

Troop 1366, in Putnam County, was getting ready for the annual

Klondike Derby, a winter survival exercise set to take place this

month at the Girl Scouts' own 100-acre Rock Hill Camp.

 

At a recent troop meeting, the girls practiced building fires

outdoors and erecting a shelter, using only a tarp and trees. They

will also have to demonstrate their knowledge of first aid, as well

as their ability to signal for help using SOS flags.

 

With two daughters in Girls Scouts, Liz Rau leads two troops: 1366

and 2177. Both are preparing for the Klondike. Rau was a Girl Scout

herself; she left at the start of 9th grade. "I quit because of the

stigma of being in Girl Scouts," she said.

 

Her own daughters, Theresa, 13, and Patricia, 15, have no plans to

leave. Patricia is admittedly a bit self-conscious about being a Girl

Scout now that she is 15. But she is determined to remain in scouting

through the end of high school, and she has set two goals: to take an

overseas trip with her troop, and to earn the Gold Award, the

equivalent of the boys' Eagle Scout honor.

 

As for the lingering social stigma, Patricia said she doesn't

broadcast her participation. But the Girl Scouts' main fundraising

vehicle--the cookies--have made her popular in school, at least among

the boys.

 

"It's not cool," she said of the Girl Scouts, "but it's accepted.

Guys know you have cookies, and guys like food."

 

 

Copyright 2002, Chicago Tribune

 

 

Also try Yahooligans, the kids' search engine, to research individual countries.

Hello everyone,

 

I've been reading this forum for a while, but this is my first post.

 

I think the the reason the rest of the media hasn't picked up this story is that the Wall Street Journal got it wrong. Reading the quoted remarks (and I haven't been able to find anything further than what was quoted), I think Ramsey Clark was trying to say in a very awkward way that it was ridiculous to call Mohammed a terrorist, and in fact, by the same flawed logic, one could also call Jesus a terrorist. I don't think (based on the limited information available) that he was actually calling Jesus a terrorist.

 

Just my 2 cents.

 

gsmom