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[gement]

I survived Gallifrey One! Um. Pics still in my camera as usual. I have lingering crud, so I'm still low-energy. But it was a total blast and I have about two dozen photos of Doctors taking photos of other Doctors.

I actually just hopped on to post my delight with the Girl Scouts. Since the cookies are ubiquitous at work right now, I did a little Googling to find out what their memetic stance is on sexuality and so on. I found this: http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=97977 It's a conservative site painstakingly going through the entire modern Girl Scouts curriculum to be horrified at it. It's really amazing, because I can tell by the tone they're horrified, but the curriculum exactly as they describe it sounds spectacular to me.

So while I still don't like the cookie company making money off cute children, I may make an outright donation to my coworker's daughter's troop today. :)

Edited to add: I've just looked at the numbers and, unlike most child sales fundraisers, Girl Scouts gets about 70% of the gross. (~15% troop, ~55% larger organization). That's incredibly reasonable. I still have to make my own navigation around the issue of children and parents pressured to sell (I always hated that in school), but knowing that the substantial majority of the money is actually going to some pretty awesome life skills programs has me won over.

Comments

[tylik.livejournal.com]

*laughs*

Yeah, I briefly volunteered for the Girl Scouts, and was generally quite impressed.

Hey, maybe *that's* what I should do about teaching. Hm.

[annissamazing]

Meanwhile in Akron, I'm looking for a girlscout to buy cookies from. Have a good lead in my math class, but won't see her again until Monday. I need my thin mints!

[mimerki.livejournal.com]

I do not know if it is still true, but they used to set up outside the Acme in Stow. (I'm not even sure there *is* still an Acme in Stow.)

Should your contact fall through, feel free to ping me and I'll see if anyone I still know in the area has recommendations.

[annissamazing]

There is still an Acme in Stow! I can pass it if I take the long way home from Kent. Thanks! :)

(Tops, formerly Finast, is gone, however.)

[mimerki.livejournal.com]

There is also apparently a Girl Scout Cookie Locator and it comes up with some options for the 44240 zip code. (I don't know any Akron zip codes off the top of my head but Kent's I still know.)

[hrmortcia.livejournal.com]

Also just FYI, as a GS leader on hiatus, although no girl is REQUIRED to sell cookies (and really of they dont want to I for one won't push the issue) when they do it really is a great program to learn about goal setting and budgeting.

A typical what are we going to use our cookie funding for brainstorming sessions (something you do before cookie sales start)starts out with "Let's go to Disney"! So we look up the prices of transportation, hotel, food, park entry etc (great real life math skills practice!)... then we translate that to boxes of cookies you would have to sell to earn that money etc (note some older girls DO go on fantastic trips and cookie sales are often a large part of the fundraising). The brainstorming usually takes a more realistic turn not long after that X)

Since my troops have been 4-6th grade Juniors it hasnt been realistic to go to Disney X) We have done a day in Seattle going to the aquarium and other site seeing plus a fancy meal out, gone camping,and paid for our service unit encampment fees

As a lifelong Girl Scout (since i was 5 that would be 27 years now, eek!) my favorite slogan the organization has used is "Girl Scouting: It's more than just cookies" because it becomes tiring to explain over and over how cookies sales only take about 2 months total out of the year and all the awesome stuff we get to do the in addition to that, thank you for taking the time to do some research about the amazing opportunities GSUSA provides for girls and young women!

[gement.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the plug! I was raised oblivious to pretty much all youth organizations, so I was always deeply suspicious that they would all be creepy little conformity machines. Today is full of delightful surprises.

[annissamazing]

Looks like I'm hittin' Chapel Hill Mall tomorrow! Thanks for the link. I miss the convenience of having co-workers with children in Girl Scouts, but I'll take what I can get!

$0.02

[cinnamonteal.livejournal.com]

I was a Camp Fire kid from 5th grade until graduating high school, and most of what I came away with was "step one = learn something, step two = tell/teach someone about it". We did have the candy sales thing (I was one of those kids who opted out as much as possible) but overall that really was a small part of the whole.

I think the sales take so much focus because that's the single point of contact for the non Scouts or Camp Fire people (well, that and the advertising surge this time of year).

[diabhol.livejournal.com]

It was so great to see you! I was smiling all the way down the freeway. :)

ahem.

I'm a huge fan of Thin Mints. I believe my mother's put some on order for me through someone in her office. What's your favorite?

[gement.livejournal.com]

Thin Mints all the way, baby! (But yesterday I developed a weakness for Tagalongs.)

It was really, really awesome to see you, and I'm sorry I didn't reply to your text promptly; I'm not very coordinated at texting and I've had the crud which tends to make me contact-avoidant.

I also noticed that you arrived at the hotel *before 4 pm*. I am agog that I was worth waiting over two hours to see. Though I did at least (have Rachel) buy you dinner before I took advantage of you. ;)

[diabhol.livejournal.com]

Hey, Tagalongs are a solid second place. Especially in ice cream. :)

Hey, it's totally cool. We all slack at some point and my hypocrisy does have some limits. :)

And of course you were worth waiting for. Besides, I'd already waited, what, six years?

[artdreams1.livejournal.com]

I don't recall there being an active child group in the area when you guys were little. Guess we could have turned you into Job's Daughters.

My mom pushed me into both Campfire and Jobies to try and get the other girls to be friendly to me as I was bullied. It didn't work, I was eccentric then, too.

The selling thing was always hard because the other parents took the items to work and sold for the kids. With two teachers as parents, not so good. . . With K-la, cookie dough was the WORST. No one wanted it.

Still don't. Valerie bought some, felt sorry for some student and left it here when she moved out. It took months before someone finally used it up.

When I watched the presenter for the Band Christmas wrap sale last year lay on the guilt (you should feel BAD if you're not doing your share), I was seething.