although i’m feeling a little better, i decided to take the morning off, cos my couch is a lot more cozy than my desk chair. so i’m lying here (with blankets!), reading my blahgs, when i came upon this article about muslim girls in the US joining girl scouts. for them, it’s a way to be a part of american culture (and consequently be viewed as something other than “potential terrorist”) without necessarily cutting ties with their muslim heritage.

the article stirred up memories of my own involvement in girl scouts, which started when i got to be a daisy in kindergarten. when you’re a daisy, you wear a blue smock, like this:

it’s a good idea not to make the uniform too complicated, since five year olds will be wearing it. although if they ever decided to change the daisy “look,” i would recommend going for “fairy princess” or “pirate.”

and yes, my mother still has my blue daisy smock. i discovered it in her closet when i was back home, along with my entire junior girl scout uniform. i don’t know what happened to my brownie uniform (mom? where’s the love?!), but it looked something like this:

oh man! are those girls having fun or what?!!!

i have a lot of pictures like that– group shots of all of us decked out in our uniforms, smiling outrageously and involved in some sort of craft/camp activity. i loved girl scouts, not just cos i got to hang out with my friends, but because we actually *did* stuff.

i think the highlight of my girl scout career was when my friend kimberly’s dad took over as our troop leader. we had NEVER had a male leader before, and i was a little nervous. would we still get to bake muffins and make jewelry? our former leader, mrs. dunbar, was a large woman whose claim to fame (in my memory) was falling down at her daughter’s roller skating birthday party and breaking her arm. it was a compound fracture, so the bone was actually STICKING OUT of her skin. this information flooded the girl scout gossip mill for at least two weeks.

anyway, it turns out that kimberly’s dad was the COOLEST MAN IN THE UNIVERSE (ok, besides my dad). looking back, i realize that phil (i had never called a grown-up by his/her first name before) was actually a huge, huge hippie. and i think you can see why that would make him a totally awesome troop leader. we learned how to make all kinds of crazy things and roasted fish using holes in the dirt and wove friendship bracelets with beads and yarn and camped like dirty urchins with bandanas and basically recreated haight-ashbury, 1967 (SANS the drugs, people. sans the drugs). it totally ruled.

then i got a little older and had to move up to the junior level. i was relieved about the wardrobe change (i look SO much better in green), but i soon discovered that being a junior scout was, well, a lot more INTENSE. badges were *serious* and selling cookies was Big Business.

whoah.

i think i only lasted about two or three years as a junior scout. and it wasn’t just cos of the knee socks. my friends started quitting to pursue careers in band, choir and horseback-riding. suddenly, being a girl scout wasn’t cool. in fact, it was downright lame. so i shed my sash and vest and set out for hipper territory (the fact that i landed in theatre reveals a lot about my ability to navigate cool).

but you know, if i ever have a little girl, i’m totally going to force her to join girl scouts. it seems like the organization really teaches girls about important skills, not just basket-weaving and cookie selling. i mean, kiki strike directly recruited from the girl scouts for a reason! so i decided to take a look at some of the badges a junior girl scout can earn, and i was actually pretty impressed! here are some of my faves:

art to wear

cybergirl scout (hopefully, this badge teaches girls about how the internet is actually a public place, and so if you post sexy pictures of yrself on myspace, PEOPLE WILL SEE THEM)

car care

food power (AWESOME)

frosty fun (i don’t know what this is, but it sounds tasty)

global awareness

making music

math whiz

healthy relationships

ms. fix-it (i could really, really use this badge)

there were also a few that were pretty cringe-worthy:

high on life (seriously?)

highway to health (holla, tom cochrane)

rocks rock (um)

walking for fitness (what about dancing? or running? or even jump rope?)

i decided to offer a few suggestions, in case the girl scouts are looking for some fresh ideas:

cupcake power (obvs. plus you could learn to not only bake these, but give them as gifts AND sell them)

ms. anti-britney (how to avoid becoming like britney spears)

i spy (cos who doesn’t want to learn about espionage?)

fight for yr rights (every girl should know where she stands, legally)

glitter (the many, many uses of glitter)

boys 101 (why boys can suck and how you can avoid the stupid ones)

real world (it’s good to know in advance that college won’t answer all of yr questions, that you may not ever really know what you want to do, and that sometimes, yr car will get towed for absolutely no good reason)

eating out (it’s v. v. important to develop a fine-tuned culinary appreciation)

killing cockroaches (this is much needed and SERIOUS skill)

hmm. now i kinda want to start my own girl scout troup, but for twenty-somethings. it’ll be like troop beverly hills, except poorer. who’s in?

LINKS

meredith sent me a link to an LOL cat bible. i know. this is out of hand.

dolly parton has a new music video! with amy sedaris! the fact that they know each other is AWESOME. and also fills me with deep, dark jealousy.

video of the day: radiohead + the nature doc, microcosmos = sa-weet.

and finally, one thing i totally forgot (and i can’t believe it) that i love to do when it’s cold: look at little children who are all bundled up!!!!! caitlin sent me a link to remind me, and here are some examples of the cuteness: