Marissa's Musings

“If international politics is truly governed by scientific laws rooted in material reality, like the laws of physics, then what people believe about how the world works will matter only to the extent that it conforms to or deviates from reality. A man who chooses to step off the roof of a building because he prefers not to believe in the force of gravity will nevertheless fall quickly to the ground. In the view of the pessimistic realists, the leader of a dominant state who does not believe that his country’s position will be challenged by a rising power is destined to be disappointed. But if relations between nations are shaped above all by beliefs, rather than objective material factors, there is always the possibility that people can change the world by changing how they think.”

– Aaron L. Friedberg

As I currently sit in the Houston Hobby airport, the ending of convention is a very bittersweet experience. Even though I’m exhausted beyond belief and have two midterms within the next 48 hours, I’m not ready for it to end. This weekend has been absolutely amazing and has surpassed each and every last one of my expectations. Alas, the only problem is, I’m going home with more passion and inspiration than I can handle. In fact, as I called my Grandmother to tell her of all the huge plans I have in store, her response was “Oh great, more things to focus on besides school. This is why we don’t like sending you to these things.” Of course, she was only joking, as she completely supports each of my endeavors and encourages me through all of the outrageous ideas and plans I have. With one caveat, however: I must continue to do well in school.

As I head back to Berkeley, I must continue to struggle with the delicate balance of school and extracurricular activities. Between internships, Girl Scouts, leadership roles, and sorority life, it can get tricky at times. Now, more inspired than ever, I go home with three major project ideas underway: to found the first college sorority for Girl Scouts, to write a proposal for the next National Council Session, and to get the Gold Award Mentors’ Network up and running. Luckily for me, I have a wealth of opportunity available in the Bay Area. In fact, Malia Mailes (YWOD 2010) and Vrinda Agarwal (YWOD 2011) are both freshmen at UC Berkeley and I have/will definitely be reaching out to them for support in getting all of these projects off the ground. Yet, these projects only address one side of my passion for social change.

As a Girl Scout of 15 years, I have seen how far the organization has come. Yet, looking to the world around me, I can also see how far it has to go. The unfortunate fact is that, it is not that Girl Scouts isn’t already doing an amazing job at churning out powerful and influential women, it’s that society is neglecting to respect Girl Scouts as the organization partially, or fully, responsible for their leadership.

You know, I don’t know what rock I was living under for the first 16 years of my life, but it wasn’t until my junior year of high school that I discovered that men and women were still unequal. I had no idea of the pay difference between genders, nor did I know of the male bias that was present in the workforce. In fact, just this weekend, my mind was blown away by the statistic that less than 3% of Fortune 500 CEOs are women and that women make up only 17% of congress. As a woman studying political science and nonprofit management, I had absolutely no idea that the gap is still this wide.

Although I’m only 19 years old, my social network consists of incredibly powerful youth. In fact, I would bet money on the fact that I, very personally, know the person whom will be our President around 15-20 years from now (when we’re all of age to run, of course). Moreover, because of my wide range of involvements in Girl Scouts, most of these youth in my network are women. It has been this way my entire life and I have never known anything different. I never knew that the girls I called my friends would grow up to be the 3% or the 17% whom are undervalued as problem solvers in our world. I never knew that, when I would tell my elementary school teachers that I wanted to be the first female President, there would be less than a 3% chance of achieving my goal and even less of a chance that I would be valued as a female leader – in any capacity.

On Saturday, at Business Meeting #2, the entire delegation was given the opportunity to answer this question: “If resources were unlimited, what is your wildest dream for Girl Scouting?” After thinking about the question and conversing with our neighbors for a while, we were given the opportunity to speak at the microphones and tell the delegation about our dream.

As a college student, I’ve experienced first hand the sad truth that, once girls graduate high school, they go missing from the Girl Scout movement until, one day, twenty years later, these girls have children of their own and think, “Oh! I should really sign my daughter up for Scouts!” and enter the movement once again as troop leaders. Let me first say that troop leaders are of the utmost importance because, without these women, there would be no Girl Scouts. However, we are missing our opportunity to capitalize on the vibrant resources that 18-30 year old Girl Scouts can offer.

These women, although they may not be impressively accomplished professionals, hold the potential to further the Girl Scout movement in more ways than we can imagine. These women are insightful, innovative, and on the cutting edge of, not only technology and social media, but politics and social change as well. They are well-educated, informed, powerful, knowledgeable, and willing to donate their time, energy, and money to the cause that nurtured them through their younger years. They have the opportunity to advocate the “this-is-what-Girl-Scouts-can-do-after-you-graduate” factor across a multitude of sectors in the country. These women can make Girl Scouts “cool” to the middle and high school girl struggling with the “closet Girl Scout phase.” So, why in the world are we ignoring them?

As a college sophomore, I have basically two options for continuing my Girl Scout career: start a troop or volunteer. With a busy class schedule, I just knew that I wasn’t at the point in my life where I could be a consisted and reliable leader of young girls. However, I also knew that there was no way I was ready to give up my Girl Scout title.

Two months before I had even moved up to Berkeley, I began contacting the local Girl Scout council, GS NoCal, to find out how I could get involved. After a seemingly-infinite number of phone calls, they finally placed me in the Universe Quest program (which I’ve posted about previously) where I was actually able to earn money working with a small STEM-based “troop” of middle school girls.

Although I absolutely loved and cherished this opportunity, it was simply too much of a commitment for me. Between driving the long distance from Berkeley to the middle schools, preparing for the classes, and actually teaching the classes, it was a time commitment I wasn’t ready to make as a college student. I continued through the end of the school year, but never asked for that position once I came back in the fall. Quickly, my first avenue of being involved in Girl Scouts had disappeared.

Next, I attempted to start a Campus Girl Scouts group at Berkeley. However, as you can imagine, that was an incredibly hard group to market. College students simply don’t understand (1) how you can be a Girl Scout after 8th grade, and (2) why they would want to get involved now. Again, that option was quickly shot down as I couldn’t find students to be members of the club.

So, here I am, today. A strong, passionate, and dedicated member of the Girl Scout movement and I struggle to simply find a place where I still fit in to that movement. Yes, I have other organizations to be involved in, yes, my time is stretched thin as a student, but never will I find something I love and believe in more than Girl Scouting. I don’t want to join Habitat for Humanity, Rotaract, Alpha Phi Omega, or any other service group on campus. Instead, I want a way that I can continue to be a valued and utilized member of Scouts, where I can pass my courage, confidence, and character on to the next generation of girls. I’m going to go out on a limb and say that I am not the only woman (or man) in existence who feels this way. So why are we letting this untapped potential go to waste?

I tell you this story to help you understand why my dream for Girl Scouting, although it may not appear this way, is one that we must quickly make a reality. It may not seem as urgent as revitalizing the badge programs, finding more funding, or keeping up with social media, however, I can assure you that, once we begin to nurture each member of our movement, no matter the age, everything else will fall into place. With that said, as a proud Girl Scout Alumna, I dream of a day when I will never again be asked, “aren’t you too old to be a Girl Scout?”

I excitedly look forward to what the future holds for Girl Scouts and all whom are involved in the organization. One day, we will be known, not just for our cookies, but because we are the girls and women whom are actively changing the world around us.

I realize that this post has touched on so many subtopics that are simply far too dense to write about in a single sitting. However, I look forward to deconstructing the ideas, statistics, and projects I’ve presented in future posts. So, I hope you will all stick around to read them as we get closer to the end of 2011 and to entering 2012: the Year of the Girl!

Alright, just finished the first full day of convention (second day, overall)! This morning, we kicked things off nice and early with a wonderfully inspiring keynote speaker, Frances Hesselbein, who spoke about the management of nonprofit organizations and about how spectacular Girl Scouts has been at creating an organization that has gracefully withstood 100 years of change in leadership, society, and goals. Considering my desire to one day be the CEO of a Girl Scout council and continue my own nonprofit, her words definitely resonated with me and I truly enjoyed her speech. Shortly thereafter, we then got right down to debating in the first business meeting of the National Council Session.

As delegates, we all sat together on the convention floor and had the opportunity to debate our views for the first proposal. During the debates, I had an opinion that I wanted to share with the delegation, so I stood up at the microphone to speak. However, the person right before me called the question and the motion was passed to vote on the proposal at that point. In retrospect, I suppose it was good that I never got to speak because, unfortunately, whenever someone gets up at that microphone, there is always someone in the room who grunts, laughs, or rolls their eyes at what they have to say. Proposal #1 was passed and councils will now be able to charge girl members an annual general service fee.

After the business meeting, I grabbed lunch with the girl delegates and we had an in-depth conversation about the fact that there are no girl members sitting as voting members of the National Board. I shared my Girl Scout stories with them about how I was selected for the National Board Leadership Lanes in 2009, but it was soon dissolved after little more than a year. In addition, I also shared with them my goal of writing a proposal for the next convention that will place girl members, not only on the National Board, but on the governing boards of every Girl Scout council. Needless to say, they supported the idea 100% and were excited to be involved in any way possible.

Later that afternoon, we spent the remainder of our day at the second plenary session and the National Young Women of Distinction awards ceremony. At the plenary session, we listened to a very lively conversation between Soledad O’Brien and a panel of four other accomplished men an women who shared with us their expertise on moving beyond diversity to inclusion. During the YWOD awards, we witnessed a multitude of amazing speeches by girls who had gone above and beyond in earning their Girl Scout Gold Awards and truly attempting to make the world a better place. Listening to each of those girls present their awards made me swell with pride as a Gold Award recipient. I can’t help but feel overwhelmingly confident when I’m able to represent the hundreds of hours I spent dedicated to my project by wearing my Gold Award upon my blazer all weekend. In addition, it was wonderful to see one of my colleagues, Toni Gutierrez, on that stage – way to represent Girl Scouts of San Gorgonio Council!

Finally, I was able to take the girl delegates to the National Board meet and greet. I introduced them to one of the board members that I know, Marisa Tabizon Thompson, and the girls were quick to share with her my idea of having girls serve on the National Board. Marisa was more than enthusiastic about the idea and urged the girls to collaborate with me and write a stellar proposal that would make it through to the next National Council Session. That said, the planning has begun: four girl delegates of Girl Scouts of Northern California, and myself, will be working in the months and years to come in order to hold Girl Scouts accountable to their mantra of “for girls, by girls.” There will definitely be another post about this proposal to follow in the weeks to come!

Here’s to another full day of exciting activities and voting on the second proposal, tomorrow!

In February, I was chosen as an Adult Delegate to the Girl Scouts 52nd National Convention. Nine months later, here I am in Houston, Texas wrapping up the first day of my very first convention! With all the excitement I am sure to experience over the next three days, I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to share convention with all of you via a few daily blog posts.

Thanks to my lovely Berkeley midterm schedule, I actually arrived in Houston a day later than everyone else from my council. Not to mention the fact that I missed my flight this morning, so I didn’t actually make it to the convention center until halfway through the opening ceremonies. Perhaps the best part of my hectic day was seeing the sign at the airport welcoming the Girl Scouts to the convention – I wish I had taken a photo!

Standing in the convention room for the first time left me in awe. Imagine a gigantic, beautifully-decorated room filled with thousands of Girl Scouts dressed head to toe in uniform. Sounds wonderful, right? Congregating with thousands of women whom love Girl Scouting as much as I do: what could be better? Absolutely nothing.

During the opening ceremonies tonight, I feel as if my eyes swelled with tears every few minutes. Being in these types of situations never fails to renew my love and admiration for Scouting. It reminds me why I push myself to do all that I do and why the Girl Scout Law has always driven me to be the best that I can I be. I’m absolutely positive that I will leave this weekend with stories galore and a sense of happiness and satisfaction that will envelope me for an entire month. From singing Girl Scout camp songs with Katie Couric, to beginning Delegate training, I can tell that this convention is going to be one to remember!

Tomorrow, I’ll be getting up bright and early to head back to the convention center for an entire day of trainings and meetings before the National Council Session starts. I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about and conferring with constituents about the policies we’ll be voting on, and I definitely think I’m informed and ready to make the best decision for our council.

On a side note, the hotel I’m staying in – which is incredible, by the way – has absolutely no free WiFi (someone explain THAT to me), so it may be a struggle for me to post every day during the convention. I also have only brought my iPad with me, so I won’t be able to upload any photos until I get home.

At any rate, happy 100th anniversary, Girl Scouts! Juliette Low would be proud, of not only how far we have come, but how far we will continue to go.

I’m definitely late to the punch on this one, but BCR’s bake sale a few weeks ago caused quite the controversy on the Berkeley campus.

Personally, I was very proud to see the college republicans make a stand for something they believe in, even though their opinion was among the minority on campus. I was also very proud to see those in opposition with BCR making lively debate around their bakesale table on Sproul. However, I was not, in any way, proud of all the hateful things that were said to and about the students who organized and supported this event.

As a student at UC Berkeley, I was incredibly disappointed by the oppression of BCR on our campus. I can agree with the sentiment that the way BCR framed their bake sale on Facebook could have been mildly offensive. However, it was completely blown out or proportion and attacks made towards BCR, such as the group being composed of entirely “white, privileged, and wealthy racists” were completely ignorant.

On another note, the most tasteless and offensive thing I saw all day was that two caucasian girls had dressed up as “American Indians” in construction paper headwear in order to get a free cupcake for being female and American Indian. I saw them walk past me on campus while I was observing the bake sale and then later saw an article about them and the stunt they pulled. Ridiculous.

Girls dressed as "Native Americans" to get their free baked goods.

At 12:00PM, several hundered students dressed in black silently marched onto Upper Sproul and laid down in the middle of the plaza. In regards to this group, who called themselves the “Affirmation,” here is a very imploring quote from the Daily Cal:

Compared to other events currently occurring, there is not much to report from the ASUC phone bank.

“It’s quiet here because of all the spectacle over there,” said Nolan Pack, sustainability coordinator in the ASUC Office of the External Affairs Vice President.  ”We’re being serious about making a difference while they’re over there using a cheap gimmick to get attention.”

The Affirmation

Perhaps my favorite quite from the entire event:

“We didn’t set up closer to (the Berkeley College Republicans) because this wasn’t about confrontation,” said Damaris Olaechea, who gave away cupcakes. “It is a forum for many voices, not a screaming match.”

What do you think?

Oh, the conversation that has cropped up around the Girl Scouts and their recent support of Planned Parenthood… Which actually isn’t all that recent, considering that Girl Scouts has long been a supporter of women’s rights, possibly starting with having Betty Friedman (founder of the National Organization of Women) serve on the GSUSA National Board for 12 years around the 70s. Girl Scouts has always been an organization dedicated to the success, health, and well-being of young women. So, what is all this current media attention really about?

It all started with two Girl Scouts, Sydney and Tess, who were part of the organization for eight years before they learned about Girl Scouts’ roundabout connection with planned parenthood, but as soon as they did, they refused to continue to support the organization. Sydney and Tess left their troop, now refer to themselves as “ex-Girl Scouts,” and are telling the nation the “truth” about Girl Scouting with their website, SpeakNowGirlScouts.com.

On their website, the two girls are up in arms over materials printed by GSUSA in which girls are referred to what they call a “pro-abortion” website called The Women’s Media Center. The WMC aims to empower women in the media and, because of this so-called “ultra-feminist” ideal, Sydney and Tess condemn The WMC and Girl Scouts for having a “feminist agenda.”

The girls’ statement is as follows:

“While we recognize the many good things about the Girl Scouts, we had to ask ourselves: Will we stand for our beliefs, for the dignity of life, the sanctity of marriage, modesty, purity? Or will we remain true to the Girl Scouts? We cannot see any way to truly do both.”

Another website’s homepage, HonestGirlScouts.com, features an article called “GSUSA stands by Girls Inc. and dumps traditional badges for new, sexy friends.” Upon clicking on the link, the article reads as follows:

Girl Scouts of the USA is rewriting the history of Girl Scouting — literally. Throw away your badge books and make way for their new standards of pro-sex, pro-abortion advocacy and liberal, socialist political swayings. They are actually in the process of REPLACING all the books and RETIRING patches they deem “outdated.” If their new patch is any indication of what to expect, they should have an entire army of radical, liberal, free-love girls ready to serve the United Nations within a decade.

Yes, Girl Scouts is retiring old badges. I mean, the organization has been around for 100 years, it only makes sense to catch up with the times. However, that, in no way, means that the standards and values of Scouting are being replaced with “radical and liberal ideals.”

What Sydney, Tess, and varying websites/organizations are failing to realize is that there is a very powerful difference between “pro-abortion” and “anti-life.” In my 16 years of Girl Scouting, working on the local, regional, and national levels, I have not once been exposed to any sort of “agenda.” For me, Girl Scouts has always been about making healthy, positive choices for myself and, yes, safe sex falls into that category. This is what Girl Scouts is about: promoting health, knowledge, and safety to every woman, everywhere. For some women, this may mean physical activity and for others it may mean camping skills, but sexual health is undoubtably part of thriving as a female and there are women who need this information.

The truth of the matter is that it’s 2011. In 2011, not every girl wants to learn about bird watching, child care, camping, cooking, or sewing. In 2011, some girls want to learn about college, financial literacy, politics, science, math, engineering, and leadership. The interests of girls are changing; they’re evolving to fit the standards and needs of today’s society. If Girl Scouts is to remain an organization for girls and by girls, how do they even have an option not to change, update, and expand what they have to offer?

The official GSUSA response to sex education is as follows:

Our official position on health and sex education is that in some areas of the country, Girl Scout troops or groups may choose to hold discussions about human sexuality and may choose to collaborate with a local organization that specializes in these areas. The topic is discussed from a factual, informative point of view and does not include advocacy or promotion of any social or religious perspective.

God forbid that girls are allowed to learn about their bodies and how to protect their rights as a woman if they so choose. Let me remind you that there is not a single part of any Girl Scout award or badge that requires girls to take part in an activity that they don’t believe in or makes them uncomfortable.

Let us also not forget that permission slips are an integral part of Girl Scout rules. In fact, HonestGirlScouts.com brings up the thought that “it is up to each girl’s respective parent/guardian/custodian to determine how best to teach about puberty and how her family/group/tradition views sexuality.” In their defense, I can understand how this might be an issue. However, it isn’t simply sexuality that may cause for a clash of interests; there are countless types of situations in which the parent should/may be the first responder. As a parent, if you truly come across an activity that you believe is stepping on your toes, then have your daughter skip out on that particular meeting or outing. Just choose not to sign the permission slip. It’s really that simple. Although youmay may not want your daughter learning about X, Y, or Z, there are other girls, parents and families in this world that do, and it really isn’t your place to interfere with those rights and opportunities (without due cause, of course).

In reality, communication works both ways. Your Girl Scout council and leaders aren’t hiding information from you. They aren’t hosting secret sex ed workshops in their garages. Leaders will make sure that parents know what their daughters are during in their meetings. Take the initiative to ask what your daughter will be doing that night before you drop her off. Ask about the movie they’ll be watching at the troop sleepover, who the guest speaker is, or what exactly your girl is being taught. If you don’t agree with or support the activity, participation is optional. You have to stop and realize that your child isn’t the only child in their troop, in the city, in the council, or in the country. That said, you also need to realize that you may be the only fish swimming upstream of change.

Long story short: Girl Scouts is about promoting and creating powerful women whom are capable of achieving positive and visible change. In order to do this, women need to be happy, healthy, safe, and informed. We aren’t hiding anything from you, we’re not brainwashing your daughters, and we don’t have an agenda. Pregnancy and abortion are a part of daily life just as much as media or politics. Girl Scouts is making the move to the realities that girls face in this day and age, and girls have a right to be knowledgable and informed.

The raw fact is that many families (including those of Girl Scouts) simply neglect any kind of “safe sex” or alternatives talk with their girls in today’s society. Only to be edified by the shocking statistic that, for every 1,000 girls ages 15-19, there are 39.1 births a year. In addition, there are 65 million people in the US whom are living with an STD. Of those 65 million, two-thirds of them are under the age of 25. Girl Scouts are included in this statistic because, believe it or not, they can get just as pregnant as any other woman on this earth. The difference is in how Girl Scouts choose to take action and respond to the presence of sex in their life.

This is the reality and someone has to protect our future.