Yeah, I know not everyone’s a Girl Scout or cares about Scouts. But you’re reading this, so you must be one of the few that do, right?

Ok. First off, Girl Scouts are NOT as sweet as innocent as people think. While I was a CIT at camp, some of the counselors talked about condoms, beer, and cursed in front of the kids. Totally not right, but I guess they kids may have learned a few new words.

And I’ve known several girls, who either did drugs, had sex, drank, or carried weapons. We’re the same as any other group: we have the good, and the not-so-good aspects viewed in people. We’re normal kids. At least I think so.

Second: Melinda Carroll (Sp?): I love her original songs. However, most of the renditions of the traditional, or more entertaining ones often disappoint me. I realize that verses may be slightly altered from area to area, so that doesn’t bug me. It’s just how the songs are presented: too fast, too slow, too high, too low, for them to be easy to sing. And how many people will really have a band to back them up on these?

I have an idea. Let’s have a CD sung by girls, for the girls. Ireland does it, and it sounded pretty cool. Why not us? Then everyone can share ideas, but it’ll be the girls singing, not a professional, and repeating each other, instead of following her lead. I figured GS music was about the girl’s voices, not by someone paid to sing the songs.

Third: Political Correctness in GS songs: Don’t get me started. I can complain for hours. Anyone remember Rainbow Children? Before it was rewritten? Remember why it was banned? Because two lines: “I was taught that black was evil / I was taught that white was good” were considered offensive. Ok, I can see that. But what about the following two lines in the verse? “But when you become a rainbow / All the colors are understood.” Is that offensive? And don’t forget that the history (or commonly alleged history, anyway) is that the song was written by an ex-slave who wanted to voice what she went through.

I don’t know about anywhere else, but my council has the “chicken” song. It’s considered PC, despite the fact that the name of the character (Rufus Ratfus Johnson Brown), his inability to pay rent, and his love for chicken and watermelons sound like black stereotypes of the 60s.

A lot of good songs go down, like “The Cannibal King” or the old “Willy the Worm”. They dealt with cannibalism. Fine. Ban them. But I can guarantee that I could find someone who objects to teaching American Indian (I never use the PC term because I believe that anyone born in the US or on the American continents is an Native American) songs or anything else. I think councils and national need to either ban all songs, or simply recommend that certain ones they consider offensive be sung only in troop meetings, but don’t forbid them entirely.

Fourth: Prizes. Can’t them make ‘em better?

Fifth: Older Girl programs. I’ve missed out on several all-age, GS and non-GS combined events, where the younger girls and non-GS girls are accepted before older girls. Why? Because they want to keep them in Scouts, so they bring them to the cooler activities. Great. But that leaves less room for the older Scouts to join in. Hence, the reason many older Scouts in my area quit. That and their leaders won’t let them do much.

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I’m getting off my soapbox now, because I’d otherwise be typing for another hour. Comment. I don’t like flames, so if you disagree, try to be polite when you say so. J