I recently received an email that lectured me on not being a good reporter when I wrote my article on the second round of the Journeys. I was chastised for publishing a less-than-glowing article on them before their publication.

First of all, let's me be clear; I am not a reporter. I have worked in the field of journalism and I am well aware that a reporter's job is to report facts. I write editorials that express my opinions, and sometimes I write about ideas that have worked for me. I don't report the news. My journey article was a straight-up editorial on what the horrible marketing materials that were sent out to "sell" the second round of Journeys.

The email I received also told me what a naughty girl I was for not supporting Girl Scouts as I should as a long-time member (over 25 years and counting). The writer told me I should be an advocate for Girl Scouts. First of all, I am a supporter of Girl Scouts, but that does not mean I have to swallow the crap they are shoving down our throats with the Journeys.

I would also argue that supporting the Journeys is not being a good advocate for Girl Scouts at all, particularly given how poorly they are being received by many many girls and leaders. I am not a voice in the wilderness here, and I am not alone in my concern that if this is the future of Girl Scouts, then Girl Scouts has no future.

My email "fan" requested that I "give them a try." What an assumption that is....I did try the Journeys on two separate levels (Juniors and Cadettes) and not only did I find them impossible to do in a fashion that was not "school-like," but my girls HATED them. I tried several different approaches to them and not only because I could see that they resembled American Girl in "look," and I do have some girls who love that. I was actually disappointed that no matter what I tried, I could not sell the girls on the AMAZE journey because I find the topic of relational aggression so important. I had girls tell me they would quit if this is what "we had to do." The bottom line for me is that I did think it was important to "give them a try" but after trying for a year, I no longer have any desire at all to support them in any way and thereby go against the wishes of my troop members.

The email also informed me that the Journeys are not "party-time for girls." Uh, ok, but then neither is what we do as a troop. This year most of my troop spent several months working on a Bronze Award project that benefited the local food and clothing bank. Just this week, I had girls put in over several days' worth of community service, and several of them are going to be serving as junior counselors at a summer camp next week to earn their Silver Leadership Award. The troop has also voted to support a local cat shelter next year where their primary job will be cleaning out litter boxes (not exactly my definition of a party).

In the past year, we have hiked, camped, gone rock climbing, participated in a ropes challenge course as a team, and learned to shoot archery. I suppose you can call that "party-time" but I call that healthy activity that teaches the girls independence and confidence. I could spend another hour listing all the activities we have participated in as a troop that do not qualify as "party-time," but I think the point has been made.

The writer went on to ask me if I really thought "the badges the GS Juniors are earning ALL have value?" I won't comment on ALL the Junior badges because we certainly don't try to do all of them. We do what the girls want to do only and, as a matter of fact, I do find those that they choose to do to be valuable.

Just some of the badges my girls earned as Juniors included Camp Together, Horse Fan, Camera Shots, Caring for Children, Hobbies, Architecture, and Drawing and Painting. Each one of these badges taught the girls something new. The more I think about it, the more I think that GSUSA really got it right when they offered the "Worlds to Explore" program for girls. Learning new things always has value and badges offer a way to do that without making the girls sit and read and do activities that mirror those they do in the classroom.

The writer then noted that "the Interest Project Patches were outdated when introduced in 1995." The correct terminology for these awards is IPAs (Interest Project Awards), and I worked on them as a girl when they were introduced as IPPs in the mid 1980s. I wasn't really fond of their format then nor do I love them now, and I fully support the idea that they need to be reworked, but the Journeys are not, IN MY OPINION, an acceptable replacement for try its, badges, and IPAs.

Try its, badges, and IPAs allow girls to follow their own interests whereas the Journeys dictate themes that will have to be worked on for the better part of a year. As I've already noted, my Cadettes had zero interest in the topic of the AMAZE journey. The environment is the general theme for the second round of Journeys. I am not suggesting this isn't an important topic, but it really has been done to death. My girls went to at least three Girl Scout events that focused on this topic just last year. Furthermore, do we need every Girl Scout troop in the country to be working on service projects that relate to the environment? (Journeys culminate with girls/troops "taking action" within the theme of the journey.)

To summarize, as far as my girls are concerned if the theme of a future journey is not camping, horses, or archery, then they are not interested and therefore neither am I. After all, one cannot lead if the girls will not follow.