Old treasures

In my work with the new material I spent a little time looking back at available program materials from various times of Scouting's past, mainly from it's Swedish hayday, the 50ies. Mostly, I was looking for good quotes, and skimmed the texts, but a few days ago I finally had the time, and the peace, to sit and read properly.

One of these books is Patrulledaren Pricken och Ekorr (sic!) patrullen (Patrol leader Spot and the Squirrel patrole), published by Svenska Flickors Scoutförbund (The Swedish Girl Scout Association) in 1955, written by Gunnel "Humpe" Weidel and illustrated by Karin "Kluddas" Hollström; a charming naivistic story about 13-year-old Inger, who gets appointed patrol leader, and the reader gets to follow her work with "her" girls, her woes about not being a good enough leader, her pride when the Squirrels win the district competition due to the good group spirit, and her thoughts about dividing her time between school, family and scouting, and also about God and at the end, about love.

It is a lovely, naivistic story, very much of it's time, in parts reminding me of Enid Blyton's. The reader gets her own space to fill in information about her own group and it's activities, make notes and reflektions, and tips about games and activities for the girl scout patrole. In some parts it is also a document of a time, not far away, when quite a few people in Sweden were reliant on the charity of volonteers. One of the girls gets help by the group master when she can't meet the subs.The girls have a "Christmas Child" whom they help, not only with Christmas presents, but also by collecting handmedown clothes and collecting money for shoes and helping the boy's gran to pick the apples (and make apple sauce to sell to get her a new winter coat). The Girl Scout tests included map reading, knots and darning socks, a task that the group leader takes very seriously. The discipline is an imparative, but it is upheld with support and gentle guidance, and the 13-year-old has an enormous responsability, but gets wise support from her mother and from Akka, the group master.

What strikes me is that times, and equipment, and people's circumstances may have changed, but the program stays amazingly similar, as does the woes and worries of young people. What also strikes me is how empowered these girls seem to be, and how competent. (That is also why I think that Famous Five books are great for reading at camp or for a quiet time at a Cub meeting.) Children can do anything, by themselves! But we rarely let them. Scouting is better than most clubs, and scout parents are better than most parents, but still we coddle our children too much, and sometimes scare them from taking initiative and from being industrious entrepreneurs. It's a fine line between supporting and protecting and smothering and protecting. Now, this is a work of fiction, but as always there is a smidgeon of truth in everything, judging from what I've heard from older scouts and relatives.

Oh, sorry, got thrown off track here... The point of this post was originally to share some of the great games the book describes, and which I tried a few on yesterday's meeting. The Challengers are a lot older than the original target group, but what is good about scouting is that you get the opportunaty to keep playing games, and "my" Challengers really enjoy that. So yesterday we played knotting games:

One handed knots
The scouts pair up and put one arm around eachother's waists. With the free hand they do the knots on a communal rope. Practises knots, communication, coordination and colaboration

Hot Knot
The scouts sit or stand in a ring. The leader decides on a knot and gives the group two ropes. When the music stops the people who holds the rope has to make the decided knot, swiftly and correctly. When both people have produced a correct knot, a new knot is called and the music starts again. The book suggests that the loser has to step out of the ring, but we played it with points instead. 5 people made a slightly too small ring.

Group Knot
With a long rope the whole patrole makes the knot together, everybody holding both hands on the knot at all times. This is fairly simple with the reef knot, but gets fun and more complex with a sheet bend and really difficult making a nice hitch around the flagpole.

The book also suggests practising knots with thick mittens and in the dark. We didn't try this, as our winter mittens are packed away in our closets and it is only really dark between 11 PM and 2 AM at the moment. There are a lot of other fun games and activities that I'm going to try at meetings and share with my collegues. It is imortant to look back at traditions, and remember our past. And old materials are good for new ideas.

Now finally!

Finally, the book has gone to the printer's, after lots and lots of debaccle about things not showing in PDFs, pictures that weren't right and little bits and bobs. My friend, whose sister is in the publishing business tells me that this is always so, but it has been nerve wrecking!

Of course, looking at the PDF that was sent to me, I find things that I would have liked to address, but now I just have to settle with the fact that WE'VE DONE IT! We have produced a great publication, almost entirely using volonteers and it is very, very nice! (I just hope that everyone else like it too...)

In a few weeks' time, the finished product will come in the post, together with the books for the other age groups. I will then have a good critical look at them, and present reviews here on the blogg, together with some pictures. "My" book will have to be reviewed by someone else, I'm afraid.

Still not gone to the press

The books are late. Which is ok, but annoying. Today, I've done yet another read-through-check-headings-missing textsandwhatnots. There are still things not right. I expressed my frustration to a collegue at work, who just laught and said: "Did you think the job would be done just because you'd finished writing!?" His sister is in the publishing business and he says that she has a mild nervous breakdown everytime a project comes to the publishing phase, due to the millions of little knacks and knicks that need addressing before the finished product goes to the press.

Never mind. I enjoy this type of work. Perhaps this is what I should do? It's a bit difficult working on two computers at the same time though; keep clicking the mouse on the one trying to get results on the other....

I applied for two Scouting jobs, and got called to interviews, but for different reasons nothing became of it. It's nice to know that it's not me, just my geographical location, that is wrong.

A bit stressed out at the minute, and there is a risk of entries not being very regular for the next month as national course tests, grading and other pressing engagements in my other life will have to be prioritised.

In between

At the moment I feel in between things, in a kind of limbo Not that there isn't stuff to do! No, there is plenty, and the phone keeps ringing, and the mailbox is pretty full of things that need to be addressed. But there's an empty space...

This last weekend I went to Stockholm to finish the book project. Almost all the authors involved and the project managers met at the Scout HQ to have a look at the almost finished products, share our trails and tribulations and note our thoughts about the process and the results. It was great seeing the book for the Tracker Scouts (younger Cubs), with the action packed tale about Tofs, the fox, who takes the scouts through adventures on land, on water and in space, addressing everything, from practical outdoor skills, to introspective questions about values and personal beliefs. The title will be, in translation: The Big Tracker Book.

The Discoverers' (older Cubs) book, to me, with the title (my translation) The Discovery, brought 50ies adventure stories like Famous Five and the like, and you get to follow a six through an adventurous treasure hunt in short stories that deals with different kinds of issues and problem solving.

The Adventure Scout's book, The Adventure Handbook, is more realistic, and therefor illustrated with photoes. Besides the further outdoor skills, it also deals with puberty and personal development through fact filled articles and short stories with recurring characters, while the Challengers' book, "my" book, is deprived of knots and filled with life skills like project methodoligy, group development theory and advice on how to organize charity events and to make the council representatives to see your way. The illustrations are dark and muddy.

All the books have their own colour scheme and style, and the tone, although adapted to the target group, doesn't speak down to the reader, and isn't simplified. It felt great! But then, after a closing ceremony, a lovely dinner in a restaurant, on the way back on the train, I thought: What now? There is a big whole in my life, that for the last 11 months has been filled with angst for not writing, writing, editing, writing, angst, editing, editing, reading, editing.... I've learn a lot, and gained a lot of new contacts, had lots of fun and is more convinced than ever that I should really take up writing more seriously. And translating. I've got hooks out, that might lead to something new....

The books will be published at the end of next month. So until then I can relax, until the readers have their say. I hope they will be as impressed that I am.

Book meeting

I went to Borås to meet Fredrik, who is in charge of the project group around the new program and also in charge of overseeing the books for the scouts, and Sara, who is also writing the material. We had a productive meeting over a pizza, and decided a new time plan and divided the last texts up between us.

This weekend I'm to put my board game on paper to send to the graphic designer, and I need to write an article on mentorship in scouts. It's a fairly new thing at this level, which makes it a little bit difficult, but I'm fairly confident that I can present the idea in an understandable way.

Next week I have another article on leadership within the the Challenger group to finish and lots of texts to scrutinize, pictures to decide and whatnot.

6th of March all the texts need to be done. I'm beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

I helped make this!

In the post today was a copy of the first edition of the new Scout leader reference book with the new program! 270 pages of facts and hints about how to be the best scout leader, and a super person, with lovely, contemporary pictures, lovely layout and a lovely new smell of ink and paper.

I helped make this!

My name is not on the cover, and I'm not even mentioned in the credits, but I helped make this by reading through most of the texts, "diversity checking", that is making sure that the texts are inclusive of minorities and the examples are equaliy distributed between men and women, that there are a variety of skin colour, cultural referenses and so on.

This summer I helped "market" it, by answering questions and taking in opinions of the "dud" at Scout Forum, meeting scouts and leaders from all over Sweden, from all different scout organisations in Sweden. I even talked about it with Americans and Japanese scout leaders.

Today it arrived in the post, and I'm so proud!

In a months time the Challengers' book need to be finished. This weekend will be spent ardously at the keyboard. Then my name will be in the credits. And I will be so proud.

Back home, with a bag full of snippets...

...snippets of ideas, of texts, of adresses...

Fredrik offered to help out with the "daytime stuff" - contacting people, comissioning, admin.. Which is so obvious that I need! So first of all, this weekend, I'm going to sit down and list everything I need help doing!

The meeting last night was really inspirational, and some of the ideas grew over night. Then more inspiration this morning, when I met with the people responsable for development and recruitment strategy, where we talked about how teenagers can recruit other young people and adults, by organizing camps, and events, doing projects, involving people outside the movement.

I got lent a new self-help book by a wellknown author, who has been a great inspiration to many adults over the last couple of years. This new book targets our age group. I read it quickly on the train back, and it is absolutely fab! I wish I had had a book like that when I was 16! And best of all: The author has let know that she might be willing to let us use bits of it.

I need to order comic strips, find scouty pictures with a rock'n'roll feeling, comission texts from charities, and find a few samples of inspirational literary writing to send to WSJ communication, to kind of show them that I might be a resource for them after this.

Oh, dear... I so wish I could spend more time on this... But tomorrow it's back to t'old mill.

The Stockholm syndrome

Dazed, I sit in a guest bed at the Scout Council headquatres in Stockholm, after a full day of meetings. I feel slightly shattered, after having gotten up at the crack of dawn, literally, to travel for 5 hours. On the train I wrote a text on project method. At 11 I met with the ArtDirector. We agreed on most things, had a lovely Japanees lunch box together, and I came away with a few reasonably concrete, and slightly pressing tasks.

Then I met with the woman who is responsable for coordinating the Activities Teams, to get information about what activities and camps to use as examples in the book. We both went away feeling that we knew too little about what the Temperence Scouts and the YMCA really have on offer in that respect... Need contacts!

Fredrik, my "boss", and I sat down for a spell, catching up, and then he took me on a tour to introduce me to everyone in the office. The Scout Council share the premises with a couple of the Scout organisations' administrative staff, the Scout magazine editors and WJS admin in Sweden, so there were a few people to meet.

Then we had coffee. Much needed.

Then the chief editor of the Scout magazine and I sat down to go through the last couple of years' issues to find usable articles for the book, and then I had a lie down in one of the two guest rooms on the conference floor.

Didn't have time to fall a sleep, because I was due to meet one of the key writers of the main programme policy document in town, to discuss his coments on my synopsis over dinner. I did feel a bit overwhelmed by this point in time, but he turned out to be a lovely young man. He took me to a very British style pub, where we had a Seafood casserole, a couple of pints, and very fruitful discussions about my synopsis, the programme, modern leadership, key points of the scout method, the importance of learning by doing and reflecting, B-P's stance on sexual education, and a few other things, before I felt the day taking it's toll.

He walked me to the Underground station, and I almost fell asleep on the train back to the offices, where I finally managed to get through the coded doors, didn't get stuck in the elevator, found a bathroom to brush my teeth, and are now sitting on the bed, feeling slightly lonely.

Got to get some shut-eye. Tomorrow at nine, I have a meeting with the Recruitment Strategy manager, and someone else, before I have a working lunch with Fredrik, before I take the train back to the provinces.

Goodnight!

Finally!

Finally I got my act together and wrote the synopsis for the Challenger Scout Book. It only took about an hour. Perhaps that is the problem - as I know that when I finally get cracking, the writing comes easily, and therefor I postpone everything endlessly...

On Wednesday I've taken leave of absence from work to go to Stockholm for a layout meeting. Until then I will have completed a few more texts, and also comissioned a few pictures. It will be a hectic couple of days - meetings with the layout team, and also with the people responsible for the new program. I hope also to get more information about the new badges.

On the homefront, there seems to be a bit of a problem... The Challenger Scouts are all very busy doing a lot of things, but unfortunately outside of scouting. As we haven't been able to get the whole group together one single time since term started at the end of August, we've now reached a critical point, where we have no set program, because people haven't been able to commit and contribute (lots of good ideas though!) and since we have no program, people don't prioritise comming to the meetings.... Vicious circle... But next Sunday, diaries in hand, and BIG calender sheets on the table, we will schedual a hike on the North Sea Trail, midnight cannoeing, gourmet cooking class on Trangias, Leader training etc etc.