Living by the Girl Scout Law, Even Without a Home

April 21, 2017 10:29 AM

Girl Scout Troop 6000's home is a former Sleep Inn in Queens, New York, that now accommodates homeless families. The troop's more than 20 members come from the families who live there, and costs are covered by the Girl Scouts of Greater New York. (main link from NYT; the Today Show also covered it)
posted by Etrigan (14 comments total)

“We’re the O.G.!” one of the girls shouted. The slang, short for original gangster, can take on a nefarious connotation, but in this case simply means being the first of its type, one that commands respect.

Hailey, Karina’s sister and, at 14, the oldest girl present, used more conventional, Girl Scout-like language. “We’re starting a chain reaction,” she said. “Hopefully, in the next couple years, there will be more Girl Scout troops in shelters.”

I love the Girl Scouts, I love everything they stand for, I love their history of inclusion. So, understandably, I hated this part of the article where the author decided what is and what is not "Girl Sout-like".
posted by FirstMateKate at 10:39 AM on April 21, 2017 [13 favorites]

Agreed, the editorial decision that a quotidian slang abbreviation needs to be very carefully defined and explained for their readership makes the Old Grey Lady seem very much like an Old White Lady.

Otherwise, the content of the article is great. There's all sorts of organizations big and small that could learn a lot from the Girl Scouts' example.
posted by Strange Interlude at 10:45 AM on April 21, 2017 [1 favorite]

Hooray for these girls, and hooray for Jimmy Van Bremer, who is my City Council Member, and absolutely the most real-deal good-guy politician I've ever encountered.
posted by neroli at 10:52 AM on April 21, 2017 [1 favorite]

This is the best thing I've heard of all week.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 11:13 AM on April 21, 2017 [1 favorite]

Jimmy van B was my guy for four years as well, and I live in fear of some truly awful scandal about him coming to light, because seriously, he seems like the second coming of Jesus.
posted by yeahlikethat at 6:07 PM on April 21, 2017

Agreed, the editorial decision that a quotidian slang abbreviation needs to be very carefully defined and explained for their readership makes the Old Grey Lady seem very much like an Old White Lady.

Time for a (far, far too frequent) PSA: Sexism when you are critiquing racism / classism is still sexism.
posted by steady-state strawberry at 4:21 AM on April 22, 2017

I appreciated the effort to be inclusive for all readers. I don't think it takes away from the girls' sentiments at all.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 9:57 AM on April 22, 2017

I know it's not fluffy, but this is some really heartwarming stuff, i vote to add the tag "yaypril" so it can be included in the happy posts.
posted by FirstMateKate at 10:29 AM on April 22, 2017

Sexism when you are critiquing racism / classism is still sexism.

The NYT has always been called the Grey Lady; I'm sure that if it had been called the Grey Gentleman, Strange Interlude would have said Old White Gentleman. I'm not sure there's any sexism happening here. Unless I am misunderstanding what your objection is?
posted by rabbitrabbit at 2:22 PM on April 22, 2017 [2 favorites]

The NYT has always been called the Grey Lady; I'm sure that if it had been called the Grey Gentleman, Strange Interlude would have said Old White Gentleman.

Sexism is still sexism, regardless of the context. "I was just making a joke" isn't an excuse. Unless you'd feel the same way about an inadvertently racist comment?
posted by steady-state strawberry at 4:39 PM on April 22, 2017

The thing is, steady-state-strawberry, and I think this is whatrabbitrabbit was trying to point out, the joke doesn't rely on the name being a woman. Old white gentleman works just the same. Heck, it could even be non-gendered, if the paper was called Old Gray Neighbor, and therefore The Old White Neighbor. The punchline and power of the joke remain the same. So, no, it's not really sexism because it's not relying on the detriment or even the mere existence, of women in order to function.
posted by FirstMateKate at 10:05 AM on April 23, 2017 [1 favorite]

It could be non-gendered, but it's not.

There are times when the solution is to not make a joke at all. This could be one of those times.
posted by steady-state strawberry at 12:27 PM on April 23, 2017

Can you explain the sexism? I honestly don't get it. Is it that the NYT was referred to as a lady? Why is that sexist? I'm asking in the spirit of inclusion.
posted by bluefly at 6:57 PM on April 23, 2017

> I appreciated the effort to be inclusive for all readers

I appreciate that they explained it for all readers, but “We’re the O.G.!” is very much Girl Scout-like language (source: am a Girl Scout).
posted by The corpse in the library at 4:23 PM on April 28, 2017