Googlemouth's Author's Notes

Some events in this story are taken from my (Googlemouth's) real life. That's why I couldn't make up a fictitious version of the Girl Scouts of America. Also, because I still object to some of the practices that the GSA formally disavows, but which individual chapters are allowed to continue with impunity. The GSA has a stated policy not to discriminate against members based on their race, creed, or sexuality. However, they permit individual chapters to discriminate, and the last information I have is that gay men and women cannot lead troops. I do have a friend who wasn't permitted to join because her fathers were gay, though to be fair, that was in the 80s. I've no idea if those policies are different now, because I don't actually care enough to look them up. But I'm using the GSA by name because if there are scouts, former scouts, den mothers, or corporate employees who are reading this, you need to take a look at your organization and make a more informed decision about whether you really want to keep supporting it. I hope it's changed since I last knew of anything directly relating to scouting.

Where events differ from real life: I'm not wealthy, and was in fact below average in socioeconomic status in a school that was filled with others who weren't really well-advantaged either; "Shelly" and "Gwen" aren't the daughters of rich politicians; I was "lucky" in that our Brownie den mother didn't actually inform my parents of the reasons I was kicked out, they just said I'd been caught lying one too many times and therefore the lessons of the Brownies were obviously not sinking in; and finally, I have no idea how the real-life "Shelly" and "Gwen" actually turned out, because I moved across the country from them and have never even heard word of them again, which is just the way I like it, and they're probably happier that way, too.