A Scoutmaster's Blog

Boy Scout Troop 68 held its 2019 Laughs For Lunch Show on Saturday, January 26, at the Melrose High School auditorium. The hour long campfire-style program began at 1:00 in the afternoon. Over 100 people attended to watch the Scouts perform songs and skits. The Scouts did a great job and the audience had a lot of laughs. Many audience members said they really enjoyed the show and would come back for another one.

This was the current troop’s second annual show, but it was the troop’s fourteenth program. The Boy Scouts of Troop 68 held their first show in January 1996. They held twelve shows over a thirteen year period. The troop needed to put the show on hold when membership dropped too low. With membership increasing once again the boys decided it was time to bring back the program.

As an adult Boy Scout leader I see several benefits for the Scouts who perform for these shows. The first, of course, is that the Scouts learn a lot of different songs and skits that they can then choose from when they are at summer camp or a camporee. For example, this year’s show contained eighteen songs and skits of which fifteen were new to the Scouts.

A second benefit of the show is the teamwork needed to carry out this type of program. Not only does each Scout need to learn his own part of each skit or song in which they participate but they also work together as a troop to do it well as they can so that they can tickle the audience’s funny bone. Scouts also help each other during the more difficult portions.

The third benefit is it sometimes forces the Scouts to learn how to ad lib and think fast on their feet. If your are involved with Scouting you know that many skits only have a basic premise and a good punchline. Much of the skit is made up by the Scouts acting in the short play. Add a few audience members and you can never be sure you know what is going to happen. A Scout has to think quick to use anything that could happen on the stage.

A fourth benefit is a big one. The Scout learns skills in public speaking. Many adults have a fear of public speaking. Imagine being an eleven year old Boy Scout on a stage performing a silly sketch in front of a hundred people. Not only do the new Scouts rise to the challenge during their first show, they begin to look for bigger parts during the future shows. Think about it for a moment. If a boy learns to overcome his stage fright and be silly on a stage when they are young, it will be much easier to speak in front of a group of people as they get older.

The fifth benefit almost does not need to be stated, but I will. The Boy Scouts have FUN while doing the show. The more the audience giggles and laughs, the more fun the Scouts have, and the harder they try to perform well. This is the reason the troop has done fourteen Laughs for Lunch Shows. And it will be the main reason for doing more shows in the future.

The Boy Scouts of Troop 68 have been attending a week of summer camp at Many Point Scout Camp every year since the early 1990s. They enjoy the program and the staff at the Buckskin Camp. This year, 2019, will be the first year they will change camps as they attend the Ten Chiefs Camp which is located south of the Buckskin Camp. That means the Scouts will not be eating in the Buckskin dining hall this summer. They will be eating their meals in their campsite.

Part of the fun of the Buckskin dining hall is the songs lead by the camp staff before heading into the building to eat. The staff does a great job getting the Scouts fired up and singing.

As I start posting Scouting videos online again I thought I would begin with a video featuring the MPSC staff leading the troops in songs before a few meals. This video was recorded during Troop 68’s stay in June 2017. The video is approximately 20 minutes long. Maybe it will give your troop a couple of ideas for their next campfire program.

The video can be seen at: https://youtu.be/c6IEdWK_t90

Don’t be afraid to subscribe to the Melrose Scouting Productions YouTube channel to receive notifications when videos are uploaded.

Nearly two weeks ago I posted an article about giving away a few Order of the Arrow patches to three lucky people who commented on the post. The time has come to give award the patches.

Only three people commented so all three of you will receive a Tonkawampus Lodge flap, if you want one. Drop me an email with your address and I will get them in the mail sometime in the next few days.

Congratulations to Dustin, Todd, and Brian!

A couple years ago I was looking around on eBay and came across an auction for the graphic novel Junior Braves of the Apocalypse, Book 1: A Brave Is Brave. I bought the book and discovered it was signed by the illustrator Zach Lehner. Unfortunately, it was made out to Dan, not Steve, but whatever. I had a signed book!

The graphic novel tells the story of a Boy Scout-like group called the Junior Braves who went out on a weekend camping trip. When they arrived back home they discovered a virus had wiped out most of the population and zombie-like mutants were wondering the streets. The goal was not only to survive this strange new world but to find their parents.

I enjoyed the book. The artwork was great and story was fun. The Braves had to use their “Scouting” knowledge to survive, along with a bit of luck. Not everything in the story went well for the Braves which added a nice touch to the plot. How would your troop do if they suddenly found themselves in this situation?

I received the second book of the series today, Junior Braves of the Apocalypse, Book 2: Out Of The Woods. I dove into it after work and read the whole book this evening. The writers did a good job continuing the story and introducing new characters. Once again the artwork was great. I do not want to give the plot away but I will say they Braves discover a second Junior Braves “troop” and not all goes well.

I think most teenagers would enjoy the book, especially if they are a Boy Scout. After all, these books about about “Scouts” during a zombie apocalypse.

Have you seen these books in your local book store? Have you read them? Did you enjoy them? I look forward to reading your comments.

The city of Melrose once had a cable access television station. It started up in 1986 and lasted for nearly twenty five years. It closed when the city decided to keep the cable franchise fees for the general fund instead of giving them to the station for operating funds.

I saw the potential of promoting our Boy Scout Troop on this television channel almost immediately, and decided to make good use of it. I would videotape our courts of honor to air on the station. I would take a VHS video camera with me on outings to create programs to inform people what the Boy Scouts have been doing. We even created some original programming using the Scouts as actors. I joined the station’s board of directors and created Scouting related programming for over twenty years.

One of the earliest Scouting related programs was an interview with five of the adult leaders of the Melrose Scouting program. It was titled The Leaders of Scouting. It was filmed in 1988. The guests included cubmasters, assistant scoutmasters, and committee members. I was a producer for the show and thought it turned out pretty good.

After Mel TV closed its doors the city donated all the programming to the Melrose Area Historical Museum. I am now a board member of that organization. The board’s chairman and I were talking one day and thought it would be a good idea to create a Youtube channel and post some of these old programs online for the community to watch once again. With the help of Shalon we have been digitizing some of the old VHS tapes and DVDs to post online.

Six programs have been posted online so far. I am happy to report that The Leaders Of Scouting was one of the videos uploaded to the channel. If you have 90 minutes some evening and are looking for something to watch I would like to suggest you watch this video. It is an interesting look at the Scouting program of Cub Scout Pack 68 and Boy Scout Troop 68 in the 1980’s.

The YouTube channel is called Mel TV3 Revived. The video can be found at https://youtu.be/cG7bjhYGqp4

Let us know what you think of the show. Do you think we should create a new show since we are now in the 2010s?

I wrote a post last week about the years that I had a video podcast, and that I was missing podcasting a little. A few of you commented that I should start a YouTube channel and post the videos to that instead of podcasting. I think that is a valid point, especially when you look at all the people watching YouTube these days on their mobile devices and televisions at home. I find myself watching more YouTube videos these days than I watch regular television.

The thing is, I do have a Youtube channel, and many of the videos I posted to the podcast have found their way to the channel over the years. Unfortunately, I have not posted to it lately and I have not mentioned it or promoted it very often during the last few years. There are over 100 videos featuring the Boy Scouts of Troop 68 performing songs and skits, promotional Scouting videos, and short films featuring Buttons, the radical Boy Scout (my puppet.)

I changed the name of the channel today to Melrose Scouting Productions, which is the logo found at the beginning of most of the videos. I thought it might be best to take my “nickname” off the channel title to make it fit the channel better. The channel can be found at

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClUOxM42AYjgLwGyoqgpx1w

The channel currently has 688 subscribers. There are over 1,700,00 total video views. Take a look at it when you get the chance and let me know what you think of it. I do plan to start posting new videos to the channel soon so don’t be afraid to hit the subscribe button.

I think it is time to have a little fun. I have a few patches that I am going to give away to three lucky people.

The patches are Tonkawampus Lodge #16 Order of the Arrow patches, #S19. This lodge was chartered in 1924 in the Viking Council, located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. In 2006, during the merger of the Viking Council and the Indianhead Council of St. Paul, Tonkawampus Lodge #16 and Agaming Lodge #257 merged to form Totanhan Nakaha Lodge #16.

This was the 80th anniversary patch for the lodge.  This may have been one of the last patches made for the lodge before the merger. Hidden in the design of the patch is the year 2003. The first two feathers, following by pictures in the two zeros, followed by three feathers, gives up the year 2003. 

I will choose 3 winners by random from the people who leave a comment to this post. Tell me why you would like to add this patch to your collection. I will have the drawing on Wednesday, January 23, 2018, so leave your comments by 6:00 pm that evening.

I had a phone message waiting for me on my answering machine when I arrived home Monday night, January 7. It was from Russell, a reporter for the Dallas Examiner. He asked that I return his phone call because he wanted to speak with me about the Boy Scouts of America’s “financial problem”. He made the comment that he wanted to talk to a long time Scout volunteer.

My first thought when I finished listening to the message was that it was an interesting message. My second thought was why did he call me, a former Scoutmaster from a rural Minnesota community. I volunteer my time to my local troop and pack. I do not do anything with the national office. My third thought was how in the world did he find me?

Did I return his phone call? No, I did not. And I will not. Why, you ask? There are three reasons.

First, I have no information for him. Like I said earlier, I do not work for the National Office of the Boy Scouts of America. I am not on their mailing list.

Second, I am not a spokesman for the Boy Scouts of America. I have no desire to be a spokesman for the organization. I am perfectly happy being a volunteer in my local community.

Third, I do not trust today’s media, especially national networks and large newspapers. I have heard many stories of reporters using only one or two comments from an interview, and using them out of context to suit their own agenda. I am not playing that game.

I have no desire to be on the national news stage. If a reporter wants to know something about the Boy Scouts of America’s so called “financial crisis” they should contact the National Office for information, not a rural Minnesota volunteer.

Update: I have informed my district executive and council executive about this phone call to make them aware that something is going on. I also sent an email to the Boy Scouts of America’s National Office to inform them of the call.