In this episode Idelle is joined by returning guest Maddy Dietz. Maddy is a fiction writer and aspiring journalist, a Gold Award Girl Scout, the National Student Poet representing the Midwest region, a YoungArts Finalist in Short Story, and is a candidate for US Presidential Scholar in the Arts. She is also a recent recipient of Girl Scouts River Valleys' Changemaker Award for her work in arts and journalism education.

Maddy talked with Idelle about what she's up to now and her plans for after graduation this spring, and shares an on-air reading of her short story Why We Endured the Darkness, which was published in the short story anthology Triangulation: Dark Skies.

Idelle and Maddy discuss the story's themes of love, freedom of religion and thought, women who are engineers and physicists, and representation. Maddy talks about her love of the short story medium and how she fits so much background into such a short time. She also talks about why she identifies with the story's characters and how she set out to write a story that reflects her own identity in hopes that other young women will see themselves in it.

Make sure you listen to our first episode with Maddy - Episode 18: Becoming a Writer.

This will be the last GIRL Talk episode for a few months - but we'll be back soon! Stay well and enjoy your summer :-)

For this episode we welcomed a returning guest, Karla Benson Rutten. Karla joined Idelle to talk about a passion of hers, mindful meditation. Karla practices mindful meditation herself and with her family, but she has also incorporated it into her business as a life coach, and into our meetings at Girl Scouts. If you've been thinking about trying meditation for yourself, Karla has some great insight.

Mindfulness gives us a chance to think about how we want to be in a day. It's helpful when we're overwhelmed, or when we just need to find a place of calm within ourselves. It's a practice - just like sports, music, or art, you need to practice being present and focus on what's happening right now. Being mindful is about being fully present to enjoy the things around you that are happy, and also sit with things that might be uncomfortable.

Karla talks about how meditation is based on breathing. It calms our minds and bodies, and helps us make better decisions. Taking a breath physically calms your body, and when you do it intentionally it can help you through times of anxiety or nervousness.

The world and our lives have changed so much throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Karla talks about using all this time at home to practice mindfulness, breathing, and meditation, and feeling like she needs it now more than ever. We're all stuck inside with our families and everything is on screens, and with all that screen time, mind breaks are important. Little breaks from school, work, TV, and social media can help set us up for a different kind of mood. Think about taking time to focus on things other than the stressors that come from dealing with COVID and everything that comes with it.

Meditation can come in many forms and can look different for everyone - there's no one way or right way. Karla talks about discovering mindfulness when she was growing up, without knowing it, while fishing with her dad. Being still just to be still, noticing things in nature, being patient in order to enjoy what's around you, learning to pause and breathe.

There can be some barriers to mindful meditation, like feeling like things have to be a certain way. You might think you need to have candles or special music, set aside a specific amount of time, or have someone to lead you. Karla talks about meditation being much simpler: all you really need is your breath; to intentionally breathe and notice what's going on in your body. And it can be short, like just a minute or two, or even 30 seconds. You might also feel like your mind is just too crowded. For people with anxiety or busy minds, it can be hard to take those quiet times. Karla talks about using running or other physical activity as meditation, or using music or a mantra to help you focus. It's all about being in the present.

Karla had some advice for getting started: turn off your devices and sit or stand quietly - just for a minute. Listen, notice your breathing, notice what's going on around you in the space you're in. Focus on doing one thing at a time.

To wrap up our conversation Karla leads us in a guided meditation. Try it out and see how it makes you feel!

As always, we hope you're safe and healthy. See you next time.

 

P.S. Here are a few mindfulness-related apps we like:

Relax Melodies

ThinkUP affirmations

Headspace

In this episode we welcomed a special guest, Sarah Mikutel, to talk about Stoicism. Sarah runs her own business as a transformation coach, using the Enneagram and Stoicism to help women replace anxiety, overwhelm, and procrastination with calm, confidence, and fast action. She is a location-independent world traveler, entrepreneur, writer, and experienced podcaster, but what makes Sarah a particularly special guest, is that she works behind the scenes on GIRL Talk as our editor!

Sarah’s newest podcast, Part of Something Greater, is devoted to Stoicism and the Enneagram, and she and Idelle had a great conversation about how we can use tools from Stoicism to reduce anxiety and live happy, peaceful lives.

Sarah breaks down the difference between the common understanding of what it means to be stoic, versus Stoicism. She talks about how Stoicism isn't about suppressing emotion, being the "strong silent type" or having a "stiff upper lip," but that it's actually the opposite. Stoicism is about empathy, listening, being in tune with your body and mind, and gaining tools for understanding your emotions in order to manage anxiety and react more positively to tough situations.

Stoicism is also about staying in the moment and bringing presence to your life, which most of us would probably agree we could use a little more of. Sarah shares her personal strategies for bringing this type of mindfulness to her day, which include morning journaling and a practice of reflecting on her day before bed in order to let go of negative feelings that she might be hanging onto.

We hope you'll find something in this conversation that resonates with you! And as always, we hope you're safe and healthy. See you next time :-)

 

Sarah hosts three podcasts of her own: Podcasting Step by Step, Part of Something Greater, and the Postcard Academy, which you can find on your favorite podcast app. Find out more about Sarah and her work on her website, sarahmikutel.com.

In this episode we welcomed our Girl Scout colleague Kalue Her to the podcast to talk about Hmong Shamanism through her personal experiences. Shamanism focuses on health and balance in body and soul, and helping and healing individuals, families, and communities. It's all about love, healing, and a connection and respect for nature and living things, and is rooted in the belief that everything has a soul.

Shamanism is a practice of healing and protecting family members - providing balance. Shamans have many duties and a variety of specific skill sets for helping their families. It's a huge responsibility and doesn't come with material wealth or a lot of recognition, but it's important and rewarding. Kalue talked about the increase in women taking on the shaman role, including herself, and shared the surprising story of how she came to accept it as her path.

Shamanism can sometimes be seen in the wrong way - as barbaric or outdated, and not as the traditional practice of religious healing, spiritual care, loving, and light that it really is. This can make it challenging for young people to be open about their family's practice of Shamanism. Kalue is hoping to change this with her own kids, sharing her experience and passing it on to them in a positive way.

We talked about stereotypes related to what Shamanism is and the impression we had of what it means. Kalue talks about working to change the face of Shamanism and breaking through stereotypes and stigma within the Hmong community. She shared with us what the practice of Shamanism looks like in her family and the importance of having a spiritual leader. It isn't always easy, she and her husband walk a fine line with their own kids of teaching them about Shamanism but not wanting them to feel like they are different or outsiders in their school or neighborhood.

As our takeaway, Kalue shared some advice for Hmong girls:

Find people who support you, learn, ask questions. Seek out a wise person like a teacher, caregiver, parent, troop leader - someone you trust. Shamanism is evolving and changing, and in order to experience the love and healing it offers, you have to first love and accept yourself.

What a great message! For those of you who are new to learning about Hmong Shamanism, We hope you find this conversation as interesting and eye-opening as we did. Take care of yourselves out there, GIRL Talk listeners.

In this episode we're talking with two guests, Ash Murray and Steph Aich, who are the founders of Midwest Dirt Legion - a riding club for cisgender women, gender non-conforming, and transgender mountain bikers. Ash also works with Girl Scouts River Valleys’ Girls in Gear mountain bike program, teaching Girl Scouts technical skills and taking them out to tear up the trails on our new mountain bike course at Camp Elk River in Zimmerman, Minnesota.

Ash and Steph started Midwest Dirt Legion with a goal to build more gender equity in the mountain biking community in the Twin Cities. They saw what a big difference it made to have spaces for a diverse set of genders (not just male or female, but non-binary and trans folks as well) when they were doing track bike racing, and they wanted to create that same space for mountain bikers. They started with pretty much nothing but an idea, and found that there were a ton of other people interested in what they were doing.

Part of the work they do with their organized rides and events is providing skills clinics and an introduction to mountain biking to new riders. They start where people are at, and help them get comfortable. We talked about how they have both had experiences in the broader mountain biking community with other riders' elitism and a masculine culture getting in the way of riding certain trails, taking certain skills clinics, or even just feeling like they're seen as "real" mountain bikers. They try to eliminate those barriers for their own participants, creating experiences that encourage a lifelong love of the sport.

Another goal of Midwest Dirt Legion is to make mountain biking more accessible. It can be an expensive hobby, requiring lots of gear and ability to travel. Ash and Steph focus on making their events as local as possible and helping people get there, and work to break through the common belief that you need a lot of expensive top-line gear to be legit (not true!). They also do broader advocacy work through social media to expand their reach.

We talked about what it takes to start a club or organization like this to address a need in a community, and how hard work and gaining support are more important than money. One of our big takeaways was that you can solve a problem without having a lot of money or experience - you can get started, run with an idea, and learn along the way! Especially if you put together the right team.

You can learn more about Ash and Steph and Midwest Dirt Legion on their website midwestdirtlegion.com, or in this great article on The Radivist. You can follow them on Instagram @midwestdirtlegion and join their social group on Facebook called Friends of Midwest Dirt Legion.

Girl Scouts River Valleys would like to say thank you to our funders and partners that have helped make the Girls in Gear mountain bike program possible: Hugh J. Andersen Family Foundation, the Hardenbergh Foundation, Quality Bike Products, Tonka Cycle and Ski, and Salsa Cycles. Girl Scouts River Valleys, with support from these companies, has made this one-of-a-kind outdoor adventure possible for girls. Together, we can ensure that every girl pushes past their limits and builds the confidence they need to take on any challenge.

This episode features a conversation about leadership with Los Angeles Film School President Tammy Elliott. How did we get such a prestigious guest, you might ask? Spoiler alert - she's Hannah's mom! Tammy has built an amazing career as a leader in higher education, and she shared with us some truly amazing nuggets of wisdom about how she got there and what it takes to lead her team with kindness and grace.

Girl Scouts is a leadership organization, and we love hearing people's leadership stories. Tammy told us hers, which included a lot of trial and error that led to eventually finding her purpose in a place that allowed her to do what she loves - working with people. She talks about being told "keep doing what you're doing" and having supervisors and colleagues who saw qualities in her that she didn't necessarily see in herself, leading her to take leaps into new positions that challenged her and opened up her perception of her own capabilities.

Tammy talked about seeking counsel from people who have your best interest at heart when you're trying to decide whether to take on a new challenge, which means finding people who love you and who you trust to help you make big decisions. We talked about the importance of being thoughtful when making decisions, like taking on a new job or other big life change.

One of the insights Tammy shared with us is that being a good leader is about the power of words, the power of kindness, and the power of connection - being strong but kind - and that those are often missing. Her goal when leading people is to seek understanding and deliver the message that she cares about them and is working for and with them. She also keeps her work joyful and tries share that joy with her teams, even though that's sometimes really hard to do.

We talked about conflict, and the importance of finding connection and understanding in order to get through it. In a leadership position you often have to make hard decisions and get into those conflict situations, and it can take time to get good at it.

One of the main things we wanted to talk to Tammy about is differences between what leadership looks like in women vs. men. She talks about how there is space for both, but that her own style involves bringing thoughtfulness and patience to her work as a leader. We talked through gender roles in our society, and how they pressure us and make it harder to lead like ourselves and find our natural style.

Our takeaways:

When it comes to growing and developing as a leader, go easy on yourself! Don't feel like you need to be perfect and like you can't make mistakes. Take time and opportunities to grow, and give yourself grace. Tammy left us with a few words to sum up her leadership style: grit, gratitude, grace, and strength. We'll take those with us.

 

Take care of yourselves, GIRL Talk listeners. We'll talk soon.

Reach out to our podcast team at girltalk.girlscoutsrv.org/contact.

For this episode we welcomed Dr. Amanda Doran to the show for a conversation about her unique journey in the field of veterinary medicine. We know a lot of girls are passionate about helping animals and making the world a better place, and Dr. Doran has found a way to do both of those things through her career. We think you'll will be interested in hearing about the way she is able to care for animals and people, and how she recognized her calling.

Dr. Doran talks about why she became a veterinarian - she never even considered doing anything else! She shares about her love of her mom's family's dairy farm, how much she cared about animals and helping them, and why she always wanted to be the magical green healing crystal in the game Tales of the Crystals when she was a kid.

Dr. Doran started out in general practice, which is what we usually think about when we think about a vet, then got into emergency medicine, then pathology and research, but she wanted something more from her career as a vet and just didn't feel like what she was doing was satisfying or sustainable. Dr. Doran had a personal experience with her own dog that made her realize her real passion, and now she's headed in a new direction working with animal hospice and at-home euthanasia helping animals and their families through end-of-life care. She helps bring comfort and care, pain management, and quality of life to pets that have a terminal illness or are at the end of their lives, while supporting their families and taking into account beliefs and needs.

Dr. Doran talks about learning about herself, setting boundaries, and taking a big risk with her life and career. She recognizes that at one point she was hiding from the world, feeling a little defeated and like she had to settle for something that wasn't fulfilling. She talks about finally tuning into what would make her happy and feel like her heart was on fire, and that finding your calling, passion, or gift isn't always easy or obvious. It can be scary and hard! It took a lot of mentors and supports to guide her on her path. She talks about the "hero's journey," like Harry Potter, Frodo, Katniss…and the journey she's on to help pets and their families and ultimately change the face of end-of-life care for animals and people.

Science fields aren't just about facts and figures, there's an interpersonal, connected, and very helpful piece that plays into a lot of STEM careers too, especially veterinary medicine. Dr. Doran's experience is so moving, we really appreciate how open and honest she was with us in sharing her personal story.

We had so many great takeaways from this conversation, we hope you will too.

As always, stay tuned at the end for Would You Rather and Girls Pick. We hope you're all safe and well - see you next time!

 

Reach out to our podcast team at girltalk.girlscoutsrv.org/contact.

In this episode we're talking with Grace Heneghan. Grace is an expert in the field of wilderness guiding and is passionate about connecting wilderness tripping with gender, feminism, identity, and the environment.

Grace talks about how she really didn't have a lot of interest in the outdoors as a kid until she started going on trips with YMCA Camp Widjiwagan, and discovered a love for being in the wilderness even though at times it can be super challenging. She found where she fit in and found out things about herself that she didn't expect. Having these experiences helped her discover things about her own identities in an accepting and supportive space.

Grace started going on longer trips and expeditions as a young adult where she was empowered by stretching the limits of her body and mind. She met other women and queer identified people who helped pave the way for her to figure out what she wanted for her future and make college and career choices.

We talked about how helpful and even healing it can be for some of us to discover informal learning spaces like those related to outdoor education. Some people fit right into the traditional classroom learning setting and thrive with that structure (like Hannah), while others (like Grace and Idelle) do better in a more informal space where learning is more hands-on, and sometimes even outside!

We got to hear about some of Grace's favorite trips - so cool! She told us about some of her own successes and failures, and what it means to have "type 1" or "type 2" fun and the good parts about both. She also talks about how lonely guiding and backcountry travel can be, and why self-care is so important but is so easily ignored.

There's a lot of risk that goes into wilderness travel, and Grace talks about how she learned and became proficient in the skills she needed to be safe and keep her groups safe. Like with anything else, it's important to push yourself and take risks to grow, but also to recognize your limits and where you need to learn more or lean on others to be safe and successful.

Some things Grace focuses on that can be overlooked or not really talked about enough are being queer in the outdoors, being fat in the outdoors (Grace talks about claiming the word "fat" as an empowering term for herself), being femme in the outdoors, whiteness in the outdoors, and identity politics in the outdoors. She talks about always wearing earrings when she's on a wilderness trip to connect to her femme/feminist queer identities. We also get into social media and representation in the outdoors and how it can often look very white and masculine, and not representative of BIPOC identified folks, people with queer identities, or people with disabilities.

This was such a great conversation, we're so grateful for Grace's willingness to share her personal experiences and expert advice. We hope you enjoy it as much as we did! A couple of our takeaways - if you're interested in the outdoors, or if you're looking to get started, recognize where you're at in your outdoor journey and be proud of it. If you're new to outdoor activities and travel, start small and close by. If you already have experience, push yourself a little and try something new like taking on a challenging trip at a camp or with a guide, or even working at a camp!

Stay tuned at the end for Would You Rather and Girls Pick.

Reach out to our team at girltalk.girlscoutsrv.org/contact.

During our conversation Grace shares her strategy for curating a social media feed that's empowering and not isolating. Here’s a list of Instagram accounts she follows to find inspiration:

@disabledhikers

@unlikelyhikers

@theventureoutproject

@indiginouswomenrising

@outthereadventures

@brownpeoplecamping

@indigenousgeotags

In this episode we're talking about creative writing with Maddy Dietz. We've wanted to talk to Maddy for a while now - she's got some interests that we think a lot of listeners will identify with. She's a high school student but is taking college courses, and shows up as a leader in Girl Scouts as part of the Girl Leadership Board and as a founding member of the Press Corps. She's working on building a career as a fiction writer and journalist and has already had a couple of her works published.

Maddy can't remember a time when she wasn't writing. Even before she actually learned to read and write, she was telling stories and asking her mom to write them down. It has become more than just a creative outlet, it's her passion and something she's actively pursuing as a career. Maddy writes short stories, is working on a novel, and dabbles in poetry. She loves fiction and science fiction and talks about how she gets lost in creating worlds and characters. If she could, she'd write all the time!

We talked with Maddy about how writing helps her personally, but also helps others. She knows how important it is to see yourself reflected in media, and she makes the media she wants to see herself reflected in. She writes characters she identifies with, but also those that she doesn't. She's trying to break some of the science fiction stereotypes of masculine, militaristic white men being the main characters, creating strong but realistic teenage girl characters that are more along the lines of who she'd want to read about.

Maddy shared her perspective on the severe lack of teen girls in fiction that are just being teen girls. They're either very childish, or super mature with unrealistic skills. She took on the task of creating a teenage character who really is a teenage character. She describes it as freeing, and as her favorite character so far.

We talked about Maddy and Hannah's shared love for sci-fi and why it speaks to them, like imagining a future where sexism and racism aren't the main story - where our society has moved past those issues. Also, robots and space!

We also got into trial and error, inevitable failures that come along with submitting creative writing pieces to publishers, and how Maddy has learned to move past feeling defeated and keep putting her work out there. Maddy works on her writing craft by going to writing camps, joining online sharing and editing communities for young writers, and just working on different types of stories and practicing different styles all the time.

What's your passion? How do you work on it? We hope you find Maddy's story inspiring!

Check out Maddy's published work in the short story anthology Triangulation: Dark Skies. Her story is titled Why We Endured the Darkness.

Here's a resource Maddy asked us to share:

The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards are a fantastic way for young creators of all skill levels and mediums to become more used to sending their works out into the world! They also have plenty of great scholarships.

 

Find out more about the show and reach out to our podcast team at GIRLTalk.GirlScoutsRV.org.

In this episode, we took time to hold some space for a conversation about what's going on in our community here in the Twin Cities in Minnesota. We checked in with our friend and former co-host Shanna to talk through what we've been experiencing, feeling, and doing after George Floyd was murdered by Minneapolis police on May 25, just a month ago.

We got into some tough things like feelings of grief, fear, and anxiety, feeling like we're not doing enough, how we find credible news and deal with social media, and the scary idea of society getting used to seeing violence and how it felt when it was happening around us.

We talked about how everything is heightened by the COVID-19 pandemic, feeling guilt about not feeling like we’re doing the right things, and how hard it can be for those of us in white bodies to have conversations about racial justice with our white family members and friends who might not be in the same place as us or have the same perspective.

We also talked about having to figure out how to avoid toxic messages on social media where we're seeing things like virtue signaling, white people targeting other white friends, and people trying to prove who's the best ally. These posts aren't an effective way to bring each other along on our journey toward racial justice, and can sometimes even bring us in the opposite direction. But through everything that has made us feel sad and disheartened, there’s also a lot of hope for moving forward. We talked about what that means for each of us.

If you're looking for ways to help and things to do, you can find anti-racism resources and ways to take action on the Girl Scouts River Valleys Takes Action webpage.

Keep listening, learning, and doing, and take care of yourselves and your friends, families, and neighbors.