If you have been wanting to purchase yourself some “Gateway of the Gods” Merchandise your chance is here. We would love for you to purchase a great T-shirt, but we also have Mugs, Pillows, Phone Cases, Laptop Cases and even a Baby Onesie. We licensed the rights to the photo from Jenna and are now offering you your choice of stuff to make your listening even more exciting.
Check out our TeePublic Store, https://www.teepublic.com/user/leadersnlegacies
Leaders N Legacies is all about connecting people with passions to other people with passions. Before returning Scouting as an adult Dave Rockwell (the Scouter DM) work and volunteered with youth as part of the United Methodist Churches summer camp program at Sky Lake (in Windsor, New York). He already had a passion for working with youth in outdoor settings. In 2013, his wife Kim changed his life when she volunteered him to be his son’s Den leader with Pack 913 in Herndon, VA. He hasn’t looked back since.
At first glance it may seem to be a case of Dave patting Dave on the back, but it’s not. Sure Dave is the one writing this blog post, but that’s just to give you the context of the legacy that is being worked. Dave is one of a few lucky people getting to live out the legacy of other Scouters. Sure we can trace out the path all the way to Lord Baden-Powell himself (and John Wesley too if you really push it). But Dave is a part of the legacy of some pretty tremendous Scouters who came before him.
You know two of them. Chris Cooper and George Costigan. Yep, Thandor and Stanton. Both are fun to play with but even more amazing to work with as Scouters. Both were impacting Dave before he even knew either of their names. Both have improved Scouting for thousands of Scouters and tens of thousands of Scouts moving through the program.
Dave was first impacted b Chris’ work when he was a Cubmaster. Dave heard of impassioned Scouters who were learning amazing things from Chris (and his colleagues) from a program called Wood Badge. Dave saw the amazing things that these scouters were doing because of that program. Dave wanted to have a similar impact for his Scouts. Dave took Wood Badge. The more Dave learned from Wood Badge, the more people kept pointing him this amazing mentor and friend they all had named Chris. In 2019, Dave got the chance work with Chris and saw all the amazing this Chris could do. While already inspired, Dave heard the word that so him on Chris being the coolest Scout leader ever when Chris proclaim “I love to play D&D”. The first of many inspirational leaders who play D&D that Dave would meet, Dave knew immediately he wanted to learn more about leadership from Chris and to play D&D with him too. He continues to do both. Chris was a class of 2018 recipient of the Silver Beaver.
Dave was learning about leadership from George long before he and George ever spoke. As a Cub Scout leader Dave quickly figured out Cub Scouter Leader Roundtable was the best place to pick up information about cub scouting and cub events. One hour of time at Roundtable could make up for several hours of digging and planning. Eventually Dave was recruited to join the Roundtable team in his home district. He was introduced to the person who practically invented the modern Roundtable and who was on the National Committee for Roundtable, George Costigan. Suddenly it connected, George was the leader giving Roundtable Commissioners and thereby Scout leaders “the WILL TO DO & the SKILL TO DO”. George is single handedly the Scouter who showed Dave the path to being an amazing Roundtable Commissioner and he mostly did it before they met on regular basis. George was kind enough to ask Dave to join him in working his legacy of Roundtable. Dave continues to learn from George. George received his Silver Beaver in 2009.
Each of the Scouters we have on the podcast is amazing. Seth will be attending Wood Badge this spring and is pretty amazing in general (always game to help scouts out). Rachel is not only a stellar Cubmaster, Day Camp Director but recently earned her Wood Badge beads (you get two for completing the course and your 5 Goal Wood Badge ticket). She will be staffing Wood Badge under Rick Rogers (another mentor of mine that I am in awe of). Both will be building their legacies upon the work of Chris and George.
Guests Sanjay Patel and Justin Day are leaders to watch and learn from too. Sanjay is an amazing Wood Badge staffer and as the Quartermaster for the NCAC’s Spring Wood Badge Course will be guiding many scouters to greatness. Justin works closely with Scouts in the National Youth Leadership Training (NYLT) and NAYLE. Justin was awarded the Silver Beaver in 2021.
Note from Dave: I look forward to continuing to learning from all of these Scouters. They have introduced me to so many things and made me be better leader. I am honored to be selected in a Silver Beaver class with Shawn Carroll (a scouter we want to have on a guest player in the future and who is the mentor to many of my mentors) and Maria Cooper. Maria is Chris’ wife, but she comes at Scouting from her own perspective and I have been fortunate to have her as a colleague and mentor on Wood Badge Staff. George and I are also lucky to have her as the Scouts BSA Roundtable Assistant Council Commissioner on our Roundtable Team. Again, this post is not bragging, but to show the legacy work I am doing in an attempt to have an impact for youth. These are the leaders who inspired me. It is to them that I give thanks for the honor/award I am receiving.
I would be remiss in not mentioning other leaders who put me on my path to earning this award:
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Totally curious.
Get in on The Quest for musical entertainment.
Pandemic got you down? Tired of podcasts trying to get you to listen to their content? Need something to do one evening Feb 11 to 19? How about trying “The Quest“, a D&D Musical co-written by Murray Foster. Murray is an amazing song writer, and founder/director/instructor of the Toronto Songwriting School. He has been a member of the music sensation Moxy Fuvous and made a legacy as member of Canada’s beloved folk rock band Great Big Sea (writing fan favorites like Safe Upon the Shore).
This isn’t Murray’s first venture in to musicals. In December of 2014, Mr. Foster released his passion project “The Cocksure Lads Movie“, a British Invasion movie about a band coming to North America for their big break on the music scene. Filled with catchy tunes, 60 styled wacky comedy and a guest appearance by Alan Doyle (the lead signer from Great Big Sea), this movie is a true blast for people looking for a fun romp. The Cocksure Lads was eventually adapted for stage under the name “Chelsea Sunrise”.
Murray is a true leader in the music community. In addition to having many side projects, he is a creator who cares about the music and the audiences that need to hear it. He is the President of the Toronto’s Urban Orchestra. “The Urban Orchestra brings its audience the proximity and intensity common with other forms of live music – the way orchestral music deserves to be heard”. Teamed with talents like Greg Hawko, an integral leader/performer inToronto’s staging of “Come From Away”, Foster strives to support and build a legacy for Canadian music.
While Leaders N Legacies don’t have anything to do with the play other then The Scouter DM and his wife will be watching online. Why not join us for this interesting event?
You can here our interview with Murray here: https://reason.fm/podcast/leaders-n-legacies/bonus-episode-interview-with-dm-and-canadian-rocker-murray-foster
You can follow Murray on Twitter @MurrayFoster1
Dice Giveaway? No, Tray and Dice Giveaway. Many ways to enter but only 1 way to win. So get in it to win it. Don’t need dice? We will let you give them to your Valentine. So follow the instructions below and enter to win. Note that some methods give you more chances to win. You have until the evening of February 17th (Making Valentine’s Day into Valentine’s Week) to enter.
Don’t think you can win? You can’t win if you don’t enter. In the worse case scenario you end up listening to the show and liking it, creating as of the current posting the need for you to listen to approximately 19 hours of content (which you can optimize by checking out the blog too). Okay, you could also end up chatting with Dave on Twitter which is not in and of itself too bad. He will try to recruit you to join Scouting or play tabletop roleplaying games like Dungeons & Dragons, Fate, Dread (to name only a few).
But that’s not the point, he might (with the help of his Leaders and Legacies compatriots) attempt to help you improve your life of that of someone near or dear to you. So even if you don’t win you might win, if you know what we mean. I never know what they mean when they say “if you know what I mean” . So if you are confused, just go an enter to win. It’s certainly easier than reading all this.
One of the things great Scouters spend much time thinking about and executing is the vision and legacy of the giants of history who have come before us. In the United States we look leaders from our past for this vision.. Lincoln, JFK and Martin Luther King, Jr. to name but a few. Today is a day for us to reflect MLK’s words. Many point to the “I have a Dream” speech. We focus on the dreaming at the beginning, but action was call for by Dr. King.
At the end of the speech, Dr. King calls us to action and clear vision:
And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true. And so let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania. Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado. Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California. But not only that, let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia. Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee. Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.
And when this happens, and when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village, every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, Black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: Free at last. Free at last. Thank God almighty, we are free at last.
The goal is simple, work together for the freedom and liberty of all. One of the things I love about Scouting and TTRPG, is both communities seem to strive towards these goes. Open tables that are safe spaces for all to gather. Working together to support, serve and grow our communities for the befit of all are mutual goals.
Vision is a picture of future success. Dr. King’s vision was clear “when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village, every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when… we are free at last.” I will help work towards making that legacy come true.
We would love some help finding its audience on the newish podcasting platform @reasonfm (where we can be heard for free). If we can get to 10 (or more) subscribers on their platform, we can submit to be a featured podcast for a week. This will help us grow our audience which is currently small but mighty. All you have to do is go to their site (or download their app), create an account and subscribe. We would love for you to actually listen, so feel free to stick around and check out our adventures (new and old) where you will hear leadership quotes, wild/crazy quests, and laugh a lot. We are clean and Scout Friendly (as a group of Scouter RPG Players should be). Help us out here: https://reason.fm/podcast/leaders-n-legacies
Leaders N Legacies has been publishing podcasts to Anchor for about 6 months now. We started recording about 11 months ago (12 at the end of this month). A lot of cool stuff has happened… adventures, laughs, art, hoodies, contests and more. Thandor has shown us he doesn’t like to ride horses but does like to ride Giants. Korin really wants coffee, but doesn’t need it. Fezzik and Markas are still trying to find path to friendship. Stanton turned down the chance to be king. Antan is on the path to becoming a Druid or a King.
We have a steady cadre of listeners, but we would love to grow. We think your friends would like us too (or friend of friends, frienemies, cousins, shift supervisors, troop, crew or pack). Help us get the word out if you like us. Recommend us to people you hate if you don’t like us (we hope everyone finds us inviting). We would like double our listnership so we provide more for you (the more support we get the more we afford to do).
We will be trying out new things like this (so let us know what works):
Did you miss out on a chance to purchase a Leaders & Legacies Hoodie with art by the amazing Katharine Evans? There is still a chance to win one (2XL) and all you have to do to win is:
Leave us a positive review on podchaser (https://podchaser.com/podcasts/leaders-n-legacies-1970178…) and tweet a picture of your review to @LeadersNLegacy by 12/31 at midnight PT (3 am 1/1 EST). Not on Twitter, post it below in the comments or comment with a picture on Facebook (make sure we know it’s you).
Want to see what the hoodies look like… watch this.
