If you are what you watch, I'm a card-carrying member of the NRA & a potsmoking terrorist

I noted on a friend’s facebook wall that I was watching Al Jazeera English. Another commenter couldn’t believe any self-respecting American would watch Al Jazeera. No doubt, he thought I was a terrorist. (If only he knew about my anti-flatulence underwear!) I’m not sure why seeking out and watching one of the largest and most-respected networks closest to the heart of much of the world’s major current events, is a bad thing. But there you go. Terrorist. Me.

Anyhow this got me thinking about the stereotypes of media outlets and what where we get our news says about us.

(forgive me as I share a few stereotypes)

If you watch Fox News you are conservative red…

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Glocal Challenge #1: Boycotting American News (but not news about America)

Welcome to the first Glocal Challenge of the Go Glocal Project!

Let’s do this!

What does Timbuktu think of you?

Do you read any newspapers based in developing countries ? Me neither. What if we did? How would seeing how the world sees us change the way we see ourselves?

Conor Friedersdorf had an interesting piece in the Atlantic Monthly comparing CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News, to Al Jazeera. The American mainstay cable network sites’ headlines were filled with royal wedding news, puppies, and sex, while Al Jazeera had headlines about the press in Iraq, women’s rights in Bahrain, and war crimes in Sri Lanka.

Are we really that self-centered and shallow?

Friedersdorf writes:

If Americans felt an appropriate degree of responsibility for the…

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Touron Goes Glocal: Announcing The Go Glocal Project

Nairobi 082

The Go Glocal Project

What happens in our community happens to the rest of the world. And what happens to the rest of the world happens to us. The global is local. The local is global. In tough times we must be global citizens as well as local citizens, neighbors and volunteers as well as donors. We need to Go Glocal.

If you agree with this just go ahead and join the Glocal Project now. We’ve got a lot of work to do.

Ways to Join:

  1. Sign up for the Go Glocal Project’s monthly newsletter – more ways to go glocal and sneak peeks about what’s to come.
  2. Join The Go Glocal Project’s Facebook Page
  3. If…
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An Open Letter to the Parents of Daughters Who Wish to Travel the World

I hope Annie and I raise a daughter with the confidence to take on the world, but thinking about my kid – especially my daughter Harper – traveling as far and wide as I have, scares me a little.  I’m not proud of thinking the “especially my daughter” thoughts.  It seems wrong thinking that Harper would be any less capable of handling traveling solo than my yet-to-be born son, but I feel like there are just more challenges out there for girls.  I sent a note to Rachel Friedman, author of The Good Girls Guide to Getting Lost, asking her to set me straight. She does so in this guest post.

Ladies and gentlemen, moms and dads, and girls, I present to you Rachel Friedman.

An…

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Garment "factory in a box"

I had the pleasure of meeting Michael of Faces Behind the Label recently in LA.  His passion for migrant workers and his knowledge of the garment industry mean he’s uniquely positioned to make a big impact.  I talk about the great potential that the garment industry has to be an important tool in lifting people out of poverty.  This is EXACTLY what I mean.

Faces Behind the Label has developed a “Factory in a box” model, which seems like a great idea.  Basically, they build a garment factory inside a shipping container and move it to an area where a few jobs could have a big impact.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_CcB1tuuVw[/youtube] …

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The problem with “Three Cups of Tea” and the 60 Minutes attack

“It’s a beautiful story and it’s a lie,” said Jon Krakauer at the beginning of yersterday’s 60 Minute piece attacking Greg Mortenson, his books Three Cups of Tea and Stones into Schools, and the Central Asia Institute.

It didn’t stop with Krakauer.

“Totally false. He’s lying,” said a man pictured as a terrorist in Three Cups, but who is actually a respected academic in Pakistan.

“Greg uses CAI as his private ATM,” claimed a former board member of CAI.

“Grossly exaggerated.”

“Outright fabrication.”

“A steaming load of horseshit peppered with corn kernels of wisdom.” Me.

Thee Cups of Lies

After a failed summit attempt of K2, Mortenson stumbled into the village of Korphe where he was nursed back to health and promised a little…

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Join me in supporting wounded veterans

Running for Team RWB

Odysseus Runs for Team Red, White, and Blue

Donate here to support our wounded veterans

Leaving your family isn’t easy. I leave mine for a month or two at time. That’s a tough goodbye. Each time I’m faced with it, I think about the men and women of our military. They are gone for much longer and traveling to lands far less welcoming.

Returning home is always sweet. I return with my hair a bit longer, a few pounds missing, and some great stories. Annie usually cuts my hair within a few days, a couple weeks eating dessert puts the weight back on, and I stew over the stories making them readable….

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69, Bangkok, and other things that are hilarious to high school students

“How many people does it take to sew together a single pair of blue jeans?” I ask the audience of 500 high schoolers. It’s 8:00 AM and the fact that a bunch of hands go up is a testament to the beginning of my presentation filled with fart jokes and encounters with deadly venomous snakes. (If I ever stumble upon a farting venomous snake, I’ll have struck pay dirt. For now I work with the stories I’ve got and they seem to work pretty well.)

The guesses come: 5, 25, 8, 9…

“Let’s have one more,” I say. I point to a boy in the top row.

“69!”

The entire high school giggles like Beavis and Butthead. …

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TOMS responds and I make an offer

In case you didn’t see the comments in the last post, TOMS responds!  And then I respond to TOMS and make a super-special offer.

(I out Taylor as a TOM employee in my response. I got his last name from his email address. Here’s the proof.)

April 7th, 2011 | 11:50 am Taylor said:

If you would look at the actual facts of what happens when they are made, not just where, you would see the truth. TOMS uses multiple countries to make their shoes. The fact is, TOMS has factories in the same countries they give their shoes. Like Ethiopa. Here’s a thought, even the same factory with the same workers paid the same amount as SoleRebels. The reasoning for this is so they CAN provide jobs in the…

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