What does a vagabonding underwear journalist pack on an 8-day trip to Honduras?
1 pair of Khaki pants
1 pair of jeans
1 pair of shorts
1 lucky shorts (they don’t stay up anymore so they serve little other purpose)
2 T-shirts
3 polo shirts
4 pairs of underwear
5 pair of socks
1 belt
3 shoes (flip-flops, running shoes, dress shoes)
iPhone
Passport
Immunization book
Book to give Amilcar when I find him
Netbook
Point & Shoot camera
Eyeglasses
Sunglasses
Toiletries (teeth, shaving, skin)
1 Aerobie super disc to give away
1 Aerobie super disc to play withg
1 hackey sack in case of emergency1 2450 cubic inch backpack
1 Kindle
1 Domke reporter bag
And when I cram all of that in my backpack and bag it weighs about 20lbs. All in all I think I might be over packed a bit, but it’s an amount I can repack in 5 minutes and I could carry it across Honduras if I had to.
What do you think? What did I pack that you wouldn’t? What else would you just HAVE to pack?
The Ayn Rand Institute is now accepting volunteers.
From the institute’s website:
If you are unable to make monetary contributions or just want to do a little extra to help ARI, we invite you to become a volunteer!
ARI relies on volunteers to assist us with various departmental projects and with the running of special events. While we have a wonderful and very capable staff, we can always use additional help at peak times.
If the irony of this doesn’t slap you upside the head, you must not know who Ayn Rand is.
Ayn Rand is most well known for her novels The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged. She is a champion of rational egoism: an action is rational only if it maximizes self-interest. And she spoke out against ethical truism: our actions should serve and benefit others even at the cost of our self-interest.
Basically, her philosophy is that if we all look out for “numer uno” then society will take care of itself. Her philosophy is a precursor to Gordon Gekko’s “greed is good” mantra.
If that’s the case, then why would anyone volunteer, ever? How could the Ayn Rand Institute ask for volunteers without shouldering an Atlas-like load of hypocrisy?
The act of volunteering, and any act of civic engagement, can serve your self-interest.
I moved to Muncie in 2007 after a decade of homelessness. Nope, I wasn’t living out of a grocery cart. But any day over the previous decade could have found me in one of four states or fifty different countries. I was a citizen of everywhere and nowhere.
Muncie is the first place I ever began to settle into as an adult. Ayn Rand might cringe a bit, but as I settled into my new home, I wanted to give back. I became a big brother, I began working with a group that helps lift people out of poverty in Muncie, I raised $30,000 for a charity that works in the slums of Africa, and I raised $3,000 for people living with cancer.
I like to think my motives weren’t selfish, but let’s say they were. What did I get out of giving back?
I dined with the CEO of Ford, a host of West Point leaders, and member of President Obama’s cabinet at an exclusive Park Avenue event.
I’ve met city council members, county commissioners, and state senators.
I’ve learned how to ask for money.
I ran a marathon and got in the best shape of my life.
I got a free trip to Africa and back on which I collected stories that I eventually got paid for, and that I’m now compiling into my second book, which I’ll get paid for again.
I was featured in ads in Relevant Magazine – free publicity that led to sales of my book and paid speaking engagements.
My little brother has helped me learn more about Muncie, what there is to do, and what raising a teenager might look like when my kids become teens.
And just since joining the Leadership Board, BJ has helped guide me to amazing resources that are helping to shape a possible new business venture and Brandon has taught me how to use social media better.
I’ve gained financial and social capital, and enhanced and learned skills. Not even considering all of that warm and fuzzy moral obligation to help others stuff, giving back has paid off big time.
To say I’ve become obsessed with commencement speeches might be an understatement. I’ve watched Tom Hanks talk at Stanford, Colbert talk at a small college in Illinois, and this morning, Conan address Dartmouth.
I’ve given one commencement speech, way back in 2006. I think it went okay. One of the audience members peed her pants and several more picked their noses and ate it. My commencement speech was to middle-schoolers and kindergartners near my childhood home in Ohio. For my efforts, I received an honorary certificate of participation and a pen.
I haven’t done a commencement speech in a while, but I have delivered several convocation speeches to incoming freshman at universities that are using Where Am I Wearing as a common reader. I will do so again in the fall, which is why I’ve spent so much time watching wisdom-to-students speeches. Conan’s speech at Dartmouth is one of the better ones.
The speech is about 25 minutes long and I recommend watching the whole thing. Jokes account for more than the first half of the speech, but then he gets serious and addresses his perceived, very public failure, when at age 47 his dream changed.
Here are some of his nuggets of wisdom:
There are few things more liberating in this life than having your worst fear realized.
Your path at 22 will not necessarily be your path at 32.
It is our failure to become our perceived ideal that ultimately defines us and makes us unique…your perceived failure can become a catalyst for profound reinvention.
Whatever you think your dream is now, it will probably change, and that’s okay.
“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. The sad part is that Mr. 69 won the tote! (The answer is 85.)
After the large presentation I visited a class where Bangkok warranted giggles, yet when I slipped and said, “we all need to just start giving a shit,” the entire class looked at their teacher as if he were going to send me to the principal’s office.
High schoolers: their inner thoughts are X-rated, but from 8-4 every day they live in a PG-World.
A confession: I have a Rod Stewart channel on Pandora. Harper and I listen to it every night when I giver her a bath.
The first song that came on tonight was Rod Stewart’s “Forever Young.”
And when you finally fly away
I’ll be hoping that I served you well
For all the wisdom of a lifetime
No one can ever tell
But whatever road you choose
I’m right behind you, win or lose
Forever Young, Forever Young
I’ve known the song for years, but I really never felt the lyrics until I became a parent.
Another confession: I saw Rod Stewart in concert…with my mom!
So there I sat at the side of the tub staring all sappy-eyed at Harper, and she gave me her cheese smile. A knot grew in my chest as I thought about the day she would head off on her own, perhaps to travel the world. I thought about that moment and how I hoped we would have imparted all the lessons she would need.
The knot tightened.
And then Harper farted tiny little stink bubbles. She sniffed them, said “What was that?” and then she giggled.
—
So here’s the music video of “Forever Young.”
Honestly, the video kind of ruined the song for me.
In the beginning Rod is holding his son, and I can’t decide if he’s standing in the middle of the road about to be run over or sitting in the back of a pickup truck. His hair is moving a bit so I suppose it’s a pickup driving at 120 mph or some other ungodly speed that it would take to even slightly move his hair – it being so full of product.
Once I realized he was in the bed of a truck I though, “Oh my God, what an awful parent. Someone should call Child Protective Services on Rod Stewart!” Speeding down the road sitting on the tailgate with your son is way worse than Britney Spears driving with a kid on her lap. At least Britney’s kid was in the car!
Also, men shouldn’t wear shoulder pads unless they are playing football.
(I’m at the First Year Experience Conference in Atlanta this weekend celebrating the Superbowl and my birthday. I thought I’d share the page I made for educators considering using Where Am I Wearing as a common reader. )
First Year Experience
In the 2010-2011 school year Where Am I Wearing was selected as a freshman common reader by Elmhurst College, Pfeiffer University, and Wingate University.
In the following video you’ll…
Learn why Pfeiffer University selected Where Am I Wearing
Watch what Kelsey has to tell an auditorium full of freshman about getting kicked out of his first college class & being undecided
See a synopsis of Kelsey’s global quest
Hear Kelsey’s advice on how we all can be glocals (local & global citizens)
Connect ideas & people
Email hi@kelseytimmerman.com to…
Arrange a Skype visit with Kelsey
Have Kelsey visit your campus
Organize a Skype session with garment workers and your students
When I was on the trip that would become “Where Am I Wearing?” and even during the writing of the book, I never imagined how the book would be used. Middle schools, high schools, churches, and book clubs have used the book. But the most rewarding usage for me has been when the book is used as a freshman common reader.
When I was on the trip that would become “Where Am I Wearing?” and even during the writing of the book, I never imagined how the book would be used. Middle schools, high schools, churches, and book clubs have used the book. But the most rewarding usage for me has been when the book is used as a freshman common reader.
In the 2010-2011 school year three schools Elmhurst College, Pfeiffer University, and Wingate University selected Where Am I Wearing? as a their common reader and brought me onto campus. I spent a few days on each campus meeting with freshman and talking to a wide range of classes and groups about globalization, the garment industry, underwear, being a freshman, global poverty and how we can be responsible glocals (global and local citizens).
Essentially, the book is about what I did after college and how college inspired my curiosity to ask, “Where Am I Wearing?” I never never got a job because of my degree in Anthropology, but I’ve put the knowledge I gained in college to use in my own way. Being able to share my experience with college freshman who are at the “What am I going to do?” stage has been so rewarding, and it is such an honor to share the stories of the workers I met in Bangladesh, Honduras, Cambodia, and China .
I enjoy interacting with students in any way I can, including Twitter, Facebook, Skype, or discussion boards like Blackboard.
What students and faculty are saying
Deb Burris(Director of First Year Experience / Chair Dept of Communication and Journalism, Pfeiffer University): “EXACTLY what we hoped for in a Freshman Reader.” (that’s Deb introducing Kelsey in the video above)
Martin Hughes(Professor, Calvin College): “…so relevant and interdisciplinary…we packed the auditorium. He really knows how to relate to today’s college students, and he gets them to reckon with important yet difficult issues perfect for a common reading program!”
Melody Loya (Professor, W. Texas A&M University): “Kelsey is relaxed engaging; approachable, available, and just plain fun. “
Alzada Tipton (VP of Academic Affairs Elmhurst College): “I’ve never attended a presentation that I enjoyed and respected more. An exceptionally effective blend of humor and humanity: Kelsey has the rare gift of being equally talented at getting the students to laugh and to think, and it’s very effective at reaching students where they are and getting them to take some steps down a path to where they could be. I really appreciate that Kelsey was willing to share with students his own college experience and to give them some advice…in a completely genuine and real way that made them take it much more seriously, I am sure, than all the advice droned at them by professors and administrators in the first two weeks of their college experience.
Jacob Franchino(student Rutgers University): I really appreciated getting to see the personal side of this issue completely stripped of politics. Where Am I Wearing affected me in a personal way.
Hilary Broms(student, Monmouth College) : “ I do have it “made” and I have never once thought about who made it for me. It is crazy to think about where I am wearing.
Kasey Zapatka(student Point Loma University): It has truly influenced me and I wholeheartedly agree, that they are “no longer just clothes”.
Colleen Boyd(Professor of Anthropology, Ball State University): “…fills in blanks I could not, since it puts names, faces and compelling stories to the (global economy).
Bryce Sneed(student, Wingate University) – “I’m not a fan of reading but I just can’t seem to put this one down. I have come to realize that the struggle of what we americans think is right and what people of other countries think is right is very hard.”
Day 3 of the Little Princes hostage crisis. Between here and facebook and email and twitter about 40 of you have come to my rescue. Now, how to find another 60 people to do one of the following and report back in the comments?
On Monday, the day Little Princes is released, I’m going to share why the book is so important to me personally. It has to do with monks, orphans, a foot infection, and another hostage situation. Until then, here’s Conor talking about NGN’s important work.
I’ve written about Jake and NURU before. I’m thrilled to share my latest piece on the World Vision Report. I’m still sort of new to the full-length radio feature thing (this is my second), but am really proud of this one.
The knocker was Terry our RA. We called him worse things. He was treated like a substitute teacher. His endless threats were powerless to stop the amount of hallway urination, dorm room pot smoking, and an actual kegger in my neighbor’s room complete with Bon Jovi karaoke.
Poor Terry.
As he knocked he should’ve known that we were going to be trouble. A good part of the hallway residents were jammed in my room playing Madden. It was the first week of college and we were mutinous already. It was Terry’s job to bring us all to hear the author of My Own Country our freshman common reader program book by Abraham Verghese.
Verghese, born in Ethiopia to Indian parents, was working in Johnson City, TN, when AIDS hit. Library Journal said that My Own Country “provides a heartfelt perspective on the American response to the spread of AIDS.”
I didn’t read it. I was too busy running for 300+ yards per game with Barry Sanders on Madden football. While Veghese shared his story with our classmates who should’ve read the book, we were locked in a heated tournament surrounding our PlayStation.
Actually, I don’t remember how many yards I ran for with what player on what team. Over the years I’ve had some heart-pumping moments that ended with last second heroics or heartbreak courtesy of Madden, but I can’t recall a single one. Yet I still remember that twinge of guilt as we hid in my room waiting for Terry to leave so we could get back to the game.
I worry about my karmic balance. This year I was the author of the freshman common reader at several schools. I talked about Where Am I Wearing and how the experience has made me a more active global and local citizen. I encouraged students to get the most out of school, to be a local and pitch-in to help folks in their own community, and to travel.
I was talking to myself. Not that the audience wasn’t engaged, but I was trying to reach the eighteen-year-old me. I enjoyed college. I wasn’t a big partier but I liked the free time. I spent some of it playing Madden but I also played tennis and basketball, lifted weights, and became a reader. But I didn’t embrace the experience like I should have. I should have studied abroad. I should have worked with more programs in the Oxford (Ohio not the UK; I’m not that smart) community. I was very selfish with my time in college. Now that I have less time to share, I deeply regret that I didn’t give more of myself in college.
Over the past two weeks I’ve met some amazing, engaged college students who are fully embracing the college experience. I’m so jealous.
For the past two Tuesdays I haven’t reported where my $10 went. The first Tuesday I gave it to Elmhurst College’s Global Poverty Club. And the second Tuesday I gave my $10 to UCAN at Wingate University which focuses on community service and social awareness. It’s groups like this that I should have taken advantage of when I was in school because a weekend volunteering is more memorable than a weekend playing Madden on Playstation.
This week I’m doing something a little different with my $10. I’m buying Abraham Veghese’s My Own Country. I’ll read it, and then pass it on to a college student.
1 pair of Khaki pants
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