Mission Accomplished

I received this email yesterday. It made my day. This is exactly why I wrote WAIW?. (Thanks for letting me post this Jake!)

kelsey,

I am a college junior at Rutgers and I just read your book for a research paper. I figured i could read your book and extract some quotes that would provide a scathing critique of globalization and working conditions in developing countries. While it immediately became clear that your book would offer very little along those lines and would not be of very much use in my paper I was unable to stop reading it. I have long struggled to cope with the realities under which my clothes were made. I found your account to be very refreshing. The fact that you avoided rationalizing obvious assaults on human rights with macro economic rhetoric was awesome! And conversely, your ability to help me recognize that there is more to this problem than a rich man with a monocle and a top hat counting gold coins with absolutely no regard for the conditions of the workers who make him rich (as the people walking around my campus marching with signs might have you believe). I really appreciated getting to see the personal side of this issue, completely stripped of politics. Where am I Wearing affected me in a profound way, and i just want to thank you for writing it.

Thank you,
Jake

My WrittenRoad

I talk about my road to writing today on the WrittenRoad.

Harper’s First Geocache in the Dayton City Paper

Annie and I geocache on occasion. In my most recent column in the Dayton City Paper, I highlight some of our experiences hunting for caches, including our most recent one - Harper’s First Cache.

What activity frames your life? For this piece I frame our lives on geocaching. I’m sure there are multiple others things I could have used: a holiday, moving, vacations, etc.

Protectionism (giggle…giggle)

The buy-American clause in the U.S. Stimulus package that mandated the use of American made materials like steel was met with hard opposition last month. This month, a softer – nearly flaccid – issue has arisen…

(From the Associated Press)

The last U.S.-based supplier of condoms for global HIV/AIDS prevention programs could be forced to shut its doors because the federal government sent the work to cheaper suppliers in Asia.

The change came earlier this month as Congress dropped a requirement that the government buy American-made condoms when possible, with exceptions for price and availability. (KT: what about color and glow in the darkness?)

On a personal note: Kudos to Ben Evans, the AP journalist who wrote the story, for avoiding any silly puns in his piece. Articles like that are why I could never be a “real” journalist.

Speaking of which…If you’re looking for a good time, take a few minutes and try to think up your own puns surrounding condom protectionism or the lack thereof.

“Bossnappings” all the rage in France

Did your boss announce layoffs or pay cuts?

Want to do something about it?

You could always consider holding him hostage for 24-hrs like the French.

From the Guardian:

Over a hundred striking workers were last night holding a French executive hostage at a health products plant in the latest in a trend of “bossnappings”. Luc Rousselet, the French director of the US company 3M, had been held captive since arriving at the plant in Poithievers south of Paris for a visit on Tuesday. Staff took turns to guard him over 24 hours while demanding better severance packages for laid-off staff and better conditions for those remaining… Taking a boss hostage is becoming an increasingly common protest gesture in France.

Rule 29: Creative Matters…& so does good people believing in your work

To me Where Am I Wearing? is more than a book, it’s a mission. And one that uncannily matches up to the business plan I wrote three years ago:

“Have a positive impact on the less fortunate peoples I write about. Bring awareness and shed light on situations and processes that are socially difficult so that readers actively help alleviate problems.”

I’m pleased to welcome two more soldiers to the cause.

Larry Olson, a VP at Wiley, read WAIW? and is now going above and beyond helping to promote the book. He has placed ads in Relevant Magazine the past two months and now has enlisted the help of the Illinois-based, strategic design firm, Rule29.

Rule29 in their own words: “We believe in making creative matter. So, what does that mean for you? We specialize in strategic design that is based on the unique values, audience and key messages of you, our client. By applying a well-defined creative strategy, we transform the raw information of who you are and what you do into a striking visual message that arrests the attention of your audience. Strategy + Great Design = Making Creative Matter.”

What does all of this mean for WAIW? It’s about to get a whole lot shinier around here.

Today I had a conference call with Larry from Wiley and Dan from Rule29. There are a number of areas that we’ll be working on.

1) The Blog – This place could use a face lift, a toosh tuck, some lipo, and a boob job.

2) Improve Social Networking – I confessed to them that I felt that my social networking life was a mess. I feel like I’m everywhere and nowhere. A list of my social communities fighting for my time: Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, GoodReads, Flickr, APEsphere, LibraryThing, LinkedIn, Matador Travel, and I probably forgot about a few of them. It’s hard to update and participate in them all. They assured me that I’m better than 98% of authors in this regard. Still, there’s room for improvement. There is even talk about breathing some life into the Underwear Wall of Fame.

3) Reach Students – I’m really excited about this. If I would have talked to High School or College Kelsey, I would have so converted me to a(n) Touron/Engaged Consumer. We want to develop materials that allow teachers to introduce the concepts in WAIW?

4) Develop my brand – I’m hoping for Touron action figures!

This should be loads of fun and I’ll keep you all posted.

If you have ideas, I’d love to hear them. We’re still in the brainstorming stages, so it’s not too late to get in on the action. In fact, I just received some questions from Rule29. A set of them begins as such…

“If Where Am I Wearing was an amusement park…?”

A few answers: Free rides for everybody. Anyone who makes less than $2 per day gets moved to the front of the line.

Moving at the speed of business

People often talk about labor-intensive, low paying industries like garments as the first-step to a nation’s economic prosperity – sort of a starter drug for emerging economies. Name a developed nation and you can point to a period of hard work and low pay in their history.

People always use Japan and Taiwan as recent examples of moving from garments to big, bustling economies. They think that China, Bangladesh, Cambodia, etc. are on the same path.

But business moves faster now.

This year I might source my widgets from Mexico, but next year maybe China or Indonesia.

Speaking of Mexico, it sits there right beneath the biggest bunch of spend-crazies in human history. Few countries sought to benefit more from the global economy than Mexico.

So Mexico, how’s that going for ya?

(From Elizabeth Malkin’s piece in the NY TIMES NAFTA’s Promises Unfulfilled)

Domestic industries were dismantled as multinationals imported parts from their own suppliers.

Local farmers were priced out of the market by food imported tariff-free. Many Mexican farmers simply abandoned their land and headed north.

Things grew worse when the tech bubble burst, the American economy cooled and the companies moved to China, where they could pay even lower wages. Once China entered the World Trade Organization, Mexico lost much of the edge in exporting to the United States that Nafta had given it. Employment in Guadalajara’s I.T. factories dropped 37 percent in 2001 and continued to slide for two years.

There is no doubt that trade can lead to development. But industry has to stick around long enough to give that development a chance. Maybe business moves too fast now to create more Taiwans and Japans.

Harper’s First Geocache

On Saturday we took Harper geocaching.

In the Indy Star

The Indianapolis Star featured me in a Q&A on Friday.

Zach Dunkin, one of the first editors to publish me, interviewed me for the piece and Frank Espich took the photos. I kinda look like I should be on the President’s bowling team in the last shot because Frank had me rolling in laughter. MY USA shorts are stretched out and he was amazed that I could wear them at all.

Anyhow, great guys, great piece, not-so great model.

Spirit of Soccer helping kids from Cambodia to Iraq

When I was in Cambodia tracking down where my jeans were made, I bumped into the group Spirit of Soccer, and eventually met Scotty Lee it’s founder. I was fortunate enough to accompany them into some of the countries most heavily mined regions and watch as the SOS staff simultaneously passed on their love of the game to kids while educating them about land mines and other unexploded ordinance. I’ve always thought sport was one of the best ways to communicate with kids.

The language of PLAY is universal.

Scotty Lee is a pretty interesting character, too. During the writing of WAIW I tried to work in mention of SOS and Scotty Lee but it just didn’t seem to fit. So, whenever I get the chance to spread the word about SOS, I jump at it.

A few months ago they joined Facebook and now they have their very own YouTube Channel. Check out their first video highlighting the groups history and their recent expansion into Iraq…