"Little Princes" on the Nate Berkus show

Visit Conor’s blog to get his behind the scenes take on his appearance.

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Ask your librarian to get "Little Princes"

Dear Harriette,

I wanted to tell you about a book that I would love to see the library have – “Little Princes: One Man’s Promise to Bring Home the Lost Children of Nepal” by Conor Grennan. I hope it’s the next “Three Cups of Tea.” I’ve followed Conor’s blog for years now. Basically, he was traveling around the world and decided to volunteer at an orphanage in Nepal. When be realized many of the children were victims of human trafficking, he decided to do something about it.

If you’re cool like me, you are on a first name basis with your local librarian and have her email address. I shot…

The Little Princes are holding my blog hostage

I’m not sure I’ve ever been more excited about a book than Conor Grennan’s Little Princes, which comes out next week. I want to support it in every possible way I can and I hope you’ll help me.

Conor went to Nepal to volunteer at an orphanage. When he learned that many of the kids were trafficked, he decided to do something about it. He setup Next Generation Nepal that sought to reconnect trafficked children with their parents.

I’ve been following Conor’s blog, Conor’s Mildly Thrilling Tales, for years. We were both part of the BootsnAll blogging network when I stumbled upon him. Conor’s writing is hilarious and powerful, self-deprecating and…

Donate to your local NPR station

I feel for Juan Williams, I really do. The dude should not have been fired, especially in the manner that he was. A phone call! They could’ve at least had Carl Kassle call him and leave a message on his voicemail.

But even more than that I feel for NPR. NPR is getting hammered in the press for being this liberal conspiracy to take over the world. (Full Disclosure: I would totally vote Tom and Ray of Car Talk into the White House. There is all of this talk of which party, the Democrats or the Republicans, drove the bus into the ditch and who is going to drive us out. Well, at least with Tom…

Giving $10 to 3 Cups

Tonight I have the honor of speaking at the Columbus (IN) Library. The community selected Three Cups of Tea for their community reading program and since they apparently couldn’t get Greg Mortensen himself, they contacted me. I’m super pumped. I love the book and every time I read about Mortenson I’m amazed by his psycho-like dedication to his cause and all the positive change he is bringing into our world.

I’ll be talking about the Girl Effect, the importance of educating and employing women, and up and coming Greg Mortensons like Jake Harriman of NURU who I’ve had the pleasure to meet.

Here’s the official description of my chat:

Common Threads: Exploring Poverty One Story at a Time presented by…

What's the cause of your life?

We learn an awful lot about a person reading about their death.

I appreciate a good obituary; one that speaks to a life lived. Unfortunately many of us don’t have the luxury of being eulogized in inch after inch of newspaper type by someone who can adequately navigate the arc of our life. So our families are left with the task.

Usually, it’s a very utilitarian thing, here’s who died, here’s who they were close to (if you know them you should attend), and here’s the where and when. It’s not until the end we learn the most about them.

“Memorial contributions may be made to…”

Sometimes this is where we find what killed the person, which is a shame (unless what causes their death was their cause). But…

The $10 for Tuesday Project: "Letting my babies down"

My “Free Money” post, part of my $10 for Tuesday Project, has received over 60 comments. Everything from “Give me $10 or I’ll kill you” to, more often, tales that are a sign of these tough times.

It’s become much more of a responsibility than I ever imagined. To think someone was so desperate that they Googled “free money” and took the time to comment or email me their story hoping they might get a measly $10 breaks my heart. I always try to respond.

I received this note a while back:

My name is Michelle I am a 32 yr old single mom of 2. A 12 yr old lil girl and my 7yr old…

The Poor Give More than the Rich

If you had more, you would give less.

Americans earning less than $25,000 give away 4.2% of their income on average and those earning $75,000+ give away only 2.7% of theirs according to a piece by Judith Warner in the NY Times The Charitable Giving Divide.

Some of the most interesting parts of the story were Warner’s discussions with grad student, Paul Piff, about his research at UC Berkeley:

“…lower-income people were more generous, charitable, trusting and helpful to others than were those with more wealth. They were more attuned to the needs of others and more committed generally to the values of egalitarianism.

“Upper class” people, on the other hand, clung to values that “prioritized their own need.” And, he told me this week, “wealth seems to buffer people from attending…

$10 to the forgotten people of Bangladesh

I was invited to speak to class in Indianapolis by John Clark, who runs a very cool organization called Provocate that seeks to connect Indianapolis to the world.

I was trying out some new material on being a glocal (think globally, act locally). The more I travel and the more I come into contact with extreme poverty, the more I realize that it is Bangladeshi’s that are the most capable of helping other Bangladeshi’s, just as it is Hoosiers who have to help other Hoosiers.

So now I donate money to organizations that I feel do a good job of supporting Bangladeshi’s helping other Bangladeshi’s. And where I’m a local – Muncie, Indiana – I’m donating time to fight poverty in my community.

I think that it’s important that each of us thinks about our place in the world and in our local community. I’ll hash these thoughts out more in a future post. This is something I really want to work into my new and improved “Where Am I Wearing?” presentation this fall.

Anyhow, during the Q&A after the talk someone posited, “Wouldn’t it be better for countries like Bangladesh if instead of traveling there you just donated the amount of money you would have spent and stay home?” I like the question. It kind of reminds me of this one that Wall Street Journal asked me. The audience turned a bit on the poor fella who was really just playing devil’s advocate and lobbing up a softball for me to knock out of the park.

I answered it similar to my answer in the Journal:

That’s misguided, says Kelsey Timmerman, a 28-year-old Muncie, Ind., scuba-diving instructor and author. If he’d never been to the Great Barrier Reef, he wouldn’t care as much that it is dying from rising ocean temperatures. Decisions he makes as a consumer and a voter offset emissions resulting from his travels, says Mr. Timmerman, who visited Bangladesh, Cambodia and China last year. “Travel helps us care more about our world.”

My answer was okay, but nowhere near the answer that came from the next hand that went up. Anwar Khan and his wife were planning a trip to Bangladesh with the intention of helping one family. They went and couldn’t do it. There was just too much suffering to help only one family. They founded OBAT Helpers an organization that gives hope to Pakistani refugees in Bangladesh.

Soon as Anwar told his story, I knew that some Tuesday in the very near future I would be giving OBAT $10. Today is that Tuesday. Here’s how to join me.

A letter from Anwar is below the break

$10 for Tuesday: In support of wounded soldiers

Captain Scott Smiley

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. It takes next to no time for me to be back to normal.

But that’s not always the…