Kelsey Timmerman's Blog, page 37

50 percent of the nation disagrees with you

We live in polarizing times.

Has any generation not thought this?

Once you turn 30 you start to have “these kids and their…” moments. These kids and their Justin Beiber, awful cartoons, and 1,000-word per minute texting abilities. We look back on the days when we were young and our tastes were refined and we all got along. Of course, the generation ahead of us looked back and thought “these kids and their…” too.

The Red state Blue State divide. What’s the matter with Kansas? Obamacare vs. Death Panels. Muncie, my hometown, is no different. The Democratic party in town split. When the Democrat running for Governor of Indiana visited Muncie, he had to make two stops, one at the Democrat HQ and one at a local bar where the other group met (now that’s a political party I can support!). Our 2004 Mayoral election was so close that there was a recount and it was essentially decided by a grand jury. On the ballot today Muncie and Delaware county citizens can vote to have our elected officials replaced by a 14-person elected board. See you later Mayor! See you later county commissioners and city council members! Folks are so sick of the divisions — democrat vs. republican, city vs. county — that they want to do away with the structure altogether.

That’s sad. Why can’t we just all get along?

The other day I was speaking at a college and someone asked me if I ever thought about running for office. My answer was basically “uhh…Hell to the No.” But I’m glad that people do. Sometimes I think it’s for selfish reasons and sometimes I think it’s for selfless ones.

Kurt Vonnegut has a great quote about running for president that could likely be applied to running for most public offices “There is a tragic flaw in our precious Constitution, and I don’t know what can be done to fix it. This is it: Only nut cases want to be president.”

Regardless if they are nut cases or not. They are our nut cases and we have to vote with them and live with the results.

Seth Godin had a recent blog post on voter apathy from a marketer’s perspective:

If you don’t vote because you’re disappointed with your choices, disgusted by tactics like lying and spin, or merely turned off by the process, you’ve opted out of the marketplace.

The goal of political marketers isn’t to get you to vote. Their goal is to get more votes than the other guy. So they obsess about pleasing those that vote. Everyone else is invisible.

Politics…it’s not going away. Yes, there’s too much money in politics. You can’t tell me that my one vote is worth as much as some billionaire’s one vote plus multi-million dollar Super-PAC donation. Anyone else see that crazy German guy with the ad about socialism? He took out his own ad! Eventually the Citizens United Supreme Court decision that allowed limitless funds in politics, will be overturned, but for now crazy rich dudes can exert their craziness by opening their checkbooks.

Democracy is a work-in-progress and sometimes it needs a little more work than others. There is no such thing as a post-political world. Don’t close your eyes and put your fingers in your ears. Vote.

Today, 100% of us will be reminded that ~50% of the nation disagrees with us. That’s okay. The diversity of our nation is what makes us strong.

When Harper gets back from school today, I’m taking her with me to vote. It will be the second time we’ve walked into the booth together. I remember Mom doing the same thing with me. Like medicine, democracy must be practiced. It must be learned. It must be passed down from parent to child.

If you don’t vote today, you should be embarrassed.

“It is with regret that I return my Eagle Scout badge.”

Photo by Daniel M. Reck

John S. Nettleton, a fellow Eagle Scout, wanted me to share his letter. After I sent my Eagle award back and I was interviewed on Talk of the Nation, I’ve heard from many Eagle Scouts who have done the same thing.

I’m proud to be a former Eagle Scout with John and so many others who are standing for what is right.

Wayne Brock, Chief Scout Executive

The National Boy Scouts of America

1325 W. Walnut Hill Lane

Irving, Texas 75015-2079

Dear Mr. Brock:

My congratulations on your appointment as BSA Chief Executive of the BSA; I trust your tenure will be productive and fulfilling. It is with regret that I return my Eagle Scout badge. I don’t regret earning that rank, but remain saddened that the organization you now lead continues on a poor path, one lacking in compassion. The BSA is seemingly unable to recognize that active discrimination against gays prevents participation by many who could benefit from the positive experiences Scouting can offer. BSA’s similar and longstanding inability to address patterns of abuse also continues to inflict pain and suffering.

I began in Scouting in Cub Scout Pack 124 (Ada, OH) and Boy Scout Troop 13 (Nashville, TN), reaching Eagle Scout rank at age 13, with 42 merit badges: I believe that at the time (1962) I was the youngest Eagle Scout in the Middle Tennessee Council. I also served as Scout camp counselor in Ohio (Camp Bucoco), Colorado (Ben Delatour Scout Ranch) and Wyoming (Chimney Park Camp). I fully understand the important role that Scouting can play in the growth and maturation of boys into young men and it is this awareness compelling me to raise these issues in what I trust is a helpful manner.

Two of the Buddhist grave precepts (similar to the Ten Commandments) pertain to the BSA dilemma and path: the first, “realize self and other as one, do not elevate the self and put down others” goes to the heart of discrimination against gays. Another, “honor the body, do not misuse sexuality”, addresses the issue of abuse and the misuse of power or authority in matters of sexual. My family lives in a diverse, peri-urban community, where my neighbors range from Republican to same-sex couples with young children. Each family should have an opportunity to gain from a Scouting experience. The responsibility to redirect the energies and mission of the BSA to serve such new families as well as the traditional ‘nuclear’ households typical of my youth- rests on your shoulders and those of your leadership team. Please keep my badge safe and return it when those changes in practice are made visible.

Sincerely yours,

John S. Nettleton

Students looking for Cliff’s Notes…

How exhaustive is the overview of WHERE AM I WEARING by FollowTheThings.com? Well, they made the Lego recreation above about the time I took 19 kids and 1 old farmer to Fantasy Kingdom in Bangladesh. If you are doing a report, story, or are just plain interested in diving into the subjects I wrote about in WEARING, I’ve never seen a better place to start.

This is by far the most extensive review of everything that’s ever been said about my book, both good and bad. These folks did their homework. I’m surprised they didn’t call my grandma to see what she thought.

Here’s how they introduce the book:

What he writes either naively skims over, or brilliantly introduces, complex trade (in)justice debates (or possibly both).

Let’s go with brilliantly introduces.

Speaking in Chicago at Fair Trade Towns Conference

I’m the keynote speaker at the Fair Trade Towns conference this weekend in Chicago October 26-28th. I’m speaking on Friday evening, but will probably hang around most of Saturday too.  I’d love to see you there.  It will be the first time I’ll share some of my adventures from Where Am I Eating?

Register here. If you aren’t sure what Fair Trade is, I just wrote an essay for Triple Punditon my experience with Fair Trade coffee growers in Colombia.

What’s your favorite Fair Trade product? What questions do you have about Fair Trade?

F@#K Kelsey Timmerman: A precautionary tale to teen tweeters

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“F@#k Kelsey Timmerman! I’ve got better things to do than go to his event!” 

This was a tweet I read before a speaking event at a university this year.

“Sorry to hear that,” I responded. “Do you have some shows you’ll be missing tonight?” Basically I was saying, “I see you.”

Right before I was about to start speaking, a student stepped back stage.

“Mr. Timmerman,” the student said, looking remarkably like a puppy with his tail between his legs, “I’m sorry for that tweet. I didn’t mean anything by it. It’s just that I never knew about this event and had other plans that I was disappointed to cancel.”

I accepted his apology. I told him that our in person actions are worth more than 10,000 tweets and I was impressed that he came backstage to apologize. But he needs to be more careful in the future. People can actually read your tweets!

The student didn’t use @kelseytimmerman, which would’ve meant he was speaking at me as opposed to about me.  But anytime someone tweets “Kelsey Timmerman” or “Where Am I Wearing?” it shows up on my Tweetdeck window.  Typically, I just ignore these tweets.  Sometimes I’ll click through to read some of their past tweets, and the  witlessness, ridiculousness, racism, sexism, grammar, and just plain stupidity of their other tweets make the negative comment seem like a badge of honor.

This wasn’t the first time I’ve read “F@#K Kelsey Timmerman” before or after an event. I’m sure it won’t be the last. At times I’m a public figure, and I’ve gotten used to all sorts of things being said about me — both good and bad. I can take it, but I worry about students who put this persona forward through their social media outlets.  I worry about them getting into college, getting a job, and, in general, being viewed as a bit of an a-hole by their online acquaintances.

A few years ago we were looking for a babysitter.  We interviewed several and then I Googled our favorite and found her Twitter account. Her first tweet was about how drunk she was last night and laced with profanity.  ”She’s in college,” I thought. “That’s not a deal breaker.” And then I scrolled down some more.  75% of her tweets were drunk tweets or hangover tweets.  There was even one about how many dudes she woke up to find in her bed one morning! She was most definitely not hired.

Here are two quick rules of thumb to tweeting responsibly:

1)   Don’t tweet negative things about someone unless you are prepared to enter a dialogue with that person. If you would be ashamed or embarrassed by them reading it, don’t post it.

2) Tweet like your grandma and mom are your only two followers.

Have you ever decided not to interact with or hire someone because of their lack of social media tact?  Do tell…

 

The Time to Be Awesome is Now

Forget decision 2012 (For a moment. You better vote in a few weeks!). Forget Obama vs. Romney. Check out the Kid President. This dude is hilarious and inspiring. His messages:

Be awesome now.

Choose fun.

Don’t be in a party. Be a party!

If people keep throwing balloons in your face, DANCE!

He recorded this video for Krochet Kids International. I saw CEO Kohl Crecilius, CEO of KKi, speak at Ball State last night. I believe that we aren’t going to shop our way to a better world, but what we buy does make an impact. And KKi’s hats are making a big impact by employing 150 women in Northern Uganda. Each of them signs the hats they produce. I’ll write more about KKi later, when I add them to Kelsey’s Closet.

But for now I have to write 1,063.45 words/day for the next 32 days. That includes Sundays when football and the Walking Dead are on. Oh no!

But it’s best not to think about the work ahead. It’s best to think about being awesome right now.

The Sweetest Place on Earth

After a great week, beginning with appearances in Rome, Georgia (One Book, One Voice, Georgia Highland College, Armuchee High School, Darlington School), and ending with a visit to Cedar Creek College, I’m in Hershey, PA. After meeting farmers in Ivory Coast that grow cocoa, I thought I should go to the American town that cocoa built.

I heard the Hershey  hotel had a whipped cocoa bath so I called up their spa.

“I want to sit in a big ol’ bath of chocolate.”

Silence.

“I heard that you have something called a whipped cocoa bath?” I restated my slightly disturbing statement into a question.

“Yes we do,” the man on the phone said, “but they are only for women.  You could have a chocolate massage…”

“Only for women? That’s weird. How come?” I asked.

“We have codes.”

So, tomorrow I won’t be taking a whipped cocoa bath because of Hershey’s sexist bath policies, but I will be making my own candy bar.  The headlines have already been written.

Fair Trade Changes Lives – Can it Preserve Culture?

I wrote this piece for Triple Pundit in celebration of Fair Trade month.

“This is where the sun was born,” Migoel says of his home, Nabusimake. “If anything happened here, the world would end. This place isn’t just land; it’s spiritual. Can you feel it?”

The setting sun reflects off the clouds, washing the mountains to the east in a perfect pink light that photographers would wait for all day to capture. Migoel — a proud member of the Arhuaco, a group of indigenous people who live in the Sierra Madre Mountains in Northern Colombia — stops to let us “feel” the place.

What do I feel?

READ THE REST AT TRIPLE PUNDIT

Women helping migrants like Amilcar

Central American migrants ride atop trains to make a better life for their families in the United States. In some places, the locals are sick of the migrants and throw rocks at them, in others they throw bread. The women in this video are throwing bread and they rock.

So thankful people like this helped my friend Amilcar on his three month journey.

(Thanks to Rachel Taber of Alta Gracia for pointing me to this)

Ohio State Marching Band’s tribute to video games

Another reason to be proud I’m from Ohio….

(Make sure you catch the running horse at 6:00)