Kelsey Timmerman's Blog, page 53

Adventure Dad Redux: The Return of Adventure Part II

A little hint about what I'm doing today.

A note to graduates moving in with their parents

We're moving in with our parent, yeah!!!

(via flickr The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff)

Screw 'em!

No, not you class of 2011, you're so sensitive, but screw all of the folks who write about the Great Recession producing the Lost Generation, and how you all are just going to move back home and play videogames and file e-resumes while mooching off of your parents' 401K.

Do you know what the Great Depression produced?  The Greatest Generation, that's what.

Tough times make us better.

I was reading a piece in the Huffington Post about the Lost Generation and it made me pissed off for you Class of 2011.

"Millennials were raised the way Bill Cosby told parents to raise their kids — set rules, show encouragement, don't use physical discipline, build up a child's self-esteem," explains Winograd. "If you tell someone from zero to 13 that they're always doing a nice job and that they're really special and wonderful, they'll wind up believing they are."

Self-confidence breeds optimism, according to Winograd and Hais, even when times are tough. "The millennials don't have a sense that everything is wonderful, because obviously it isn't, but they believe as a country that things will get better and their lives will also get better," says Hais. "In part, it's because they're young and they actually have time to accomplish this. But it's also because generations like the millennials feel they've accomplished good things in the past and that they will again in the future because their parents told them so."

So the stereotype is that you, Class of 2011, are a bunch of everybody-is-a-winner, ego-fed kids who think you'll succeed in life because your momma thinks you have a nice smile, so you are just going to sit around and wait for the world to bless you with a life as nice as your perfect dentistry your pappa paid for by working overtime at the factory.

Seriously? Are you pissed yet?

This isn't racism or sexism this is a whole other –ism…generationalism.

Generationalism (noun) – hatred or intolerance of another generation of people.

Don't give up like this girl profiled in the article:

Her dream for the future used to encompass a well-appointed and comfortable life — a farmhouse, two artist studios, a husband, and several children. "But it's not worth dreaming so big anymore," says Malik. "My plans now are far less extravagant. I guess I'm learning to dream on a much smaller scale."

Screw the scale!

Do you know what the scale is?   The scale is to graduate with debt –check you probably got that covered – get a job that you don't particularly care for but has "nice benefits," none of those benefits allowing you the time and resources and energy to pursue that thing – you know what I'm talking about – that you've always wanted to do.

Dream bigger

I was a "Boomerang kid. "  For a two-year span in my mid-twenties I lived with my parents.  I was such a loser, or was I?

I graduated college with a degree in Anthropology, which the generationalists would say was impractical, and traveled the world gathering stories that I now get paid a living to re-tell in writing and in person. Of course, the naysayers at the time thought I was a loser.   That I wasn't making use of my college degree – regardless of how impractical it was.  But the funny thing is that I went to college for more than just a piece of paper that occupied four years of my life and one line on my resume.  I actually learned stuff.  Stuff that helped shape the way I look at the world.  Stuff that made me ask questions like "Where Am I Wearing? What is life really like for garment workers around the world?"  Stuff that eventually launched my career as a writer and speaker.

I also worked as a dive instructor in the Florida Keys, which the generationalists would label a dead-end job.  In the two years I worked as an instructor, I learned more about life and death and leadership and fish and myself than I would've ever learned at an entry-level job in some office or going to grad school.

I worked hard pursuing impractical things and between my days as a dive instructor and my career as author/speaker, I lived with my parents for 20-months.   I worked a day job at the family business, but my eye was always on the prize: find a way to do what I love to do.

I was a man living with his parents.   I knew what people were saying, "Kelsey, the vagabond, Kelsey, the beach bum, moved in with his parents? Surprise, surprise."

Do you know what I had to say?

Screw 'em!

They had no idea where I was going, and trust me I was going.  I love my parents dearly, but past a certain age it is damn near psychologically impossible to live with your parents.  Really, what better motivation is there to go somewhere, anywhere, than your mother asking you – twentysomething YOU! -  when you're going to clean your room.

So class of 2011, be reasonably impractical.

No job is a dead-end job, unless you allow it to be so. Got a degree in art history and a job as a sandwich artist?  I know and you know that your career aspirations don't involve asking "white or wheat?" or "would you like to make that a combo?" but there is nothing wrong making sandwiches on the path to that thing you want to do.

It's reasonable to work a job, any job.  It's reasonable to move in with your parents for a bit.  It's impractical not to learn from both experiences. It's impractical to not move beyond both.  It's impractical not to pursue your dream.

Work any job, live in your parent's basement, and pursue your goals with a focus and passion that the generationalists in all of their 9-to-5 comforts have never known, and you'll never be lost.

Lost Generation? Ha!

Screw 'em!

Bangladeshi garment industry still in chaos

France 24 did a 12-minute piece on the current state of the Bangladeshi garment industry that talks about the increase of the minimum wage, recent protests, rising food prices, and the persistent tension between business and workers.

I found the interview with a mother of 6 to be the most interesting. "I want nothing for myself," she said. "I just want to give them all [my children] an education." That said she was not able to make it on her own wage so her daughter entered the workforce at the age of 13. At first she was denied employment because of her age, but then, as her mom quite proudly describes, her daughter put a head scarf on along with some makeup and told the factory she was 18. She got the job.

(A big thanks to long-time reader Kent A for pointing me to this)

Colbert to the world: F**K off!

"I believe we just build a wall at the border and tell the world (whistles and flips off the world)."

- Stephen Colbert in an interview with Tea Party Express founder Amy Kremer

Jon Stewart will call out his guests and argue with them somewhat respectfully. But Stephen Colbert will totally eviscerate a guest by agreeing with their stance more than any other person in the world ever has…ever. And in doing so, Ms. Kremer's position was left in a puddle of stupitude along with the failed presidential run of Donald Trump.

You should watch the whole interview (below), but the moment quoted above was by far my favorite and the scariest. The whole "let's get our crap in order before we start concerning ourselves with the world's problems" is idiotic. The worlds problems are our problems. There's no border.

This hits right at the heart of why I've launched the Go Glocal Project. We live in tough times and budgets are being slashed, but we can't turn our backs on one another.

If we tell the world to f—off!, in the long run we're just f—ing ourselves.

And that's the Word.

CNN won't cover the rapture

My son is due any day now. A man at a recent talk I gave mentioned that he saw a billboard that predicted the 2nd coming of Christ on 5/21. I joked about being the Messiah's father and how much of a surprise that would be.

Maybe he wasn't the one to joke around about such things with because he started to quote scripture about the second coming and how we had no idea where on earth it would happen, but somehow we'd all see it, hear it, and know it.

Again (I'm dense), I joked that regardless of where Christ lands (rises, appears), we'd all find out about it on CNN from Wolf Blitzer.

"Probably not CNN," he said, with an obvious dislike that the three letters just passed his lips. "I don't think they would cover it. We'd hear about it on Fox News."

Are we really this divided? Are networks nothing more than teams? The 2nd Coming would be the biggest news story ever, and you can bet your darn Neilsen ratings and your eternal soul that Anderson Cooper will be there in a too tight T-shirt amid horsemen, raining frogs, earthquakes, or whatever else is going down.

The fact we equate religiosity more to some networks than others is just one of the signs that our media has some issues.

Report on Glocal Challenge #1: bin hard to avoid the news

Two weeks ago I announced my first Glocal Challenge: Boycott American News.

I failed horribly.

Watching Al Jazeera English

At first I was doing great. I would get up in the morning and live stream Al Jazeera English. (No I'm not a terrorist, if you think watching AJE is something a terrorist would do, you have to read this post.) It wasn't always easy to watch AJE. At times it was like eavesdropping on friends who are talking about what they really think of you.

AJE finished an important story on protests in Syria and turned to a discussion about president Obama releasing his birth certificate.

Clip of Obama: "We live in serious times…"

Clip end.

"Please tell me this is the end of this issue," the anchor said, and then asked about the possibility of Donald Trump being elected president.

The D.C. based reporter laughed a bit and said, "We've had Hollywood actors as the U.S. president; don't discount the game show host."

"Hollywood actors," the anchor chuckled, "who worked with monkeys."

Ouch! Our friends think we're silly.

Snooki is not news

I read a lot of news on my iPhone and one of my most used apps is the Huffington Post. I've written for the Huffington Post and probably will do so again, but the HuffPo is a huge time suck for me. Headlines are sexed up to win my click and then there's barely a story. There's always a left-leaning slant on things too. I lean that direction myself, but I still find any obvious slant a little distasteful, even if it's leaning toward my tastes. For example, I see the world more like the folks on MSNBC than on FOX news, but they drive me equally crazy. I don't want to watch TEAM DEMOCRAT or TEAM REPUBLICAN. Cut the crap and give me the news.

For this project I needed to replace the Huffington Post app on my phone. I did so with the BBC app, which definitely gave me more important info in less time and fewer empty stories. That said, there was obviously more than a few royal wedding stories, but at least there wasn't any Jersey Shore news.

Look at me, I'm reading The Economist

Does reading The Economist make me an elitist? In case you are wondering what "elite" really means, read this calorie-free "poop nugget" of a story in the Huffington Post about being elite.

I downloaded The Economist app on my iPhone and love it. My favorite feature is that you can download someone with a very lovely English accent reading the stories. I listened to multiple issues on planes, in my car, mowing my lawn. I appreciate the depth they go into a story. That said, a part of me want to be seen reading The Economist, and when I read/listen to it on my phone a passerby might just as well think I'm playing Angry Birds.

I highly recommend this story from The Economist on China's presence in Africa. More Chinese have been to Africa in the past 10 years than Europeans in the previous 10. What does this mean for China? Africa? The world? Give this Snooki/birther-free story a read or a listen and find out.

Bin Laden killed my Glocal Challenge

Those are the the three outlets that I worked into my news consuming routine, and, successfully so. But I did fail spectacularly when it came to boycotting American news for the purposed of this experiment.

I blame bin Laden.

He had to go and get shot in the eye, leaving me scrambling all over cable for how the story was being spun. That's the thing with news. It's not always about where the truth is (there was plenty of untruths wrapped up in the bin Laden story from the beginning), but it's also about what spin on the news will win the day. So I bounced from FOX to CNN to MSNBC and back again.

"What does this mean for the stock market?" "What does this mean for the 2012 election?" The hosts asked.

Ick. I wanted to take a bath. Still I flipped from one channel to the next. No one over-reports, over-analyzes, over-guesstimates, and over-speculates what the Hell is actually happening like the American media. I couldn't get enough of the bin Laden story and I sat their lapping it up.

I fell off the wagon. Somewhere there was an Al Jazeera English reporter laughing at me.

But this time my news consumption didn't end with the major US-based networks; I also turned to the BBC, The Economist, and Al Jazeera for a more nuanced, and less subjective account of what bin Laden's death really meant. Most of the American media is based in NYC and one can hardly expect a subjective take on the fellas responsible for 9/11. Even the most liberal of reporters would've pulled the trigger on Osama.

Sometimes news is too close to home to report well. We're lucky to have a world full of news outlets that allow us to look in a mirror. If only we'll look.

3 tips to be a better consumer of news:

Be a regular at irregular news outlets. Regularly consume news from outside your geographic region. Here's an in-progress list of info sources for some suggestions. If you find yourself always quoting the same network or the same talking head, you are doing something wrong.
Go where the news is. What are the Japanese saying about Fukushima?  What are Brazilians saying about the 2016 games?  What are Egyptians…Kenyans…Chinese…Nicaraguans…saying?  You can find out.
All news is glocal : today's global news is tomorrow's local news.

Where did you turn for news the last two week? Where did you hear about bin Laden first?

Learn more about the Go Glocal Project.

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A world of news: Info outlets from around the world

For My first Glocal Challenge, I made a point to boycott American media and force myself to go elsewhere for news. Here's a sampler of some of the media outlets I turned to and/or were recommended to me. If you have a favorite, make a case for it in the comments below and I'll add it to the list.

I sorta failed the challenge, but like this list, I'm a work in progress.

The world is complex and the more angles we can see it from the better glocals we can be
North America (other than the major news outlets in the United States)

CBC – Canadian Broadcast Corporation

NPR

Global Post

Foreign Policy Magazine

Asia

Japan -  There's an awful lot going down in Japan right now. This is the largest newspaper in the world and you've never read it?!?!

Times of India

Bangkok Post – Thailand is the hub of SE Asia, so is the Bangkok Post.

Xinuha News Agency – China is on the big stage when it comes to the future and this is the nation's largest newspaper. Yep, freedom of the press isn't exactly a high priority or possible in China, but at least we can see what the party line is feeding the people. Newsweek says that the political spin on stories greatly diminishes when China isn't involved.

Europe

BBC (UK) – Quality reporting and they just sound like they know what they're talking about.

The Guardian (UK) – One of the best. The New York Times of the UK.

The Economist – Just makes you feel smarter.  Seriously, if you quote and article from here that's like quoting two New Yorker pieces.  That's worth something, right?

Latin America

Buenos Aires Herald

The News (Mexico City)

Mid-East

Al Jazeera English – I start with their live stream of the news every morning.

Mideast Haaretz (Israel):  For a close-to-the-source left-leaning view of what's happening in Gaza.

The Jerusalem Post: A close-to-the-source center-right view of what's happening in Gaza.

Africa

All Africa – The HuffPo of all things Africa.

Global

Global Dashboard -  The Huffington Post of development

Global Voices – Global network of blogs and citizen journalists

Alert Net – focuses on humanitarian crises.

Front page of all papers sortable by region

This resource is part of the Go Glocal Project.

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Just Add Water Underwear!

Saw this

Wrote this

Dear Archie McPhee,

I'm one of the top 10 living underwear journalists in Indiana and I would like to review your Instant Underwear and other novelty underwear products.  Of course, I'm joking about the top 10 underwear journalist bit, but I'm not joking about writing about your underwear.  I've written about disposable underwear for the Travel Channel and about anti-flatulence underwear for the Huffington Post.   I also read the essays when I visit college campuses to talk about my book Where Am I Wearing? A global tour to the countries, factories, and people that make our clothes.



If you're interested, I'd love to take a crack at your underwear.

All the best,

Kelsey

–

Kelsey Timmerman

Author / Speaker / Touron

Now I wait.

Returning to the scene of the bra

"I have a question for you all: where are you wearing?"

It's a question that I would end up asking a thousand times over the next few years, but this was my first ever Where Am I Wearing? presentation.

I was at Books & Co. in Dayton, Ohio, and they were holding a contest. Who ever knew where the most items of clothing they were wearing were made won.

As everyone turned to check their tags, I gulped nervously on some water and reviewed my notes and then went into the crowd – maybe 15 people – to help check tags.

"Excuse me," the woman in a black T-shirt said, as she turned and lifted up the back of her shirt. "Could you check the tag on my bra?"

Luckily, my mom (moms don't miss their sons first ever reading) was nearby and stepped in to do the deed.

AWKWARD!

Anyhow, I have good intell that says the bra lady (also spoofed in this video) is a fan of John Scalzi and found out about my reading through his blog (my favorite blog around). Tonight my little brother and I are driving to Dayton to see John Scalzi talk about his new book, Fuzzy Nation (out today!!!!), and one question keeps popping into my head….

Will Bra Lady be there?

Bin Fibbin'

We got him. I'm glad.

As the details of Bin Laden's death started to come forward, something didn't smell right. Nope, I'm not one of those who thinks Osama's not actually dead. In fact, I don't want to see photos or video or any other proof than we've seen already. I'm good. He's dead. Got it.

There were several claims that I didn't buy into from the get go. They just seemed too fantastic.

He used his wife as a human shield!!!

This makes him look like a coward and belittles him as a man. It just fits the narrative too perfect. Why not say that he was playing with Barbies and listening to Hannah Montana when the Seals invaded his transgendered slumber party?

He had a gun and was going all Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid?

Err…maybe he didn't have a gun after all.

I'm not trying to defend Bin Laden or give him credit in any way, but I'm asking to be told the truth. We long for simple, clean-cut narratives so much that we create them when they do not exist. (I'm looking at you Greg Mortenson.) It's almost like we are utterly incapable of understanding a story more complex than an old western where the bad guy wears a black hat and the good guy wears a white one.

Navy Seals put a bullet through the brain of the boogieman. It's an accomplishment. Why do we need to sully the accomplishment with little white lies to make the story better? We probably won't know what went down in that compound for a long, long time. Yet we are lapping up the details without question as if we've never been fed a spoonful of crap before (Pat Tillman, Jessica Lynch). And soon as we realize what we swallowed, we shake our heads and say, "You know, that didn't taste right."