Kelsey Timmerman's Blog, page 63

A (sideways) update on my speaking tour

This is a bit longer than I intended and much more sideways, but the longer I talked the longer my legs got to rest.  It was shot at Morrow Mountain State Park in Biden, NC. I made the mistake of parking my car at the top of the mountain – an easy place to begin a trail run but a not so easy place to end (a trail crawl).

Click here to view the embedded video.

Southern Hospitality is a Saab

An update from Charlotte:

Where Am I Wearing as a Common Reader

One of my favorite moments to recollect from my "Where Am I Wearing?" trip was when Dewan (worker in Guangzhou) asked if I would write about him in my book. Then thhere was the idea of a book – no contract, no agent, nothing written but for a few month's worth of blog posts. At the time, the moment, made me a little uneasy. Besides not knowing what to tell Dewan, I wasn't sure what to tell myself. Was the experience bookworthy? I thought it was, but would agents and publishers agree?

Last y...

SoleRebels piece on the World Vision Report

Some folks believe that the apparel industry somehow is part of the problem when it comes to global poverty. To me giving someone a job and dignity is one of the best ways to fight poverty. I've yet to come across a better example of this than the shoe company SoleRebels in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

SoleRebels' employees are paid about 300% more than other such workers in Ethiopia. All of the products that go into making a SoleRebels shoe are within a 60 mile radius of the city. As Bethlehem, ...

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 ...

McPhee to writers "You're going to get there."

"When a person is twenty-one or twenty-two years old and facing that great enigma about what to do, envying the law students or medical students who can get on a set of rails and run on it and know where they're going, the writer doesn't know. But a writer should also bear in mind there are numerous paths to this goal and they're all O.K….You're going to get there. If the person expects the big answer at twenty-one, that's ridiculous. Everyone's in the dark."

(John McPhee quoted in Literary J...

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...

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...

He-Man vs. Dora The Explorer

I watch Dora the Explorer, Wonder Pets, Go Diego Go, Ni-Hao Kai Lan. I absorb them by osmosis while my toddler stares mesmerized. I barely watch any ESPN. I should have my man card revoked purely for the reason that I sing this song everyday…

What I'm saying is that I consume as many cartoons now as I did when I was six. And while the cartoons of today teach my little girl how to share and be a good friend and how to say "hi" in Spanish and Chinese, I feel like they are lacking in the...

A thousand words: Dead End USA

I pass this sign a couple of times per week on my run or on the way to the playground. It has recently been edited.