Kelsey Timmerman's Blog, page 72

Hometown Homeless Shelter – The ten4tues Project

This weekend my sister-in-law, Emily, is participating in "Walk a Mile in My Shoes" to raise money for the Muncie Mission homeless shelter. Go Emily!

Emily and her family have been very supportive of my shenanigans over the years, and I'm thrilled to give $10 in support of this important cause.

Unfortunately, it's getting more important by the day.

In Delaware County, Indiana, where I live the number of homeless people has increased by 100% in the last year (from 223 to 447).  Ivy Farguheson...

Stand with Haiti or get bodyslammed! #ten4tues

There are saints, then there is Paul Farmer, the co-founder of Partners in Health.

He values all life equally.  I'd like to think I do too, but I don't. Not like Farmer.

The New Yorker did a feature on him and asked how he would set the ratio of the love for his own children and his love for unknown children.

"I don't know where I'd set it," Farmer answered, "but I would not let many children die so my kids could live.  I don't think that two kids should die so that one of my kids has comfort...

#ten4tues winner…

I started the #ten4tues project on Tuesday and I was thrilled to have a number of participants via Twitter, Facebook, and this blog.

This week I'm giving away a copy of The Life You Can Save by Peter Singer.  I assigned all the participants a number and then used this random number generator to make the final selection. And the winner is…

Rob Reed!  Rob gave to the Clinton-Bush Haiti initiative.

I'm in the process of selecting next week's organization to donate my $10 to. If anyone has any...

Zombies Stop Healthcare Reform

I couldn't have written "Where Am I Wearing?" today.

First, lenders aren't exactly handing out second mortgages any more and I used mine to partly fund my global quest.

Second, our health care costs have skyrocketed.

In 2009 we were on four different health insurance plans the first four months of the year. Starting January 1st, 2009, Annie's coverage at work became way too expensive. Still we had to bare the expense until Harper was born because…

Health Insurance is Killing us Reason #1: You...

A year of giving: My #ten4tues project

Sometimes my travel recollections are less memories and more hauntings. I'm haunted by a legless beggar in Nepal who chased me around a stupa swinging wildly at my legs with a stick. I'm haunted by the smile of an orphan in Guatemala. I'm haunted by the smell of a dump in Cambodia.

I never know what will trigger a travel haunting. The other day I was speaking at a high school in San Francisco and another one surfaced.

I was in the village of Matlab in Bangladesh. My translator, Dalton, was...

Tires into shoes in Ethiopia

From the Guardian:

Old truck tyres never die, they just turn into sandals. For decades that has been the tradition in Ethiopia, where everyone from farmers to guerrilla fighters has fashioned worn-out road rubber into cheap, long-lasting footwear.

But now, thanks to a young woman entrepreneur who has combined the internet's selling power with nimble business practices more often associated with Asian countries, the idea has been turned into an unlikely international hit. By adding funky cotton...

A Thousand Words: Harper is 1!

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Harper turned one last week. And even though I never stepped out of the country in 2009, it was the most adventurous year I've ever had. I never knew there was so much to discover in our living room. There are bears, cats, fuzz balls, reflections, and so much more. About a year ago I wrote a piece for WorldHum titled Adventure Dad. In the article I wrote about how the...

I'm a Hero in Sweden

Annie's cousin Steph sent me this with the title "Marketing for your next book." I have no idea what this is, but I'm considering paying Swedish broadcasting fees anyhow.

I'm Big in Korea

It's strange not being able to read a book that you've written or even your name. But such is the case when I received the Korean translation of "Where Am I Wearing?" in the mail.

A lot of folks have worked on the book, but few have spent as much time with it as this translator. I would love to sit down and have a chat with them to see how they went about translating "fella" and "undercover underwear buyer."

I suspect Korea was interested in the topic because they had a thriving garment...

And the winners are…

I had nothing to do with selecting the winners. I just handed you the clues on a silver platter, especially that last video where I say Honduras several times.

The good folks at Wiley, my publisher, just emailed me the names of the randomly selected winners.

The grandprize winner of the HD flipcam and Frommer's guides is Melissa Markofski, a longtime follower of my blogging exploits. Congrats Melissa!

The runner-up winners of Frommer's guides are Phillip Bohning and Simon Tatum.  Yes, the Simon...