God made a farmer to care for his lands, animals, feed His people, and, according to the Super Bowl commercial, to drive a Dodge Ram truck. It was one of the most talked about commercials of the evening, attempting to strike the chord in all of us that Mitt Romney (or any other politician) tries to strike when he wears a Carhartt jacket.
We are a nation of farmers a few generations removed from the fields. But today only 1% of Americans are actually farmers. We revere the image of farmers on TV commercials and in campaign speeches. The truth is there are 1 billion farmers on earth and 60% of them live in poverty.
In the past year I’ve worked alongside banana farmers in Costa Rica,…
The Boy Scouts said in a statement e-mailed to reporters that it had received “an outpouring of feedback from the American public” over the proposed change.
“It reinforces how deeply people care about scouting and how passionate they are about the organization,” the statement said. “After careful consideration and extensive dialogue within the scouting family, along with comments from those outside the organization, the volunteer officers of the Boy Scouts of America’s National Executive Board concluded that due to the complexity of this issue, the organization needs time for a more deliberate review.”
The decision wasn’t made lightly. Scouts helped give me the confidence and independence to travel around the world alone as an author and journalist gathering stories. But Scouts also gave me the moral compass to stand up and act against injustice.
I promised my former troop leader that I would call Boy Scouts Of America’s national office to talk with them about how they reached their decision before I made my final decision to mail my awards.
That call went something like this:
“My name is Kelsey Timmerman. I’m an Eagle Scout. I…
Kelsey Timmerman adventured through the global food economy perfecting his machete technique. He was injured in a freak accident involving gamma rays and a GMO banana on a banana plantation. Armed with great powers and great responsibility, he now fights global injustice as the Banana Ninja!
You get up in the morning and go to the bathroom and reach over for the sponge, and that’s handed to you by a Pacific islander. You reach for a bar of soap, and that’s given to you at the hands of a Frenchman. And then you go into the kitchen to drink your coffee for the morning, and that’s poured into your cup by a South American. And maybe you want tea: that’s poured into your cup by a Chinese. Or maybe you’re desirous of having cocoa for breakfast, and that’s poured into your cup by a West African. And then you reach over for your toast, and that’s given to you at the hands of…
Here’s the Where Am I Eating cover! (I only had a low-res file, hence the pixilation.) A big thanks to Rule29 for the awesome design and to my parents for my rugged good looks. This bad boy will be hitting the shelves Earth Day (April 22nd).
The winter’s night sky was clear, one of those where you can’t see just stars but the galaxies they make up. The snow hid the ground’s flaws – the potholes, the sewers, the frozen dead squirrels. I took a breath as fresh as fresh air can be, and turned to my wife and said:
“Ah as fresh as a store cut slice of Arby’s roast beef.”
[insert record scratch]
Now, I’ve consumed my fair share of Arby’s roast beefs over the years, so don’t think I’m above them. But nothing about their paper-thin slices of beef makes me think of freshness. Have you ever held up a slice? The anemic piece of meet shaved off of some poor feedlot cow is nearly see-through.
If you’re interested in the writing I do, there’s a class for that.
The last writing class I took was English 102 during my freshman year at Miami University. At least that was the last class until I audited Literary Journalism taught by writer Mark Masse’ at Ball State University in 2010. Now the class is online and being offered to anyone interested. (You would enroll as a non-degree (non-licensure) student. If you are interested, Ball State is now offering this class online with Mark. That means you don’t have to worry about driving to Muncie and finding parking on campus, or about wearing pants while attending class! Freedom!
Here’s how Mark describes the class:
J614 is an advanced literary journalistic writing workshop taught in a 100 percent online format. It is…
The greatest thing you can give is your time to another.
Unfortunately I didn’t have loads of time this year to give. Between traveling for three months researching EATING, and speaking across the country, which had me away for more than 30 days, I was booked. When I did have free time, I spent it with Annie and the kids.
I simply didn’t have the time to give as much as I would’ve liked. Therefore I feel like I wasn’t the Big Brother (through Big Brothers & Big Sisters) nor the ally through Teamwork for Quality Living) that I should’ve been.
These are definitely two of my biggest regrets from 2012.
GIVING PASSION
On a much more positive note, I found a vehicle in which…
I’ve been writing since 2001. I knew that I enjoyed sharing stories from the page. When WEARING came out, I started to receive requests to speak across the country.
Who likes to speak in front of a large group of people? I’ve read that some fear the stage more than death. Eek! But in 2009 I discovered that I love sharing stories from the stage almost as much as sharing them from the page.
In 2012 I got to speak a lot. I spent more than a month on the road in 2012 traveling to speak in front of some of the biggest audiences to which I’ve ever spoken. I talked to auditoriums and stadiums full of people who where there just to listen to…
I’ve been writing since 2001. I knew that I enjoyed sharing stories from the page. When WEARING came out, I started to receive requests to speak across the country.