I'm a Rogue Traveler

Bootsnall Travel Network has named me as one of there Rogue Travelers for 2007. It’s supposed to be a good thing, but consider the meaning of the word “rogue.”

rogue (rog) n.
1. An unprincipled, deceitful, and unreliable person; a scoundrel or rascal.
2. One who is playfully mischievous; a scamp.
3. A wandering beggar; a vagrant.
4. A vicious and solitary animal, especially an elephant that has separated itself from its herd.
5. An organism, especially a plant, that shows an undesirable variation from a standard.

So, I’m an undesirable plant, a vicious elephant, a vagrant, a scamp, or a rascal. I like to think I’m somewhere in the middle between 2 and 3.

Bootsnall is sponsoring me. What does that mean? Well, they’re not really paying for anything expensive like airfare or other expenses. But they are hosting and designing my new blog WhereAmIWearing.com that will follow my 3 month trip to Bangladesh, Cambodia, and China.

BootsnAll Travel hasn't made it official yet. I'll keep you posted. Until then checkout their 2006 class of vicious elephants.

To give you a better idea of what my trip is about, I’ve pasted my Rogue Traveler Application below:

WHAT ARE YOU DOING?

I am going on a global quest to answer the question: Where am I wearing?

Check the label on the shirt you are wearing. Where was it MADE? China? Indonesia? Macau? Chances are it’s somewhere you’ve never been. You may not even be able to place it on a map. Do you wonder what the country is like? Who made your shirt?

Read the tag. Let your mind wonder. That’s what I do. My feet are about to follow.
A pile of unfolded laundry has set my course:

T-shirt: MADE IN HONDURAS
Blue Jeans: MADE IN CAMBODIA
Boxers: MADE IN BANGLADESH
Lucky shorts MADE IN USA

And no list of where I wear could be complete if I didn’t include the staple of my wardrobe:

Flip-Flops: MADE IN CHINA

I will visit these countries seeing what there is to see; doing what there is to do. Once I have a feel for the country, I’ll seek the factory where the item of clothing was made and, ultimately, the people who made it.

And then I’ll tell their story.

WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?

I’m doing this to explore the global marketplace while bridging the ever-widening gap between producer and consumer. That, and because putting myself in random situations and trying not to look like a complete fool makes for great writing fodder. And great writing fodder helps put food on my table.

I’m a freelance writer that has contributed to publications such as the Christian Science Monitor, Transitions Abroad, the World Vision Report (Radio program), and of course BootsnAll. To read some of my writing visit http://www.travelin-light.com/ or my Blog http://www.travelin-light.blogspot.com/ .


HOW WILL YOU DO IT?

I’ve already completed the Honduras portion of my quest. It was a kind of trial to see if the quest was worth pursuing.

It is.

This spring I will complete the quest by visiting the factories in Dhaka (Bangladesh) Guangzhou (China) Phnom Penh (Cambodia) and finally the factory that made my lucky shorts in the USA.

I will work with local university students and labor rights organizations to establish contacts with the factory and/or workers.

WHAT ARE YOUR ULTIMATE GOALS?


1. To get people thinking about Where They are Wearing and to educate myself and others about our position in the global marketplace. If someone reads a post on my blog, or one of my contributions to a publication and turns the neck of their shirt around to read the tag, I’ve succeeded.
2. To contribute correspondences and freelance submissions to newspapers, magazines, and radio programs around the nation.
3. Write a book about the experience. A few editors and agents have already shown interest in the project.


WHY SHOULD YOU BE CHOSEN?

I’m an experienced blogger, writer, and photographer that can provide BootsnAll readers with a unique voice on a one-of-a-kind quest.

WHAT SETS YOU APART?

I’ll be the only person to have ever visited Bangladesh because his Christmas Boxers with ornaments and the text “Jingle These” on them were made there.

This picture: http://travelin-light.blogspot.com/2006/11/jingle-these.html

My First Review!

I have yet to hear my piece on the World Vision Report, my radio debut. But according to this guy, it sounds like it ain’t bad. Woohoo!

I’ll be sure to link to the piece when it becomes available.

A dog's life

Writing is a dog's life, but the only life worth living. - Gustave Flaubert

Zoe and Scout have it made, for sure. But to me, chasing squirrels in a woods looks more frustrating than pitching a story to a surly editor.

Coming in 2007...

As years go, 2007 is shaping up to be a big one for me personally and professionally.

Personally

* I’m getting married. Does it get any bigger than that? Mark your calendars for 09/08/07 (It’s like a countdown, but a countdown to what. Blast off? Hugs? The Bomb? Self-Destruct? My doing the coffee grinder in the middle of a circle of adoring wedding goers chanting, “Go Kelsey, it’s your wedding. Go Kelsey, it’s your wedding.”?)

* Annie, my wife-to-be, and I are looking at houses to buy. Yeah, so I’m growing up, but that doesn’t mean the travel writing gig goes.

Professionally

* It’s not completely official, but Bootsnall.com has selected me as one of their Rogue Travelers of 2007. Why? Because I’m going on a global quest to answer the question “Where am I wearing?”. They’ll be hosting and promoting a blog about my travels to Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, and other places in between.

* I hope to be an extra in a Bangladeshi movie. Honestly, how many blonde hair blue eye extras do they have? ZERO, that’s how many. Enter ME.

* My first contribution to Radio airs this week on the World Vision Report. I’ll let you know when it’s available online. With suggestions from the helpful staff of the program, I’ve decided to bring back audio recordings of interviews and sounds from my upcoming trip. I’m in the process of playing with software and equipment. I’ll be posting pre-trip audio stories in the near future.

* I’ve got loads of story pitching to do before I leave. Radio, magazines, newspapers. If you’re an editor, expect to hear from me in the near future.

* A book is in the works. I feel naughty.

* The Travelin’ Light column is currently on sabbatical. I’d much rather be writing my 800 word tales than reading books on globalization, but time dictates that I take a break from the column. I expect it’ll pop up somewhere before the year is over.

* I’ll continue to work 30 hrs a week with the family business, Timmerman Truss, until I get fired or land too many writing assignments to keep up.

In the past I’ve chalked up covering the expense of my trips to a sort of grad school – an investment in my future. But now after six years of traveling and writing, school is over. I’ve got my PhD in whatever it is that I do and it’s high time I start making PhD $$.

At first I traveled for traveling’s sake. To experience the freedom of the open road and all that jazz. I was a bum. It was pure. It was beautiful. And then, the writing bug bit me and now travel plays second fiddle to writing. I can no longer bum. If I’m not working on a story, or what could become a story, I’ve got to move on to one or I’ll go nuts.

Damned writing anyhow. It had to go a screw with the bum gig. Annie is probably a little to blame for this too.

Only two days into 2007 and it’s looking like quite an adventure. I expect it will be worth writing about.

2006

'06 has been a good year all around. My writing continues to snowball towards bigger and better markets. Overall, not too shabby even though I only left the country once for less than a week.

In March at the Erma Bombeck conference in Dayton I made the contact that would eventually lead to my being published in the Christian Science Monitor. The great thing about having been published in the CSM is that everybody has heard of it. Now when I send a query letter to an editor it doesn't look like I'm making up publications. The Key West City Paper, the Daily Advocate, The Hub, yeah - no one had ever heard of 'em.

The CSM experience also led to a staff writing position at Glucose that lasted 3 months until the magazine went under. An editor at the Wold Vision Radio Program saw one of my pieces in the CSM and had me record a piece on soccer in Honduras. The piece has yet to air, but I'll keep you posted.

From '05 to '06 I tripled my writing work and pay. I'm hoping to have the same thing happen in '07.

I also met Dave Barry, sailed on a Tall Ship, hiked 30 miles in 100 degree temperatures, contributed to Transitions Abroad, caught 3 grapes in my mouth at one time, hugged my dogs 19,234 times, helped my parents with the headaches that come with building a new truss plant, gave one commencement speech to fifth graders and one keynote speech at a National Honor Society induction, and, I better not forget this one... got engaged!

2006 won't be easily forgotten.

In Transitions Abroad

I have a piece on volunteering at Casa Guatemala in the Nov/Dec issue of Transitions Abroad. TA is a handsome glossy chalk-a-block full of content. I’m not just saying that. You can go page after page without running into an ad. Good for the reader, not so good for the writer – the pay ain’t great. Even so, I’m happy to be a part of this issue.

The issue is titled the Responsible Travel Issue, which almost makes me feel like I’m something greater than a culture trippin’ Touron. Almost.

Here’s a passage from the Editor’s letter:

Travel has the potential to bring much-needed economic benefits to developing countries and to foster cross-cultural awareness, dialogue, and understanding—all of which make for the conditions of world peace.

I’m just doing my part to promote world peace. I also fight crime, rescue kittens from trees, and help old ladies cross the street. My Karma cup runneth over.

Magazine smaller than actual size (but not much)

It’s not often I get excited about contributing to small publications, but I’m thrilled to contribute my story about Castle Dracula to this months issue of Baltimore’s Valley Times. Before you go and think that my writing ego is too big for my ball cap – ooh big time writer writing for a publication beneath him – stop right there.

The Valley Times is really small. I mean it. It measures 4 ¼ inches by 5 7/8 inches. Without a doubt I’ve written for publications with smaller circulations, but nothing so pocket-sized.

If you are looking for a publication that you can slip in your back pocket and discreetly slip off to the restroom for some light reading, the Valley Times is it. It’s also great for finding some real estate in the Baltimore area. But be warned, the high prices will make you sh…, well, you get the idea.

In their own words:

The Valley Times is a monthly publication, established in 1986, available to the public at finer merchants, restaurants and business establishments throughout the Baltimore metropolitan area.

Each month we offer articles on current and upcoming local events, local history, day trips, people and places, gardening and recipes.

It’s cool publications like the VT that ya miss, living in the middle of nowhere like me. Not only is it cool, but – dare I say it – it’s kinda cute.

Writerly Stuff

Ahh, the business of writing - driving authors to alcoholism and suicide since papyrus.

I enjoy reading about the struggles and triumphs of other writers, so I decided I would start relating some of my own…

Struggles-

In the last two months I’ve written two publications into obscurity: The Hub Weekly of Champaign Illinois, and Glucose Magazine.

I contributed Travelin’ Light to the Hub for about a year and the column was well received. In fact, one Hub reader who has a winter home in New Zealand, after reading a piece I wrote about New Zealand, even offered me a place to stay on NZ’s South Island. He seemed like a nice enough fella, but I think he was looking for a house/pool boy…(wink, wink)… if you get what I mean. He even sent me pics - an awesome place on a cliff above a beach with perfect kayaking and sailing below. The place is almost on the level of coolness that I would consider life as house/pool boy. Almost.

Glucose Magazine was the most regular paying writing gig that I’ve ever had. They paid me to explore Ohio. The one thing that surprised me most was that there are actually places in Ohio worth exploring. For Glucose, I interviewed people about Bigfoot in southern Ohio, climbed a 90’ mast on a tall ship while sailing on Lake Huron, hiked, kayaked, and other things of this sort. I am a believer that adventure is a state of mind that is not limited to individuals that live in cool States (CA, CO, WA). I thought the idea of Glucose could be replicated in other boring states such as, Indiana, Delaware, Illinois, Kansas, etc., and maybe it could have been, if anyone would have ever sold any ads.

You know a magazine is not doing well when most of the ads in the magazine are ads about the magazine. I’m not sure Glucose had one salesperson out beating the bushes. Glucose was a good idea poorly executed.

The writing was excellent, of course.

Triumph-

I really don’t have a voice for the radio; some have told me that I sound like Matthew McConaughey and others Joe Dirt. I’ve got a bit of a nasal draw. But this weekend I recorded a piece for the World Vision Report radio program about playing soccer in a remote Honduran village (I'll post a link when there is one).

I think it went well, but I never thought I would need to do so many other things besides talk into a microphone. The engineer bailed on the appointment and I was left with a nice lady who didn’t know jack about recording. The World Vision editor called to listen and the “nice lady” wasn’t able to tap my editor into the microphone so I had to hold a phone to my ear as I talked. She couldn’t even find a stand to set my story on, so with my other hand I had to hold up my story to read. Apparently, if I looked down to talk my voice would sound even worse.

I don’t want to come across as a radio diva, but the next studio is going to have to meet some of my demands to have the pleasure of taping my nasal twang. Things like: 5 bowls of Skittles sorted by color – the purple ones to be individually hand washed and wrapped in Hershey Kiss foil; which leads us to…unwrapped Hershey Kisses; 4 bottles of FlavorSplash bottled water; two jugglers; one sword swallower; a reading stand; a nice lady that knows what the heck she is doing; and James Earl Jones to read my story.

What can I say? Me and my posse have needs.