(insert your own title here)

November 4th, 2008 | By Kelsey | No Comments »

Check the Tag

November 4th, 2008 | By Kelsey | 4 Comments »

I interviewed students at Ball State U. here in Muncie on Halloween and asked them “Where are you wearing?”

It was a lot of fun and I’d like to thank all of those students who took time out of their busy days spent passing out free hugs, playing four square, hittin’ hookahs, and possibly studying…but apparently not studying geography.

Portions of this video will be combined with portions of my first attempt at a book trailer. After viewing this, my publicist, Cynthia, told me that I probably should drop the “bong boys.” So, watch this video now because the bong boys (smoking flavored tobacco, nothing illegal) probably got to go and they cracked me up.

Who knew not voting could be so touching?

November 4th, 2008 | By Kelsey | 1 Comment »

You’ve got to read this post on Talking Points Memo.

Blogger or Columnist

November 3rd, 2008 | By Kelsey | 1 Comment »

I really don’t care what you call me because I’m really not sure what to call myself.

Until recently I wasn’t referred to as anything because no one was referring to me at all. Now that a few people are, I’m not going to complain. Still, I find it curious that folks identify me as a blogger and my writing style as that of a blogger. I think my writing style is more of that of a columnist, since that’s where I really got my start.

The first 100,000 words or so of mine that were published were in the form of 800 to 1,000 word columns. For better or worse, writing my column “Travelin’ Light” taught me to write. And during the learning process the restricted space of a column and the personal form of column writing forced me to write shorter and more conversational sentences.

I think that the style of “Where Am I Wearing?” the book more closely reflects my column writing than my blogging. First off, there aren’t any photos of my cat or random rants about Mrs. Butterworth’s boobs in the book. While my columns, and in turn WAIW? the book, are rather informal, they are nowhere near as informal as the blog you are reading right now.

Don’t misread me here, I’m not saying that status as a blogger is any more or less grand that that of a columnist. I just think they are different forms, or at least my approach to them is different.

In fact, I’m proud to be a blogger. Especially after reading Why I Blog in the Atlantic Monthly by renowned blogger Andrew Sullivan. He somewhat addresses the column vs. blogging comparison and speculates what blogging could mean to journalism. In it he writes:

The blogosphere may, in fact, be the least veiled of any forum in which a writer dares to express himself. Even the most careful and self-aware blogger will reveal more about himself than he wants to in a few unguarded sentences and publish them before he has the sense to hit Delete. The wise panic that can paralyze a writer—the fear that he will be exposed, undone, humiliated—is not available to a blogger. You can’t have blogger’s block. You have to express yourself now, while your emotions roil, while your temper flares, while your humor lasts. You can try to hide yourself from real scrutiny, and the exposure it demands, but it’s hard. And that’s what makes blogging as a form stand out: it is rich in personality. The faux intimacy of the Web experience, the closeness of the e-mail and the instant message, seeps through. You feel as if you know bloggers as they go through their lives, experience the same things you are experiencing, and share the moment. When readers of my blog bump into me in person, they invariably address me as Andrew. Print readers don’t do that. It’s Mr. Sullivan to them.

Andrew begins the piece with a fascinating etymology of “log.”

A ship’s log owes its name to a small wooden board, often weighted with lead, that was for centuries attached to a line and thrown over the stern. The weight of the log would keep it in the same place in the water, like a provisional anchor, while the ship moved away. By measuring the length of line used up in a set period of time, mariners could calculate the speed of their journey (the rope itself was marked by equidistant “knots” for easy measurement). As a ship’s voyage progressed, the course came to be marked down in a book that was called a log.

So am I blogger or a columnist or a writer or a journalist?

In the words of the great sailing philosopher Popeye: “I am what I am.”

Is this overwritten???

November 3rd, 2008 | By Kelsey | 1 Comment »

We slept beneath the open sky in our down cocoons. We had yet to earn credits in astronomy or geology or physics, but that night, as we counted falling stars until the bright celestial lights yielded to the blackness of our eyelids, we watched our universe expand.

Publish me at your own risk!

November 1st, 2008 | By Kelsey | 3 Comments »

Over the past several years I’ve contributed multiple times to the Christian Science Monitor, a 100-year old international daily paper renowned for its reporting. This week they announced they are doing away with their print edition.

Recently I contributed to Conde Nast Portfolio magazine. This week the magazine dropped 20% of their staff and scaled back from 12 issues per year to 10.

I contributed. People got fired. I hope these are unrelated events.

Be a part of the book trailer

October 31st, 2008 | By Kelsey | 1 Comment »

Ever been in a book trailer? Do you wanna be?

Email me a short (5-10 seconds) video clip of you checking the tag of your favorite item of clothing and I’ll put you in the trailer.

It should go something like this:

1. Look into the camera and say, “Check the tag”
2. You check the tag on your item of clothing say, “Made in _____”
3. End with “Where are you wearing?”

Or some version of that. Feel free to get creative.

My goal is to have the movie done by early next week, so try to get the clips to me before Tuesday. Email them to Kelsey@travelin-light.com.

Insult yourself like no one is listening

October 31st, 2008 | By Kelsey | 6 Comments »

This morning I caught a glimpse of the fella dancing in the mirror when an inspirational phrase popped into my head:

Dance like no one is watching.

The thought was followed by a somewhat less fuzzy one:

No one is watching because you can’t dance…and you’re ugly.

The man in the mirror laughed.

—–

When’s the last time you danced in the mirror? Were you any good?

Update: The Proud Father of a Vegetable Contest

October 29th, 2008 | By Kelsey | 8 Comments »

Janelle “guessed” correctly. At 31 weeks the email update said that our little girl is the size of “four navel oranges.”

The fact that she guessed exactly this and that she works with Annie, makes me think that Janelle had some type of inside information. We’ll call her the contest winner, but I’m going to brand an asterisk on the front cover of the book I send her.

Given the controversial nature of her win, we’ll continue the contest for another week or two. If you’ve guessed already, your guess will stand for weeks 32 and 33.

Go here to see what others have guessed already.

Here’s the produce she has been compared to in the last few weeks:

33 weeks – ????
32 weeks – ????
31 weeks – four navel oranges
30 weeks – head of cabbage
29 weeks – butternut squash
28 weeks – Chinese cabbage
27 weeks – head of cauliflower
26 weeks – an English hothouse cucumber
25 weeks – an “average” rutabaga

Voted!

October 29th, 2008 | By Kelsey | 6 Comments »

I voted against casinos and payday lending @ 380% interest.

I voted for the environment, fire trucks, and Change.

Me and karma should be pretty sweet for awhile.