My tweets
- Downstairs to catch up on last Sunday's #MadMen I suppose. Maybe Don will continue to grow on me... 1 hr ago
- Is brand loyalty really just brand ignorance? http://bit.ly/aoGlOq 2 hrs ago
- @amyjmcnair We miss you. in reply to amyjmcnair 2 hrs ago
- @langley Snickerklish restroom? Like the old PC game? As if saying "PC game" signified its own, old genre. It probably does. :) in reply to langley 2 hrs ago
- More updates...
Blog Archives
Blogroll
poverty Archive
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We must do things these days
Posted on March 5, 2010 | View CommentsNot sure why I’ve chosen to post this today.
I am troubled, deeply, by the billions of people worldwide who will go to bed tonight hungry, fearful for their safety, or sick from disease. These days, it’s not worth mentioning the statistics concerning how many people live on less than $2/day. I even hesitate to use the word “statistics,” since it cheerfully allows us to ignore the very human lives behind the numbers. We know that it’s bad.
Read more on We must do things these days…
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Terrorism, poverty, and violence
Posted on January 25, 2010 | View Comments
It’s not that poverty doesn’t move them, but more correctly it is an interpretation of poverty that radicalizes (and is itself radical).
When I started my studies at the University of Denver’s Josef Korbel School of International Studies, I made the mistake of joking with a German colleague. We were discussing “terrorism” as a theoretical construct and I parroted the oft-repeated line that views terrorism as an outlet to poverty. This particular interpretation (which, I must be clear, I do not believe), is that for people living in poverty, the promise of money, power, and most importantly, food, can drive people to do horrific things. My colleague’s response to my joke: “That’s bulls***. It’s a fortune-cookie truism, Tim. Too simple.”
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Five myths around disaster relief
Posted on January 19, 2010 | View CommentsEdward Brown, relief director for World Vision, debunks five myths around disaster relief. I offer my thoughts on each point in place of Brown’s remarks. This came in the form of a Facebook note:
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Poorism
Posted on January 4, 2010 | View Comments
Ode Magazine, which I once subscribed to, ran a story this past April called “Slum tours: Traveling off the beaten path” detailing the rise of what some have dubbed “poorism”, or traipsing through the slums of this planet for an alternative travel experience. Coming from Ode, I figured that this would be a hit piece – I was wrong. The author actually did some “pooring” in the favelas of Rio. According to the article: -
My thanks to The 1010 Project
Posted on July 25, 2009 | View CommentsDisclaimer: This post is selfish. It’s about the work I did with The 1010 Project from June 2008 to July 2009. More than that, it’s about the people that made that work beautiful. If you don’t want to hear about them, head to the next post. They are an inspiring bunch. This is something that I have to do.
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Kenya Series – The Myth of Western Superiority
Posted on July 15, 2009 | View CommentsI’ve been with The 1010 Project for a little over a year. At the same time, I was working my way through graduate school at the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver. At the office, I learned about humanitarian work by doing, and through discussions with those who had been with the organization for some time. At school, I learned about international development by reading and listening to others who had been in the field for years. Some of my teachers in both settings were from America, some from Africa, and some from other parts of the world.
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Call. Response?
Posted on July 14, 2009 | View CommentsThis one came in from my buddy Ryan Linstrom, who is in the Holy Land working an internship. If you’re interested, give him a bell. Thanks.
“Call. Response?
I received an email from Robert, a Ugandan friend, last evening asking for support for some projects he is working on, specifically for his mother and some orphans from the community. If anyone has any suggestions, comments, or contacts that may be able to address his need, please let me know. I have been friends with him since 2005 and he has never once asked for my financial support. While I could not help him alone, I believe the wonders of social media could bring together some possible solutions. Let me know. A portion of his email follows:
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The Denver Dispatch of Doom – Vol. 11 (Kenya Edition)
Posted on July 13, 2009 | View CommentsHello all,
I hope this letter finds you healthy and happy. I’ve eaten a great deal of celery in the past week, a fact for which I have no explanation.
I am back from Africa! In my work with The 1010 Project, I’ve spent a lot of time telling the stories of social entrepreneurs and community-based organizations in Kenya, and it was a real treat to finally meet the people for whom I’ve been advocating; I was connecting names with faces and voices in real life. I’d like to pretend that I wrote most of this Dispatch while I was on the ground, but the truth is that I was too busy with our work there to handle a simple email missive like this.
Read more on The Denver Dispatch of Doom – Vol. 11 (Kenya Edition)…
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Tim’s Going to Kenya
Posted on June 5, 2009 | View Comments
OK. So I take off on Monday morning for Kenya. That’s in 3 days. Got a few things to do.I’m traveling with a team from The 1010 Project, a humanitarian organization here in Denver. We partner with creative and innovative social entrepreneurs in the developing world to break the cycle of poverty. As the Fundraising Coordinator, a big part of my job is writing the grants that help keep us trucking along. But to write good grants and to keep our international development work running smoothly, we need DATA.
We’re going to Kenya to meet with partners and friends in our community-based organizations. They’re mostly in Nairobi, scattered across the various slums and estates, but we do have a few rural partners as well. We’ll be going all the way out to Kisumu near Lake Victoria. We’re collecting boatloads of photos, lots of video and audio, and most importantly, stories. We view ourselves as storytellers – our tagline is “Join the Story” – and we’re going to talk with the people that our income-generation activities benefit. We’ll be visiting schools, orphanges, microfinance institutions, women’s empowerment groups, and HIV/AIDS support groups.
I’ve never been to Africa, but I hear good things. Our team is super-talented and super-cool, so I don’t expect any problems. I’ll be tweeting along with our Director of Communications, Mark Mann. With luck, we’ll be tweeting like mad by next Wednesday morning, or for those of you in Denver, late Tuesday night (there is a 10-hour time difference). So stay sharp, keep up with us, and we’ll see you when we get back!
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Eradicating Malaria With the Tony Blair Faith Foundation
Posted on April 24, 2009 | View Comments
Hello web-friends,I have been appointed to my dream job and I need your help to make it rock.
I have been selected to join the Faiths Act Fellows, a cadre of 30 young interfaith leaders in the US, UK, and Canada who will spend August 2009-June 2010 working to promote malaria eradication. This is a brand-new program which will operate under the auspices of the Tony Blair Faith Foundation (yes, THAT Tony Blair) and the Interfaith Youth Core. It’s all fantastically exciting! I’ll be traveling to London at the end of July (farewell, Denver) for induction and training. Then it’s off to a malaria hotspot in Africa for on-the-ground work. We finish with training in Chicago. I report for duty to the Islamic Networks Group in San Jose, CA on October 1st. My job will be recruiting faith communities, and especially young people of faith, to work towards malaria eradication. Getting rid of this wicked mosquito-borne sickness can be done!
It goes without saying that I will utilize the fluid world of social media in order to reach these goals. I blog, tweet, and share most things, so this will be no different. I will be relying on my network (all of you) to help me spread the word and find kinds of people who can partner with me to get things done.
I’m short on the finer points and details, and for that I apologize. As a first order of business, I need to know ANYTHING about San Jose. My first ever trip to California is this Saturday when I attend the Nonprofit Technology Conference, so any advice/thoughts are welcome.
Post what you will, and send this one far and wide – the more, the merrier!
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