I begin my 2009 travels heading to Provo, Utah, for the NBA’s Development League/D-League Showcase event from January 5th - 7th.

I thought I would invite all of you to join me on my global adventures via the micro-blog technology - Twitter. Each time I embark on one of my katalyst@large journeys, I will update my blog with a post alerting you all that I can be followed offline via Twitter.

NOTE: The KCK blog will go “silent” when I’m on the road.

The OFFER:
This special offer will be the equivalent of gaining… exclusive-inside-the-ropes-VIP/backstage pass-airline premium platinum upgrade-mileage plus-1K-Global Service access to my musings from the road! Intrigued?! Cyber-stowaway status on every one of my never-a-dull-moment road adventure travel itineraries. Excited?! Unprecedented access to my “real-time” thoughts + reflections from biz events, school visits, special projects. Interested?!

Got TWITTER?!:
To enjoy the 140 character, quick, inspirational posts I will share from MY “road-less-traveled" adventures in 2009...Go to TWITTER + JOIN my twitter: kckatalyst!

@Work?!

We made it! 

I wanted to share Kurt Perschke’s new Red Ball Project: Chicago page.  Aside from its excellent design, there are videos of the Red Ball’s long stay in Chi-town this summer, as well as its travels to Sydney, Australia and, er, Portland.  Check it out.

WISHING EVERYONE A HEALTHY + SUCCESS-FILLED 2009!!!

What’s your Red Rubber Ball?!

Stefan Bucher’s Daily Monster is our Wednesday staple of creative, hairy fun.

What’s your Red Rubber Ball?!

“Right To Play is an international humanitarian organization that uses sport and play programs to improve health, develop life skills, and foster peace for children and communities in some of the most disadvantaged areas of the world. Working in both the humanitarian and development context, Right To Play trains local community leaders as Coaches to deliver our programs in more than 20 countries affected by war, poverty, and disease in Africa, Asia and the Middle East.”

You never know what you’ll find on the Internet.  Here are a couple of pictures I have not seen in ages of me speaking to kids, found on the Right to Play website:

What’s your Red Rubber Ball?!

From the ‘Gamechangers’ website:

“Change the Game for Women in Sports.

Together we can overcome any barrier. We can create opportunities for women to win. And the freedom to try.

Gamechangers is a competition and community in one. Its a contest of ideas to level the playing field. Share your stories. Let use know about people and organizations beating the odds.

Enter your ideas. Win $5,000 and speak to people with the resources to bring your ideas to life. ”

Go here for more information.  And be a game changer. 

What’s your Red Rubber Ball?!

Stefan Bucher’s Daily Monster is our Wednesday staple of creative, hairy fun.

Merry Christmas to one and all and please enjoy Stefan’s Holiday Monsters:

What’s your Red Rubber Ball?!

KC + his Melbourne, OZ friends (Daniel, Justin, + Suze):

Images of Team Uganda+The Melbourne Pitch & Downtown:

What’s your Red Rubber Ball?!

The cough had rattled my chest for two months.  I’d been working part-time at a family homeless shelter, interacting with struggling single mothers and two parent families with runny nosed kids in tow.  Meth, crack and alcohol habits were common, bad luck was universal, it’d have to be to end up on the floor, on a pad, in a cold, tiled church gym. 

My shift was four in the afternoon until ten at night.  I’d call volunteers to make sure that we’d have a hot meal for that night’s guests.  I’d call volunteers who would come and play with and supervise the children while their parents rested. The adults needed to unwind from a hard day of walking, panhandling, or just staying warm on the streets.  I’d call volunteers to make sure we had two overnight monitors who would sleep in the gym with the shelter guests.  When we didn’t have, couldn’t find a monitor, I would spend the night. 

The winter of 2004-05 was tough; the numerous sub-freezing nights, with ice storms and late night departures for tardy public transportation did me in.  I was constantly working on or getting over a raging cold or fever.  And then, it really hit me.  The gentle sound of maracas fluttering in my lungs when I would hack and cough refused to go away.  One month turned into two then three.  Finally, I went to the doctor.  Bronchitis.  Meds.  Late night, sheet soaking sweats and insomnia.  I was terrified I had something else, something fatal. 

The other backdrop to that winter was finances.  Portland had always been stingy for me when it came to work.  Too few jobs and too much competition spelled hard financial times.  As my body shuddered and crumbled that winter, so did my spirits. 

A friend of mine mentioned a few months before this particular day, that she did public relations work for some guy she thought I should meet, thought I had something in common with.  He was an author and a public speaker.  So what?  Okay, fine, maybe I should meet him one day, but one day wasn’t soon enough for me.  And it was the farthest thing from my mind in late January/early February of 2005.  I was broke.  I was a train wreck.  I couldn’t pay the rent and I thought I was dying.  Little did I know, I was.

I woke up one morning dead.  I was done.  On fire, the last blaze before the complete flame out.  Rage, at my lot in life and at God poured out of me like kerosene. I began speaking to God like I would a cab driver who had run me back up on the curb, cursing, defaming, demanding that God show me a sign.  SHOW ME A SIGN.  NOW!!!  This was at nine in the morning.

At noon, my phone rang. It was my friend, Nikki.  “Do you remember that guy I was telling you about, Kevin?  Well, he needs a personal assistant...” The rest of the call was a blur.  God answers fast, I thought.

I met the Katalyst a week or two later, as his travel schedule kept him very busy.  We began our work together, first mundane tasks like shipping out “dream bands” to people who’d seen him speak.  Later, because he’d remembered my interest in video, he granted me the opportunity of a lifetime: to travel with him, to Philly and San Francisco, later, to Cape Town, Johannesburg, Tokyo and Paris, observing, shooting and editing video, experiencing the life of a Katalyst. Experiencing the finest kind of life, a life that I wanted.

There’s a great line that I read somewhere: “once you’ve lived in Paris, you’re unable to live anywhere else, including Paris...” I think there’s a lot of truth in that about Paris and about working with Kevin as well.  How can you ever get used to the life mundane, the nine-to-five, after you’ve been transported to another dimension? 

Dreaming helps.  Actually, dreaming is essential and perhaps that is why it can be difficult to maintain in circumstances that actually deliver what you are looking for: they require LOTS of dreaming and faith and nurturing and dreaming and faith and…

If there’s one thing that I can take to the bank from my time with Kevin, its that dreaming - outrageously, outlandishly - can create reality.  All you have to do is continue to bring your attention to your desire - with great discipline, dedication, responsibility and motivation.  And whose life sums that bit of insight up better?!

Thanks KC and all the best to you & the Fam in ‘09!!

Lubangakene aka Julian J.

What’s your Red Rubber Ball?!

Stefan Bucher’s Daily Monster is our Wednesday staple of creative, hairy fun.

SEND A MONSTER XMAS E-CARD

Good afternoon. Let me use the momentary return of my DSL connection to tell you that you can now send any and all of the Monster videos as free holiday e-cards on YouTube.

Here are the links for the two Christmas Monsters:

The Jingle Bells Monster

The 12 Days of Monster Christmas

If you think any of your friends would enjoy getting a monsterized greeting from you for this special time of year, send them some creature love. In the meantime, warm yourself on the fact that 344 LOVES YOU

What’s your Red Rubber Ball?!

Scenes from the “Turning the Page” Conference, November 10th in Greensboro, NC: 

Photos courtesy of Kathleen Chau

Thanks Kathleen!

What’s your Red Rubber Ball?!

Down under in Melbourne, Australia last week, I was interviewed by a videographer with the Homeless World Cup, who had a couple of questions for me:

What’s your Red Rubber Ball?!

Stefan Bucher’s Daily Monster is our Wednesday staple of creative, hairy fun.

Stefan reports:

“Good morning. Mrs. Joyner and her 6th graders at Davis Middle School in Gainesville, GA made some excellent, excellent Monsters that I think you must see! (Special shout-out to Kevin!) Aren’t they cool?”

What’s your Red Rubber Ball?!

Victorious Afghanistan, won 5 goals to 4 over defending champion Russia at the 2008 Homeless World Cup in Melbourne, Australia.

Photo courtesy of ABC

The Women’s Champions of the World: Zambia.  They defeated Liberia, 7-1.

Photo courtesy of AFP/Getty

Congratulations as well to the Ugandan women’s team which finished in 5th Place.  Angel Taka of Team Gomo Tong “was awarded the Nike Fair Play Award, given to the player who best embodies the spirit of the 2008 Homeless World Cup.”

What’s your Red Rubber Ball?!

An email received this week at Katalyst Central:

I am writing to let you know that PBS Engage is featuring Roadtrip Nation co-founder, Nathan Gebhard, as part of the ongoing PBS Engage series called “Five Good Questions.”

The series features a PBS celebrity or insider and asks visitors to send in questions to be answered the following week.  The blog series has been very successful and we are thrilled to have Nate as our feature this week.  This is a chance for visitors to ask him about the popular series, his own journey of self-discovery in the Green RV and what inspiring individuals Roadtrip Nation has connected with over the years.

Since Kevin Carroll was featured on the program during its original season, we thought this may be of interest to you.  If you have a blog or are part of a social network, we hope that you will pass this information along.  Please visit the link and post your comments and questions here.

You can also visit us at PBS Engage and follow us on Twitter.

Thank you!

Amy R. Baroch

Senior Project Manager, PBS Engage

Follow the hypertext links above and check out Roadtrip Nation on line on the PBS website.

What’s your Red Rubber Ball?!

The Melbourne, Australia edition of the Homeless World Cup is in full affect.  The HWC website had a very nice post and video stream about a workshop that I conducted for the players in this year’s games.  Have a look and follow this link to get the full story: 

Scoring goals on and off the field

Posted on 02/12/2008

By Tim Beissmann

‘Goal’ was certainly the buzz word during the opening day of the 2008 Homeless World Cup.

On the pitches, the players slammed miraculous strikes into the back of the net, making a perfect start in their pursuit of the week’s top prize.

But the most important goals were those shared by the players at the Scoring Your Dream Goal workshops run by motivational speaker Kevin Carroll at BMW Edge theatre.

The workshops encouraged the players set personal goals and think about how they would achieve their dreams, then write them down and share them with the room.

“It is not enough to have an idea in your head. You need to share it. That takes courage. That is your challenge,” said Kevin.

He said it was not important how the goal was written or spelt.  It was the action of writing it down which truly symbolised the intention to achieve it.

Kevin, who was abandoned by his drug-addicted parents when he was just six, told how discovering football as a child had changed his life, just as it had for the players of the Homeless World Cup.

“A ball can save a life. That is why every time you see that ball go in the back of the net this week, you will think about your dreams. Just as that player has reached their goal, you too will think of how you will reach yours.”

Everyone at the workshops received wristbands with the word DREAM inscribed on them, which represented the values of Dedication, Responsibility, Education, Attitude, and Motivation.

Speaking at his third Homeless World Cup, Kevin acknowledged that the road to achieving dreams was a difficult one, but also a highly rewarding one.

“It will not be easy,” he said. “But anything worth having takes dedication, time and effort.”

He told the players: “Your circumstances do not dictate your future”, and said he was living proof of that.

One Zimbabwean player said his goals were to play professional soccer for his local team in Zimbabwe, build a house for his homeless family, start up a soccer academy for the young people in his community and take care of and empower the orphans back at home.

Others simply wanted to do the best they could for their country in Melbourne and be able to return home with renewed pride and enthusiasm for life.

Kevin said he was greatly honoured to be in the presence of such leadership, and challenged the players to take those values home with them after the tournament concluded on December 7.

“You are all ambassadors.  Make a commitment to your dreams, your goals, and your futures.”

What’s your Red Rubber Ball?!