The man waving a pair of boxers above his head on the stage in Hugo Young Theatre Sept. 22 has possibly investigated more pairs of underwear than most of us own. Author Kelsey Timmerman spoke to students a week ago about the difficult journey he embarked on to write his book, “Where Am I Wearing?”

The book is an account of Timmerman’s trips to Bangladesh, Honduras, Cambodia and China to find out where his clothes were made and who made them.

Timmerman first decided to visit the factory workers out of curiosity, hoping to find out where his clothes were made. The idea of trying to expose corruption in the clothing industry or saving the world wasn’t his intended goal, but the world he found was scary.

After his first encounter with a sweatshop worker, he shied away and went home empty handed. The courage that made him keep exploring was his unending desire for answers and to explain those answers to everyone.

When he said, “It’s my duty to share stories I have learned,” he meant it. Timmerman kept traveling, writing and inevitably getting himself into trouble.

After the book “Where Am I Wearing?” was finished, Timmerman began receiving requests to speak at schools. Though he never expected it to happen, Timmerman has visited 15 states and between 50 -70 schools.

The students have motivated him.

“I picture freshman-me and things I wish I would have known,” he said.

Hopefully, AU students sharing that sentiment took something away from his visit, as he had much to say, especially regarding human interaction.

His message, “Our local goes global and our global goes local,” is one that he communicated during his visit and had an unexplainable profundity to it. That one sentence summed up the entire economic process – what we do makes an impact on the world and the unfamiliar world has its impact on us.

“My goal is to show people how connected we all are,” he said.

He did not come to Ashland to speak and go home, he came to make its students a part of the international connectedness; the “thread of destiny,” as Martin Luther King Jr. put it.

The talk, which had an attendance of around 300, was extremely interesting and informative. The talk began with a look into the pair of boxers Timmerman began his journey with in the book.

He shared some personal anecdotes from his travels, including one about almost being killed by a snake in the jungle. He also had the audience check where their clothes came from and told them what he learned from looking into his own clothes. He wanted students to be careful about their clothes brands whether it is by studying abroad or looking into where Ashland apparel comes from.

His message was to become an aware citizen, because we as human beings affect each other.

He left the audience with an astonishing quote: three percent of all clothes come from the USA. He also pushed thinking about the actual people that make the clothes we all buy, because personalization and empathy are keys to dealing with abuse in the garment industry.

Overall, Timmerman’s talk, the kickoff of the Symposium Against Global Indifference, was humorous, interesting, personal and positive about the future. He looked at globalization as a good thing, something that we could all shape together as citizens of the world.