A book of tweets? Seriously? No. It’s not just a book of tweets.
It’s a curated selection of tweets, pulling out roughly 500 Twitter posts from more than 3,000. I’ve pulled out the good stuff and organized it into logical chapters with their own introduction. I’ve also cut out the technical jargon, the hashtags, the links and the clutter that wouldn’t make any sense in a printed book.
The result is a compelling narrative in a concise, 82-page book. Who would have thought you’d find that from a bunch of tweets?
Table of Contents
- Introduction
- Disclaimer
- Meet the Family
- Chapter 1: Waiting
- Chapter 2: Boy
- Chapter 3: Ethiopia
- Chapter 4: Home
- Chapter 5: Water
- Chapter 6: Family
- Helping the Cause
- Acknowledgements
- About the Author
Credits
A number of people have helped with the book (too many to mention), but a lot of credit goes to Brian White of TriLion Studios for the cover design and Ronald Cox for the interior design. Some of the photos also came from Barbara O’Brien.
Bonus Content
Since a book of Twitter posts is still a book you lose some of those links to interesting content. So now you can check them out:
Introduction
- There is No Me Without You by Melissa Fay Greene
Chapter 1: Waiting
- Video of Lexi saying “Yopi-opia”
- Two-year-old photographer? We set up a Flickr account of Lexi’s early pictures. We haven’t updated it in a while, but it’s an awesome collection of blurry photos of the floor and ceiling.
- Hillary Clinton intro video from the 2008 Democratic National Convention that made me tear up. And I don’t like Hillary (nor could I spell her name right).
- My thoughts on spending a night homeless as a part of the Cardboard Box City event.
Chapter 2: Boy
- Our 2008 Christmas card featuring Lexi holding a picture of Milo.
- Remembering Winston Erlandson, Abby’s grandfather.
- Lexi’s ‘W’ birthday cake.
- The homecoming blog post from Brian Seay as his newly expanded family returns from Ethiopia.
Chapter 3: Ethiopia
- Ethiopia photos! Our album of 1,100+ photos from our trip to Ethiopia to meet Milo (many of the photos were taken out the window of a moving bus, so don’t expect stellar quality).
- I mentioned a friend who needed to be medivaced from Ethiopia. Here’s the blog post first describing her accident. You can go backward to read about her time in Ethiopia or forward to learn about her complete recovery.
- Describing the goodbye ceremony at the care center: Milo leaves his mark in Ethiopia.
Chapter 4: Home
- Watch Internet geeks carrying 40 pounds of dirty water like Ethiopians do daily.
- One Day Without Shoes
- The acoustic rock stylings of Shaun Groves, who caused Lexi to dance and Milo to sleep.
Chapter 5: Water
- Bald Birthday Benefit recap
- Walk for Water video
- Head shaving video
- Story of a family who adopted from Ethiopia and moved back.
Chapter 6: Family
- Photo of the Day: Celebrating a new well in Southern Ethiopia thanks to charity: water.
- The folk rock stylings of Justin McRoberts.
- Watch Milo crawl.
- Social Media Breakfast for Minneapolis/St. Paul, a great networking group for Internet geeks.
- Recap of my second homeless experience.
- At the courthouse: “We’re a family!”
Causes we talk about in the book:
- Humane Society’s Walk for Animals
- Project Home & Families Moving Forward (beneficiaries of the Cardboard Box City homeless experience)
- InvisiblePeople.tv
- Lexi’s Christmas causes: AHOPE & Red Letters Campaign
- charity: water
- TOMS Shoes
- Our agency: Children’s Home Society & Family Services
Of course you can follow the continuing adventures of Kevin, Abby, Lexi and Milo on my blog and on Twitter. I’ve also started a page collecting all sorts of Ethiopia-related links and resources.