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The Making of “Cayendo Hacia Arriba: El Secreto De La Vida”

Here is the fifth and final and my favorite video from my trip to Argentina as the Cultural Ambassador. Here we have the real Ambassador to Argentina, Vilma Martinez, and the Deputy Ambassador, Jefferson Brown, along with the women who made it all happen, Shannon Farrell, Press Attaché, distributing the books to all the kids in 12 schools. The embassy gave away about 2000 books to kids that have never owned a book.

I love minute 1:44. I would have never imagined that my cultural exchange program would involve cheeseheads. The Argentina children called me: “the man with the head of cheese”. Also notable is minute 0:24 which shows the books coming off the printing press.

U.S. Embassy Deputy Chief of Mission Jefferson Brown and Press Officer Shannon B. Farrell met with the Governor of Chaco Jorge Capitanich at the provincial Government House in the city of Resistencia to talk about local public policies and explore future opportunities of cooperation between the province of Chaco and the United States.

Mr. Brown presented the governor with gift copies of the book “Cayendo Hacia Arriba” by Scott Stoll, illustrated by primary school students from the provinces of Chaco, Corrientes and Buenos Aires. (More.)

The Making of “Cayendo Hacia Arriba: El Secreto De La Vida”

I had the time of my life in Argentina as the Cultural Ambassador with the US Department of State. We worked with 12 schools to create the Spanish edition of “Falling Uphill: The Secret of Life”. I visited some underprivileged schools, an orphanage for HIV+ children, bicycled through Buenos Aires in their city “bicicleteada” with the Secretary of Transportation, and much more. Rather than write 10,000 words to describe this honor, perhaps it is easier to just watch the movies of my trip below.

The first video is about my trip the Chaco and Corrientes, back where I got stuck in the mud so long ago. The second video is about the making of the book at a school for deaf children. The third video was one of my favorite days at an extremely poor community know as “Fort Apache”. The fourth video is about the “bicicleteada”. And the last video is a TV interview partially in English.

Here I am sharing my story with an elementary school in Corrientes, Argentina, the same place I got stuck in the mud for 5 days. This is Escuela Bernardino Rivadavia, just one of 14 schools I visited. Read the before and after story in the Diario Epoca.

Here is one of my most popular articles. It appeared in various forms in almost all countries from Argentina all the way up to Canada and about a 1000 people “liked” it.

Viajó por el mundo en bicicleta y halló la felicidad. Meaning: “He traveled the world and found happiness.”

Or read the translated version by Google.

Update: Here is the follow up story on Infobae.com after the publication of the new book illustrated by the local Argentina schools, “Cayendo Hacia Arriba”. Pictured below is Ambassdor Martinez, Press Attaché Shannon Farrell (the woman who made it all happen),  Director Javier Canepa and the professors and staff of Escuela Pública Nro. 3 “Arturo Marasso”, Escuela Nº 26 “Dardo Rocha” and Escuela Nº 13 “Armada Argentina”.

Another one of my favorite stories was this article that originally appeared in the Buenos Aires Herald, titled “Soul Rider“.

I’m very excited. This Thursday the Ambassador to Argentina will be visiting some elementary schools in Buenos Aires to read the new Spanish edition of my children’s book. The kids will be receiving their own copy of the book and the certificate of recognition pictured above. We added another 18 illustrations to the certificate to honor even more students. What a great honor for me to have 2000 books given away to the kids, some whom are so poor that they have never owned a book.

Update: Here is Ambassador Martinez presenting a certificate to Director Javier Canepa of Escuela Pública Nro. 3 “Arturo Marasso”.

Here is my new book on the floor of the print shop waiting to be bound. It’s the Spanish edition of the kids book. “Cayendo Hacia Arriba.” I needed to hover over the guys at the shop, because it just wasn’t getting done on schedule. Grr!

Would you believe they printed enough for 250 extra books just in case there is a mistake in binding?

Scott’s Fall News
Cultural Ambassador to Argentina

By the time most of you receive this news, I’ll be on the plane to Argentina. I have one of my biggest opportunities ever—while traveling during a time of war I always thought of myself as the bicycling ambassador, and now I’ve been honored by the US Embassy in Argentina as the Cultural Ambassador for the 2011-2012 school year.

I’ll be working with the embassy’s Outreach Program and Argentine school children to produce the Spanish edition of my children’s book, Falling Uphill: The Secret of Life, which is especially exciting since Buenos Aires has been chosen as the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s (UNESCO) 2011 World Book Capital. See Argentina’s celebratory sculpture The Tower of Babel. I think/hope my book is in there somewhere.

I’m told every place that I will be visiting is very special. I’ll be traveling to at-risk neighborhoods where kids are extremely poor, as well as a foster home for HIV positive orphans (pictured above is one of many orphanages I saw in Africa), a school for deaf kids, and the two poorest provinces in Argentina. The embassy will be donating 2000-4000 books to children who have never ever owned a book.

It is truly an honor, and I’m very hopeful to inspire so many young adventurers of life with my hard-earned wisdom and a few good laughs. And I’m excited to see the new cultural perspective they bring to the illustrations of "Cayendo Hacia Arriba".

I also get to meet the Buenos Aires city government to talk about bicycling as a way of life and their "Mejor en bici" project (of course bicycles are the cure to all the evil in the world) and participate in their "bicicleteada" this weekend. So, thanks to Argentina itself. As my friend, who coincidentally just left for an embassy posting in Finland, said: this is a rare opportunity because not all countries would welcome a Cultural Ambassador.

Follow The Adventure
Classroom video phone calls

I plan to make as many updates as possible on my website. Also, teachers please contact me to arrange a Skype video phone call from Buenos Aires, Argentina.

World traveler came home to fulfillment — JSOnline

This is a great story about my trip around the world, coming home, and how this all evolved into working with local schools to illustrate children’s books.

Thanks to Laurel Walker for doing such a thorough job, and to help build our local community by spreading change. I also had a big big surprise to see that I made the cover of the online edition. I had many teachers tell me that it was a win for the education system during these troubled times of protests in the State Capitol. Also, see the fun photo gallery by Kristyna Wentz-Graff.

PS. The original full-page story about my trip around the world in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel is no longer accessible :(

I had another great interview on WPR’s Larry Meiller program. We talked a little about my trip around the world on a bicycle, and a lot about working with Poplar Creek Elementary school to illustrate the new book Falling Uphill: The Secret of Life. Listen to the interview.

Also Listen to my favorite interview the first time I was on Larry’s show.

Thanks to WPR for helping to sow the seeds of the school book project at many more schools.

• Outdoor Wisconsin (PBS). Coming soon.
• The New York Times and the NYT slide show
• The San Francisco Chronicle
• Santa Maria Times
• The San Diego Tribune
• Korean Daily Economic
• The Milwaukee Journal. (This is one of my favorite favorites; and, unfortunately, this story has just been archived.) However, the follow-up story is currently available. JSOnline.

Unfortunately many of my favorites stories aren’t available, like my story in:

• The Cape Argus, Cape Town South Africa
• Momentum Magazine, Vancouver, Canada
• The San Francisco Examiner
• The Waukesha Freeman.
• And more.

I had no idea it was going to be this cool. From the ground it looked like organized chaos. ~ Principal Gennerman.

This is quite probably the best photograph that I ever took, which after taking pictures of world wonders, like the sphinx and the Parthenon, means a lot.

Pictured here are the 507 illustrators of Falling Uphill at Poplar Creek Elementary School plus the staff. It took me an hour (plus planning) to illustrate the chalk outline of the bicycle (see below). I used a string and two bricks to help guide me. Luckily arranging the kids was no problem thanks to the principal and teachers. However, I still had to overcome some challenges like the partly cloudy sun and shadows. The kids constantly jumping up and down. Not falling off the roof while I took the picture, not too mention the change in perspective. Once on the roof I realized I had to move the seat up 8 feet. I found that funny, because when I was riding my real bike, I could tell if my seat was off by only 5 millimeters. And, surprisingly the image was too big for my camera, so not only did I have to tile the picture, but now I had to deal with the lens distortion and vignetting. Lastly, in the final composite, besides normal retouching, such as color correction and erasing the odd marks, I also deleted the cars in the parking lot. If only I could erase the cars in real life :)

I’m still surprised this turned out so well. Thanks again to the students, staff and parents of Poplar Creek Elementary for helping to arrange this, especially Associate Principal Larry Lueck for the brilliant idea for this photo, Principal Jane Gennerman for her support and arranging the kids from small to big (falling uphill) along with Kate Krzysik and for her idea of having the kids illustrate the book.
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At the printers now! I’m proud to announce Falling Uphill: The Secret of Life the children’s edition is arriving in time for the holidays and has been illustrated by Poplar Creek Elementary School. Pre-order your copy for the holidays.

Top 100 most common words in Falling Uphill out of 13,658 unique words and about 115,000 total words. There were some very interesting random phrases generated like “one world” and “questions life”. It’s also an interesting peek into my psyche. I’m glad “love” appeared and not “hate”!

I made this using Wordle. Very cool. I love information design.

Photo by Kate Heil

I’m a little sad to announce that my dreams to circumnavigate the USA on a bicycle for my Falling Uphill Book Tour has concluded here in Wisconsin. I traveled about halfway around the country before realizing I was being over-ambitious, and that promoting a book is a full-time job, which doesn’t allow for cycling 6-8 hours per day. However, I am grateful to also have discovered that by staying in one spot (planning events can take months) I can inspire many more people; indeed, I have rediscovered friends are the greatest resource on the planet, and I feel honored that the people of Wisconsin have welcomed me back. Someday, I do hope to continue traveling around the country bringing my stories of inspiration to people’s doorstep; however, for now I must also rest my aching body. Unfortunately, according to several doctors, I went too many days without proper nutrition and hydration which has affected how my liver metabolizes sugars. But rest assured, I continue to share my story at all the local schools and special events.

Thanks to everyone who supported the journey. ~ Scott