In December 2005 a friend of mine stopped me on the street to tell me her nephew had a “flat” person.  She knew I was leaving the following day for Qatar and United Arab Emirates to report on the rise and influence of Arab media.  Boldly, she asked me to take this “flat” person with me.  I somehow managed to ignore the request and told her I would see her in a few weeks.  I was barely back at my desk when the phone rang.  It was my friend.  This time she begged me to take this “flat” person with me.  I was frank with her.  “What IS a flat person,” I recall asking her.  Within minutes I had more links to the Flat Stanley project than I knew what to do with.  If you haven’t been introduced you can learn more about Flat Stanley here.  It’s quite ingenious and similar to a roaming gnome. 

My friend promised me this would be an easy assignment.  “All you have to do is take a photo and tell me where you are. I’ll do the rest,” I recall her saying. A flimsy piece of paper carefully crafted by the nephew of my friend was on my desk within the hour.  Flat Michael had officially entered my life and the rest...as the saying goes...is history.

Later that fateful day, I started the “Flat Michael’s Global Adventures” blog so the real Michael and his class could follow along as Flat Michael traveled with me.  My goal was to relate my experiences in a youthful manner that was educational to all ages. 

Dozens of trips, hundreds of stories, and thousands of photos later Flat Michael’s Global Adventures is followed and used by numerous Iowa classrooms (and probably even more outside of Iowa that I don’t even know about).

Catch up on Flat Michael’s adventures by visiting his blog here.