Because I am not of many words, this will be short. I have worked at Full Sail for two years now, and while much of that time has been exhausting and frustrating, I realize that all of that time has also been humbling, incredibly creative, possibly life-altering, and has garnered some incredible friendships (I know that last part is not parallel dammit!). I write this during a reluctant break from what has literally become my favorite thing to do, something I am really freaking great at, and something that fuels a passion for eradicating crap I thought I lost years ago. I speak of course of the tweak, the slide tweak. What started out as honestly just a way to NOT grade has become something of an art, obsession, and calling for me.
I love callings! Yay calling!
I do this all of the time...I take what someone might think are perfectly excellent slides and I tweak them...(at first I took really terrible, awful, mind-exploding in the bad way slides and tweaked them). To me, there is nothing more rewarding than seeing what others are doing (I spend way too much time at the following: Information is Beautiful, Slideshare, speaking.alltop.com, and Stumble Upon's design section) and being inspired by this to create something myself. Sometimes it is seeing what my fellow revolutionaries Alex Rister and Christin Upshaw are up to or hearing that someone is "working on slides." Anything (especially being preoccupied over yet another heart-based run around) sparks the need to tweak (not on meth) in me, and I couldn't be happier.
I always thought being a teacher of writing would be my calling, but then I started teaching Humanities, and now I've taught public speaking for two years. Maybe my calling is just to be fortunate enough to find something I completely love, that I am also completely awesome at, and follow that bliss where it leads me, even if that is Seattle, Wa and a cold, cold, everyday. I bitch and moan about many things that I should just not worry so much about, just thought I'd take a sec and praise the one thing that has brought me complete fulfillment at least in that one little part of me...
Now that I am done grading discussion posts, I get to watch TED!
I watched this talk by Aaron Huey a few weeks ago, and it left me in tears. Huey discusses the modern state of Native Americans as prisoners of war. Huey displays raw emotion, applying the Be though Vulnerable TED Commandment expertly. His use of imagery forces the audience to come to terms with their own complacency in a 200 year old war. The visuals completely reinforce his point and paint a picture of a people worn thin by time and circumstance. Truly powerful!
I didn't think I could love TED more, but here comes TEDxAshevilleNextGeneration. This amazing event gathered young people who are passionate and concerned about the world's problems together in a super awesome city for an amazing conference. One of the speakers was 11-year-old Birke Baehr, who aspired to be a football player, but after learning about the conventional farming system decided to become an organic farmer. You know, people gripe a lot about homeschooled kids, but Birke, Adora Svitak, and my three amazing younger siblings (my 15 year old sister, Karen, is a writer, has started her own writer's group, sets writing goals of 50k words per month for herself, and is a budding visual artist) have made me a believer in this personalized form of education. Birke breaks down what is wrong with our food system, what kids can and are doing about it, and how we can proceed in the future, all in five minutes! I am not a huge fan of his slides, but he is 11, so he gets a pass.
Today's final talk comes from Zainab Salbi, who will become my example for storytelling, vivid language, and figurative language from now on. She paints a harrowing, haunting picture of a woman's experience in war, from Iraq and Afghanistan to the Congo and the Sudan. Through her work with Women for Women International, she "learned that the colors and the sounds of war are the same, but the fears of war [are] the same." In particular, it is "The fear of losing the I in me" that haunts the many women she shares this experience with.Open and honest about her fears and experiences Salbi makes the case for bringing women into the post-war reconstruction process. Incredible!
Just so you know, I am giving up Eastbound and Down for this. I am also listening to Iron and Wine, so excuse the melancholia, if it surfaces. FYI, best Iron and Wine song ever:
I am a TEDaholic. Speak to me for more than five minutes, and I will likely bring up the awesomeness that is Benjamin Zander's shining eyes talk, the completely sobering hilarity of Ken Robinson's "Why Schools Kill Creativity," the unabashed fervor of J.J. Abram's "Mystery Box" or the immersive beauty of Andrew Bird's "One man orchestra of the imagination." I love TED. I think I might love TED more than I love cheese, though, a TED-shaped cheese log might beat out both of those. I spend so much time as a teacher helping others learn new ways of looking at the world that I feel a real sense of loss at the thought that I do not get the same opportunities to discover something new, to learn, to engage in what I loved so much about being in school for sooo long: the aha moment, the moment of internalization of new knowledge.
When I discovered TED (which stands for Technology, Entertainment, and Design), it felt like Keats' "On First Looking on Chapman's Homer," which is somewhat like discovering that Blue Bell makes banana pudding ice cream or like seeing the entire Star Trek: The Original Series on my post-TED date's living room shelf. Basically, it was like having an awesome parfait.
I had the pleasure of attending the first annual TEDxOrlando conference this past Saturday, November 13. I attended the conference determined to break out of my extreme communication apprehension in situations where I know no one and am outside of the classroom. Yes, I am shy around new people--I am that girl on her phone, pretending to tweet about something really important.
So, does it make sense for a public speaking teacher to be shy? Only if aforementioned teacher never had any inclination to light up a stage or hear applause or be the center of anyone's attention. But, after seven years of teaching, there is something so wonderful about standing in front of a classroom. I believe this is because I am a control freak and fancy myself being the mistress of said classroom. I suppose knowing I am also teaching an activity most people dread as I dread speaking to strangers helps in the empathy department. Thankfully, my social anxiety was alleviated by the presence of super student Roxie Richardson, whose love of TED prompted her to apply for a scholarship to attend the conference for free. Once I accosted Roxie and forced her to hang out with me, I felt much better.
I was a bit worried about the turnout, considering that so many people I'd talked to had no idea the conference was going on (despite my screaming it from several rooftops, classrooms, offices, Facebook pages, people's homes), but the healthy number of folks I saw formed an eclectic group of energetic and enthusiastic thinkers. Thinkers like Nathaniel, who effusively discussed his idea for implants that could work out your abs for you (as someone who curses abdominal exercises like Frodo in one of his fits, this made me perk up), that could enable you to massage yourself, even help regenerate the body and extend life, helped set the tone for the knowledge ass kicking about to begin. So, on to the presenters. Note: I am an idiot, and actually thought a date was more important than the third set and only made it through sets one and two. Please forgive me TED...it was a great date, though, as most dates go lately, resulted in no second date.
Marc Sardy The man earns awesome points right away for using a Prezi instead of a Keynote or Power Point. Sardy spoke from the heart, bringing who he is into what he does. His stories kept me engaged, even if I felt a bit unsure as to purpose. The message was right on point with TED--educating for peace, working to move beyond the desire for peace to a student-run film festival whose goal is to create immediate resonance with an audience. Sharon Butler An artist in the blogosphere, Butler works to turn the pyramid of the art world into an equal playing field, where artists do not feel like peons or slaves to a top down system. She was very funny and I now love her blog, Two Coats of Paint.
James Neihouse Talk about someone who embodies the TED commandments. Engaging and impacting storytelling from a man who is unafraid to be vulnerable and shares his curiosity and passion for the sadly forgotten NASA. His talk did not come with a set of typical slides, instead, images of his work played in the background as he spoke of what NASA has done for us and what it has yet to do. The S.T.A.R moment in his talk: Neihouse spoke of the friends lost as a result of two shuttle disasters. Unafraid to show the impact of this loss on him, Neihouse spoke of their bravery, their resolute belief in the mission of NASA.
Break time and the end of set one! I met a young man who is a forest ranger! Ocala is apparently not as beautiful as he imagined it would be.
