Wednesday, March 25, 2015 // The Statement 3B

From the Pews: Listening to TEDx sermons

F

riday morning I woke
early, walked to the
Power Center and sat

down in the large auditorium star-
ing up at a black, daunting stage. I
waited with so many others to be
enlightened by the speakers of the
TEDxUofM “Constructive Inter-
ference” annual conference.

Maybe it was the masses of peo-

ple following each other blindly
into the building, the tone in the
voice of each TEDx staff member
as they encouraged us to interact
with our surrounding commu-
nity members, or the expectations
each of us held that we were about
to listen to something — no mat-
ter how small — that would alter
our life. I couldn’t help but consis-
tently compare this experience to
my early experiences of waking to
sit and listen to a sermon from the
pastor at our Methodist church.

Forgetting about my tiredness,

I sat, eyes glued, to the well-versed,
engaging speakers, holding the
same expectations I have when I
sit in church: expecting to learn

something new, expecting to be
challenged, expecting to be skep-
tical. The speakers repeatedly
shared an experience, acknowl-
edged their mistakes (taking those
mistakes as learning experiences
and not failures), and offered some
small piece of advice, constructive
criticism of our society, or per-
spective on how to look at life.

TED is a nonprofit, nonparti-

san foundation that is dedicated to
spreading ideas and information
across the world through short,
18-minute or less, talks. Begin-
ning in 1984, Richard Saul Wur-
man
discovered
that
mixing

technology, entertainment, and
design
into
one
conversation

could produce innovative ideas.
TED’s mission is to generate ideas
that will impact the attitudes and
lives of the people in the world;
“building a clearinghouse of free
knowledge from the world’s most
inspired thinkers.”

Seeing as I took TEDx to be my

own form of religion for the day, I
only feel it fitting I share some of

these insights.

Aditi
Hardikar,
the
White

House’s primary liaison to LGBT
and Asian American and Pacific
Islander communities, told me
to reframe my disadvantages as
advantages. That suffering from
too many feelings of inadequacy
can be a physiological disorder
and something that we must com-
bat — can combat — by identifying
what we know from what we don’t
know.

Jill Halpern, a teacher at the

University’s
Comprehensive

Studies Program, told me about
how to nurture every part of my
brain, even parts I’m not fully
aware of. That love and human
connection are the most impor-
tant skills to learn in any class-
room, even among a group of
calculus students.

And Dory Gannes, founder of

the nonprofit Olevolos Project,
a nonprofit that funds scholar-
ships for children in Tanzania,
told me not to change the world.
That spending money in the right

places can be chal-
lenging, that making
sustainable change
in a place like East
Africa
is
almost

impossible,
that

trusting people who
later betray you can
be one of the biggest
mistakes. So instead
of trying to move big
rocks in the world,
I should reconsider
this
dream
and

instead focus on bet-
tering the world in
small ways, in ways
that better myself.

In an age where

the number of peo-
ple
who
affiliate

with
any
religion

is
declining,
I’m

inspired by our soci-
ety’s dedication to
organizations
like

TED. I can’t say I’m
surprised
though;

listening
to
TED

talks bettered me as
an individual more
than
any
sermon

ever has.

B E A V E R C R E E K , C O

“The Hotel de Paris exists in the heart of downtown,

and represents the once prosperous town of

Georgetown.”

Find the rest of this photo story on Page 4.

B Y C L A I R E B R YA N
JOINING THE TEAM
ON THE
RECORD

“Authenticity: that’s been our campaign strategy. Just
at this rally we talked about creating a platform and

empowering people, but we’re not waiting until we get

elected; we’re doing that now, and that’s something that we

have a track record of.”

-CSG presidential candidate and ENGINEERING
JUNIOR WILL ROYSTER at Tuesday’s rally for The

Team on his party’s campaign initiatives

ZACH MOORE/DAILY

ILLUSTRATION BY MAGGIE MILLER