Last week I talked about my experiences at TEDxWaterloo last year, and how they left me feeling pretty different. This week’s event was different, but no less significant. I felt like I’d come full circle, completed some kind of transformation. I don’t have space to recount everything, but I want to touch on what hit me hardest.
The talks were all brilliant, from Peter Katz’s music (even his rendition of a George Michaels tune at the after-after party) to the TED videos, to TJ’s talk about how he tamed the photograph and made it. Shannon Blake talked about how we can mix art with community in a kind of artistic alchemy to help marginalized people express themselves, and Alicia Raimundo, who I’d met in passing once or twice, blew me away by showing me her heart, all full of sweetness and fire.
It left me motivated as TEDx did before, full of strange projects and ideas that I know I haven’t the time to pursue while I’m finishing grad school, and filled me with the kind of impetus to push forward on a few that I’m already pursuing. There was a shift, though. I went there to meet new people, and I certainly did that, but almost all of the friends I’ve made since the last TEDxWaterloo were there, and I couldn’t turn around without running into someone that I knew and catching up with them. I even met a few people I met at the last event, and there was a sense of coming full circle. I felt connected to my community like I never had before. These, I thought, these are my people. We’re weird, wonderful, and we’re going make a difference, or at least try.
I don’t know that I’ll apply next year. I want someone else to have the same kinds of experiences I have, because there’s lots of people who need it. If the event keeps getting larger, as it seems to be, then I might, but we’ll see.
Anyway, TPK this week features a post on tradition, about what I owe to Gary Gygax, the creator of D&D, and why gaming is important to me. The wiki update is an adventure log written by Rob Stea, a good friend of mine, so check it out. Concept Crucible has an open letter to Marilyn Monroe where I talk about trust, and a new rule of inference, the disjunctive syllogism, with a special guest argument by Geraldo Rivera.
Paper Progress:
- Obligations of Authenticity in Social Media: Compiling Reading List
- Power Relations and Ethics in Multi-level Games: Compiling Reading List
- Applied Stakeholder Ethics: Compiling Reading List