TEDxSalem

Ideas worth spreading

Stefanie Knowlton

Workplace guru Moe Carrick finds inspiration at home for her TEDx talk

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Author and entre­pre­neur Moe Car­rick makes work­places fit for human life.

“Work at its best builds us up, lifts our hearts, chal­lenges our minds, solves big prob­lems, and con­nects us to oth­ers,” she said.

At its worst, work can make us sick, angry, sad and mis­er­able. A bad boss, for exam­ple, who doesn’t lis­ten, man­age or tell the truth or a bad job fit, can affect every­thing from our moti­va­tion and morale to our health and rela­tion­ships.

Car­rick runs a con­sult­ing firm and pub­lished her first book “Fit Mat­ters: How to Love Your Job” in 2017. Her next book, “Brave­space” is due out in 2019. She also deliv­ered two TEDx talks on the impor­tance of a healthy work life.

The three things that mat­ter most at work, she said, are feel­ing seen (pos­i­tive rela­tion­ships with your boss and col­leagues), feel­ing pur­pose (being able to feel that your work mat­ters) and cul­ture (the way things are done is con­sis­tent with your val­ues.)

But that’s not what she’s talk­ing about Jan. 5.

Car­rick is going deep­er and pick­ing a top­ic clos­er to home. She will explore the idea of women advo­cat­ing for men in a world that is redefin­ing mas­culin­i­ty.

“It’s a bit clos­er to my heart, my per­son­al sto­ry, not just my work sto­ry,” she said.

The moth­er of three was inspired by her most impor­tant job: rais­ing two sons, ages 23 and 26, and a daugh­ter, 17.

“What I’ve seen in rais­ing my sons in par­tic­u­lar is the notion of what it means to be a man today is a bit wonky,” she said.

Her sons and her children’s friends have strug­gled with expec­ta­tions, roles and iden­ti­ty, and she wants to explore ways that women can sup­port men in nav­i­gat­ing the chang­ing land­scape.

Car­rick, who is also an orga­niz­er for TEDxBend, is look­ing for­ward to her third time as a speak­er on a TEDx stage and learn­ing from the oth­er pre­sen­ters.

“For me it’s a fun way to offer con­tent and to think about ideas that make our world bet­ter,” she said.

“I always learn some­thing.”

Moe Carrick

Age: 56

Edu­ca­tion: BA from Uni­ver­si­ty of New Hamp­shire, MS from Anti­och Uni­ver­si­ty New Eng­land and Dare to Lead cer­ti­fied facil­i­ta­tor

Hob­bies: Run­ning, cof­fee and rid­ing her horse Gra­cie

Sur­pris­ing job: She worked for Out­ward Bound where she led adven­tures for chem­i­cal­ly depen­dent kids, tak­ing them back­pack­ing, sail­ing and canoe­ing.

Favorite book: “Angle of Repose” by Wal­lace Steg­n­er

Favorite food: Fresh bread

Favorite Ted Talk: “Brenè Brown: The pow­er of vul­ner­a­bil­i­ty”

TEDxSalem VI

TEDxSalem VI is an all-day event fea­tur­ing talks, per­for­mances, refresh­ments, lunch and a swag bag. It runs 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Sat­ur­day, Jan. 5 at the Salem Con­ven­tion Cen­ter. Tick­ets are on sale now for $55, $45 for stu­dents. Fol­low us on Face­book for the most up-to-date news from our com­mu­ni­ty, and check our web­site reg­u­lar­ly for new infor­ma­tion. You can also reach us at info@tedxsalem.com.

Elizabeth Fournier found comfort, purpose and love in the funeral industry

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Fournier was always drawn to funer­als. They helped her make sense of los­ing sev­er­al fam­i­ly mem­bers in quick suc­ces­sion.

After earn­ing a degree in com­mu­ni­ca­tions from Lin­field Col­lege, there was only one career for her: Mor­ti­cian. She under­stood bet­ter than most what griev­ing fam­i­lies go through, and it helped her con­nect.

“If I had some­one pass­ing,” she said, “what would I want? I would want some­one to gen­tly hold my hand and be kind.”

Despite find­ing suc­cess in her field, she had not found her true love, yet. Over the course of one year, she braved 77 blind dates to find the one. She met a lot of nice guys, she said, but it was her col­league who lis­tened to her sto­ries about each date who turned out to be the best fit.

“Lit­tle did I know the guy who worked in the base­ment who I brand­ed Creep­er McCreep­er­son (the cre­ma­to­ri­um tech­ni­cian) would end up being my one true love,” she said.

“We have been hap­pi­ly mar­ried for 13 years.”

Now Fournier owns and oper­ates Cor­ner­stone Funer­al Ser­vice with her husband’s help in Bor­ing, Ore­gon. He works behind the scenes, and she is the one who answers the phone when­ev­er a fam­i­ly needs her, 24/7. They also run a res­cue farm as a way to unwind.

“We have goats and sheep that we hug and kiss, sing to, pat and take pic­tures of,” she said.

“Okay, it’s only me that hugs and kiss­es, sings and takes pic­tures of them. I would say tak­ing care of them and spend­ing time with them is def­i­nite­ly my main form of self-care.”

Fournier is known for blaz­ing a trail in envi­ron­men­tal­ly friend­ly buri­als. She wrote two books on the top­ic: “The Green Bur­ial Guide­book,” and “The Green Reaper: Mem­oirs of an Eco-Mor­ti­cian.”

She is also known for giv­ing fam­i­lies the free­dom to say good­bye in their own way whether that is a daugh­ter dri­ving her dad in his favorite truck one last time or lay­ing a moth­er to rest on fam­i­ly-owned prop­er­ty.

In addi­tion to “Green Reaper,” she is also called the under­tak­er of Bor­ing, Ore­gon. She loves both titles equal­ly.

Hear her sto­ry and how your last act in the world can be your green­est at TEDxSalem Jan. 5.

Elizabeth Fournier

Home­town: Port­land, Ore­gon

Fam­i­ly:  Hus­band Michael and Daugh­ter Sofia.

Hob­bies: Pay­ing it for­ward. I also enjoy sneak­ing into friends’ pantries and rear­rang­ing their canned food.

Music: Any­thing that grooves my soul.

Favorite author: I like to flip through the dic­tio­nary and learn new words.

Favorite food: What’s not to like?

TEDxSalem VI

TEDxSalem VI is an all-day event fea­tur­ing talks, per­for­mances, refresh­ments, lunch and a swag bag. It runs 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Sat­ur­day, Jan. 5 at the Salem Con­ven­tion Cen­ter. Tick­ets are on sale now for $55, $45 for stu­dents. Fol­low us on Face­book for the most up-to-date news from our com­mu­ni­ty, and check our web­site reg­u­lar­ly for new infor­ma­tion. You can also reach us at info@tedxsalem.com.

Singer-songwriter Kristen Grainger to host TEDxSalem VI

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Kris­ten Grainger will take the stage Jan. 5 as the first woman to host TEDxSalem, and we couldn’t be more thrilled.

She’s an award-win­ning singer/songwriter in the band True North and a long­time com­mu­ni­ca­tions strate­gist in Ore­gon pol­i­tics and high­er edu­ca­tion.

Despite writ­ing speech­es for two Ore­gon gov­er­nors, one attor­ney gen­er­al and three uni­ver­si­ty pres­i­dents, she said she is not a speech giv­er so TEDxSalem will be a refresh­ing change of pace.

“I am excit­ed, flat­tered and up for the chal­lenge, par­tic­u­lar­ly since, hav­ing viewed pri­or hosts’ videos, I know that have some big shoes to fill. I’m also proud to be the first female host for a Salem TEDx event.”

We offer you a Q and A with Grainger to get to know her before the big day.

 

What was your first TED expe­ri­ence?

My long-time friend and sis­ter-in-law is a physi­cian and doc­u­men­tary film­mak­er and was part of a TED talk spon­sored by the Gates Foun­da­tion about world health. (She shared her doc­u­men­tary “Rev­o­lu­tion­ary Opti­mists” about find­ing hope in the slums of Kolkata.)

That was my first expo­sure to TED. It was mem­o­rable because, well, it was a fam­i­ly mem­ber on a world stage, issue-wise. The total effect of all of the pre­sen­ters in that new con­text was mind-blow­ing.

 

Do you have a favorite TED Talk? How has it impact­ed your life or per­spec­tive?

Rox­ane Gay’s Con­fes­sions of a Bad Fem­i­nist and oth­ers — the inter­face between the speak­er and the lis­ten­er is pow­er­ful and the for­mat is acces­si­ble and con­ducive to learn­ing. I gained greater aware­ness of spe­cif­ic issues and broad­ened my own perspective/world view.

 

Ever thought of doing your own talk? What would it be about? 

Not real­ly before now. If I did:

  1. Why does col­lege cost so much?
  2. How Women Lead
  3. It’s In Me, and It’s Got to Come Out: Cathar­tic Song­writ­ing

 

You are on the board for The­atre 33. I am curi­ous to know more about what that is.

It is a non­prof­it orga­ni­za­tion ded­i­cat­ed to help­ing region­al play­wrights vet and improve new works. The­atre 33 pro­vides pro­duc­tion resources to pro­duce plays as works in progress. The play­wrights get feed­back from a live audi­ence and use that info to improve or mod­i­fy their work mid­stream. This is of huge ben­e­fit to the cre­ative process.

 

When did you start the band True North? What is your lat­est project?

I co-found­ed the band with Dan Wet­zel in 2005. We just released our fifth album, which debuted at #1 in Jan­u­ary on the nation­al folk charts, and it’s still in the top 25. Two tracks on the album won the Wild­flower music fes­ti­val song­writ­ing con­test in in Dal­las, TX last May.

 

What does RE (this year’s theme) mean to you?  

I love that it is total­ly with­out a pre­cise def­i­n­i­tion and sub­ject to inter­pre­ta­tion — it leaves the field wide open, an intel­lec­tu­al grab bag, if you will, of top­ics, sto­ries, issues, and per­spec­tives.

 

Any­thing else that might be inter­est­ing to add?

Cau­tion: I did not com­mit to leav­ing my ukulele at home, because RE could also be inter­pret­ed to mean “Refresh­ing­ly Enter­tain­ing [Host].”

 

Name: Kris­ten Grainger

Age: “Old­er than Bran­di Carlile; younger than Sheryl Crow.”

Edu­ca­tion: BA in English/Creative Writ­ing from Uni­ver­si­ty of Wash­ing­ton

Job Title: Spe­cial Assis­tant to the Pres­i­dent for Strate­gic Ini­tia­tives at Willamette Uni­ver­si­ty

Home­town: Boston, MA

Fam­i­ly: Hus­band: Dan; Step­son: Jake; Daugh­ter: Sam and Son-in-Law: Evan

Pets: Dog, Cody

Favorite movie: “RBG” (today, any­way!)

Favorite song or artist: “Skele­tons” by Rick­ie Lee Jones

Hob­bies: Music, music, music. Also hik­ing, fish­ing, read­ing, movies, and fam­i­ly stuff.

Favorite book: “Pos­ses­sion” by A.S. Byatt

What do you want to be when you grow up?: Pro­fes­sor Karen Hol­man, obvi­ous­ly. Doesn’t every­one??

TEDxSalem VI

TEDxSalem VI is an all-day event fea­tur­ing talks, per­for­mances, refresh­ments, lunch and a swag bag. It runs 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Sat­ur­day, Jan. 5 at the Salem Con­ven­tion Cen­ter. Tick­ets are on sale now for $55, $45 for stu­dents. Fol­low us on Face­book for the most up-to-date news from our com­mu­ni­ty, and check our web­site reg­u­lar­ly for new infor­ma­tion. You can also reach us at info@tedxsalem.com.

TEDxSalem reveals this year’s theme

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For two lit­tle let­ters, re is pret­ty pow­er­ful.

The let­ters hold the ker­nel of trans­for­ma­tion for redeem, resound, rejoice, relapse and restore. TEDxSalem VI explores “re” with a day of talks, activ­i­ties and more Sat­ur­day, Jan. 5, at the Salem Con­ven­tion Cen­ter.

The beau­ty of re is that it changes. In music, re, pro­nounced rey, is the sec­ond tone of a major scale. In chem­istry, it is the sym­bol for the ele­ment rhe­ni­um, a rare, sil­very-white met­al.

As a pre­fix, it can mean “back” or “again,” as in reimag­ine, recy­cle and regen­er­ate. Or going a dif­fer­ent direc­tion, there is rela­tion­ship, reversible and reverb.

Salem Graph­ic Design­er Von Glitsch­ka re-enlist­ed to cre­ate a unique design for this year’s theme. Glitsch­ka is the cre­ative force behind the TEDxSalem logos for Illu­mi­na­tion, Mox­ie, Fear­less, Rev­o­lu­tion and Through the Look­ing Glass.

This year, the let­ters are one con­tin­u­ous line, almost like a light tube for a neon sign.

“It’s very min­i­mal­ist in terms of visu­als,” he said. “The con­cept will come in how it’s placed in con­text.”

Like re itself, the logo shines when it’s placed in words like reverb, reimag­ine, rede­fine and relin­quish.

Vis­it us Jan. 5 to see how our 12 speak­ers reflect this year’s theme on stage. Artist-in-Res­i­dence Rebec­ca Shapiro is already work­ing to set the tone and con­vey the theme. Her con­cept is “Refram­ing the Jour­ney.” Come check it out.

 

TEDxSalem VI

TEDxSalem VI is an all-day event fea­tur­ing talks, per­for­mances, refresh­ments, lunch and a swag bag. It runs 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Sat­ur­day, Jan. 5 at the Salem Con­ven­tion Cen­ter. Tick­ets are on sale now for $55, $45 for stu­dents. Fol­low us on Face­book for the most up-to-date news from our com­mu­ni­ty, and check our web­site reg­u­lar­ly for new infor­ma­tion. You can also reach us at info@tedxsalem.com.

Glitschka Studios

Von Glitsch­ka is the cre­ative direc­tor and own­er of Glitsch­ka Stu­dios, a small bou­tique design firm in Salem. Its diverse range of illus­tra­tive designs have been used by some of the most respect­ed glob­al brands. The stu­dio cre­ative­ly col­lab­o­rates with ad agen­cies, design firms, cor­po­rate art depart­ments, and small busi­ness­es to pro­duce com­pelling illus­tra­tive design. For more infor­ma­tion, con­tact Glitsch­ka at (971) 223‑6143 or von@glitschka.com

Tickets on sale now for TEDxSalem VI

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Forty eight days and count­ing until one of the best events in Salem.

TEDxSalem, an offi­cial­ly licensed TEDx event, is back Sat­ur­day, Jan. 5 to deliv­er a full day of ideas worth spread­ing. Don’t miss your chance to be a part of the TEDx expe­ri­ence. Tick­ets are $55, $45 for stu­dents.

Where else will you hear from an under­tak­er, doc­tor of sex­ol­o­gy, chem­istry pro­fes­sor and neu­ro­sci­en­tist in one action-packed day? Twelve com­mu­ni­ty speak­ers will inspire and chal­lenge you on every­thing from restora­tive jus­tice to how your brain changes your beliefs dur­ing moments of sur­prise.

Did we men­tion the live enter­tain­ment, catered lunch and swag bag? TEDxSalem also includes curat­ed TED Talks, snacks, three recess ses­sions to expand your mind and, of course, sur­pris­es.

Need more rea­sons to attend? Here are the 12 speak­ers who will blow your mind.

TEDxSalem Speakers

Jen­ny­Lynn Diet­rich, an Ore­gon Deaf­Blind Com­mu­ni­ty Alliance Net­work facil­i­ta­tor, will give us a look at the Deaf­Blind com­mu­ni­ty.

Michael Rousell of South­ern Ore­gon Uni­ver­si­ty will take us on a jour­ney into how your brain secret­ly changes your beliefs dur­ing moments of sur­prise.

Car­la Brauer, own­er of Der­mesti­dar­i­um, will share how recon­nect­ing with food changed her life and led to a career bring­ing new life to the dead as a bone clean­er.

Eliz­a­beth Fournier, under­tak­er from Cor­ner­stone Funer­al, will explore “The Ulti­mate Act of Envi­ron­men­tal Vol­un­teerism.”

Melis­sa Michaux, Willamette Uni­ver­si­ty Asso­ciate Pro­fes­sor, exam­ines “Restora­tive Jus­tice in prison is nec­es­sary to trans­form pris­on­ers for safer com­mu­ni­ties.”

Michelle Jones of the Wayfind­ing Acad­e­my will speak on the high­er edu­ca­tion sys­tem, and new mod­els pro­vid­ing alter­na­tive ways of look­ing at the pur­pose of col­lege.

Darya Rose, weblog­ger, neu­ro­sci­en­tist, and author, will speak on how psy­chol­o­gy impacts your abil­i­ty to cre­ate healthy habits and what to do about it.

Moe Car­rick, author, will explore women advo­cat­ing for men (ver­sus “help­ing” them) with new ideas of redefin­ing mas­culin­i­ty.

Hebah Hasan will share how she over­came the con­straints of her cul­ture to earn an advanced degree and become a leader in her field.

Geri Rich­mond, Pres­i­den­tial Chair in Sci­ence and Pro­fes­sor of Chem­istry at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Ore­gon, holds numer­ous notable sci­en­tif­ic accom­plish­ments and was recent­ly award­ed the 2018 Priest­ley Medal from the Amer­i­can Chem­i­cal Soci­ety.

Rebec­ca Shapiro, Artist-in-Res­i­dence, will cre­ate the TEDxSalem stage dis­play to help set the tone this year. Learn how she will be “Refram­ing the Jour­ney”

TEDxSalem VI

TEDxSalem VI is an all-day event fea­tur­ing talks, per­for­mances, refresh­ments, lunch and a swag bag. It runs 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Sat­ur­day, Jan. 5 at the Salem Con­ven­tion Cen­ter. Tick­ets are on sale now for $55, $45 for stu­dents. Fol­low us on Face­book for the most up-to-date news from our com­mu­ni­ty, and check our web­site reg­u­lar­ly for new infor­ma­tion. You can also reach us at info@tedxsalem.com.

Hang out with the TEDxSalem crew and speakers at Venti’s 

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Whether you’re TEDx-curi­ous or an avid sup­port­er of Salem’s talks on ideas worth spread­ing, we would love to meet you.

Grab a beer and some food, and join the TEDxSalem team along with past and present speak­ers for a casu­al night of social­iz­ing start­ing at 6 p.m. Tues­day, Sept. 25 at Ven­ti’s Cafe + Base­ment Bar down­town.

You’ll get a chance to ask past speak­ers the ques­tions you’ve been dying to know the answers to and get a hint of what top­ics are on tap for TEDxSalem VI on Jan. 5, 2019.

You might even find your­self tempt­ed to share your ideas worth spread­ing.

Bonus: 10 per­cent off all sales at both Venti’s loca­tions will ben­e­fit TEDxSalem. Come out and sup­port one of the coolest events in Salem. You won’t be dis­ap­point­ed.

What: Hang out with TEDXSalem crew as well as past and present speak­ers

When: 6- 9 p.m. Tues­day, Sept. 25

Where: Ven­ti’s Cafe + Base­ment Bar, 325 Court St NE, Salem, Ore­gon 97301

Why: Because it’s going to be awe­some, and 10 per­cent of sales will ben­e­fit TEDxSalem.