TEDxSalem

Ideas worth spreading

Stefanie Knowlton

Let’s spend the night together…

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Salem at night from the City of Salem website

 

You don’t have to leave Salem once the TEDxSalem par­ty is over. Stay. Explore. Enjoy.

We think Salem rocks, which is why we work so hard to bring you TEDxSalem, a show­case for just how cool this city, and our com­mu­ni­ty, is.

Here are a few ideas to help you get to know us.

Ice Skat­ing. Try your skills at Salem’s newest attrac­tion: Salem on Ice, an ice skat­ing rink at Salem’s River­front Park.

The Capi­tol. Guid­ed tours occur on week­days only, but it’s worth wan­der­ing in just to see the rotun­da.

The Elsi­nore The­atre. This beau­ti­ful his­toric the­ater shows clas­sic films, com­mu­ni­ty per­for­mances and nation­al tour­ing enter­tain­ment.

Eat your way through down­town. You’ll already be down­town for TEDxSalem, so why not do some explor­ing? We have clas­sic, long-stand­ing lunch coun­ters, qual­i­ty Ital­ian, Span­ish and French restau­rants, local­ly beloved estab­lish­ments and cozy cof­fee shops.

Riverfront Park from the City of Salem website

Head to the river­front. You could stroll the pedes­tri­an bridge, go for a spin on the Carousel or just soak up the atmos­phere. Use the new Minto Island bicy­cle and pedes­tri­an bridge to walk to Minto-Brown Island Park.

Taste the best wine Ore­gon has to offer. We’re pret­ty par­tial to Pinots. There are dozens of world class vine­yards and winer­ies just out­side city lim­its, many of them offer­ing wood-fire piz­zas, cheese plates or full kitchen options. Yum!

Take in a show, comedic or musi­cal. The options are darn near end­less. There’s fam­i­ly-friend­ly improv at Capi­tol City, the hottest indie films at Salem Cin­e­ma, and the lat­est musi­cal from the Pen­ta­cle The­atre (Beau­ty and the Beast launch­es the same week­end as TEDxSalem!).

Feel col­le­giate at Willamette. Our local uni­ver­si­ty has one gor­geous cam­pus, with wind­ing trails and autumn leaves just beg­ging for a leisure­ly stroll.

Art? Check. His­to­ry? Check. See the lat­est exhib­it at the Hal­lie Ford Muse­um of Art, peruse the finest pieces for sale at the Bush Barn Art Cen­ter, see the film-famous Ore­gon State Hos­pi­tal muse­um or soak up local his­to­ry at the Willamette Her­itage Cen­ter.

If wine isn’t your thing, maybe beer is? Our small but wild­ly tal­ent­ed (and deli­cious) col­lec­tion of brew­eries are win­ning awards and mak­ing head­lines.

Still need a place to stay? May we rec­om­mend the Grand Hotel in down­town Salem? Not only is it right next door to the Con­ven­tion Cen­ter, but TEDxSalem atten­dees get a dis­count! Just men­tion that you’ll be at the con­fer­ence and get a room for $139, plus tax.

Look­ing for oth­er must-see tips about Salem? Ask any of our vol­un­teers or team mem­bers!

Still need tick­ets for TEDxSalem? Nev­er fear, they’re still avail­able online.

Creativity for all: Meet TEDxSalem speaker Laura Mack

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Laura Mack

Art makes the impos­si­ble pos­si­ble.

Salem artist Lau­ra Mack bridged the gap between Trump and Hillary sup­port­ers even if it was just on can­vas. She start­ed with pho­tographs of scream­ing pro­test­ers and then redrew the faces in char­coal, soft­en­ing their eyes, clos­ing their mouths.

“I tried to turn these angry pro­test­ers into thought­ful lis­ten­ers,” she said, “bring­ing us to the table to lis­ten to each oth­er.”

She hopes peo­ple see that it’s pos­si­ble to find com­mon ground. Mack doesn’t have much time for her art these days as a moth­er of two, col­lege instruc­tor and art advo­cate, but she does spend a lot of time think­ing about the cre­ative process.

The abil­i­ty to see things and solve prob­lems in a new way is not just for artists, she said. It’s a vital skill for every­one.

That thought inspired her to cre­ate a class at Chemeke­ta Com­mu­ni­ty Col­lege that fos­ters the cre­ative process. Most of her stu­dents don’t con­sid­er them­selves artists.

Art is one of the tools she uses to teach, but it’s not the only one. Stu­dents also do improv, cre­ate lists, per­form, make books and invent. One time she asked stu­dents to pick two objects, such as a bench and a con­vey­er belt, and think up 50 inven­tions.

“After about nine,” she said, “things start to get inter­est­ing.”

“We’ve been trained to get one right answer,” she said, “instead of stick­ing with it and com­ing up with a bet­ter idea.”

That process of being inspired, ask­ing ques­tions, tak­ing time, incu­bat­ing ideas and refin­ing leads to bet­ter ideas whether that’s in com­put­er sci­ence or psy­chol­o­gy, she said.

But many col­lege stu­dents strug­gle at first because they haven’t thought this way since ele­men­tary school, she said. As an art advo­cate, Mack devel­ops pro­grams that will keep the cre­ative process in schools through col­lege.

“Cre­ativ­i­ty needs to be main­tained from a very young age,” she said. “We don’t want to wait until col­lege.”

When she’s not teach­ing or cre­at­ing, Mack hangs out with her two boys, hus­band and their new pup­py Vad­er as in Darth Vad­er.

“It’s an iron­ic name because he’s incred­i­bly sweet,” she said.

She also vol­un­teers at her son’s school, offer­ing art class­es. That expe­ri­ence inspired anoth­er pro­gram meant to fos­ter the cre­ative spark. Hear more about Mack’s vision to keep that spark going in Salem-Keiz­er schools and in class­rooms around the world at TEDxSalem V.

Get your tickets for TEDxSalem V

TEDxSalem V is an all-day event fea­tur­ing talks, per­for­mances, refresh­ments, lunch and a swag bag Sat­ur­day, Jan. 6, at the Salem Con­ven­tion Cen­ter. Pur­chase tick­ets here. 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.

Mind-altering reads from TEDxSalem

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Fol­low TEDxSalem down the rab­bit hole with one of these six mind-alter­ing books rec­om­mend­ed by our speak­ers, sto­ry­tellers and cura­tors.

We hope they get you excit­ed for TEDxSalem V “Through the Look­ing Glass.”

1. The Center Can­not Hold: My Jour­ney Through Mad­ness by Elyn R. Saks

Saks shares her jour­ney from a ‘nor­mal’ kid, to her diag­noses, to get­ting treat­ment, com­ing off med­ica­tion and relaps­ing and then becom­ing an esteemed pro­fes­sor, lawyer and psy­chi­a­trist.

“I read this book a few years ago, and it com­plete­ly blew me away. See­ing life through the eyes of some­one with schiz­o­phre­nia was intense, amaz­ing and heart­break­ing.”

Recommended by Bri­an Hart, TEDxSalem co-cura­tor and half of the dynam­ic duo that brought TEDx to Salem

 

2.Essentialism: The Dis­ci­plined Pur­suit of Less by Greg McK­e­own

“I’ve read the book Essen­tial­ism more times than any oth­er book on my shelf. When I find myself drown­ing in busy work and los­ing sight of my pri­or­i­ties, I dive into the book again to remind myself to focus on the work I was born to do.

It helps me decide what goes and what stays in my sched­ule, my busi­ness and my per­son­al life. (The audio­book is great, too!)”

Rec­om­mend­ed by Marie Greene, TEDxSalem speak­er, knitwear design­er, writer, knit­ting instruc­tor and inter­na­tion­al speak­er

 

3. “Dar­ing to Dri­ve: A Sau­di Woman’s Awak­en­ing” by Man­al Al-Sharif

“The secret police came for me at two in the morn­ing” Man­al Al-Sharif writes in her true account of liv­ing in Sau­di Ara­bia. Her crime? Dri­ving.

It’s easy to take cer­tain free­doms for grant­ed, but Al-Sharif trans­ports you to her world where women can­not even seek med­ical treat­ment with­out their male guardian, which in some cas­es proves fatal. Al-Sharif’s book is often a tough read but an impor­tant one.

Rec­om­mend­ed by Ste­fanie Knowl­ton, TEDxSalem sto­ry­teller, award-win­ning jour­nal­ist and bel­ly­dancer

 

4. What Should I Do With My Life?: The True Sto­ry of Peo­ple Who Answered the Ulti­mate Ques­tion by Po Bron­son

Po cap­tures the jour­neys of 56 indi­vid­u­als as they strug­gle to define their iden­ti­ty and val­ues to live inten­tion­al­ly.

“This pow­er­ful book helped me clar­i­fy my own val­ues and ques­tion my inter­ests, pas­sions and goals as I read through the inter­nal dia­logues of oth­ers. I encour­age col­lege-age read­ers, those inter­est­ed in refin­ing their path and seek­ers to read this love­ly col­lec­tion of short sto­ries.”

Rec­om­mend­ed by Rose Bark­er, a Cer­ti­fied Risk Man­age­ment Con­sul­tant and expert on iden­ti­ty theft

 

5. Get Momen­tum: How to start when you’re stuck by Jason W. Wom­ack & Jodi Wom­ack

 “I have found myself in a funk a few too many times… this book has helped me focus and make changes through tan­gi­ble advice and activ­i­ties to help rein­force new habits.”

Rec­om­mend­ed by Car­lee Wright, TEDxSalem co-cura­tor and half of the dynam­ic duo that brought TEDx to Salem

 

6. The Psy­che­del­ic Explor­er’s Guide: Safe, Ther­a­peu­tic, and Sacred Jour­neys by James Fadi­man

Fadi­man out­lines best prac­tices in psy­che­del­ic use for safe, sacred voy­ages learned through his more than 40 years of expe­ri­ence.

“This book changed my belief sys­tem and was one of the main cat­a­lysts for me to con­tin­ue my spir­i­tu­al jour­ney to find my true self. It chal­lenged many things I believed and has changed me for the bet­ter.”

Rec­om­mend­ed by Bri­an Hart, TEDxSalem co-cura­tor and half of the dynam­ic duo that brought TEDx to Salem

Save the Date: TEDxSalem V is an all-day event fea­tur­ing talks, per­for­mances, refresh­ments, lunch and a swag bag that takes place Sat­ur­day, Jan. 6, 2018, at the Salem Con­ven­tion Cen­ter. Ear­ly bird tick­ets go on sale Sept. 1. 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.us.

What is TEDx

About TEDx, x = inde­pen­dent­ly orga­nized event

In the spir­it of ideas worth spread­ing, TEDx is a pro­gram of local, self-orga­nized events that bring peo­ple togeth­er to share a TED-like expe­ri­ence. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speak­ers com­bine to spark deep dis­cus­sion and con­nec­tion in a small group. These local, self-orga­nized events are brand­ed TEDx, where x = inde­pen­dent­ly orga­nized TED event. The TED Con­fer­ence pro­vides gen­er­al guid­ance for the TEDx pro­gram, but indi­vid­ual TEDx events are self-orga­nized. (Sub­ject to cer­tain rules and reg­u­la­tions.) 

Not too late to join the TEDxSalem party

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You for­got to buy tick­ets, you thought you would­n’t be in town or you just put it off to the last minute?

That’s OK. We have tick­ets at the door so it’s not too late to join this par­ty. It’s going to be epic. Twelve bril­liant speak­ers, yoga, danc­ing and per­for­mances from Latin jazz singer Edna Vazquez and Enlight­ened The­atrics.

But wait, there’s more: thought­ful break­out ses­sions, snacks, a fab­u­lous lunch and an after par­ty. Join us at Tap­root in down­town Salem to cel­e­brate the day and hang out some more.

Tick­ets will be avail­able for pur­chase at the door for $55 cash or card only. No checks.

We hope to see you at the Salem Con­ven­tion Cen­ter, 200 Com­mer­cial St. SE. Doors open now, and event starts at 9 a.m.

 

American Sign Language spoken here at TEDxSalem

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Ten stu­dents from West­ern Ore­gon Uni­ver­si­ty, pic­tured here with class­mates, will offer ASL inter­pret­ing at TEDxSalem Sat­ur­day.

TEDxSalem will offer ASL inter­pret­ing for the third year in a row so every­one can join the con­ver­sa­tion.

Salem is one of the few TED events around the world that offers the ser­vice thanks to our vol­un­teers. With­out them, it would cost thou­sands of dol­lars.

This year Salem teamed up with 10 ASL inter­pret­ing stu­dents from West­ern Ore­gon Uni­ver­si­ty, their men­tors and mem­bers of the deaf com­mu­ni­ty to make it hap­pen.

“It’s real­ly a won­der­ful oppor­tu­ni­ty for our stu­dents,” said Vic­ki Dar­d­en, vis­it­ing assis­tant pro­fes­sor of inter­pret­ing stud­ies at WOU.

TEDx is a great way for the stu­dents, all seniors, to get real-world ASL inter­pret­ing expe­ri­ence, she said. But the part­ner­ship is a win for every­one. The event gets inter­pre­ta­tion, and the deaf com­mu­ni­ty gains access to the TED expe­ri­ence not only in Salem, but around the world online.

Each stu­dent will inter­pret one TED talk with sup­port from their men­tor, and the remain­ing talks will be cov­ered by men­tors. Stu­dents will also have a chance to refine their inter­pre­ta­tions for the videos, which will fea­ture the ASL inter­preter on the screen.

Dar­d­en hopes to con­tin­ue the part­ner­ship between WOU and TEDxSalem next year, she said.

“I look for­ward to a real col­lab­o­ra­tion between TEDx and our stu­dents,” she said, “to pro­vide access to the deaf com­mu­ni­ty as well as expe­ri­ence for our stu­dents and expo­sure for TED.”

TEDxSalem stu­dent inter­preters

Patri­cia Desrosiers
Jaymee Gowdy
Halle Hamil­ton
Jacob Hogan
Caitlin Mas­ter­son
Alis­sa McAlpine
Lynne Mur­phy
Allis­sa Phoenix
Shaw­na Put­nam
Caitlin Woods

It’s not too late! Get your tick­ets for TEDxSalem IV

Tick­ets are on sale now for Salem’s annu­al TEDx event Sat­ur­day, Jan­u­ary 7, 2017. Tick­ets are $50, $40 for a stu­dent. You can also buy tick­ets at the door! The all-day event includes talks, per­for­mances, refresh­ments, lunch and a swag bag. 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.us.

2017 won’t change itself, join TEDxSalem Revolutions

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I’ve heard peo­ple wish away 2016 as if a new num­ber will sud­den­ly trans­form our world.

2017 isn’t mag­i­cal. It won’t erase the real­i­ties many want to escape. Only we can change through ideas, actions, rev­o­lu­tion. On Jan­u­ary 7, a com­mu­ni­ty will come togeth­er to cel­e­brate ideas worth spread­ing in Salem and beyond.

You can be a part of it.

TEDxSalem is a full day of bril­liant speak­ers, thought­ful dis­cus­sion, art, food and enter­tain­ment meant to leave you inspired and ready to act. It doesn’t mat­ter on which side of the polit­i­cal spec­trum you fall. These ideas are for every­one.

Where else can you hear from a bug farmer, mind­ful thinker, bud­ding sci­en­tist, Pulitzer-nom­i­nat­ed writer, social jus­tice cham­pi­on, child advo­cate and so many more in one day?  Join us. Let the rev­o­lu­tion begin.

Get your tick­ets for TEDxSalem IV

Tick­ets are on sale now for Salem’s annu­al TEDx event Sat­ur­day, Jan­u­ary 7, 2017. Tick­ets are $50, $40 for a stu­dent. The all-day event includes talks, per­for­mances, refresh­ments, lunch and a swag bag. 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.us.