2015 Speakers

Noah Schultz: Incarcerated at 17, writer and poet at 18, TEDx speaker at 23

September 11, 2015 By Laura Fosmire

Try to describe Noah Schultz in just a few words and you can’t help but slip in a few tantalizing details.

He’s a writer and a poet. He has major dreams for Oregon and for himself. For the past several years, he’s been incarcerated at the MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility. Currently at a work study transition program in Florence, he’ll be temporarily released just in time to join our roster of speakers at TEDxSalem.

But since he has such a way with words, we thought we would let him do the introducing.

How did you come to learn about TEDxSalem? What made you want to get involved?

I was discussing my goal of speaking at a TED event with a friend of mine when she mentioned knowing some of the organizers. I got very excited and asked her if she would be able to connect me with them. TED provides the platform to deliver hope through a positive message, or new idea. Who wouldn’t want to be a part of that?

Tell me a little more about the subject of your TED talk.

My talk is an infusion of poetry, my life story and the wisdom I have learned from the experience of being incarcerated at an early age. I want people to walk away from this talk ready to take on the thing they have pushed to the side. Humans are meant to persist, survive and reach unimaginable levels of excellence. I hope this talk stokes the inner fire inside of them.

You’re a talented writer, and your work has been showcased online. What originally got you into writing?

Thank you, I feel very blessed to have been well received in that area.

When I was 18, I signed up for a group called Write Around Portland. This is a nonprofit located out of Portland who was offering their services to MYCF (MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility).

This was where I was exposed to creative writing. We were given journals and spent two hour sessions writing to prompts and sharing with others in the group. In this class, I felt like what I had to say mattered. The feeling writing gave me was like no other. This was the one place I could escape to. It was and is my therapy.

Can you talk more about the experience of being incarcerated at 17?

There is a lot I can say about that experience. I am going to save that for the talk. To be incredibly brief, I can say that this has been something that has altered my life path forever.

What would you most want people to know about you?

I would want people to know that I care about them, off the bat. I believe that we are all connected through the beauty of life. Each one of us makes up a piece of something bigger. That way of thinking consistently influences each of my interactions.

I would also want to let them know that I am a very ambitious individual who is focused on making a positive impact on the planet Earth before leaving it.

What are your plans for the future?

When asked this question my brain usually goes into a state overload. I have so many ideas with written plans of action ready for implementation upon my release.

I am an aspiring social entrepreneur who is passionate about the eradication of poverty, human trafficking and environmental issues. At this moment, I am working on developing and launching a Kombucha business and publishing my first book.

See Schultz and others speak at TEDxSalem Oct. 3.

The all-day event is $40 for students and $50 for the general public and includes talks, entertainment, participation in recess breaks, hands-on activities between sessions, plus food throughout the day (breakfast, coffee/tea/water, snacks and lunch), a gift bag and a few other goodies. Find your tickets here.

Speaker fights for social justice on and off the clock

September 3, 2015 By Stefanie Knowlton

CM Hall a proud native Oregonian committed to equality and social justice and a fierce Words With Friends player. She is also a 2015 TEDxSalem speaker. — CM Hall is a proud native Oregonian committed to equality and social justice and a fierce Words With Friends player.

Being a sign language interpreter gives you a window into the most intimate details of people’s lives and can put you on the national political stage. Just ask CM Hall, a 2015 TEDxSalem speaker.

She served as a member of John Kerry’s senior staff during his run for president in 2004, including making sure ASL interpreters signed every speech. She has also interpreted for President Obama. Five times.

“That’s a pretty good gig if you can get it, right?,” she said.

If it sounds like she’s trying to recruit interpreters, it’s no accident. She helped launched a national campaign to inspire the next generation of ASL interpreters to help fill a shortage.

Now she works as project coordinator of the Western Region Interpreter Education Center at Western Oregon University. She teaches DeafBlind Interpreting and LGBTQ Studies.

When Hall discovered ASL interpreting in college, she was drawn to the gestures. It reminded her of theater because it embodied a conversation, but it was the social justice piece that hooked her for good.

“When I started to learn about Deaf culture, it sparked my social justice bend. This isn’t about a community with a disability,” she said. “This is about a community that is linguistically and culturally oppressed.”

Despite dedicating more than 23 years to learning the language and earning awards for her advocacy, she still recognizes that she’s an audist, someone who behaves or is treated as if they’re superior based on the ability to hear. If you’re a member of the hearing community, she said, you’re an audist. You can’t help it.

That doesn’t stop her from fighting for equal access.

For example, she coordinates a mentorship program that matches seasoned interpreters with new interpreters in 11 states and territories to boost quality access for the Deaf community. She also fights in little ways. In July, she started a change.org petition to add the ASL “I Love You” emoji to mobile texting applications. She said she feels lucky to do the work that she does.

In her free time, she advocates for the LGBTQ community. Yes, she does social justice for fun, too. Currently she chairs the Equality PAC for Basic Rights Oregon. To learn more about Hall’s life as a sign language interpreter, LGBTQ advocate and self-described queer, catch her TEDxSalem talk Oct. 3. Get your tickets at tedxsalem2015.eventbrite.com.

David Craig: Understanding our world through birds

August 27, 2015 By Saerom

In city life, you may not see many wild animals. A cougar sighting is commonly a subject of a local news story — and much conversation.

But birds? They’re everywhere. Maybe they’ve nested on your property or they’re eating feed your neighbors throw out. Maybe they wake you up earlier than you’d like, chirping near your window.

How often have you wondered why a bird is in your neighborhood, versus another part of the world? How often have you wondered what the bird’s story is?

David Craig, a professor of biology at Willamette University, has built a career around asking and answering these questions.

Craig has been interested in the world around him and the creatures that live in it since he was a child. He says most children are, and many grow out of it. Craig never did.

Craig says answering the questions of why birds settle where they do and where and when they migrate can answer a lot of questions about ourselves and our world.

“I think understanding our place in the natural world is always important,” Craig said. “There’s a long history of birds being able to tell us really quickly about the environment before people have to make decisions that are going to affect people.”

Ospreys and eagles were the ones who told us DDT, a pesticide, was harmful, Craig said, when their eggs stopped hatching and their population declined. We later learned that DDT was causing cancer in people, he said.

In recent years, hobbyists have been contributing to scientific knowledge by taking photos of birds with tags that scientists elsewhere have put on them and helping them track them through the Internet.

The new technology and new twist on birding is attracting a younger generation of birders, Craig said.
Want to learn more about how you could get involved? You can see his talk at TEDxSalem on Oct. 3 at the Salem Convention Center. Get your tickets at tedxsalem2015.eventbrite.com.

Dr. Mark Davis: When waste becomes the cure

August 20, 2015 By Saerom

They say one’s trash is another’s treasure.

Dr. Mark Davis has built a medical career on this concept.

To many, poop means very little. It’s just waste, to be flushed away and rarely spoken of.

But for some people, it’s a significant health problem that severely impacts their quality of life. And the only solution is more poop.

Let me explain.

Davis, a Portland-based naturopathic physician, has dedicated his career to helping people with stomach conditions — especially those who have tried everything, to no avail.

At TEDxSalem on Oct. 3, Davis will speak about the work he is doing to improve the lives of those who have stubborn inflammatory bowel disease and infectious colitis.

Davis comes from a family of scientists and medical professionals, and he naturally formed an interest in a career in the field, as well.

But unlike conventional medicine, which he says is more focused on fixing broken bones and patching up bleeding parts, Davis was interested in a more holistic type of medicine.

When he discovered naturopathy, he knew it was right up his alley.

He got into gastrointestinal health because of the influence of his mentor, Dr. Steven Sandberg-Lewis, who is a gut health expert, Davis said.

Davis found that while many people suffering from bowel diseases found relief through diet, nutrients and herbs, there were some people for whom nothing seemed to work.

He did some digging into scientific literature, and he found an answer that has helped many people: fecal transplantation. In other words, he takes donated fecal matter from healthy people to transplant it in sick people’s intestines through an enema.

Today, he runs his own donor bank at his practice and continues to help people who have tried everything to relieve their bowel disease symptoms with no success.

You would have to attend TEDxSalem to learn more about fecal transplantation, what Davis has done to make the process more — well, appetizing — and the barriers the government has placed on people who would benefit from this treatment.

Tickets are available at tedxsalem2015.eventbrite.com.

Sukhsimranjit Singh: Resolving conflict across cultures

August 6, 2015 By Laura Fosmire

Sukhsimranjit Singh has a superpower, steeped in an art form, derived from social science.

He can negotiate.

Singh doesn’t use this power for evil; he doesn’t bend others to his will, he doesn’t manipulate to get what he’s after. He uses it for good; finding common ground, bridging cultures, fostering peace and harmony.

It sounds incredibly simple. Easy, almost. But one doesn’t need to look far to imagine the global possibilities that open up with such a skill. Imagine how different war might look, if only compromise could be reached. How an empathetic connection could dismantle racism, sexism, religious intolerance, fear and hatred.

“Love and compassion are the most powerful things within us,” Singh says. “But we subdue them with hatred and judgement.”

Singh is the associate director of the Center for Dispute Resolution within the law school at Willamette University, which he joined in 2008. He’s also a full-time member of the law faculty, an associate professor at the Atkinson Graduate School of Management, has consulted for the city of Salem, states of Oregon and California, and has worked in and taught mediation in 17 countries across the globe.

Legally, he explains, mediation is all about getting past a party’s position — I’m right, you’re wrong — and getting at a party’s interests. As a professional mediator, he listens to both sides to find a mutually agreeable solution.

To illustrate his work, he tells a parable about two sisters who are fighting over an orange.

Both sisters want the orange for themselves. The obvious and fair solution would be to cut the orange in half. But neither sister is satisfied with this, and so the fighting resumes.

A mediator would ask each sister why she wants the orange. One sister says she wants the orange for cooking. The other wants the orange for its juice.

So the first sister gets the orange peel, for cooking. And the second sister gets the peeled orange, for juicing. Each sister gets their ‘whole’ of the orange.

Sukhsimran and his daughter, Apar. — Singh and his daughter, Apar.

In his mediation work, Singh says he likes to take the cases that others find impossible to solve. To him, every problem has a negotiable solution.

“I grew up in a different culture,” he says (Singh was born in Punjab, India, and came to the United States in 2004 to be closer to his sister). “So I’m able to empathize with different stories and be flexible in my thinking. I like to challenge myself.”

For his TED talk, Singh says he’ll discuss how people see each other, and how that interferes with negotiations; he’ll explain how different cultures interact with one another.

“It sort of gets at the question of what is culture,” he says. “Culture is omnipresent. It may be more attached to religion or law or family, but culture is an amalgamation. There are layers of culture, and culture changes over time.”

Indeed, listening to Singh’s TED talk may even provide participants with their own superpowers.

“The person you negotiate with most is yourself,” he says.

See Singh and 12 others speak at TEDxSalem Oct. 3.

Michael Davis: What we get from “Sesame Street”

July 30, 2015 By Jay Shenai

Ask Michael Davis what his favorite Sesame Street sketch is, and one comes to mind right away: “Bert and Ernie Fish Call.” In it, the laid-back Ernie confounds Bert with his unorthodox yet wildly successful method for fishing. It’s a sophisticated and pretty funny gag for such a simple conceit: two Muppets in a boat, dodging fish.

“I think they’re one of the great comedy teams of all time,” said Davis, author of the New York Times Bestseller Street Gang: The Complete History of Sesame Street, and speaker at this year’s TEDx Salem.

Fun fact – According to Davis, in Bert and Ernie you can see subtle hints of the real-life creative tension between the straight-laced Frank Oz, and the more mischievous Jim Henson, one that helped drive the show for years.

You can also see how a sketch that first aired in 1982 endures to this day, and still appeals to viewers both younger and older. Currently the clip has over 3 million views on YouTube.

“That’s the magic, that they’ve been able to keep [the show’s success] rolling for so many years,” he said.

For his TED talk Davis will share how the show has evolved to maintain its popularity with millions of children in its over 45-year history. He will also discuss how the show’s producers continue to parlay that power into positive social change both in the US and around the world. According to Davis they are currently working to bring awareness of sanitation and hygiene to audiences in India and Pakistan. In South Africa, the first-ever HIV-positive Muppet, Kami, has helped bring AIDS awareness to a country that has struggled to face the crisis. The Queen of Jordan Rania Al Abdullah also has credited the show (Hikayat Simsim) for empowering women in her country.

It’s one of the key missions of the Sesame Workshop, the non-profit organization behind Sesame Street: to use the show’s concepts in hotspots around the globe, from Northern Ireland to the Balkans to Central America, Davis said.

Everywhere it is seen, the show serves to “help children cope, and to teach them about their society,” he said.

Through a combination of comedy and television advertising techniques, Sesame Street has impacted generations of children worldwide, Davis said, exposing them to sometimes tough lessons through intelligence and wit — even if sometimes the lessons and occasionally even the wit are beyond the grasp of the show’s core demographic of 2- to 4‑year-olds.

Sesame Street has had the staying power and the patience to wait for them.

“When children get older and more sophisticated, a light goes on,” Davis said. “They understand that somebody a long time ago taught them.”

Something to think about, the next time you come across a fisherman out on a lake yelling, “Heeere fishy-fishy-fishy!”

– To see Michael Davis and other TEDx Salem 2015 speakers, get your tickets here.