TED Talks You Shouldn't Miss

By Joan

Two weeks ago I blogged about how images inspire stories in us, referring to a TED talk from author Tracy Chevalier. If you’ve ever been on the TED site, you’ll know it’s not so easy to stop watching after one. There are over 1700 TED talks available to view, on philosophy, technology, engineering, culture, entrepreneurship, you name it. The talks have been delivered by all types of people: experts, cultural icons, even whiz kids.

I thought I’d share some literary talks I came across. 

Two powerhouse authors tackle creativity. This one from celebrated author Elizabeth Gilbert about ever-elusive creative genius. (Gilbert, by the way, is presenting again this week.) And of course, Amy Tan always entertains. Susan and I saw her in Dallas not too long ago and here she is speaking about where creativity hides.

Lisa Bu speaks about her discovery of reading after her dreams of a career as a Chinese opera singer were squashed. After moving to the United States, she discovered reading and shares how books opened her mind to new possibilities and introduced her to people she would never meet in person. “Books have given me a magic portal to connect with people of the past and the present.”

Karen Thompson, author of The Age of Miracles, speaks about fear. “If we think of our fears as more than just fears, but as stories, we should think of ourselves as authors of those stories.” She says, “Our fears are an amazing gift of the imagination. A kind of everyday clairvoyance.” As one of the most fearful people I know, I like her take on it!  

In case you missed it, last week Pamela shared a great TED talk from author Kelly Corrigan on the link between reading, vocabulary and communication. 

There’s a clever talk from former Poet Laureate, Billy Collins. Five of his poems were set to animation in this intriguing look at life. I particularly enjoyed "Literary Amnesia" and "Forgetfulness."

And I’ll leave you with a talk from recent National Book Critics Award winner, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, who talks about the danger of a single story. Her father was a professor, her mother an administrator. She was an early reader and writer, and read primarily British and American books. So her writing featured people who drank ginger beer and complained about the snow. It wasn’t until she read African authors that she learned literature could feature many characters, some like her, some like her housekeeper's family who were very poor. When she went to university in America, she encountered people who believed a single story about Nigerians. She learned first hand that if we are conditioned to believe something about a race or culture, we won’t learn the full story.

Have a favorite TED talk? Share it with us! Feeling uninspired? Spend some time with TED.  

Art, photography and imagery

by Joan

Photo by Rick Mora

Once upon a time, I was an art major. Never mind that I have little artistic talent; I imagined myself in a seaside cottage with paintbrush, palette and canvas. That lasted for one semester, quick enough to realize I was in the wrong major, long enough to feel sophisticated about sketching live nudes. (I heard they made good money, but who were those models with the nerve to undress in front of thirty students, anyway?)

Although I gave up my dream of being a visual artist, my passion developed into a lifelong love of art and imagery. I am drawn to art on the page, to literature, to life revealed in my mind’s eye. 

Some of my favorite books feature artists, real or imagined: Susan Vreeland’s Passion of Artemisia, Rosamunde Pilcher’s Shell Seekers, Sarah Stonich’s Ice Chorus, Tracy Chevalier's Girl with the Pearl Earring, among many others (including Kim's).

I’ve been fortunate in my life to have visited many of the world’s greatest galleries. If you've ever tried to see the Metropolitan Museum of Art in one day, you know there’s never enough time to appreciate every painting. Often I felt that combination of gallery fatigue and guilt that author Tracy Chevalier describes in her wonderful TED talk: “Finding the story inside the painting.” (do yourself a favor and take 15 minutes to watch).

Photo by Rick Mora

You might not think Tracy Chevalier would get gallery fatigue. After all, she must have spent hours staring at Vermeer’s “Girl with the Pearl Earring” while writing her gorgeous novel. In fact she did. But just as we can’t read every book in a bookstore before choosing one, we can’t truly see and appreciate every painting in a gallery. “I pinpoint the ones that make me slow down,” Chevalier says. “I stand in front of that painting and I tell myself a story about it.”

Photo by Rick Mora

Paintings inspire stories, yes, but photography does as well. 

“Taking pictures is savoring life intensely, every hundredth of a second,” said French photographer Marc Riboud.

Water reflections, Photo by Rick Mora

Saturday we visited the Botanical Gardens of Fort Worth. It was early for blooms, but the first day of a remarkable butterfly exhibit. In a hundredth of a second, Rick captured tiny wings that looked like they’d been drawn by an artist. He captured a moment with two ducks synchronize swimming and another with a heron jaw-wrestling a fish and swallowing it whole (not pictured).

In this lovely reflection of water, I see a story. I see a nun hiding (bottom right), perhaps holding a basket of coconuts or a baby. I see Father Winter blinking, or perhaps it's Saint Nicholas (mid-frame). In between those two, I see a zebra, or is it a white horse behind bars? There's a story waiting to be told. 

Eudora Welty said, "A good snapshot keeps a moment from running away." Snap an image that speaks to you and write it how you see it.