REFLECTIONS OF a TED FELLOW (word 001)

As Fellows, we have seemed to have all naturally and rapidly evolved into these passionate global Ambassadors of the fellowship that selected us from all around the globe.

not my words but so Wiki-TRuE and mostly used in an academic context: a fellow is often part of an elite group of learned people who work together as peers in the pursuit of knowledge or practice.

yes i looked it up.  I had to.  I appear to be actively living several definitions and variations of my current existence and i want to know what it all means. I am looking at my hands and my pen, my voice and my microphone, inquisitive with visions of what I have been selected to become.

I have witnessed an incredible thing, my friends.

The incredible things also happen to be information that I am really excited to share.  First of all, thank you for all the emails and phone calls asking me about my experience at a TED conference as a “TED Fellow”–kind of  a new-ish term at TED. This is only the 2nd class of TED Global Fellows- a new initiative.

My confession is that I was gifted with silence for 4 days after my experience in Oxford last week. Yup. I lost my voice. I saw it coming of course. It began on tuesday night at the Late Night event honoring the Fellows hosted by Johnnie Walker at the Freud Bar where I was the featured presenting artist. I was so excited about singing and playing my tambourine drum.   It may have been a combination of drinking lots of exquisite top shelf whiskey with all my TED Fellows in the room as well as Imogen Heap and I LOVE Imogen Heap and I was having SO much fun singing and dancing that I pushed my voice a little too far forgetting all my important breath work that I intentionally teach to help me remember to do it. I talked so much the days between the 11th and the 16th my voice began it’s process of retreat and forced me to rejuvenate.

Rejuvenation is the reflection I am connected to at this moment.  In my work as an educator in the midst of completing my first major album release, my spirit was aging so quickly with all the new and incredible moments I was moving. I needed an opportunity to allow my spirit to absorb a source of a different color. The color included red spelling the name TED.

TED is owned by a non-profit foundation and devoted to “ideas worth spreading”.  This is the platform that brought us all together.

The tag was a simple promise, one that we have been more than willing to participate in exploring.

I experienced this particular Talk in Oxford on Wednesday morning of the 2010 TED Global Conference.  It was the day after a VERY late night the previous night at the Late Night hosted by Johnnie Walker.  I was so proud of myself for making it on time to the 8:30 am morning Session 3 live from the Simulcast Lounge, a colorful comfy chair, bean-bagged room that slingshot the sweet aroma of coffee, tea and honey.  This was a great place to view the talks if you were unable to make it to the Main stage theater before it reached capacity.  So there I was, watching Elif Shafak pull words and meaning into focus in her talk that included mention of spiritual companions, parallel conversations, and gaps that effect stories. So much happened between us in those 18 minutes.  The effect resembled rejuvenation and a determination for my spirit to explore the joys of creating more moments to writing. I am so ripe now  remembering how fully I surrendered to applying what she spoke with the life as a writer that I am currently living.  When you have time to watch this talk, give thanks to the soon becomING your current.

Let me know what speaks to you and I will continue to give you glimpses of what spoke to me.

Elif Shafak explicitly defies definition — her writing blends East and West, feminism and tradition, the local and the global, Sufism and rationalism, creating one of today’s most unique voices in literature.