One of my favorite web sites in the whole world wide interweb is TED. Back in my college days, I changed majors a lot. Engineering, English, Pre-Law, Psychology, Broadcasting. It’s perhaps telling that my favorite classes back in those days were broad survey courses where I learned big ideas about big subjects. Once it got down to the nitty-gritty details, I lost interest and moved on to something else. Eight years all total and I still ended up a few credit hours short of graduating.
It drove my family crazy back then. My lovely wife even suggested I needed therapy. She was probably right. But looking back, I wouldn’t trade it for the world. Even now, if I could just go back and take classes without worrying about grades or graduating, I’d do it. I just love that feeling of sitting in a lecture hall and having a world of new ideas open up before my eyes. That’s where TED comes in. It’s like getting to sit in on lectures from the greatest minds in the world. From the about page:
TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from those three worlds. Since then its scope has become ever broader. The annual conference now brings together the world’s most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives (in 18 minutes).
It’s an awesome collection. Here’s one of my favorites from the 2006 conference.
I was a wanna’ be break dancer. I get these obsessions from time to time. I see something that fascinates me and I throw myself into it. Back in the mid ’80s, it was break dancing.
I wish you could have seen it. I had a big piece of cardboard covering the concrete floor of our closed-in garage and would practice, practice, practice. I had my boombox loaded with the soundtracks to Beat Street and Breakin’ and wore the tapes out. (I need to pop over to iTunes and download those to see what memories flood back.) I never was that good at the more acrobatic craziness even though I tried hard and had the bruises to prove it. What I really liked and was able to halfway pull off were the liquid, gliding and popping moves. It was all magical.
Nothing much came of my hobby back then though. I don’t think anyone outside of my family even knew about it. I wanted to wait until I was good enough before springing it on the masses. I had these dreams of showing up at school with my “skills” and having a crowd gather around to cheer me on with Grand Master Flash blaring from the box. What an awesome dream it was.
But one day I mentioned my hobby to a friend and instead of the awe and admiration I expected, the response was laughter and ridicule. I was a pretty shy kid in the first place and that one laugh was all it took for me to pack away my break dance dream.
I wasn’t crushed. I didn’t need therapy. I came a little ways out of my shell later on and at school proms would hit the dance floor. But it was more in the style ofFootloose than Beat Street. (You know. That two hand finger snap with alternating front kicks. Can you picture it?) But I was ticked at myself because I never risked showing off the breakin’ in public and I regret it because I let someone’s knee-jerk reaction affect me and something I loved.
But this wouldn’t be the last time. A similar thing happened in college a few years later. Similar in that I found something I loved to death. Something I studied and worked on. Something I knew was right for me. But once again, I mentioned that something to a “friend” and my revelation was met with laughter. So once again I gave it up. Back in the shell.
Maybe I do need therapy. My therapist thinks I do. I still struggle with it. Not with break dancing. That’s now a physical rather than mental pain. But with the fear of making things I love public because of what other people might think. I don’t even want to say what the second thing was here for fear of that same reaction. I think it’s because that unlike break dancing, this dream still has potential.
The point of all this is, I’m trying to learn from it. I still have that fear. Hell, with the path I’ve chosen, I have it almost every day. I create something and then I wait in fear for the reaction. The thing is, I may never get past the fear but I have to make sure the fear doesn’t stop me from trying. It’s something I have to do for my own sanity and happiness but more importantly for my children. I know. Everything these days is “for the children.” But this one is important. What they see me doing is important. I came across this great quote not too long ago.
We want our children to fit in and to stand out. We rarely address the conflict between these goals. – Ellen Goodman
I’m trying to address it with the kids and with myself. We’ll see how it goes and I may even get to a point where I’m able to talk more openly about that other abandoned hobby. Perhaps it no longer falls in the abandoned category though. I’ll ask my therapist.
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This was all stirred up tonight because of two movies I watched this weekend. The first was Heckler. Very cool documentary by Jamie Kennedy about the relationship of hecklers and performers. AndThe Visitor. A movie about the reevaluation of dreams and ideas and long held beliefs that is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a while. Completely different movies that were very connected.
Heckler ended with a performance by a crazy cool dancer named David Elsewhere. A viral video sensation a while back and the best liquid dancer I’ve ever seen. The internet fame got him movie and commercial roles. Here’s a taste.
If you’re into it, you can find a ton more on YouTube: David Elsewhere. By the way, I break out the break dancing every now and then so the girls can have a good laugh at dad. Ironic isin’t it. Something I gave up for fear of being laughed at I now do for laughs. BLB
Sarah Palin made a campaign stop here in Pensacola today. The Grand Old Party has a brand new star. A couple of months ago, do you think one local Joseph P. Sixpack could have picked the Governor of Alaska out of a lineup? I doubt it. But today they filled the Civic Center don’t cha’ know.
Even our very own Governor Charlie “The Silver Fox” Crist is able to get past the disappointment of not being selected for the VP spot. He puts on a brave face and points out several things he admires about his rival. Or perhaps he’s pointing out the “white after Labor Day” problem. Either way, it explains the grin.
Sarah and Charlie (photo by Ben Twingley of the PNJ)
They say the bandaged hand is from a jogging fall. Do you buy that? There was a minor hubbub at debate time about it but don’t you feel there has got to be a better story. Clawed while wrestlin’ a grizzly. Bruised while poundin’ the glass at the hockey rink. Frostbite from a double top secret mission across the Bering Straight. Playtime with the “first dude” got out of hand. Wrench slipped while rebuilding the transmission on the Straight Talk Express. Something. Anything besides “I fell down”.
She’s a former basketball player and beauty queen for goodness sake. She should be halfway coordinated. She didn’t just fall down. I think they tried to take her out. I think some nervous Republicans were unhappy with Mrs. Hot Mom and wanted her off the ticket by any means necessary. But I think they underestimated her and found themselves up against and Alaskan Rambo. I think she left those nervous Republicans writhing in pain somewhere in the Alaskan wilderness and all she got was a little scratch on her palm. Now, every time she waves, she flashes the bandage as a warning. “Stand back or this hot mom will go medieval on you. That goes for you too Mr. Crist.”
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