TEDxUofM

We are thrilled to announce that our talks from this year’s conference TEDxUofM Untapped_ can now be found online. Scroll below to find the list of speakers and talks.

Robert Quinn: Untapped_exchange

Robert Quinn holds the Margaret Elliot Tracey Collegiate Professorship at the University of Michigan and is faculty of Management and Organization (Ross Business School).  He is co-founder and Director of the Center for Positive Organizational Scholarship. Quinn’s research, teaching and publishings focus on leadership, organizational-change and effectiveness. Recipient of Academy of Management’s 2010 Martin Trail Blazer Award for opening new directions in the field of organization theory. Recipient of 2011 Marion F. Gislason Award, presented by Executive Development Roundtable for life-long contributions to leadership.

Oliver Uberti: Untapped_creativity

From 2003 to 2012, Oliver Uberti worked in the design department of National Geographic Magazine, most recently as Senior Design Editor. His designs and information graphics have won numerous international awards. A graduate of the U-M School of Art & Design, Oliver left National Geographiclast year to form his own studio, Oliver Uberti Creative, in one of his favorite places on Earth: Ann Arbor.

Kathryn Clark: Untapped_planet

Dr. Clark is currently teaching in the School of Kinesiology.  Clark spent 4 years at NASA Headquarters, two of them as the International Space Station Senior Scientist and 2 of them as the Chief Scientist for Human Space Flight.  Kathryn also served on the Stafford-Anfimov Committee for the International Space Station and received the NASA Public Service Medal for time on the NASA Return to Flight Committee following the Columbia Shuttle accident.

Maria Castro and Pedro Lowenstein: Untapped_healing

Maria G. Castro, PhD and Pedro R. Lowenstein, MD, PhD are Professors of Neurosurgery and Cell and Developmental Biology at the University of Michigan. Castro’s research focuses on the development of immunotherapies for primary and metastatic brain cancer: from immune-biology mechanisms to clinical implementation and Lowenstein’s research is mainly to discover the cellular, molecular, and mathematical basis underlying the growth patterns of malignant brain tumors, and the interactions between cancer cells with the tumor microenvironment. Together, their pioneering work in gene therapy for brain cancer has recently been approved by the FDA and a Phase I clinical trial will commence at the University of Michigan imminently.

Dan Morse: Untapped_heroism 

Born and raised in Jersey, Dan Morse has sought to live his life according to one philosophy – no matter where you came from; you possess immense potential to create a difference in the world.  To help others see the same, he has formed a partnership with a youth garden in Detroit, served as the Chief Programming Officer for Future Civic Leaders (a youth political leadership non-profit in D.C.), and founded The Beet Box (a health empowerment food cart in Ann Arbor).  Speaking with you today, he hopes to help you see your potential too.

John Bacon: Untapped_inspiration

John Bacon is a writer, speaker, teacher and coach of high school hockey.  He authored five books on sports, business and leadership, including Cirque du Soleil: The Spark, Bo’s Lasting Lessons: The Legendary Coach Teaches the Timeless Fundamentals of Leadership and Three and Out: Rich Rodriguez and the Michigan Wolverines in the Crucible of College football (New York Times bestseller).  He is the recipient of the 2009 Golden Apple. In 2011 the Michigan Chapter of the Meeting Professionals International named him Speaker of the Year.

Sterling Speirn: Untapped_giving

Sterling Speirn is president and CEO of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation in Battle Creek, Mich. Since joining the foundation in 2006 ­­­­­­, ­he has led the foundation to a new strategic framework and refined the mission, focusing on propelling vulnerable children to success through a comprehensive approach focused on education and learning; food, health and well-being; and family economic security along with a commitment to promoting racial equity and community and civic engagement. Speirn, a Michigan native, earned his bachelor’s degree in political science from Stanford University, and a law degree from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor

Sharon Pomerantz: Untapped_stories

Sharon Pomerantz’s first novel Rich Boy, now out in paperback, was the 2010 winner of the National Jewish Book Award for Debut Fiction, and was chosen by Entertainment Weekly as one of the Ten Best Novels of 2010, and by Booklist as one of the Ten Best First Novels of 2010. Her short fiction has appeared in numerous literary journals, as well as on NPR’s Selected Shorts program, and her story “Ghost Knife,” originally published in Ploughshares, was included in Best American Short Stories 2003. She teaches writing at the University of Michigan.

Mike Barwis: Untapped_potential

Mike Barwis is the founder and CEO of the Barwis Methods family of companies, and a consultant to the NY Mets.  He was formerly the Director of Strength and Conditioning at the University of Michigan.  During his career, he has trained over 500 professional and Olympic athletes, as well as college All-Americans, national champions, national and international competitors and medalists in over 40 sports.

Julie Steiner: Untapped_change

Julie Steiner, graduate of UM School of Natural Resources and the Environment, has spent her career working for social change in a variety of settings and on a variety of issues.  Anti-poverty organizing with ACORN,  political organizer for abortion rights with Arizona Right to Choose, Executive Director of ACLU of Tennessee and lobbyist on women’s issues for ACLU in Washington, first Director of SAPAC at UM, and Human Rights Coordinator at the City of Ann Arbor. Julie is currently the Executive Director of the Washtenaw Housing Alliance a coalition of 32 community non profits and local government offices working together to end homelessness. Julie likes to say that social change work can be like joining the Army because you can see the world—-Jacksonville, Houston, Phoenix, Memphis, Nashville, Oak Ridge, Chattanooga, Washington DC and Ann Arbor MI!  Her friends say she was run out of town.

Gina Athena Ulysse: Untapped_fierceness/my giant leaps

Gina Athena Ulysse received her Ph.D. from the University of Michigan. She is an anthropologist, spokenword poet/performance artist and blogger. Her artistic work revolves around finding and defining self as a Haitian-American woman, and she remains fiercely committed to her chosen role of change agent for her birth country. She is currently an associate professor at Wesleyan University.

Michael Williams: Untapped_Detroit

Michael Williams is a native of Detroit and a senior at the University of Michigan where he studies Afroamerican and African Studies and Urban Studies. He credits civic engagement experiences in Vietnam, South Africa, and his hometown of Detroit to deepening his passion for social justice in urban environments. As he completes his final undergraduate term participating in the Semester in Detroit program, Michael hopes to remain in Detroit long-term tackling urban planning and policy issues to create equitable, sustainable, and self-empowered neighborhoods and communities.

Merry Michelle Walker: Untapped_solutions
Merry Walker is the founder of Vort Port International (VPI), an organization that enables low-income communities globally to gain access to basic necessities through education, training, and innovation of sustainable technology-based solutions. With a majority of its membership being women, VPI champions women’s rights around the world through empowering rural women attain skills that enable them to positively impact their communities. Ms. Walker holds a Masters of Science in Engineering degree in Energy Systems Engineering and Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan.

James Robert: Untapped_self

Jim Robert has been a public school teacher for over 24 years.  He wrote and developed the curriculum for his high school Philosophy/Senior Passage Class that he has taught for over 17 years at Pioneer High School.  He is the father of three and lives with his wife in Ann Arbor.

Evelyn Alsultany: Untapped_stereotypes

Evelyn Alsultany is an Associate Professor in the Department of American Culture at the University of Michigan. She is the author of Arabs and Muslims in the Media: Race and Representation after 9/11, co-editor of Arab and Arab American Feminisms: Gender, Violence, and Belonging and co-editor of Between the Middle East and the Americas: The Cultural Politics of Diaspora. She is guest curator of the Arab American National Museum’s online exhibit: www.arabstereotypes.org.

Mary Heinen: Untapped_freedom

Mary Heinen is affiliated with the University of Michigan School of Social Work and Open Society Foundation. She organizes, educates and supports people returning from corrections. Mary is a Soros Justice Fellow. Heinen is co-founder of the Prison Creative Arts Project and the national Prison Arts Coalition. She is currently working with Nation Inside and the National Clearinghouse for the Defense of Battered Women. Mary is a documentary filmmaker, visual artist, historian and scholar.

Zafar Razzacki: Untapped_energy

An Account Executive on Google’s Brand Solutions sales team, Zafar Razzacki works with some of the world’s largest brands to develop innovative digital marketing strategies.  Before joining Google, Zafar spent 10 years in entrepreneurial ventures in technology, education, medical device, and music markets.  When not busy chasing big ideas and developing crazy business concepts, he is a passionate singer-songwriter who has performed on stages around the world.  The only thing stronger than his love of music is his love for the city of Detroit.

David Chesney: Untapped_resonance

David Chesney thoroughly enjoys teaching in the Computer Science and Engineering Division at the University of Michigan.  His life is blessed by a loving wife, Jean, and three extraordinary daughters, Tegan, Brynn, and Mairin;  all of whom make him better than he is.

Melissa Gross: Untapped_body

Melissa Gross has a background in dance (BA from University of Colorado) and kinesiology (PhD from UCLA). Her current research focuses on the expression of emotion in body movement in healthy individuals and individuals with mood disorders. She teaches anatomy and biomechanics in the School of Kinesiology at UM where she is delighted to observe the creativity in undergraduate students that emerges at the intersection of art and science.

Chris Armstrong: Untapped_respect

Chris Armstrong was the first openly gay Student Body President at the University of Michigan. After being elected, the Assistant Attorney General of Michigan began attacking him and lobbying for his resignation simply because he was gay. After the story gained national media attention, the Asst. Attorney General and Chris went on to win a settlement against his aggressor. Chris now resides in Washington, DC.

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It’s been five, seven, ten, thirteen days since over 1,200 individuals came together in the University of Michigan Power Center to connect, listen, share, learn, and value ideas of all measure and form. They took the time out of their day – away from their responsibilities and commitments – to feed their souls and brains with the perspectives of similar individuals and those in completely different walks of life. Those attendees gathered to share experiences from their own careers and to listen to those of others; they created an day of open dialogue that was nothing short of amazing. So many people worked hard through planning and participation to make the experience exactly what it was.  For that, I am grateful; he is grateful; she is grateful. We are a little different than before.

But what happens now as the day is quickly becomes a memory?

Our team reflects, remembers, and looks forward to TEDxUofM 2014.

Our attendees leave; they bring up the day in conversation; they return to their normal life of goal reaching and responsibility.

Our community summarizes the day in news articles and ponders when the next event might be.

Our talks are watched online and supplemented in school courses.

But what about the energy? What about that intrinsic feeling that was shared at the Power Center last Friday, but no one can quite describe.  Here’s one personal hope for where it will go ——-

I hope the energy flies and swooshes and swirls around the attendees every which way as they walk throughout the University of Michigan, throughout Ann Arbor, and beyond. I hope that it instantly sticks to each person they talk to and instills in them empowerment and passion to follow that completely crazy idea they had eating a bagel or sharpening a pencil that morning. I hope it gives them peace and a sense of purpose in the smallest conversation or wink of an eye in their hour.  TEDxUofM 2013 Untapped_ is a launching pad and a reflection zone!  But, it only has as much gusto as the work we all put in now to keep it going.

CONNECT with the people you met at the conference whose collaboration  can move local mountains.

FEEL the empowerment of the speakers and the community who demonstrated that you can do whatever it is your passion drives you towards. 

CHANGE the path of your hour, or of your day (or your life!) because of what you heard and felt and learned at the conference.

Help us keep the TED spirit with us all year long.  Help us host smaller intimate events to reconnect and invite others.  Help us support your new projects and connect you to people who can help bring them to life.

TEDxUofM is built and blossoms through the passions of a group of students who believe that our community needs a revamped vision of education, a chance to be completely immersed and inspired.  It is driven by a group of people willing to support the idea of following passion and instinct.  It is immensely thrilling to see the support we’ve had for now four years.  Here comes a fifth – how will you help us mold and grow into an even better version of ourselves for this community of doers, thinkers, and rock-on indiviauls?  Where will we go?  Let’s follow the energy.

Are you tying your shoes correctly?

Chances are you may not be.  Terry Moore gives a tutorial in this TED 2005 talk. Your life may never be the same. 

The Music for Ideas compilation began as a joint effort between Ghostly International and TEDxUofM. It is meant to awaken the creative flow, the tenet on which TEDxUofM is based.

This compilation is the third installment of a series of albums celebrating artists from the Michigan community.

We’d like to thank all of the musicians who contributed & encourage you to support their work.

download the third installment (2013) :: x 

the first installment (2011) :: x 

the second installment (2012) :: x 

Transforming Education | Libby Ashton from TEDxUofM on Vimeo.

Megan Reina illustrated Libby Ashton’s 2012 TEDxUofM talk “Transforming Education.” 

With the conference but a week away, it’s time to get you excited about the rest of our lineup! Here are ten more incredible men and women who will take the stage on April 5th to give the talk of their lives. You can find the first half of our lineup here. Here’s to their ideas, visions, hopes and dreams!

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Robert Quinn

Robert Quinn holds the Margaret Elliot Tracey Collegiate Professorship at the University of Michigan and is faculty of Management and Organization (Ross Business School).  He is co-founder and Director of the Center for Positive Organizational Scholarship. Quinn’s research, teaching and publishings focus on leadership, organizational-change and effectiveness. Recipient of Academy of Management’s 2010 Martin Trail Blazer Award for opening new directions in the field of organization theory. Recipient of 2011 Marion F. Gislason Award, presented by Executive Development Roundtable for life-long contributions to leadership.

John Bacon

John Bacon is a writer, speaker, teacher and coach of high school hockey.  He authored five books on sports, business and leadership, including Cirque du Soleil: The Spark, Bo’s Lasting Lessons: The Legendary Coach Teaches the Timeless Fundamentals of Leadership and Three and Out: Rich Rodriguez and the Michigan Wolverines in the Crucible of College football (New York Times bestseller).  He is the recipient of the 2009 Golden Apple. In 2011 the Michigan Chapter of the Meeting Professionals International named him Speaker of the Year.

Merry Michelle Walker
Merry Walker is the founder of Vort Port International (VPI), an organization that enables low-income communities globally to gain access to basic necessities through education, training, and innovation of sustainable technology-based solutions. With a majority of its membership being women, VPI champions women’s rights around the world through empowering rural women attain skills that enable them to positively impact their communities. Ms. Walker holds a Masters of Science in Engineering degree in Energy Systems Engineering and Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan.

James Robert

Jim Robert has been a public school teacher for over 24 years.  He wrote and developed the curriculum for his high school Philosophy/Senior Passage Class that he has taught for over 17 years at Pioneer High School.  He is the father of three and lives with his wife in Ann Arbor.

Evelyn Alsultany

Evelyn Alsultany is an Associate Professor in the Department of American Culture at the University of Michigan. She is the author of Arabs and Muslims in the Media: Race and Representation after 9/11, co-editor of Arab and Arab American Feminisms: Gender, Violence, and Belonging and co-editor of Between the Middle East and the Americas: The Cultural Politics of Diaspora. She is guest curator of the Arab American National Museum’s online exhibit: www.arabstereotypes.org.

Mary Heinen

Mary Heinen is affiliated with the University of Michigan School of Social Work and Open Society Foundation. She organizes, educates and supports people returning from corrections. Mary is a Soros Justice Fellow. Heinen is co-founder of the Prison Creative Arts Project and the national Prison Arts Coalition. She is currently working with Nation Inside and the National Clearinghouse for the Defense of Battered Women. Mary is a documentary filmmaker, visual artist, historian and scholar.

Zafar Razzacki

An Account Executive on Google’s Brand Solutions sales team, Zafar Razzacki works with some of the world’s largest brands to develop innovative digital marketing strategies.  Before joining Google, Zafar spent 10 years in entrepreneurial ventures in technology, education, medical device, and music markets.  When not busy chasing big ideas and developing crazy business concepts, he is a passionate singer-songwriter who has performed on stages around the world.  The only thing stronger than his love of music is his love for the city of Detroit.

David Chesney

David Chesney thoroughly enjoys teaching in the Computer Science and Engineering Division at the University of Michigan.  His life is blessed by a loving wife, Jean, and three extraordinary daughters, Tegan, Brynn, and Mairin;  all of whom make him better than he is.

Melissa Gross

Melissa Gross has a background in dance (BA from University of Colorado) and kinesiology (PhD from UCLA). Her current research focuses on the expression of emotion in body movement in healthy individuals and individuals with mood disorders. She teaches anatomy and biomechanics in the School of Kinesiology at UM where she is delighted to observe the creativity in undergraduate students that emerges at the intersection of art and science.

Chris Armstrong

Chris Armstrong was the first openly gay Student Body President at the University of Michigan. After being elected, the Assistant Attorney General of Michigan began attacking him and lobbying for his resignation simply because he was gay. After the story gained national media attention, the Asst. Attorney General and Chris went on to win a settlement against his aggressor. Chris now resides in Washington, DC.

We’ve all been there before: you’re in a really interesting discussion and propose an idea that you think is pretty good. Somebody replies with a counterargument. You freeze up. Your mind is going a million miles a minute trying to find a response, but you’re body stays perfectly still and quiet as nothing comes out of your mouth. Finally, after what feels like minutes, the other person retreats and says, “It’s okay, I’m only playing Devils advocate.” You think, “Phew!!! I’m off the hook,” and the discussion moves on as if your embarrassing non-answer had never happened. You may never think about that counterargument again.

That phrase, “Devil’s advocate,” is a freebie. It allows you to leave a contradictory thought unanswered and is a serious problem in our vernacular. However, playing Devil’s advocate is fine. In fact, it’s a great debate method. By taking a side that you don’t agree with for the sake of argument, the group understands the topic from a broader perspective and discusses issues that may not have otherwise come up. But the words behind that idea cause problems, as do the use of those words during discussion.

Advocating for the Devil is not trivial. Keeping in mind that religious beliefs vary, being in a Christian-heavy society pushes serious connotations. Supporting the being that is the evilest of all evil beings is a truly defiant position. We know that the Devil is supposed to be tempting us towards the sinister and lurid. When we hear that a proposition is simply coming from a Devil’s advocate, we know they are only tempting us towards an idea in order to stray us from the correct path.

Of course, none of this runs through your mind when somebody tells you they’re playing Devil’s advocate, but you subconsciously know that you don’t have to worry about their proposition or question when they say that’s their game. The real problem is that somebody out there believes this position, even if nobody participating in your conversation does.

There’s nothing wrong with not knowing an answer. If you knew all the answers to things everybody ever proposed to you, you’d be pretty bored. Knowing the answers is not what’s important about discussions; it’s the valuable intellectual contradiction and resolution that is so valuable.  A statement from a so-called Devil’s advocate allows us to avoid intellectual challenge both during the discussion and later.

Imagine the discussion went slightly differently. While you’re frantically thinking of ways to respond to a counterargument no one says, “It’s okay, I’m just playing Devil’s advocate.” After further thinking, you give up and say, “I don’t know”. This confession provides for opportunity for everybody to think and discuss about this challenge. If nobody can think of anything to say about it (thank goodness you’re not alone, right?), then you move on. The important difference is that the point won’t go unnoticed; you’re likely to think about it later; you’re likely to engage with the counterargument. There’s no free pass.

Playing Devil’s advocate can be very helpful for a discussion. A counterpoint can bring in a variety of perspectives, but announcing that you are “only playing Devil’s advocate” closes off minds to that idea. Discussions have virtually unlimited potential and we should try to embrace that potential as much as possible. It’s great to challenge convention, but then let those challenges shine through in your discussions. Let those discussions become Untapped_.

Nearly every year, I associate spring with the same combination of bittersweet emotions. It’s a slight haze from the change in the seasons, which is then stirred into memories of the ridiculous things I did in the preceding year and the anxiety for its looming end. Allergies start to kick in and there is a constant tang in the back of my throat. My earliest association with this bizarre mix of sensations is from third grade. To this day I recall loving that year, as I was the oldest age group on the playground and my classmates thought I was cool. The following year, I was supposed to switch schools, namely because the charter elementary offered infinitely better class trips, but I dreaded the change. I remember contemplating this as I walked back to my classroom after lunch. The visual of the cement ramp and rusted railing that led up to my block of classrooms permanently burned into my memory.

Sophomore year of high school was the next predominant bought of these emotions.  I roamed around town in my 2006 white Volkswagen Bug, named Glinda, acting as the Good Witch for all of my friends by illegally driving us between our favorite Mexican restaurant and frozen yogurt hubs. That year, I left school a week early for my summer trip to Israel. In classic high school fashion, my friends and I overdramatized this greatly, acting like I was getting shipped off for years instead of a mere four weeks abroad. On my last day of class, I’m embarrassed to admit, I cried during my swimming final, which was really not conducive considering goggles are meant to keep water out of your eyes, not sustain a pool of tears inside them. And again, these emotions punctually resurfaced at the end of high school, which was a sleepless daze of back-to-back graduation parties and raspy voices from belting too many rounds of our class anthem, Biz Markie’s “Just a Friend.”

As a graduating college senior, I’m starting to notice that trademark tang in the back of my throat. These feelings laminated with visions of that cement ramp from elementary school, tear-filled goggles, and, naturally, Biz Markie. I wonder how this year will punctuate itself among these annual memories. Potentially with a late-night cheesey bread, or the sinking feeling when they announce that its midnight in the Ugli, or just climbing into my roommates’ beds for hilarious assessments of our days instead of being responsible and actually sleeping.

It’s funny how I can align my emotions so well with how I felt at the ages of eight, eighteen, and now at twenty-two. It’s funny that I’m about to wear the same graduation cap I did four years ago, while my life resembles nothing of what it was at the end of high school. It’s funny to be so excited and so scared to see how next year will [un]ravel. But for now, I’m just trying to remind myself that I’ve still got time and that I need to be, and feel, young. After all, it’s that time of the year when, regardless of where I’m going, I just feel like I’m walking up that cement ramp on my way back from recess.

We are two weeks away from the best day of the year. In honor of this celebratory occasion we are elated to announce half of the brilliant individuals who will be speaking from the stage at TEDxUofM Untapped_. It is with pride and honor that we introduce these great minds. Please look for the remainder of our lineup in a press release a week from today. Here’s to our phenomenal speakers! Cheers!
_____________________________________________________________________________

Kathryn Clark

Dr. Clark is currently teaching in the School of Kinesiology.  Clark spent 4 years at NASA Headquarters, two of them as the International Space Station Senior Scientist and 2 of them as the Chief Scientist for Human Space Flight.  Kathryn also served on the Stafford-Anfimov Committee for the International Space Station and received the NASA Public Service Medal for time on the NASA Return to Flight Committee following the Columbia Shuttle accident.

Oliver Uberti

From 2003 to 2012, Oliver Uberti worked in the design department of National Geographic Magazine, most recently as Senior Design Editor. His designs and information graphics have won numerous international awards. A graduate of the U-M School of Art & Design, Oliver left National Geographic last year to form his own studio, Oliver Uberti Creative, in one of his favorite places on Earth: Ann Arbor.

Maria Castro and Pedro Lowenstein 

Maria G. Castro, PhD and Pedro R. Lowenstein, MD, PhD are Professors of Neurosurgery and Cell and Developmental Biology at the University of Michigan. Castro’s research focuses on the development of immunotherapies for primary and metastatic brain cancer: from immune-biology mechanisms to clinical implementation and Lowenstein’s research is mainly to discover the cellular, molecular, and mathematical basis underlying the growth patterns of malignant brain tumors, and the interactions between cancer cells with the tumor microenvironment. Together, their pioneering work in gene therapy for brain cancer has recently been approved by the FDA and a Phase I clinical trial will commence at the University of Michigan imminently.

Dan Morse

Born and raised in Jersey, Dan Morse has sought to live his life according to one philosophy – no matter where you came from; you possess immense potential to create a difference in the world.  To help others see the same, he has formed a partnership with a youth garden in Detroit, served as the Chief Programming Officer for Future Civic Leaders (a youth political leadership non-profit in D.C.), and founded The Beet Box (a health empowerment food cart in Ann Arbor).  Speaking with you today, he hopes to help you see your potential too.

Sterling Speirn

Sterling Speirn is president and CEO of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation in Battle Creek, Mich. Since joining the foundation in 2006 ­­­­­­, ­he has led the foundation to a new strategic framework and refined the mission, focusing on propelling vulnerable children to success through a comprehensive approach focused on education and learning; food, health and well-being; and family economic security along with a commitment to promoting racial equity and community and civic engagement. Speirn, a Michigan native, earned his bachelor’s degree in political science from Stanford University, and a law degree from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor

Sharon Pomerantz

Sharon Pomerantz’s first novel Rich Boy, now out in paperback, was the 2010 winner of the National Jewish Book Award for Debut Fiction, and was chosen by Entertainment Weekly as one of the Ten Best Novels of 2010, and by Booklist as one of the Ten Best First Novels of 2010. Her short fiction has appeared in numerous literary journals, as well as on NPR’s Selected Shorts program, and her story “Ghost Knife,” originally published in Ploughshares, was included in Best American Short Stories 2003. She teaches writing at the University of Michigan.

Mike Barwis

Mike Barwis is the founder and CEO of the Barwis Methods family of companies, and a consultant to the NY Mets.  He was formerly the Director of Strength and Conditioning at the University of Michigan.  During his career, he has trained over 500 professional and Olympic athletes, as well as college All-Americans, national champions, national and international competitors and medalists in over 40 sports.

Gina Athena Ulysse

Gina Athena Ulysse received her Ph.D. from the University of Michigan. She is an anthropologist, spokenword poet/performance artist and blogger. Her artistic work revolves around finding and defining self as a Haitian-American woman, and she remains fiercely committed to her chosen role of change agent for her birth country. She is currently an associate professor at Wesleyan University.

Julie Steiner

Julie Steiner, graduate of UM School of Natural Resources and the Environment, has spent her career working for social change in a variety of settings and on a variety of issues.  Anti-poverty organizing with ACORN,  political organizer for abortion rights with Arizona Right to Choose, Executive Director of ACLU of Tennessee and lobbyist on women’s issues for ACLU in Washington, first Director of SAPAC at UM, and Human Rights Coordinator at the City of Ann Arbor. Julie is currently the Executive Director of the Washtenaw Housing Alliance a coalition of 32 community non profits and local government offices working together to end homelessness. Julie likes to say that social change work can be like joining the Army because you can see the world—-Jacksonville, Houston, Phoenix, Memphis, Nashville, Oak Ridge, Chattanooga, Washington DC and Ann Arbor MI!  Her friends say she was run out of town.

Michael Williams

Michael Williams is a native of Detroit and a senior at the University of Michigan where he studies Afroamerican and African Studies and Urban Studies. He credits civic engagement experiences in Vietnam, South Africa, and his hometown of Detroit to deepening his passion for social justice in urban environments. As he completes his final undergraduate term participating in the Semester in Detroit program, Michael hopes to remain in Detroit long-term tackling urban planning and policy issues to create equitable, sustainable, and self-empowered neighborhoods and communities.

According to Freud, dreams fulfill a very important purpose: aside from proving the existence of Freud’s elusive “unconscious,” dreams are a way of indirectly fulfilling suppressed wishes, psychosexual fantasies and aggressive impulses. They release tension built up in our Id, the pleasure-seeking portion of the unconscious, just as much as any experience in the physical world would…which would mean that having sex with your love interest in a dream is considered to be just as satisfying as the real deal.

Though that last part is contentious, the possibility of lucid dreaming—being able to control your dreams—adds an entirely new dimension to the complex experience of the dream itself. Yet the concept of lucid dreaming is one that is more often ignored by sleep scientists than it is discredited.

Stephen LaBerge, a psychophysiologist and Stanford grad, claims he’s been manipulating his own dreams all his life.

In an effort to prove the elusive dream’s existence, LaBerge embarked on a mission to show people objectively that lucid dreaming was anything but reality. Buthow do you prove something that only exists in your head? 

By conducting his own experiment in Stanford’s sleep labs, he focused on using the concept of the REM (Rapid Eye Movement) cycle, which signifies increased brain activity, as a proxy for showcasing the possibility of lucid dreaming. It’s during this phase that dreaming occurs. Not that I’d recommend it, but REM means that we can physically watch someone as they dream.

I can’t say I’ve ever been able to fully control the course I take while in my my own dream world, but I’ve made it a personal goal to at least attempt lucid dreaming, like some poorly made version of Inception. LaBerge—as well as my own personal research—have concluded that the following exercises can promote the potential for a more…conscious bedtime experience:

 1. Dream More

…but don’t necessarily sleep more, at least for a few days. Try increasing the frequency of your REM cycles by first depriving yourself of them with a couple of sleepless nights (think: < 6hrs) followed by one longer night of sleep (10-12hrs). This technique is also called “college”.

Your mind will make up for the lack of sleep by entering into a REM cycle more often during that last night.

 2. Remember Your Dreams

We remember our dreams most vividly when we wake during a REM cycle, but this isn’t always possible to do naturally. Try writing down your dreams first thing before getting out of bed, right after you return to total consciousness. The more often you remember you dreams, the more likely you are to experience vivid, realistic ones.

Journaling is also a great way of drawing connections between the absurdities in your “dreamwork” and your real life.

 3. Realize In the Dream That You’re Dreaming: The State Test

Text in the real world is just that, text. But in the dream world, it becomes something completely different- changing into a different message when you look away and look back at it again, since it has no “external reality”. Conduct your own state test: ask yourself regularly, am I awake or am I dreaming? If you do this enough, the habit will eventually find it’s way into your dreams, allowing you to distinguish between both realms.

 4. Imagine the Dream as It Happened

…then imagine the point at which you would have liked to gain lucidity. This works especially well if you are prone to reoccurring dreams. Practicing in the real world by imaging previous dreams, and then engaging with that dream by choosing the exact moment you wish you had become aware in your unconciousness, can carry over the next time you fall asleep, creating an eerie, déjà vu-esque feeling of anticipation in the dream.

 Happy snooze-venturing, dreamers!

“In a good bookroom you feel in some mysterious way that you are absorbing the wisdom contained in all the books through your skin, without even opening them.” 

― Mark Twain

On W Lafayette in Detroit lies an alternate universe. Aisles upon aisles of magical worlds are bound in covers of varying compositions. It is impossible to predict the journey ahead when pushing through the heavy door and entering the confusingly small room with too many messages and signs for one to understand. Like all books, stories and tales, the John K King Bookstore provides a distinct experience for all adventurers. 

More than enjoying a book’s encompassing reflective experience, a used bookstore transports one to a new magical world full of so many thoughts able to provoke an equal amount of my own. I may absorb the higher intellect that is printed, bound, and lying on the shelves. Or I may just wander observing all the genres that had never crossed my mind.

But even for the readers and non-readers alike, there is no experience like a blind entrance into a warehouse of a used bookstore. I invite you all to embark on this adventure for yourselves. Bring unsuspecting victims along with you and your minds will open, grow, and dream together throughout the four floors that twist and turn through our imaginations. You’ll never know what you may find.

You can sleep when you’re dead.  I have never disagreed with a statement more.  Yes, I admit and have been told time and time again that my relationship with sleep is obsessive.  But hey, sleep is IMPORTANT.  It’s not that I sleep a lot – I don’t by a long shot – but I always know exactly how many hours I’ve slept the night before.  Further, I don’t nap.  There is something unsettling with falling asleep, and waking up knowing it is the same day.

So, after years of convincing my friends that sleep is more important than they think, and that we should in fact sleep healthy hours now and not save it all until we’re dead, I was happy to stumble upon this list of Why Sleep is so Important.

Sleep helps to repair your body.

Sleep keeps your heart healthy.

Sleep improves your memory.

Sleep helps control body weight issues.

Sleep reduces your chances of diabetes.

Sleep reduces the occurrence of mood disorders.

I’m not telling you to come home at midnight when you’re in the middle of dancing the night away or laughing till the break of dawn with your friends.  I’m saying, when the choice comes between watching that movie until 1AM or hitting your snooze button at 11PM and getting 8 hours of sleep instead of 6 – choose 8!

Why sleep?  Life is short!  But like all things, it’s not that easy.  If you do sleep, sure you miss out on some hours BUT the other many, many hours you are awake you’re also totally alive!  It’s like living double.  Everything smells better, looks cleaner, and shines brighter.  You love people more and hate Ohio more.  

Why not just try it?  Get three solid nights in a row of eight hours of sleep – then call me and tell me how great you feel.  (No need to thank me, but I do love fruit baskets.)

Convinced?  Thought so.  But now there are some of you out there shaking your hands, waving your arms in the air saying but HEY I want to sleep – I just can’t.  Well as someone who has rodeoed once or twice with some mild insomnia, I have provided you with some tips to get you relaxed and snoozin’.

Keep a normal sleep schedule. (same amount of hours every night!)

Limit your caffeine intake.  (Pull the reigns after two cups a day.)

Stay hydrated. (Be careful though, no one likes the middle of the night bathroom trip.)

Electronic screens are evil.  (Keep the iPad, iPhones, i(you get the picture) out of the bedroom)

Exercise regularly.

Take melatonin supplements and/or have a warm cup of cammomile tea before bed.

Bottom line. Sleep rocks. Do it, go to sleep (unless there is a meteor shower, than go outside and watch that). Maybe some of you are reading this before you sleep. Good night. Guten nacht. See you in dreamland.

In his restaurant Fäviken, Swedish chef Magnus Nilsson proves constraint produces creativity.

Located almost 500 miles north of Stockholm and situated on a 20,000 acre farm blanketed in Nordic solitude, Fäviken lies on the brink of isolation. Yet Nilsson uses these parameters to challenge his astounding menu, which remains seasonal and ever-changing even in the face of long, dark winters.

“Every few centuries,” he said, “the Library of Alexandria must be burned down.”

I’m not sure I like the changing skyline and foreign storefronts.

Maybe it’s because I’m a townie.

Maybe it’s because I live in Kerrytown.

Maybe it’s because I’m romantic and sentimental.
(the last book I bought at Borders was the Sorrows of Young Werther, if that gives you any idea)

Or maybe it’s because in the past five years I’ve seen Borders, Michigan Book & Supply, and most dear to my heart, Shaman Drum close their doors. I’ve watched multiple high-rise apartment projects devour the horizon (casting the sidewalks in shadow), and neon signs spread like wildfire on State Street. These changes feel devastatingly sudden.

The upcoming opening of Literati Bookstore feels like a breath of fresh air. The new store will be located at 124 E Washington St, and hopes to fill the void left by the closed downtown bookstores. Keep up-to-date on all the progress::

literatibookstore.wordpress.com/


found this the other day::

Education has often been a problem sought to be solved by experienced policymakers (and unfortunately often to no avail). This is not the case with the University’s Philosophy student Libby Ashton. Ms. Ashton is the Founder and President of rEDesign, a grassroots initiative to bring equal opportunities to the students of America’s public education system.

She spoke at the 2012 conference:: Inform:Transform. Her talk::Transforming Education, can be found here.

I had the pleasure of connecting with her this year for the ‘Re:frame’ project. Below you’ll find her reflection on this year’s theme: Untapped_.

_Untapped:

I’m living in New York right now and am surrounded by people who are betting on their own potential. Some are betting their livelihoods, some are betting their pride, others are just betting a night out — but taken together, people here have a lot riding on whether or not they’re actually capable of doing (and doing well) the thing they’re here to do. I guess I’m one of those people — because I’m here, too, trying to learn things I don’t know, do things I’ve never done, and (eventually) make something happen that hasn’t yet — but I’m in total awe and admiration of the courage I witness all day, everyday, all around me. 

I love to sing and I’m sometimes not bad at it, but I’ve never really tried to perform. I compulsively think and talk about feelings — usually in the form of bizarre metaphors that my friends mock — but I’ve never really tried to write a poem. And if you’ve ever seen me on the dance floor at Cafe Habana, you know there’s maybe 60% of the right stuff happening — but I’ve never really tried to dance. (These examples are all arts-based, but the same point holds in cases of intellectual, physical, spiritual, emotional not-doings.) It’s like there’s this self-imposed net that holds me back from trying, risking, reaching for the things I’ve always known I could really love. And I’m not sure why. I can guess that it’s some combination of fear of being really bad, being neurotic about how I’m supposed to do it (“But, like, how do you write a poem?”), and the inertia of continuing to not do the things I don’t do.  Whatever’s happening, it’s clear that I am so singularly and profoundly standing in my own way of living an even fuller, more fully expressed life. 

The people who will speak at this year’s TEDxUofM did themselves a favor, at some point in their trajectories, by getting out of their own way. They untapped themselves, broke free from their nets and tried some shit. When they did, good things happened — but probably some scary failings first. And I’m still new to New York, so I can’t say many things for certain, but it looks like a whole bunch of bold people put together in a pretty small urban environment can yield untapped communities, playing with intersections and resource-sharing and perspective-layering. 

The lesson I keep learning and forgetting and relearning is to practice creation — to un-tap ourselves by making our natural state one that is creative. And I don’t mean that as an evaluative term, as though one person is capable of more creativity than another. To create is to make and do and share and show — without self-consciousness and criticism. It’s an action, not a quality. It’s a way we can live. And I think it’s by creating, constantly and for its own sake, that we begin to feel understood, unafraid, untapped. 

“Teenaged Boy Wonders Play Blugrass”

Three slap happy boys from New Jersey share their incredible talent and love of bluegrass music.  Smile and jam along.

Australian illustrator Sophie Blackall on her craigslist-inspired book::

Missed Connections: Love, Lost & Found

often the missed connections are hurried, succinct & misspelled, but here Sophie Blackall speaks about one of the most moving stories ::

The Whale at Coney Island

M4M — 69 (Brooklyn/Florida)

A young friend of mine recently acquainted me with the intricacies of Missed Connections, and I have decided to try to find you one final time. Many years ago, we were friends and teachers together in New York City. Perhaps we could have been lovers too, but we were not. We used to take trips to Coney Island, especially during the spring, when we would stroll hand in hand, until our palms got too sweaty, along the boardwalk, and take refuge in the cool darkness of the aquarium. We liked to visit the whale best. One spring, it arrived from its winter home (in Florida? I can’t remember) pregnant. Everyone at the aquarium was very excited — a baby beluga whale was going to be born in New York City! You insisted that we not miss the birth, so every day after class, and on both Saturday and Sunday, we would take the D train all the way from Harlem to Coney Island. We got there one Saturday as the aquarium opened and there was a sign posted to the glass tank. The baby beluga had been born dead. The mother, the sign read, was recovering but would be fine. We read the sign in shock and watched the single beluga whale in her tank. She was circling slowly. Neither of us could speak. Suddenly, without warning, the beluga started to throw herself against the wall of the tank. Trainers came and ushered us out. We sat on a bench outside, and suddenly I felt tears running down my face. You saw, turned my face towards yours, and kissed me. We had never kissed before, and I let my lips linger on yours for a second before I stood up and walked towards the ocean. It was too much — the whale, the death, the kiss — and I wasn’t ready. Forgive me — I don’t think I ever understood what an emptiness you would create when you left and I realized that that kiss on Coney Island was the first and the last. Are you out there, dear friend? If so, please respond. I think of you, and have thought of you often, all of these years.

the full interview with Design Matters on her illustrations & other stories

(via brainpickings)

“Intelligence without ambition is a bird without wings” —Salvador Dali

James Reeves, is a writer, educator, and designer. He’s a partner at New Orleans’ Civic Center and he writes at Big American Night. He’s driven 75,000 miles along the backroads of America which inspired his first book, The Road to Somewhere: An American Memoir. He attended the University of Michigan to receive his BFA in Graphic Design.

He spoke at the 2012 conference:: Inform:Transform. His talk:: Transforming Communities, can be found here

I had the pleasure of reconnecting with him this year for the ‘Re:frame’ project. Below you’ll find his reflection on this year’s theme: Untapped_.

Untapped Ruins & Rumors

I could drive through America forever, looking at things. After covering nearly 150,000 miles of highway, rural routes, and desert roads, I’m beginning to notice a pattern in my notes and photographs: it’s mostly junkyards and ghost towns, shuttered motels and abandoned train stations. I’m drawn to our American ruins, but what explains this attraction? Certainly there’s the morbid sensationalism of ruin pornography, yet I’m also magnetized by the untapped stories behind the crumbling façades. What happened here? Who lived inside? Where did everybody go?

The stories we tell about our cities are important. Consider how New York City’s reputation can be mapped from the bankrupt Gotham of Taxi Driver and Escape from New York to New Jack City to Seinfeld to today’s slew of romantic comedies and television shows that present New York as an aspirational city, the sanitized playground of the wealthy. Or the persistent media caricature of Detroit as our urban boogeyman, an exaggerated poster child for Mad Max-style post-industrialism. Or New Orleans, too often reduced to little more than jazz + Mardi Gras + Katrina, although lately it is being portrayed as the comeback kid of cities because it’s much easier to track progress after the bright line etched by a federal disaster rather than decades of redlining, blockbusting, housing ‘projects’, and divisive social policies that traumatized all of our cities.

After decades of neglect and demonization following World War II, Americans are returning to their cities. This is wonderful news, although it raises difficult questions about development and displacement that demand a fearless rethink about social equity and community identity. In a few short years, bulky terms like ‘tactical urbanism’ and ‘sustainable cities’ have become catchphrases among conferences, startups, and countless publications. This renewed interest in cities is heartening, yet this conversation often reduces our neighborhoods to clinical planning projects. Memories, dreams, historical flashpoints, urban legends, rumors, and fears remain untapped, aka the psychic chatter that James Ellroy would sum up as rebop, static, and jive. This is the stuff that defines a city.

Who controls the narrative of a city? Whose voices are heard, and which information is considered worth reporting? As our lives and neighborhoods become increasingly hyperplanned data-driven sites for commerce, the need for unpredictability and mystery becomes more urgent. “Fiction is the lie through which we tell the truth,” wrote Albert Camus, and the fictions of our cities deserve more attention.

Let’s return to the edge of town where I stand before an old Beaux Arts building with plywood silencing the windows and razor wire laced across its marble steps. Nearly every city has a building like this. Sometimes it blends into the background like the unavoidable collateral damage of modern progress. Other times its gargoyles and vaulted ceilings catch the eye. How does such a building impact the psyche of the people who pass by it each day? Does it appear in dreams? What rumors are being passed along high schools halls, what conspiracy theories are launched on street corners?

Over the next two months, my colleague Oliver Blank and I will be working in Indianapolis on a project called The Bureau of Manufactured History. Inspired by the methodology of Surrealism and the madness of Dada, our aim is to uncover the unconscious content of the city. We will employ text, photographs, telephones, and audio transmissions to collect rumors, dreams, historical moments, and personal reports from residents in the hope of creating a chaotic, vivid, and wide-angle portrait of an American city. This is an experiment, our first attempt at jacking into the psyche of a city, to figure out what makes it tick.

Bank Ruins at Rhyolite, Nevada

We all use the internet to mass-distribute information to friends, family, and even people we’ve never met. Recently, I had the realization that moments held dear were built upon regifted things (videos, songs, lines) and sentiments.  I felt jilted, as though something had been taken away from my personal archive. I couldn’t help but feel that the meaning of a thing isn’t found solely in it’s content, but in the selectivity of who received it.  The choice to share something with a specific person for a specific reason imbues the act with meaningfulness.

But when I think of TEDx, I realize my pettiness ^^^.

TEDx is amazing in that it retains the intimacy and connection found in sharing things on a large scale—a group of friends, family, and people you’ve never met. The ideas shared are powerful enough to transcend the need for ownership over them. The talks are engaging, and inspiring, and compel you to share; to share with everyone. They are simply, ideas worth sharing, and this doesn’t devalue them.  Upon reflection, exclusivity isn’t what gives the ideas, the conference, the things shared between people meaning, but in fact the content.

The conference puts things into (a new) perspective and diminishes trivialities. I cannot wait for this years conference. 

If you haven’t yet applied, do so today!
tedxuofm.com/apply

After traveling around the world though his computer, Rafman carefully chooses each still frame to reflect absurdity often concealed within the mundane fixtures of day-to-day living. The ongoing work’s title, ’9-eyes’, references the nine lenses of the surveillance camera used to generate Google Earth. 

Although Google exemplifies public knowledge, these photographs—or ‘moments’—feel shockingly invasive. It’s almost as though you’ve walked into a party when the invitation was questionable at best: I’m really not supposed to be here, yet I feel compelled to sit down, pour myself a drink and continue scrolling through glimpses of what the rest of the world is up to.

YOUR DAILY DOSE OF WATER

INTERACTIVE INFOGRAPHIC

CLICK IMAGE BELOW and [START] FOR A JOURNEY THROUGH A DAY AND CONSUMPTION OF WATER

The little choices we make, that we take for granted, may have a larger effect than we are aware. 

“Many of people in the world exist on 3 gallons per day or less. Americans use that amount in one flush of the toilet.”

What’s your water print? Mine was higher than I’d like to admit. Awareness for change!