Samo hosts TEDx Santa Monica "Define Yourself"

McKenna JensenCampus News EditorIn keeping with their tradition of “ideas worth spreading,” Technology Entertainment Design (TED) reached Santa Monica by way of the TEDxYouth event held in Barnum Hall on Sept. 24.An offshoot of the annual TED conference series, TEDx provides their label to independently organized events. The events are structured to be TED-like, smaller scale conferences. The Santa Monica chapter of TEDxYouth held its third local event with the theme “Define Yourself.”The conference was organized by Felicia Kamriani and Kate Bristow, the heads of TedxYouth Santa Monica, with the assistance of Samo ASB.“We did everything to support Felicia and Kate,” ASB president Hunter Conrad said, “But I really feel that our ASB committee was given a lot of the responsibility and did not take the backseat in planning this event.”ASB was approached by Kamriani and Bristow  last year, and asked to get involved in the event. Conrad, along with ASB members Rebecca Sherouse and Valerie Vance, took the lead on the event committee.“We are all fans of TED, and we thought this partnership would be a great opportunity for Samo,” Conrad said.Several speakers, including talks streamed from ted.com, had a chance to deliver their interpretations of the theme “Define Yourself” throughout the day. The talks ranged from physics to musical performances to graphic design.“I think the thing that has brought me to this point of my life is to let go of the things other people think of you,” local high school student and poet Giuliana “G!” Pe Benito said.Pe Benito takes part in an “experiment,” performing her poetry music. She recited two original pieces with a three-piece band playing along. She said it is her goal to break free of the judgements of others through her poetry.Singer/songwriter and Samo graduate Jason Pitts performed three of his original songs. He also discussed the events that took him from aspiring musician to YouTube sensation for his video “Prom?”A reoccurring theme of the day was the message that people are hiding behind technology.  Entrepreneur and creator of makelovenotporn.com, Cindy Gallop, touched on this topic through the effects she has seen in the world of pornography.“People need to live in the real world, not in a screen,” Gallop said.Gallop works toward clearing the misconceptions people form about sex by watching pornography. Her website gives her own insight, as well as the comments of site visitors, on the contrasts between reality and porn.This issue was also addressed by former middle school teacher and founder of Figure 18, a business consulting company, Michael Weiss. Weiss discussed the importance of face to face conversation in a society that has become dependent on communication through things such as texting.“When we rely on our thumbs to do the talking, we lose the ability to listen,” Weiss said.Through an educational program he picked up while teaching at Crossroads middle school, referred to as “Council,” Weiss taught attendees to speak and listen from the heart, be brief and be spontaneous when engaged in conversation.All participants were encouraged throughout the day to follow along with the program through the TEDx Santa Monica iPhone app and to provide feedback and comments on Twitter #defineyourself.It is the hope of all the coordinators and speakers that the attendees will take advantage of what they learned at the event and make good on their promise to “spread the TED.”mjensen@thesamohi.com