I am my own experiment.
I am my own work of art.
Madonna
I’m a nerd who loves a good laugh. I keep post-its and color markers handy as I inch my way through mostly non-fiction books while my teens deride my library, rolling their eyes with “Oh, Mom!” When it comes to videos, I love TED’s archive of overachievers who share what they know with a sprinkling of humor to cushion a serious message. This Saturday, October 19, 2013, I’ll be watching the live stream of TEDx at the Metropolitan Museum, the first art museum to get a TED license.
Because laughter and creative expression are among my big loves, I’ll be looking out for these divinely inspiring speakers:
Photo from ColorLines.com
Negin Farsad, named one of the 50 Funniest Women by the Huffington Post and a 2013 TED Fellow, has been a comedienne and producer for over ten years. Her off-Broadway run of The Dirty Immigrant Collective led to her nomination at the Emerging Comics of New York Awards. She wrote and performed the solo show, Bootleg Islam, and the short film Hot Bread Kitchen which won the Lifetime Women Filmmaker Award.
A video by Farsad was one of a series commissioned by Queen Rania of Jordan to combat Middle Eastern stereotypes–this series later won the first-ever YouTube Visionary Award. Her latest film, The Muslims are Coming!, opened in September.
Lorna Simpson is known for her large-scale photograph-and-text works that confront and challenge conventional views of gender, identity, culture, history, and memory. Her most recent project is an archive of photographs from the 1950s that she has been creating replicas, posing herself to mimic the originals.
Maira Kalman is an author and illustrator for adults and children. Her work tells of her travels and personal observations. She contributes to publications like the New Yorker and The New York Times. Kalman’s children’s books include Next Stop, Grand Central; What Pete Ate; and Looking at Lincoln. She has also created an illustrated edition of Strunk and White’s Elements of Style and Michael Pollan’s Food Rules.
Click on “Leave a Comment” (above left) to add your favorites from the featured speakers of TEDxMet: Icons.
xoxox
Sharon Birke
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