Arlee hosts TEDx talks
Karen Peterson photo
The TEDx Arlee team that worked behind the scenes is introduced at the event.
Karen Peterson photo
Namchak Khenpo from the Garden of One Thousand Buddhas speaks about kindness in his Tibetan language, with the help of a translator.
Karen Peterson photo
Arlee High School senior Violet Pablo talks about her future.
Karen Peterson photo
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ARLEE – TEDx talks were held in the Brown Building on Wednesday in what was called one of the smallest community venues for such events — but just what is a TED talk, you might ask?
“It’s a festival of talks by local people who are sharing ideas about things they care about,” said Anna Baldwin, event organizer and licensee.
Baldwin is also the Arlee High School speech teacher.
“This all started because I teach senior speech and each class has a culminating event,” she said. “I thought it would be really cool to have a TED talk.”
So how does it work?
“First, you have to get a free license application, which is the least of the work,” she said. “You have to figure out a date and select a team. I chose five of my colleagues and friends to make a great team. You also have to raise money to cover costs.”
The next step was to find people to give speeches to be watched by an audience of 100 people, but the big thing about TED talks is that they are video recorded and put on the Internet for anyone to see. It’s like a modern-day version of getting up on a soapbox and telling a wide audience what you are passionate about.
“I asked local people to speak, which means people from Missoula to Polson,” she said. She chose a diverse collection of people ranging in gender and ethnicity with a variety of beliefs about life to represent Arlee. Seven speakers were adults and eight were students. Each speaker was given between 3-20 minutes to speak.
“Arlee, in particular, has a really interesting cultural landscape,” she said. “I wanted people to come away from this thinking about something they didn’t think about before.”
Many of the speeches dealt with serious topics including family life and overcoming violence. Compassion was a common theme. Senior Parker Holz spoke on a lighter note about his passion for snakes, and Senior Amelia Frost talked about the addiction she once had to cleaning.
The talks can be found on YouTube with a link at tedxarlee.org. Speakers introduced by Bill Swaney included: Amelia North, Alex Alviar, Violet Pablo, Namchak Khenpo, Jeff Lammerding, Parker Holz, Annie Belcourt, Laine Charlo, Karissa Drye, Zach Felsman, Aaron Brien, PJ Haynes, Brandi Ries, Riley Rogers and Kiana Stotts.
