Ultimate HOPE
Written for TEDxExeter 2017 “HOPE”: Reflections on death, and that even in the darkest places and the fiercest storms, there is always hope.
TEDxExeter Storyteller
Imaging HOPE
Written for TEDxExeter 2017 “HOPE”: Images are extraordinarily powerful. Those able to see, see before we learn to read, and orient our world by sight. They can convey truth, and they can manipulate, so should we be hopeful or despairing?
A fortnight of HOPEful responses
Written for TEDxExeter 2017 “HOPE”: During 82 seconds on Wednesday 22 March, Briton Khalid Masood drove a car into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge, killing and injuring more than 50 people; fatally stabbed an unarmed police officer in New Palace Yard; and was shot and killed by an armed police officer. Over the next fortnight, these were some of the responses.
Point sources of HOPE
Written for TEDxExeter 2017 “HOPE”: Hope can come from unlikely sources… What would be the most unlikely and surprising source of all?
Audacity of HOPE
Written for TEDxExeter 2017 “HOPE”: Sometimes it’s easy to lose hope, but sometimes hope can come from unlikely sources.
Voices of HOPE
Written for TEDxExeter 2017 “HOPE”: Music has played an important role in many social movements, bringing hope to millions, fostering community, and encouraging perseverance in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds.
HOPE and Joy
Written for TEDxExeter 2017 “HOPE”: The Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu got together for a week to talk about the challenges of living a joyful life. The result was “The Book of Joy”.
Wiggle Room in the Universe
Clare Bryden. Wiggle room in the universe. The Porch Magazine, October 2016.
“Suppose you had the revolution you are talking and dreaming about. Suppose your side had won, and you had the kind of society that you wanted. How would you live, you personally, in that society? Start living that way now!” – Paul Goodman. Clare Bryden embraces Rebecca Solnit’s vision of Hope in the Dark.
Taking responsibility for our own statistics
A series of things that interest me which have a TED or TEDx angle: The data and statistics that are being collected about us reflect our selves and the way we see the world.
Introverted Leadership
A series of things that interest me which have a TED or TEDx angle: Reflections on Susan Cain’s TED talk “The Power of Introverts” and lessons from “Watership Down”.
A new HOPE
Written for TEDxExeter 2017 “HOPE”: What was the last line we saw Carrie Fisher (albeit a CGI-reconstructed ever-youthful Carrie Fisher) deliver in a movie before she died?
Giving TED talks to know you’re not alone
A series of things that interest me which have a TED or TEDx angle: The benefits of collecting so many statistics on the number of times a talk is viewed and the related web pages are accessed.
Watching TED talks to know you’re not alone
A series of things that interest me which have a TED or TEDx angle: There are myriads of reasons why people watch TED and TEDx talks, and myriads of outcomes.
Five go to the voting booth
A series of things that interest me which have a TED or TEDx angle. First up, Brexit and young people and how to get them to vote.
Dream team
Written for TEDxExeter 2016 “Dreams to Reality”: Even in football, it is possible to have dreams of community, to play as a team instead of individual starlets.
Dream location
Written for TEDxExeter 2016 “Dreams to Reality”: How we can help shape the place we live, through local government and at the grass roots.
I have a dream
Written for TEDxExeter 2016 “Dreams to Reality”: Martin Luther King dreamed of a better world, and he had been to the mountaintop. And yet it wasn’t about the mountain, but about the view over the mountain to what lies ahead.
Dreamtime
Written for TEDxExeter 2016 “Dreams to Reality”: Some individuals have forgotten the songlines. They have become alienated from the land and cannot bear too much reality.
Technicolor Dreamcoats
Written for TEDxExeter 2016 “Dreams to Reality”: What is your dream? Are you willing to let it upend your reality?
“Einstein’s Dreams”
Written for TEDxExeter 2016 “Dreams to Reality”: In his dreams, Einstein imagines many possible worlds, set in the towns of his homeland, in the valleys of the Alps, on the banks of the River Aare
Dream world
Written for TEDxExeter 2016 “Dreams to Reality”: When you wish upon a star, you’re a few million lightyears late. That star is dead. Just like your dreams.
Killing dreams
Written for TEDxExeter 2016 “Dreams to Reality”: Tread softly because you might be treading on others’ dreams… or your own.
“Memories, Dreams, Reflections”
Written for TEDxExeter 2016 “Dreams to Reality”: For Carl Jung, dreams were a window on the unconscious, enabling the dreamer to communicate with and come to know the unconscious, and tap into it as a source of creativity.
Dream succeeds dream
Written for TEDxExeter 2016 “Dreams to Reality”: In the UK, the dream of suffrage has been succeeded by the dream of full equality for women.
First a dream
Written for TEDxExeter 2016 “Dreams to Reality”: “All we need to begin with is a dream that we can do better than before. All we need to have is faith, and that dream will come true. All we need to do is act, and the time for action is now.”
Living the dream
Written for TEDxExeter 2016 “Dreams to Reality”: An introduction to the series… Once upon a time, the Old English dream meant “joy, mirth, noisy merriment” or “music”.
Dreams to Reality
Written for TEDxExeter 2016 “Dreams to Reality”: In 2016, we want to encapsulate the idea of movement… that grappling with humanity’s toughest questions requires first a vision, a dream, and then action.
Taking the Long View: Further together
Written for TEDxExeter 2015 “Taking the Long View”: There’s an old African proverb that says “If you want to go quickly, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” Also a tribute to the wonderful TEDxExeter team.
Taking the Long View: Up the Women
Written for TEDxExeter 2015 “Taking the Long View”: From Clause 40 in Magna Carta to HIllary Clinton via the suffragists and suffragettes – the long struggle for women’s political rights, and a call to vote on 7 May [sigh].
Taking the Long View: If you go down to the woods today…
Written for TEDxExeter 2015 “Taking the Long View”: The short-termism of deforestation, and some hopeful examples of the long view of reafforestation.
Taking the Long View: Climate change and knitting
Written for TEDxExeter 2015 “Taking the Long View”: The Guardian’s campaign to keep fossil fuels in the ground, a Lenten Carbon Fast; and how I take the long view in my knitting and arts practice.
Taking the Long View: The telescope
Written for TEDxExeter 2015 “Taking the Long View”: Taking the literal view of the Long View, a smattering of quite interesting factoids about the origins of the telescope and its name; the transit of Venus and Cook’s voyages; and the Interplanetary Scintillation Array and other more modern telescopes.
Taking the Long View: Magna Carta
Written for TEDxExeter 2015 “Taking the Long View”: The 800th anniversary of Magna Carta was the inspiration behind the 2015 theme. Why we chose that and not the 50th anniversary of the Sound of Music.
TEDxExeter 2015 – Taking the Long View
Introducing the TEDxExeter 2015 theme of “Taking the Long View”: asking about the responsibilities the past places on us, and how taking the long view into the future can shape the way we live and the decisions we make.
Information Without Frontiers
Written for TEDxExeter 2014 “Ideas Without Frontiers”: Access to the World Wide Web, being overwhelmed, information security, and is Google making us stupid?
#AnonymousCompanies
Those of you who are avid consumers of all things TED will know that the main TED conference took place last week. One of the many outstanding talks was given by Charmian Gooch, the recipient of the 2014 TED Prize. Gooch founded the organisation Global Witness in 1993 with two friends, one of whom happens … Read more
Research Without Frontiers
Written for TEDxExeter 2014 “Ideas Without Frontiers”: The value of focusing attention and how boundaries inspire creativity, as well as pushing the frontiers of knowledge and Interdisciplinary sparks.
Nature Without Frontiers
Written for TEDxExeter 2014 “Ideas Without Frontiers”: More about the reality of some physical frontiers, while pollutants do not respect national boundaries.
People Without Frontiers
Written for TEDxExeter 2014 “Ideas Without Frontiers”: More about pilgrims than immigrants, and how our planet is bounded whereas our imaginations aren’t.
Money Without Frontiers
Written for TEDxExeter 2014 “Ideas Without Frontiers”: Forex flows, international debt, tax avoidance, respiratory illness metaphors, and where there is a frontier that needs dismantling.
The questions will always be with us
Written for TEDxExeter 2013 “Living the Questions”: Just a bit of humour…
Living the Questions at TEDxExeter 2013
There are several possible origins for the word ‘religion’ and its modern senses. None of these need imply certainty and rule out doubt. I want to go back to the etymological origins of ‘religion’, and ask a few questions. In the spirit of the TEDxExeter 2013 theme of Living the Questions, I’m not expecting to answer them.
LtQ: If you could ask a stranger any question, what would it be?
Written for TEDxExeter 2013 “Living the Questions”: Self-explanatory, really.
Living the Questions: How’s it going?
Written for TEDxExeter 2013 “Living the Questions”: Stop trying to solve negative things, and work with positive things instead.
LtQ: What do you want to be when you grow up?
Written for TEDxExeter 2013 “Living the Questions”: “The neurotic is a person who worries about something that did not happen in the past. He’s [sic] not like us normal people who worry about things that will not happen in the future.”
Living the Questions: Where am I?
Written for TEDxExeter 2013 “Living the Questions”: Throw away your satnav, experiment with deliberate lostness and reconnect with where you are.
LtQ: What if the Hokey Cokey really IS what it’s all about?
Written for TEDxExeter 2013 “Living the Questions”: You’ll just have to read it.
Living the Questions: Fancy a pint?
Written for TEDxExeter 2013 “Living the Questions”: OK, actually about climate change: why Doha was so important, how it has been forgotten, and what you can do.
Living the Questions: Who ate all the pie?
Written for TEDxExeter 2013 “Living the Questions”: Inequality – estimated, actual, and ideal – and what we can do about it.
LtQ: Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?
Written for TEDxExeter 2013 “Living the Questions”: Allowing Paul Gauguin to ask the questions, and invite contemplation of the meaning of life.
Living the Questions: What are we missing?
Written for TEDxExeter 2013 “Living the Questions”: Quite possibly one of the world’s best musicians on the street corner, or a myriad other things.
Living the Questions: Why is the sky blue?
Written for TEDxExeter 2013 “Living the Questions”: Moving from Rayleigh scattering to why children keep asking why, and why many adults stop.
Living the Questions: Who am I?
Written for TEDxExeter 2013 “Living the Questions”: Trying not to define myself by my job or any roles, the labels the world would like to slap on me, or any of my mind, emotions or body in isolation from the rest.
The Power of We: Congo Calling
Blog Action Day falls within Congo Week, and “The Power of We” is beautifully exemplified by the Congo Calling campaign.
A fresh way to share good ideas
Clare Bryden. A fresh way to share good ideas. Church Times, Issue 7786, 8 June 2012.
TED talks are spreading in influence. The Church can learn from them, says Clare Bryden.
Games people play (continued)
My post responding to Andy Robertson’s TEDxExeter talk was cut off. Here’s what I can remember of the rest.
Games people play
At TEDxExeter the talk I found the most difficult was Andy Robertson about “Sustainable Perspectives on Video Games”. But for that reason, it was the talk I thought I most had to re-watch and engage with.
Totnes, twinned with Narnia
Narnia is by no means a fairy fantasy land. CS Lewis’ stories include powerful myth, in the sense of narrative telling a deeper truth. Totnes is the cradle of the Transition movement, another powerful story.
Carbon irony
“We need to be able to see the cause of our problems in the landscapes of our lives”, because “it’s pictures that helps stories come alive”.
Science and heart
Last night, I heard Ben Bradshaw, MP for Exeter, speak about “The Church and Civil Partnerships”. He prefaced his talk with some science. But people don’t believe what they believe because of the science.
Sustainable Exeter
Written for TEDxExeter 2012 on “Sustainability and Our Interconnected World”: Ten challenges, which if you accomplish them, would help make Exeter a more sustainable city.
Go on
Written for TEDxExeter 2012 on “Sustainability and Our Interconnected World”: Volunteer your time to help some-one else get online and discover the web.
A voluntary for volunteering
Written for TEDxExeter 2012 on “Sustainability and Our Interconnected World”: “Research has shown that people who volunteer often live longer”, and here are some tips…
Harnessing crowds for energy
Written for TEDxExeter 2012 on “Sustainability and Our Interconnected World”: Crowd-funding targeted at community energy.
Two’s company, three’s their source of crowd-funding
Written for TEDxExeter 2012 on “Sustainability and Our Interconnected World”: Crowd-funding, or the ‘big society’ in action.
Streetbank-wise
Written for TEDxExeter 2012 on “Sustainability and Our Interconnected World”: Signing up to lending and borrowing within a local network.
Both a lender and a borrower be *
Written for TEDxExeter 2012 on “Sustainability and Our Interconnected World”: Neighbourhood sharing networks, enabling lending and borrowing of everyday objects, skills and spaces.
Sharing a lift
Written for TEDxExeter 2012 on “Sustainability and Our Interconnected World”: Why not share your journey to TEDxExeter, and share your hopes for the day on the way there, and what most uplifted you on the way back?
I’ll do it, but only if you do it too
Written for TEDxExeter 2012 on “Sustainability and Our Interconnected World”: Another website that connects people who have a desire to act.
If I ran the world…
Written for TEDxExeter 2012 on “Sustainability and Our Interconnected World”: More and more websites are being developed that are enabling people to share and work together. And the best are bringing people together in real life too.
Interconnected Exeter
Written for TEDxExeter 2012 on “Sustainability and Our Interconnected World”: Exeter’s history is threaded through with interconnections, from local to international.
Growing together, closer to home
Written for TEDxExeter 2012 on “Sustainability and Our Interconnected World”: There are some great community growing projects in and around Exeter.
Growing together
Written for TEDxExeter 2012 on “Sustainability and Our Interconnected World”: Connecting people who want to grow food but have no land with people who have land to share.
LETS do it!
Written for TEDxExeter 2012 on “Sustainability and Our Interconnected World”: How Local Exchange Trading Schemes can help you simplify your lifestyle, while connecting with your neighbours and local community.
Sharing stuff and working together
Written for TEDxExeter 2012 on “Sustainability and Our Interconnected World”: More and more websites are being developed that are enabling people to connect with each other. And the best are bringing people together in real life too.