Writer Mandy Len Catron thinks our current metaphors are too violent and passive. Instead, she suggests we view love as a collaborative work of art. Collaboration requires effort, compromise, patience and a shared goal. Ups and downs are, of course, inevitable, but this metaphor allows us to focus on what we have to offer instead of what we have to lose.
“The beautiful thing about the collaborative work of art is that it will not paint or draw or sculpt itself,” says Mandy. “This version of love allows us to decide what it looks like.”
Watch her beautiful TED Talk about our metaphors for love here.
In her powerful, unrelenting TED Talk, the actress and activist says enough. Enough with online hate speech. Enough with sexual harassment. Enough with threats of violence against women, people of color and members of the LGBTQ community. Now is the time to take the global crisis of online abuse seriously and to recognize the offline harm of online violence.
The two activists met on Facebook and exchanged 3,000 messages in 72 hours. Three months later, they got married on the steps of City Hall in Manhattan. As a trans man raised in a society that told him he was unworthy of love, Tiq says that “sprinting towards her hand in marriage was the queerest thing that I could do.”
In their vital and vibrant TED Talk, Tiq and Kim share their vision of love as a tool for revolutionary change. They know that their relationship is not a typical marriage. “We quickly realized that our coming together was more than just a union of two people, but was a model of possibility for the millions of LGBTQ folks who have been sold this lie that family and matrimony is antithetical to who they are – for those of us who rarely get to see ourselves reflected in love and happiness,” Tiq says.
“What we do here is we create entirely new languages of love,” says Kim. “Ones that are about creating the space for us to be our authentic selves and not imposing this standard of what masculinity or femininity is supposed to be.”
Ella Dawson has genital herpes, and she wants to tell you about it.
She’s not speaking up for the shock value — she’s telling you because she wants all of us to be able to talk about STIs without shame or stigma. When we make it okay to talk about, she says, people are more likely to get tested and less likely to be afraid to share their status.
In her badass talk at TEDxConnecticut College, Ella tells the story of her diagnosis, how she overcame feeling like “human trash,” and why we need to end the stigma — now. It’s packed with information (and a shot of humor), and if you didn’t already agree with her, you will by the time she’s done.
Watch the full talk or read the transcript here.
(Full disclosure: Ella is TED’s social media manager. This post was written by her boss who is so incredibly proud of how fearlessly she speaks out.)
When geoscientist Andres Ruzo was a young boy, his grandfather told him a story about a river that boils in the Amazon. It seemed like a myth, but his elders swore the legend was true.
In our new TED Book, The Boiling River, Ruzo tells the story of his quest to find the bubbling, boiling river hidden in the heart of the Amazon.
Ever wondered what it’s like to come to a TED conference? Join us all week on Snapchat for exclusive, behind-the-scenes coverage of #TED2016.
Our new Monday morning best friend. This smart table will bother you until you get all the stuff you need in your bag – including breakfast. THANKS, TABLE!
Wanna know how it works? Watch today’s TED talk on touch technology – from the guy who created this and many other shape-shifting designs. (From the geniuses at TEDxCERN.)
The European refugee crisis isn’t so much a crisis as it is a catastrophe. In Greece the danger has proven massive, particularly off the island of Lesvos, which takes in an average of 2,000 refugees daily.
Every day around Lesvos the Coast Guard must rescue boats that have capsized, run out of fuel, or simply broken down. Which is why the Coast Guard invited a team from Texas A&M University’s Center for Robot-Assisted Search and Rescue to launch a pilot project this week for a very special robot—Emily, the Emergency Integrated Lifesaving Lanyard. Think of Emily as a life preserver melded with a jet ski.
MORE: A Robot Life Preserver Goes to Work in the Greek Refugee Crisis
These robots are like superheroes, coming to the rescue when disaster strikes. Learn how they work here >>
