Prof. G meets BG and many more at TED2009!

Last week was the most amazing week of my life. I fell in love not only with TED (Ideas Worth Spreading) but with the 40 other TED Fellows who, like me, were selected for our work as "polymaths" - people excelling in more than one field.

There was one person I really needed to meet. I came from a somewhat humble beginning but more than that I thought I could never hobnob with the big boys. Now that it's happened...well...it seems so...ordinary. Yes! I met Bill Gates. You may have heard he released mosquitos, live ones, into the conference during his talk about Malaria (they weren't infected).

BG and I talked. Even if only briefly. I wanted to feel like this man and I were two ordinary people up to two extraordinary paths. And I got that! It happened on Friday at 8:20am. Friday February 6. 4 days ago almost to the hour. OK. It was more than a normal moment, but ithe Wow of it was that I belonged. Being at TED was amazing for me. I fell in love with my purpose fully and wholeheartedly (the picture is of me giving my talk titled RACISM AS A RESOURCE). It was filmed and (fingers crossed) it WILL be on the TED.com site eventually. My mission: to empower and enable individuals and organizations to empower people's words not their difference. I am out to transform conflict in a single conversation rather than going to war years later. That was my unveiling.

This year's theme was THE GREAT UNVEILING and TED lived up to that and more in 4 non-stop days of talks, performances (HERBIE HANCOCK, REGINA SPEKTOR & JAMIE CALLUM!!!), and beauty of architecture and scientific breakthroughs. We were introduced to unbelievable things never heard of before. I am sure I have enough to share with you ALL SEMESTER LONG and there was as much humor as there was innovation.

MY HIGHLIGHTS: Meeting Hans Gosling and Jill Bolte Taylor. Hanging with Quincy Jones Friday night. I sang for him "You taught my heart to sing" at the Gala Party after the TED Prize Winners gave their talks. The MIT Media Lab unveilings (mind-blowing). The new 3-D film technology from 3eality that had Bono touching my face!!! And three remarkable winners of the 2009 TED Prize: deep-ocean explorer Sylvia Earle, astronomer Jill Tarter, and maestro Jose Antonio Abreu. Each of them is a leader in his/her chosen field of work, with an unconventional viewpoint and a vision to transform the world. Each wins $100,000 plus "One Wish to Change the World." Quincy and I bonded after Maestro Abreu's wish:

José Abreu’s Wish

“I wish you would help create and document a special training program for at least 50 gifted young musicians, passionate for their art and for social justice, and dedicated to developing El Sistema in the US and in other countries.”

I will share the AMAZING inventions and innovations I witnessed like Siftables from the MIT Media Lab.

Siftables aims to enable people to interact with information and media in physical, natural ways that approach interactions with physical objects in our everyday lives. ... Siftables are independent, compact devices with sensing, graphical display, and wireless communication capabilities. They can be physically manipulated as a group to interact with digital information and media.

There is SO MUCH TO SHARE that I was exposed to that BLEW MY MIND!! Here is the FAVORITE TALK OF TED2009. It's essentially about the social constructs of the way we talk about genius. It's given by author Elizabeth Gilbert of Eat, Pray, Love fame. TED is amazing to have these talks online 2 days after they appeared!!