Speakers &
Performers
You'll
find our current speaker lineup for
TEDxHomer 2011 below, and we will be
announcing new additions as they are
confirmed.
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JR
2011 TED Prize winner
TEDTalk Video |
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With a camera, a
dedicated wheatpasting crew and the
help of whole villages and favelas,
2011 TED Prize winner JR shows the
world its true face. "I would like to
bring art to improbable places,
create projects so huge with the
community that they are forced to
ask themselves questions." JR, Beaux
Arts Magazine
Libby is an
internationally acclaimed
singer/songwriter, poet, activist,
teacher and lifelong Alaskan. The
surprising power and depth of her
music and the humor and spontaneity
of her performances have attracted
large and enthusiastic audiences
across the continent and fans all
over the world.
To read more of
Libby's amazing career and
accomplishments
click here |
From a “lemonade stand to making a
Hollywood movie, Simon Jackson
illustrates how he overcame
roadblocks and skeptics in the
pursuit of saving the rare white
Kermode or spirit bear. The
lessons he learned and the
insight he gained is not just a
recipe to save the spirit bear,
but a tool kit for action for
anyone who wants to make a
difference in our world.
Indeed, his message of the power
of one underscores that one
young person with no remarkable
skills or intellect, but armed
simply with a passion, can take
hold of a cause and unite the
world.”
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Alex Knudtson is a
traveler. I was born in Homer,
Alaska 15 years ago, and am lucky to
have seen more of the world than
most people. I love meeting people
and learning new things. As my mom’s
assistant in organizing and leading
tours, the world has been my
greatest teacher. Because I like the
freedom of my life and couldn’t
imagine a future on someone else’s
schedule, last year I created my
first business, a trolley tour
company, and work for myself. For
me, connecting and engaging with
people is the most important thing
on earth. No matter what cultural
differences or beliefs people may
have, I’ve learned we are all human
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Chef Kirsten Dixon, along with
her husband Carl, owns and operates three
backcountry adventure lodges in Alaska.
Passionate about Alaska cuisine, Kirsten is the
owner of The Cooking School at Tutka Bay and the
RusticWild retail store in Homer. She attended
culinary school at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris and
earned a master’s degree in gastronomy from
Adelaide University in Australia. She also has
an MFA in Creative Writing from Goddard College.
Kirsten has written several cookbooks, including
The Winterlake Lodge Cookbook, which won the
“Gourmand International Cookbook Award – Best
Female Chef USA”.
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Lorrie Heagy is a music teacher
and librarian at Glacier Valley Elementary
School in Juneau, Alaska, where she advocates
for the arts as an essential part of every
child’s public education. Juneau, Alaska, Music
Matters (JAMM) is an early childhood music
education program that grew from her training as
an Abreu Fellow at the New England Conservatory
in Boston. TED helped create this fellowship in
honor of 2009 TED Prize winner, Dr. Jose Antonio
Abreu. JAMM provides all sixty kindergartners at
Glacier Valley Elementary School violin
instruction as part of their school day, free of
charge. Lorrie was named 2011 Alaska Teacher of
the Year.
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Falcom Greear
captures hearts and generates smiles
every time he shares his passion for
music with an audience. Whether it
is his interpretation of a classic
Italian art song or an accapella
rendition of the latest Lady Gaga
hit, his passionate delivery and
lyric vocal quality create memorable
and touching performances.
Falcom has lent
his voice to many fundraisers in our
community and has performed for
diverse audiences of all ages. He is
currently a 6th grader at McNeil
Canyon Elementary and he enjoys
dancing, singing, playing clarinet,
and helping his Mom take care of
their new brood of ducks.
Through
contemporary basketry, photography,
poetry and storytelling,
story-weaver Mavis Muller gives
voice to the natural world. Weaving
intricate baskets, she introduces us
to grasses, plants, trees, and
landscapes that she sees as carriers
of messages, stories, and earthly
blessings. Mavis facilitates a
variety of workshops that are, in
her words, "designed to help we
humans access our bond to the
natural world, reawaken our true
nature, and to draw energy and
insight through our still-wild
roots." A “migratory artist,” each
autumn she leaves her studio-home in
Alaska, and travels Outside to
speak, teach and inspire others
about the environment through her
art.
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Author and native community
connector, Larry Merculieff has almost four
decades’ of experience serving his people, the
Aleuts of the Pribilof Islands and other
indigenous peoples. He has been City Manager of
St. Paul Island, Commissioner of the Alaska
Department of Commerce and Economic Development,
President and CEO of Tanadgusix Corporation,
Chairman of the Board of The Aleut Corporation,
and General Manager of the Central Bering Sea
Fishermen’s Association (one of the six
Community Development Quota groups created by
Congress to receive fish allocations in Alaska).
As Director of the Department of Public Policy
and Advocacy in the Rural Alaska Community
Action Program, he led the largest subsistence
rights march in Alaska’s history.
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Johnny B & Kammi O
Melodic Circles
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Johnny B. has been
composing and performing on the
piano since the 1950's. His
improvisations have developed into
melodies and reflections of the
landscapes he has seen, the natural
wonders he has witnessed and the
human emotions he has experienced.
He states that his up-tempo pieces
are for the body and his slower
flowing pieces are for the soul.
These dreamscape compositions are
for making connections with the
heart. Johnny B. has performed
throughout the U.S. and Canada,
Europe and Japan. He resides in
Homer, Alaska where there is no end
in sight for melodies and
reflections
Kammi Matson
started dance lessons at the age of
three when she begged her mother to
buy her ballet slippers. Over the
years her journey as a dancer has
taken many forms - tango partner,
gymnast, ice skater, and modern
dancer. When she discovered hula
hooping, she realized she had found
the perfect partner. For the past
five years, Kammi has explored the
possibilities of the hoop, learning
how to gracefully move it from head
to toe, while the hoop has moved her
from California to New York City and
all around Alaska, teaching classes
and workshops to children and
adults.
Jonny Cohen is a typical
14-year-old high school freshman, except when
he’s riding a school bus in the Chicago suburb
of Highland Park. That’s when his mind turns to
aerodynamics, fuel efficiency and drag
coefficients. Concerned that most vehicles are
highly inefficient – particularly school buses
with their broad, flat windshields – Cohen came
up with a simple solution: attach Plexiglas
shields to the fronts of busses to channel air
currents around their frames. Wind tunnel tests
have shown fuel efficiency improvements between
17 and 25 percent. Cohen currently is working to
have the shields approved for road tests by the
Illinois Department of Transportation.
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I am Michael the
Green Net Guy from Tokyo. I believe
the internet will save the planet by
spreading and enhancing
consciousness , breaking down
national borders and conflicting
interests and bring economic parity.
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Tom Reed
Natural
Beauty and Aesthetic Arrest
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Wilderness
photographer, writer, martial arts
instructor, and hypnotherapist, Tom
Reed spent a decade under the
guidance of a master of Japanese
aesthetics. At TED-X Homer, Tom will
show a variety of his photographs
while inquiring deeply into the
meaning of natural beauty.
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Richard Chiappone is the author
of two collections of short fiction and essays,
and dozens of magazine pieces of all kinds. His
story, RACCOON, was made into to an award
winning short film featured at international
festivals; his work has been read on BBC Radio.
He teaches at the Kachemak Bay Campus of the
Kenai Peninsula College here in Homer, and in
the MFA Low Residence Graduate Program at
University of Alaska Anchorage. Richard lives on
the Anchor River just north of Homer with his
wife and cats. Chiappone says that what matters
to his heart is “that my stories encourage the
reader to remember what it means to be a human
being.” .
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Plenty of
14-year-old girls write poetry. But few hide
under the bar of the famous Bowery Poetry Club
in Manhattan’s East Village absorbing the
talents of New York’s most exciting poets. Sarah
Kay also had the guts to take its stage and hold
her own against performers at least a decade her
senior. Her talent for weaving words into
poignant, funny, and powerful performances paid
off
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Salman Khan talks
about how and why he created the
remarkable Khan Academy, a carefully
structured series of educational
videos offering complete curricula
in math and, now, other subjects. He
shows the power of interactive
exercises — and calls for teachers
to consider flipping the traditional
classroom script — give students
video lectures to watch at home, and
do you “homework” in the classroom.
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Speak at
TEDxHomer!
We are looking for individuals
who are interested in speaking at
TEDxHomer 2012
event - "Let's Play"
July 26, 2012
Check out the application
form and details here
Past Speakers
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