By Blake Wheeler
The year 2020 was a rollercoaster year that seemed to only be on its way down. From mid-March to the present our country has been faced with new social issues that need to be discussed. It was such a wild year that the TEDx Bellarmine University Core Team chose the theme “What on Earth?” for its February 6 event.
“With 2020 being a wild year, and it is seeming like every time something happened, we’d be saying ‘what on earth?’ we felt like it was a perfect fit for this year’s TEDx event,” said Dr. Shawn Apostel, a member of the TEDx BellarmineU Core Team and an associate professor of communication.
Bellarmine University will host its third annual TEDx event at 1p.m. Saturday and it will be available to watch through a link at bellarmine.edu/tedx or on the Bellarmine Communication’s Department YouTube channel, both of which are free to the public.
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, there will be no ticket sales and only a few people — Bellarmine’s Core Team, the guest speakers and up to two guests for each speaker in the room.
For those who are new to TEDx, it is an event where people can spread ideas according to Bellarmine’s TEDx webpage. The “x” in TEDx often draws question, but it means that it is a TED event that is independently organized.
Apostel said: “I would call TEDx a gladiator pit for nerds. They only have about 10 minutes to share these very thoughtful and in-depth ideas but have to do it in a way to where the audience can understand and comprehend.”
The event will have nine speakers discussing topics that pertain to social issues in the United States but also relate to the Louisville area. Some of the major topics will be the food desert problem on the west end of Louisville, climate change, pay equality, racial allies, and how music plays a role in everyday life.
Out of all the applications submitted, the nine that were selected by the Core Team were chosen because of their application to the Louisville area.
Bellarmine undergraduate student Joshua McCorkle said he thinks this event is a great opportunity to share some of the music research he has completed for Bellarmine’s Honors Program.
“I plan on talking about how music can help a person understand people of other races. Specifically, how white people, like myself, can understand people of color,” McCorkle said.
McCorkle said he first got the idea about a year ago but didn’t start researching in-depth until last summer.
“I really want people to understand that we are still a shared humanity, but it seems like we are starting to move away from it. People share music the same way they share the human experience. We are all still human, and we all still have a lot in common,” McCorkle said.
Anne Pearson, a junior clinical psychology and political science major, will also speak.
“A professor sent me a link to the event and suggested I participate after I did a research project on Thomas Merton,” Pearson said.
Pearson will discuss how Merton’s teaching about the white liberal is still relevant in today’s society.
“Thomas Merton believed the white liberal wanted to help but did more to hurt the movement of racial equality. I plan on comparing today’s race relations to those of Thomas Merton’s times and also look at the significance of the posting of the black square on Instagram and how it relates to the white liberal,” Pearson said.
Other speakers include Dr. Kate Bulinski, associate professor of geosciences at Bellarmine; Israel Cuenca, founder of Latin Music Awards Kentucky; Mariela Dabbah, founder and CEO of Red Shoe Movement; DeWana Hadder, community organizer; Dr. Michael LaRocco, digital media professor at Bellarmine; Eric Satterly, vice provost for information technology at Bellarmine; and Angus Williams, physical therapist.
The audience won’t get to experience Bellarmine’s TEDx in the traditional setting of the Black Box Theatre. The speakers will give their talks in Cralle Theater to allow for social distancing and viewers will watch via live stream.
John Klapheke, a senior at Bellarmine and member the Core Team, specifically works on compliance and helped Bellarmine get licensed under TED.
“We were really looking forward to having a big crowd since we worked to get licensed and recognized as an individual TED organization, but there is still a lot that people can come away and be impacted by. They can come away with better perspectives and new ideas,” Klapheke said.
This week is also homecoming week on Bellarmine’s campus, and TEDx is playing a big role int it.
“I think the combination of TEDx, and the traditional homecoming activities makes the campus more integrated,” Bellarmine senior and Core Team member Grace Potts said. “It is something to get excited about since it brings out the arts and academics and brings outside people to the school.”