TedxDetroit – DIA Detroit – 2010
It was on Wed. Sept 29. 2010. The 2nd annual TedxDetroit. The venue this time was the DIA, and it couldn’t have been more perfect.
After checking in, people (900 attendants to be exact) mulled around in a great room, with the most amazing murals. If you have been to the DIA before, you know what I mean. The building itself is an amazing piece of art.
The day started off with a performance by Dixon’s Violin. He was magical. Between his melancholic tunes, the acoustics of the room, the marble walls, the ornate ceiling and a natural high on life, it was magical. I just wanted to float around, and twirl. Of course, I didn’t. That would be weird. My inner self did. I closed my eyes, and melted into the room.
The auditorium was mighty grand. I decided to sit on the balcony where I had more leg room. I was never good at sitting still 
and I’m a bit fidgety, so it was probably best I wasn’t in front.
Look at all the lights below. Between laptops, ipods, iphones and ipads the room was lit like Christmas. Twitter hashtags were #Tedx #Detroit. There was live tweeting of course.
There was a great line up of speakers. I’m not going to go one by one, but you can check out the 2010 lineup here.
One thing that caught my inner nerds attn, was Algal Scientific Corp. You can read more about it here.
Also, you MUST check out ARTPRIZE. Basically the coolest art movement around.
One of my fav talks of the day was by Jocelyn Rainey. Her story is powerful. You have to watch it. She now takes inner city kids every year to visit iconic cities and works of art. Like the Mona Lisa.
Will Smidlein was AWESOME (13 year old web developer)! You guys need to remember the name. I’m sure we will see many great things of him. As someone on the twitterfeed said, he is the Justin Bieber of nerds. And I mean that in the best possible way.
There were alot more awesome ppl speaking. So many great ideas flying around Detroit, and the best part, alot of them are already reality. Sometimes you go to an event and its all concepts and good intentions being thrown around. The difference at TedxD, the ideas are in motion. They are concrete. They are in action. You can watch all of them in my last post, or here. You should really watch them. Some of the speakers are WXYZ Stephen Clark (he explains the birth of the #backchannel), Jessica Care Moore, David Blair, Dan Gilbert, Ben Bator and MANY many more.
During breaks, there was as much going on outside as there was during the talks. Public Art Workz had tables set up, to paint the infamous butterflies that will go up around Detroit on the condemned and empty houses.
Chazz Miller the one with the colorful beanie is doing amazing work with the youth of Detroit via Art.
One of Chazz’s”butterflies”.
Jessica Care Moore was just as amazing offstage as she was on. She definitely has a presence, and what caught my attention was her “Allah” tattoo in Arabic on her back.
I also met some fellow twitter friends finally. Mike Han from Street Culture Mash. He is SO talented. Check his work out. And I thought I was bubbly! He brings a whole new definition to awesome
Also got to meet Becks Davis from Detroit Moxie. She was so sweet, and petite and dainty. She helped organize the event, and I know for a fact she was up all night, since we were tweeting! lol.
Walking around was the Giant himself. Stephen Clark. I say giant, because I really didn’t expect him to be that tall! I felt like a gnome. Me: ” Gosh Stephen, I didn’t think you were this tall!” Stephen: ” Well, you need to watch me on a bigger TV!” lol. He was as nice in person as he is online. It’s not a farce.
Appropriately enough, there was alot more art going around the DIA. Graffiti artists, gold colored pigeons ( I have no idea if they are real) and much more.
I took a pic of the det news photographer taking a pic of an artist creating art (you can see the article here). If you don’t get what my geeky self is trying to get at, basically shes documenting art, and I’m documenting her documenting art, so in turn she becomes part of my art. If I lost ya…then…your sane. I’m not. Moving on…
The BEST part of TedxDetroit was meeting Detroiters, metro Detroiters, Michiganders…whatever . Such an eclectic mix of thinkers, doers and dreamers. All with a passion and love for THE D! I know Detroit is not perfect. What major city is? But there are bits and parts of the shattered city that still shine and sparkle. No amount of time nor blight will tarnish them. We need to put those pieces together. We are the glue. The crazy glue. We need to hold on, hold tight, hold strong. The city will never be the same. Nor should it be. We need a new Detroit. The Detroit WE are building, with our collective ideas cemented together by the tears and yearnings of our hearts. We need to have hope, faith and love. We need OUR Detroit and we need it NOW!
