TED Community » Dance Aoki

More About Me

I'm passionate about

Art, Media, Social Change, Conservation, Sustainable Agriculture, Gender Equality, Human Rights, Poverty and Hunger, Filmmaking for Social Change

An idea worth spreading

Coffee shops are dangerous places where people meet, conspire, think and innovate. More artist entrepreneurs should be taking advantage of these locations and building their own.

Talk to me about

Social Entrepreneurship, English Romantic Poetry, cinema, documentary filmmaking, Belize, Hawaii, Los Angeles, London, cultural capital and social media for social good.

People don't know that I'm good at

Poetry. Karaoke. Pop culture.

My TED Story

After watching Jeff Skoll's TED talk about Participant Media, I became infatuated, not just with Jeff Skoll, but with the entire TED community. I hope to one day attend one of the talks and call myself a fellow, but until that day comes, I will enjoy feeding my brain with as many good ideas as TED can offer me.

Comments

• TEDCred score: +0.50 TEDCred reflects your contribution to the TED community.

• A comment on Conversation: If you could magically make everyone know one thing, fact or idea, what would it be?

  Dec 10 2011: That corn products, especially corn syrup, are in nearly everything you eat.

• A comment on Conversation: What did you do today to help someone else?

  Dec 10 2011: I started a new job as a caretaker for an elderly woman close to 90 years old. She has manic depression and needs a caretaker to assist with her day to day duties, especially when she is in her low phases. Today, she emerged from her low phase, so we got mani-pedis to celebrate the beautiful day.
• +1

  A reply on Conversation: Homelessness is not an excuse for defeat

  Dec 10 2011: I think you're oversimplifying a vastly more complex issue. The path out of homelessness has as much to do with economics, geography, culture, domestic partnerships, education, job training, availability of social services and opportunities for success rather than individual motivation alone. Many individuals experiencing homelessness don't have the kind of human support they need to exist in a stable environment. Many individuals have had doors closed in their face at every turn. Many individuals experiencing homelessness were married, but when their spouse passed away, they weren't able to make ends meet on a solo income. Many individuals experiencing homelessness are employed, but are living out of their cars because their minimum wage isn't enough to pay for a security deposit. Many of those experiencing homelessness couldn't afford health insurance and suffered under the pressure of expensive health care. Since the economic downturn, many soup kitchens and shelters have seen a spike in the number of families seeking relief. I believe in finding a balance between providing relief to a suffering individual by offering food and shelter, but also providing services that develop each individual's ability to find their independence. In a country so wealthy and with access to so many resources, there should be no reason we can't provide relief for the most vulnerable and exposed among our citizens in a sustainable and responsible way. In developing countries, social entrepreneurship and microfinance is a way for the poor to pull themselves out of poverty. America is less accepting of this practice.
  
  I'm wondering if there is a deeper question to be asked here.
• +2

  A reply on Conversation: Fill in the blank: I would like ________ (a living expert) to give me a 5 minute lesson on ________ (a creative topic).

  Nov 18 2011: I'd sign up for that. Leonard Cohen's love songs are some of my favorites.

• A reply on Conversation: How can creatives use new technologies to increase empathy across cultural and geographic distances?

  Nov 18 2011: Given Lars's last point, yes, it would be difficult to experience every mother's death as our own mother's death. However, I think if we did experience tragedy on a much deeper and personal level, we would understand what mourning is, or what celebration means, and the importance of rituals that help us process those emotions.

• A comment on Conversation: How can creatives use new technologies to increase empathy across cultural and geographic distances?

  Nov 18 2011: Thank you all for this engaging conversation!

• A reply on Conversation: How can creatives use new technologies to increase empathy across cultural and geographic distances?

  Nov 18 2011: NEVER! Never ever ever! :)
• +1

  A reply on Conversation: How can creatives use new technologies to increase empathy across cultural and geographic distances?

  Nov 18 2011: Considering the world is run by corporations and businesses, the goal of which is to increase shareholder profits and not to build community or create empathy, I think we, as humans, would be hard pressed to see ourselves having a really awesome grade to interstellar onlookers.

• A reply on Conversation: How can creatives use new technologies to increase empathy across cultural and geographic distances?

  Nov 18 2011: Yes, it takes talent and skill for an artist to "move us!" It's about invoking feelings of empathy and then creating an environment for participation. There have been cognitive behavioral studies about the effectiveness of media in social change movements when you can invoke empathy in an audience and then provide opportunities for people to go out and make that change. Participant Media's (An Inconvenient Truth, Food Inc, Waiting for Superman Jeff Skoll's production company) strategy is to create movies that invoke empathy and then give audiences action points on how they can contribute and make a real impact.

• A reply on Conversation: How can creatives use new technologies to increase empathy across cultural and geographic distances?

  Nov 18 2011: On this note, I really appreciate another TED fellow, Jane McGonnigal, who encourages more gaming and harnessing that energy toward social change.