Members Kyra Gaunt

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About me

Kyra D. Gaunt, Ph.D. (aka "Professor G") is a new brand of scholar-teacher. She is an Associate Professor who teaches ethnomusicology, anthropology, and black studies at Baruch College-CUNY. She is a polymath with expertise in social media as well as being a jazz/R&B rec ... More »

TEDCRED 100+ TED FellowAssociate

  • More about me

  • I'm passionate about

    Useful failures, music, communication, connectedness, Twitter, laughter, adult playdates, getting in front of large groups to alter their listening of what's possible w/ race, gender, hip-hop, socmed

  • An idea worth spreading

    Agree to be offended. A design principle for human interactions around what stops us in hard to be with conversations about race, sex, generation gaps and other differences where thinking we are better than or not as good as another group tends to show up. Agree to be Offended + Get Connected!

    What if we had the freedom to be offended and stay connected? What would be possible for you and your world? And around what?

  • Talk to me about

    What I am passionate about creative projects with college-age students that allow them to use their voice to transform higher education from within--http://tiny.cc/5S4IC.
    Ebooks http://bit.ly/d1M0JS

  • People don't know that I'm good at

    Flying a plane though I don't have my license yet.

  • My TED story

    My TED story? Hmm. I fell in love with YouTube and TED TALKS simultaneously when I first saw Hans Gosling's presentation. Years later I sponsored a Pangea Film Day Event at Baruch College in May 2008 with 52 people from the school and local community.

    In 2007 I wrote here of a passionate desire to attend TED2008. In 2009 I became an inaugural TED Fellow which altered reality for me.

    I showed my students Chris Abani's TED talk on our shared humanity and they were moved to tears. We closed the Fall '08 term with the TED talk by Majora Carter and the lid came off. We did a creative community service project asking college students to donate $ to the OLPC campaign by asking what can $199US buy in your home country.

    Several TEDsters have visited my classroom incl. RuthAnn and Bill Harnisch, Bill Jensen, and Joshua Klein. In the fall of 2009, I performed at TEDxEast in NYC with Tomas Doncker, spoke at TEDx AMS in Amsterdam, and am currently organizing TEDx salons in Brooklyn, NY

  • Comments

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  • TEDCred score: +150

    TEDCred reflects your contribution to the TED community.

  • +3

    A comment on Talk: Julian Treasure: 5 ways to listen better

    Jul 29 2011: I always tell my students I know you heard my words but i know you weren't listening to them. There is a big difference between hearing and listening. It's funny. When they retort back to me "I was listening!" or "I heard you!" I know that what they were really listening to was some notion that I am trying to make them look bad in front of other students. It takes something to hear that and not get hooked on their resistance as if it's wrong. Listening is a deep event in our lives and no we are not trained in college or elsewhere. MOst of the time we are not listening, not paying attention to it all, not present. And we ARE training ourselves quite well to do that! Not be present to another's speaking, to the world, to the environment which not only shapes you but which you are shaping and a part. (Not apart). We must learn to listen from nothing. That's the art.

  • A comment on Talk: Tony Porter: A call to men

    Dec 10 2010: I loved Tony's talk. We shared after about my own father's struggle with owning being a father and that my mom spoke in language that did not register in his man box as an invitation rather than a castigation. "You don't have to stay." My father didn't marry my mom. He married the year after I was born and was married for 39 years when we finally met for first time.
  • +6

    A reply on Talk: Tony Porter: A call to men

    Dec 10 2010: There were a number of men attending actually. I was there and can attest to their presence and participation.

  • A comment on Talk: Alwar Balasubramaniam: Art of substance and absence

    Sep 17 2010: Love this! Subtle and enlightening!

  • A comment on Talk: Ellen Dunham-Jones: Retrofitting suburbia

    Jul 6 2010: Nice talk. Just one thing. It's "Silver Spring" Maryland, not Silver Springs. Common mistake Enjoyed your talk.
Favorite talks See all »
playTony Porter: A call to men
playAimee Mullins and her 12 pairs of legs
playKamal Meattle on how to grow fresh air
playSarah Jones as a one-woman global village
playMiru Kim's underground art
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