I really wanted to attend the TEDx talk this year, just like
the last year, when I thought about it and thought about it and while I was
thinking, people filled out the application forms and spots. This year, the
moment I heard about the TEDx, I was determined not to repeat my mistake; so I
procrastinated again and was late to register again…I pestered organizers to
put me on a wait list, which they did and I received a confirmation letter summoning me to buy a ticket on Saturday; due to this special TEDx curse I’m carrying, I read Sunday instead of a
Saturday and thus was unable to capture the snitch tickets…I obnoxiously
E-mailed and Facebooked organizers again, plus my friend, who was speaker last
year (see him talk), also wrote them and then I got 3 confirmations from
different people that they will let me in, I guess just to shut me up.
Hence, I showed up at the right place at the right time
(it’s a miracle I did not end up mixing the dates). The event was well-organized, it started on
time, cell phones did not ring, no speakers got bombarded with rotten tomatoes,
we were not plagued by endless text powerpoints, MMK did not make an anti-talking-about-issues-that-are-sinful appearance…
Despite the fact that some foreign speakers clearly presented
better and some Georgian ones actually sucked, the people that stuck in my memory
are all local.
Firstly, I would like to mention Tatia Vashalidze’s speech
about sexism in Georgia .
I honestly did not expect such a powerful speech, probably because the subject
is so dear to my heart and I hold everyone touching it to a high standard. I also
had several girls in mind I would like to hear talk on this subject. And though
Tatia sounded a bit artificial in the beginning, she caught up towards the
middle and delivered a witty and passionate speech about husbands refusing to
let their wives out to Shardeni
street , about the glass ceiling, about general
attitudes in this country. She emphasized how we are always seen as someone’s
daughter, sister, wife, mother, but never as individuals with own worth, own
life, and own ideas. Tatia moved the audience by her truth.
Secondly, David Gogichaishvili gave one of the best talks of
the day; he spoke of cultural differences. Predictably, he used humor, but it
was not overbearing. His ppt was clever and void of unnecessary pics and words,
and his points were clear. He mentioned how cultural differences may lead to
wars, catastrophes, misunderstandings. He relied on personal and global
examples. He asked us to E-mail our enemies thanking them for the differences they carry. He was good, as expected. After all, it would be horrible if a talk
show host and a producer and a lecturer could not deliver a decent 18-minute
speech.
Lastly, I was unexpectedly impressed with Bishop Rusudan
Gociridze. An interesting figure on her own, a bishop of a Baptist church here
in Georgia ,
she is bravely battling ethnical, religious, cultural and gender stereotypes.
Her life is a testament of a peaceful, loveful battle. She used simple, funny
examples from her life to convey the complex theological and gender issues
intertwined in her daily work, small and big challenges that seem funny to us
because they are really not supposed to be problems at all, but are, in our
society. And that’s what hits you, maybe even harder than Tatia’s feminist
speech: the inability to carry out everyday, routine simple tasks, while facing
100 practical and theoretical walls. Her speech got a bit pathetic towards the
end, but we liked her so much by that time, that we believed her. I turned to a
person by my side and said: “I almost cried”. He said: “I actually did” and wiped his glasses clean. And
that’s what this whole thing should be about. I guess being there was worth all
the fighting.
P.S. my very own, coveted TEDx agenda
