Joe Kowan: How I beat stage fright

08:03 minutes · Filmed Nov 2013 · Posted Jan 2014 · TED@State Street

 

http://www.ted.com/talks/joe_kowan_how_i_beat_stage_fright.html?utm_source=newsletter_weekly_2014-01-25&utm_campaign=newsletter_weekly&utm_medium=email&utm_content=talk_of_the_week_image

Humanity's sense of fear served us well as a young species trying to avoid being eaten by beasts. But it's less wonderful when that same visceral, body-hijacking sense of fear kicks in in front of 20 folk-music fans at a Tuesday night open-mic. Palms sweat, hands shake, vision blurs, and the brain says RUN: it's stage fright. In this charming, tuneful little talk, Joe Kowan talks about how he conquered it.

I love this story.  How many of us haven't felt that sense of total panic and fear when getting up in front of other people to present?  Maybe there are some people who have always been at total ease, however, I was not one of those people and struggle with it even to this day.  

After watching this I now wish I could write songs, sing and play a small guitar to help me through it!

It makes me wonder..what really makes us so frightened?  People rarely throw rotten tomatoes or boo you during a presentation and I have to say I have never heard a musician booed off stage. So what is it that we fear? Why stage fright?  I suspect it is our own inability to accept that maybe we aren't good enough and that people are holding us to a standard that we just don't know about. Fear of the unknown!

For example,  if I am going to sing a song by Carole King, I better know how to make it sound as good as her or expect to be booed.  But, if it's my own original song, I think I could give myself a break.  

My admiration goes out to Joe Kowan for relentlessly going back until he found a way to embrace the audience in his nervousness and then have fun with it.  I will remember and take stock in Joe Kowan the next time I get up to speak or perform in front of a crowd.  He had a great way of poking fun at himself.  Something I hope to embrace and can learn from!

CHEROKEE SEED PROJECT Sows Respect for the Past, Hope For The Future

Cherokee seed project sows respect for the past, hope for the future The Cherokee Indians are preserving the roots of their heritage with a program that allows officially recognized members of the tribe to access seeds that are unique to the Cherokee Nation. 

Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation, Bill John Baker explained the seeds' lineage to CNN. "This strain of seeds came with us on the Trail of Tears," he said, referring to the forced migration of Cherokee nation from their land east of the Mississippi to an area that is now Oklahoma. The 15,000-person march took place in 1838 and 1839 under Andrew Jackson's Indian removal policy, and resulted in the deaths of an estimated 4000 Cherokees, due to starvation and sickness.

"They have been preserved and grown every year before that, and they are the basic foods God gave us that we grew long before the contact with Europeans," Baker continued.
The seeds available through the Cherokee Heirloom Seed Project possess unique traits that have long made them valuable to the Cherokee Nation, said Baker. "[The seeds] have specific properties to them that are resistant to drought and they are part of our history, culture and heritage and they mean a great deal to us. The big seed companies are genetically engineering and coming up with seeds that are drought tolerant, that we possess naturally."
Baker takes special pride in the Cherokee White Eagle dent corn offering. "If you look at each individual seed there is an eagle on the corn," he said.

Heirloom seeds - which come from plants that have remained genetically unchanged and have been open-pollinated (by insects, birds, wind, etc.) for at least 50 (some say 100) years - are prized by cooks, farmers and scientists not just for their exquisite flavor, but also for their genetic diversity, and the stories they tell about generations long past. Baker embraces that mission.

"We are going to keep the seed stock alive and keep storing and keeping them pure," he promised.
The Natural Resources Department's current offerings include two breeds of corn, two kinds of beans (including Trail of Tears beans), two gourds and medicinal tobacco, traditionally used for Cherokee customs. At this time, they are only available to members of the Cherokee Nation who have a Certificate of Degree of Indian Blood. The seeds are not available in stores, and eligible parties may request two varieties via an in-person appointment or cherokee.org.

Chief Baker believes the program, which started in 2006, underscores the idea of Cherokees helping Cherokees. "We think we have plenty for our members, and we are growing the gardens every year to provide us with the seed stock. But at this point our citizens are the only ones that seeds are being made available to. If more than 5,000 packages of seeds get requested, then we will distribute more." 

This is no small gesture, as the seeds also provide a formidable food source. “If you plant corn and you decided to save the seeds, one packet of seed corn would probably make enough corn to share with a hundred families,” Baker said.
"This is just another way we can preserve our link to the land."
Cherokee Seed Project