Beyond the Gender Binary: Yee Won chong TEDxRainier

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Yee Won Chong shares a story about the challenges of navigating the world while transgender, and provides suggestions on being a good ally.

Yee Won Chong converts practical skills and experiences to train hundreds of grassroots activists on effective communication and fundraising for social, economic and environmental justice. He is currently Development Director at Western States Center, a regional non-profit that trains people to organize toward a just, equitable and democratic society. Before moving to the Northwest, he worked in Boston with United for a Fair Economy and Haymarket People's Fund. He is also involved with Alternatives for Community and Environment, Resource Generation, Progressive Communicators Network, and Grassroots Institute for Fundraising Training.

This talk was given at TEDxRainier in Seattle on November 10, 2012. In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)

Why You Should Follow Your Passions

As a budding artist, stumbling across The Passion Project by Andre'D. Wagner is thoroughly inspiring.

Look through it and feel the creativity flow through your veins as you dive into Andre' D. Wagner's passion.

"Living a life with passion will change your surroundings and the people that are in your life. Living a life with passion will organically mainfest as greatness in the things you are called to do and the people you meet. It will demand people around you to be and do their best and the energy will multiply tenfold. So, I guess the only thing I want in return from you, is for you to live harder, to work harder, to love harder, give harder...and to pursue your passion!"

- Andre' D. Wagner

"I used to hold a mop for a living..."

I used to hold a mop for a living...You can say that I have been a hard worker since a very young age. The thing about it is that I didn’t know that I was working hard. I just knew that I was doing what needed to be done. I was emulating my mother’s work ethic. - Glenford Nunez

I am a person who often listens to people's stories. As I my imagination weaves images with the words people share with me, all the trials and tribulations youth go through...especially in my community, I can't help but feel in the depths of my heart that they will succeed.

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There are are so many beautiful souls who are currently experiencing - and struggling through - what Glenford Nunez (a popular Baltimore photographer) once experienced.

Despite their current struggles, I know youth are enduring hard times and working effortlessly to follow their passions. So, I want to give a huge shout out to all of the amazing Toronto youth in the community who are working their butts off to grow and evolve in every aspect of their life!

With love, Fonna-Tasha

15 Links to Keep Your Health Up

Image By Y. Peter Li Photography on Flickr  

It is summer time and everyone (including myself) is trying to achieve their version of the "summer bod". Here are some links to help anyone that's in exercise mode.

1. Top 10 Reasons to Practice Yoga Outdoors

2. Using Technology to Get Into Shape

3. 5 Mood Boosting Workouts

4. How to Make Your Workout Fly By

5. A Secret To Making Running Easier

6. 4 Post-Workout Must Dos

7. Exercise Without the Gym

8. Trick Yourself into an Exercise Routine With These Tips

9. 7 Reasons to Make Your Dog A Running Partner

10. Strength Train at Your Desk

11. 5 Things Never to Do in Cycling Class

12. Exercising 15 Minutes a Day can Add 3 Years to Your Life

13. 35-Minutes Elliptical Workout

14. 5 Meditation Styles for Beginners

15. My personal motivation playlist

Of course, the last one is my favourite because sometimes I need a coach to tell me to keep going, to remind me of my goals, to light the fire under my ass.

Now that you've made it to the bottom of the list, what's keeping you from getting your butt off that chair and exercising?

Tap Into Your Creativity

For all you creative types, this article is for you!

"Take this clever experiment, led by the psychologist Michael Robinson. He randomly assigned a few hundred undergraduates to two different groups. The first group was given the following instructions: “You are 7 years old, and school is canceled. You have the entire day to yourself. What would you do? Where would you go? Who would you see?” The second group was given the exact same instructions, except the first sentence was deleted. As a result, these students didn’t imagine themselves as seven year olds. After writing for ten minutes, the subjects were then given various tests of creativity, such as trying to invent alternative uses for an old car tire, or listing all the things you could do with a brick. Interestingly, the students who imagined themselves as young kids scored far higher on the creative tasks, coming up with twice as many ideas as the control group. It turns out that that we can recover the creativity we’ve lost with time. We just have to pretend we’re a little kid." - Jonah Lehrer

Lehrer mentions so many other ways to be creative in different settings; continue to the article here.