Trey Kay, host of WVPB’s program Us & Them, was a part of Marshall University’s 2nd annual TEDxMarshallU event on Saturday, March 14.
The theme of the event was “Bridges.” Kay’s talk was titled “Bridging the Divide Between Us & Them” and related how his award-winning audio documentary “The Great Textbook War” inspired his work exploring issues that divide Americans. In particular, Kay told about his subsequent friendship with Alice Moore, a former Kanawha County School Board Member, who helped spark West Virginia’s textbook controversy in 1974. Kay said that experience has helped shape his approach in dealing with our polarized social and political climate.
The Marshall TEDx Event also featured: Hershel “Woody” Williams, a West Virginian and WWII Medal of Honor recipient, who fought in the Battle of Iwo Jima. The U.S. Navy recently commissioned a ship bearing Williams’ name. Also included in the program were Sabrina Thomas, Marshall University research librarian, who spoke about rethinking the perception of foster care; Ellie White, Marshall University student and co-director of Open Source Radio Telescopes, who spoke about mentoring young people to learn about outer space; Jennifer Wells, executive director of WV Healthy Kids and Families Coalition, who spoke about how her family recovered from Hurricane Katrina and made a connection with West Virginia; and Dr. Edna Meisel, a Marshall faculty member who has a great love for the healing properties of “Old Time” Mountain Music.
The event was originally planned to take place at the Jean Carlo Stephenson Auditorium in Huntington City Hall. However, due to concern and precaution for COVID 19, the event was moved to the Don Morris Room at Marshall’s Memorial Student Center before a small invited audience. The general public viewed the event via live stream.
TED is a nonprofit organization devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading, often in the form of short talks delivered by leading thinkers and doers. Many of these talks are given at TED conferences, including an annual gathering in Vancouver, as well as TEDWomen, intimate TED Salons and thousands of independently organized TEDx events around the world. Videos of these talks are made available, free, onTED.com and other platforms. Audio versions of the talks from TED2019 are published to TED’s podcast TED Talks Daily, available on all podcast platforms.
When TEDx releases the videos from this event, we’ll make an announcement and post links on the WVPB website.
