please join me in welcoming Azure
antoinette to the Sonoma County TEDx
stage
[Music]
hello how are you all this section is
doing a bit better than good to Rick’s
point I think it’s wine in the barrels
which is awesome so I agree with him I’m
really excited to be here not only is it
is it a beautiful reminder of just how
much growth there is in your wild
flowers like everything has been
manicured so well and this school is
absolutely stunning I love that this is
a place where kids can come and get
their education and which speaks so much
to the theme of today’s talk so I want
to dedicate this to my three little
humans who are probably watching on
livestream
one of them’s probably like I can’t see
move you’re in the way don’t touch that
they opened a Word document but they
they caused me to constantly reimagine
so Bella Lacy and briar this is for you
I want to tell you that the quality
campaigns viral videos and numerous
sound bites vowing the resilient
comeback of kindness and humanity make
my mouth break into a smile that’s wider
than the Tahitian sunrise itself but the
truth is I spend so much of my free time
reminiscing and dreaming about if I
could be a kid again
do you remember for that that that first
day of school after waiting from a long
summer break your crisp backpack your
new lunchbox the stickers folders and
the few unnecessary items that you
conned your parents into buying you that
first day you know was always epic there
was no division just a race to the
sandbox or the lunch line or the sheer
panic when you realize that all three
Tiffany’s in your class had birthdays in
the same week you know growing up we
were all friends
her hair was fire-engine red his
freckles were the size of peanut M&Ms
her
olive-skinned red cheeks long legs my
chubby fingers and the only difference
the only difference between us was the
decals on our folders and our bicycles
so when when did the playground become a
battlefield a space of lines and groups
and silos mimicking these now divided
states we live in when the seasons
changed from sandbox compassion to
bullying and gossip I can remember
thinking the universe for the few that
bothered to stand by me and help me off
the ground they were the friends that
didn’t let their own popularity eclipse
their humanity they were the ones that
provided a safe haven when Ian and
Michael came back from Spring Break as
more than just friends they were the
ones that respected Evelyn in her
transition and sunset to Edward they
were the ones that protected Sean and
Michelle even before the media decided
that black lives matter they were the
ones that kept my covenant when I I
couldn’t bear the thought of coming out
because staying in that was for girls
like me who had yellow bellies I want to
tell you that being different is the
journey worth living and I want to tell
you that coming out was the only way
that I really started fitting in and I
want to tell you that my voice doesn’t
tremble when I see an unfamiliar space
or a face but then this poem would
probably be fiction and I promised
myself that I would give an earnest
effort into telling you the truth
we the highlighted minority the ally the
queer the quietly flamboyant the
culturally reserved the wild children of
this acronym society we do have to stand
up
you cannot fret about your posture being
straight because the color the color
lives in the scent it lives in the bent
spines in the bellies that aren’t just
yellow they’re chock full of rainbows we
do have to root ourselves in this
battleground we have to crawl through
the concrete to break the cemented
ideals of this manufactured equality we
have to return to the sandbox to the
monkey bars to the kickball courts we
must take the joy in these midday
birthdays sweets the days where the
daylight allows us to
play outside a little bit longer than
usual I ask that you never grow weary
and you’re well doing you the gay the
free the black the indigenous the breast
of the womb that disenchanted the
outlasted because this this is not a
fight this this is not a war this this
is our legacy and our birthright so may
we fill the air with a song of
solidarity and may this song become your
battle cry off-key pitch slight and let
always exploding with heart may you
always fall in love with those most
unlike you may you kiss their spirit
with gratitude and fraternity because
this world it has all of the elements
that we all miss but knew the backpack
the lunch pails the sandbox eager to be
filled with every caste and hue because
we are the same you know you and I she
that identifies he him that is they
weave that bellow and laugh in this air
of the binary construct I say we don’t
need it I say we reimagine it I reckon
that we reroute this cycle I reckon that
we destroy the status quo see I reckon
that we summon equality to come before
technology I reckon that we unhinge a
reality and reimagine our future because
I do I too have had a dream I to
remember the younger me that understood
that kindness was key it is time to
recess to recess to return to hope it is
time to summon the promise that every
single sunrise brings forth so may we
all move forward may we do so robust may
we do so with intention may we always
summon and beckon joy and remember to be
human may we all imagine that thank you [Applause]
antoinette to the Sonoma County TEDx
stage
[Music]
hello how are you all this section is
doing a bit better than good to Rick’s
point I think it’s wine in the barrels
which is awesome so I agree with him I’m
really excited to be here not only is it
is it a beautiful reminder of just how
much growth there is in your wild
flowers like everything has been
manicured so well and this school is
absolutely stunning I love that this is
a place where kids can come and get
their education and which speaks so much
to the theme of today’s talk so I want
to dedicate this to my three little
humans who are probably watching on
livestream
one of them’s probably like I can’t see
move you’re in the way don’t touch that
they opened a Word document but they
they caused me to constantly reimagine
so Bella Lacy and briar this is for you
I want to tell you that the quality
campaigns viral videos and numerous
sound bites vowing the resilient
comeback of kindness and humanity make
my mouth break into a smile that’s wider
than the Tahitian sunrise itself but the
truth is I spend so much of my free time
reminiscing and dreaming about if I
could be a kid again
do you remember for that that that first
day of school after waiting from a long
summer break your crisp backpack your
new lunchbox the stickers folders and
the few unnecessary items that you
conned your parents into buying you that
first day you know was always epic there
was no division just a race to the
sandbox or the lunch line or the sheer
panic when you realize that all three
Tiffany’s in your class had birthdays in
the same week you know growing up we
were all friends
her hair was fire-engine red his
freckles were the size of peanut M&Ms
her
olive-skinned red cheeks long legs my
chubby fingers and the only difference
the only difference between us was the
decals on our folders and our bicycles
so when when did the playground become a
battlefield a space of lines and groups
and silos mimicking these now divided
states we live in when the seasons
changed from sandbox compassion to
bullying and gossip I can remember
thinking the universe for the few that
bothered to stand by me and help me off
the ground they were the friends that
didn’t let their own popularity eclipse
their humanity they were the ones that
provided a safe haven when Ian and
Michael came back from Spring Break as
more than just friends they were the
ones that respected Evelyn in her
transition and sunset to Edward they
were the ones that protected Sean and
Michelle even before the media decided
that black lives matter they were the
ones that kept my covenant when I I
couldn’t bear the thought of coming out
because staying in that was for girls
like me who had yellow bellies I want to
tell you that being different is the
journey worth living and I want to tell
you that coming out was the only way
that I really started fitting in and I
want to tell you that my voice doesn’t
tremble when I see an unfamiliar space
or a face but then this poem would
probably be fiction and I promised
myself that I would give an earnest
effort into telling you the truth
we the highlighted minority the ally the
queer the quietly flamboyant the
culturally reserved the wild children of
this acronym society we do have to stand
up
you cannot fret about your posture being
straight because the color the color
lives in the scent it lives in the bent
spines in the bellies that aren’t just
yellow they’re chock full of rainbows we
do have to root ourselves in this
battleground we have to crawl through
the concrete to break the cemented
ideals of this manufactured equality we
have to return to the sandbox to the
monkey bars to the kickball courts we
must take the joy in these midday
birthdays sweets the days where the
daylight allows us to
play outside a little bit longer than
usual I ask that you never grow weary
and you’re well doing you the gay the
free the black the indigenous the breast
of the womb that disenchanted the
outlasted because this this is not a
fight this this is not a war this this
is our legacy and our birthright so may
we fill the air with a song of
solidarity and may this song become your
battle cry off-key pitch slight and let
always exploding with heart may you
always fall in love with those most
unlike you may you kiss their spirit
with gratitude and fraternity because
this world it has all of the elements
that we all miss but knew the backpack
the lunch pails the sandbox eager to be
filled with every caste and hue because
we are the same you know you and I she
that identifies he him that is they
weave that bellow and laugh in this air
of the binary construct I say we don’t
need it I say we reimagine it I reckon
that we reroute this cycle I reckon that
we destroy the status quo see I reckon
that we summon equality to come before
technology I reckon that we unhinge a
reality and reimagine our future because
I do I too have had a dream I to
remember the younger me that understood
that kindness was key it is time to
recess to recess to return to hope it is
time to summon the promise that every
single sunrise brings forth so may we
all move forward may we do so robust may
we do so with intention may we always
summon and beckon joy and remember to be
human may we all imagine that thank you [Applause]
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