[Music]
20 years ago I went on a blind date in
Naples Italy I had just arrived from the
United States and I was fresh out of
university I was ready for my experience
abroad when the sky salvadora came to
pick me up I thought he would take me to
see the city or maybe to a pizzeria
instead he took me home to his mama and
papa I soon realized that I wasn’t in
America anymore what I didn’t realize
then was that this first dinner at
Salvatore his family’s apartment was a
turning point in my life a
transformation I would learn how to boil
an octopus and how to eat a pizza
there’s a right way and a wrong way
the crust is always the last but more
importantly I would learn how to see the
world in a different way and I took on a
new identity today I’m going to talk a
little bit about transformation I was
one thing and I saw the world in one way
and then something happened and I
changed when you think about it
literature is full of transformative
moments look at the Odyssey at all of
Greek tragedy look at the Bible Paul is
on the road to Damascus when he’s
blinded by light and then when he can
see again he sees the world differently
and his name and identity are changed we
all have the potential to be radically
transformed we can all make a shift and
take up our new name well I wasn’t on
any road to Damascus and I didn’t see
the light
but I was brought to an Italian kitchen
with a mama and her son and I went from
being Katherine 2k13 my name is
Katherine with that hard
English th-that isn’t easy to pronounce
I grew up in Washington DC my background
was full of internships achievement a
prestigious university my CV was
impressive I was also very unhappy I was
extremely insecure and I struggled with
an eating disorder basically I didn’t
know how to live in my own body
I would binge on food and then I’d eat
nothing for days I just tried so hard to
manage my appetites to manage and
control them and then when it didn’t
work I’d punish myself gate 13 Salvatore
his mother told me esata she was holding
out this wooden spoon with the most
divine smelling ragout who was catering
I thought and wasn’t it odd that the
mother of a 23 year old guy that I just
met was spoon feeding me
well Catherine’s judgmental brain saw so
many things that were wrong with this
picture
but cat didn’t taste it and she didn’t
just taste this phenomenal ragu she
tasted love and acceptance
little by little I learned the Italian
sense of Karen ollie living with ease
and confidence in your own skin
appetites in Italy weren’t managed or
controlled they were satisfied and and
even celebrated hunger was a sign of
health thank goodness you’re hungry
Catering saw what his mother said to me
it’s the sign that you’re alive my
background in America hadn’t taught me
to listen to my body but to trust what I
read in books or on the internet what
was written down in words that is what
was true that is what had authority but
the more time I spent in an Italian
kitchen and as I started to learn to
cook with some authorities mother I let
go of quantities and rational
evaluations she taught me to put the
cookbooks aside what do your hands feel
Catherine she asked me trust your hands
okay all well and good but what about
this 23 year old guy who was still
living at home and who was often spoon
fed himself by his mother
well Katherine sauce salvadora as a
pathetic mama’s boy who really should be
worrying about his internships for
future employments but Katherine saw an
integral member of a tribe the
interconnectedness of Italian families
was so different from the American
families that I was used to but there
was nothing pathologically dependent
about it there was community and support
and love a change in identity means a
change in perception I saw the world
like this and then I saw it like this
it’s one step it’s not a marathon it’s
not thousands of kilometres it’s one
step and it can change your life but
there’s a hitch you have to leave what’s
comfortable it is so much easier to
stick with what you know to stick with
the way that you’ve always seen things
and you’ve always done things but
there’s a problem you don’t just stick
with the ease of what you’re used to
you also stick with your chains what do
I mean by chains the things that hold
you back an old identity can keep you
blocked
what are your chains mine were
expectations other people’s my parents
my cultures often their fears what are
other people gonna think of me sometimes
it’s shame from the past I did this or
this happened to me and so therefore
that is Who I am no it’s not that is an
old identity
keeping you chained in you need a shift
in perspective and this doesn’t
necessarily mean a change in language or
culture or moving to the other side of
the world it can mean a change in your
professional identity let me explain in
the United States I don’t know if it’s
the same in Germany but when you first
meet someone the first question they ask
is what do you do the answer is I’m an
architect I’m an engineer for me the
answer was I’m an actress but then I
wrote a book and people said to me oh so
you’re a writer and I answered oh no no
no no no I’m an actress I’m an actress
but didn’t you write that book oh well
yes I told them yes III did but I’m I’m
an actress who writes sometimes writes
things writes things down on paper oh
okay
it was only so much later that I
realized how difficult it was for me to
take on the identity I am a writer to
even say it I had to practice it in a
mirror because I felt like a fraud
started out with I’m a writer I’m a
writer writer I’m ready I’m a writer
writer I’m a writer I’m a writer I am a
writer what about you how do you think
of yourself do you think of yourself for
example I am a sociologist I am German
okay that’s true but that is one part of
you one perspective one identity you’re
so much more don’t be afraid to take on
another identity for me it was accepting
that I was an actress and a writer that
I am Catherine and k13 being locked into
one identity keeps you from realizing
your full potential k13 us
such Kathryn tastes my message for you
today is to take up your new name and
taste find a new perspective leave your
chains whatever they are and what you’ll
find is that you realize your potential
and more than that you’ll learn to trust
yourself and not just the things that
you read in books or on Wikipedia but
what your senses tell you believe it or
not you’ll learn to trust your hands
back
[Applause]
[Music]
20 years ago I went on a blind date in
Naples Italy I had just arrived from the
United States and I was fresh out of
university I was ready for my experience
abroad when the sky salvadora came to
pick me up I thought he would take me to
see the city or maybe to a pizzeria
instead he took me home to his mama and
papa I soon realized that I wasn’t in
America anymore what I didn’t realize
then was that this first dinner at
Salvatore his family’s apartment was a
turning point in my life a
transformation I would learn how to boil
an octopus and how to eat a pizza
there’s a right way and a wrong way
the crust is always the last but more
importantly I would learn how to see the
world in a different way and I took on a
new identity today I’m going to talk a
little bit about transformation I was
one thing and I saw the world in one way
and then something happened and I
changed when you think about it
literature is full of transformative
moments look at the Odyssey at all of
Greek tragedy look at the Bible Paul is
on the road to Damascus when he’s
blinded by light and then when he can
see again he sees the world differently
and his name and identity are changed we
all have the potential to be radically
transformed we can all make a shift and
take up our new name well I wasn’t on
any road to Damascus and I didn’t see
the light
but I was brought to an Italian kitchen
with a mama and her son and I went from
being Katherine 2k13 my name is
Katherine with that hard
English th-that isn’t easy to pronounce
I grew up in Washington DC my background
was full of internships achievement a
prestigious university my CV was
impressive I was also very unhappy I was
extremely insecure and I struggled with
an eating disorder basically I didn’t
know how to live in my own body
I would binge on food and then I’d eat
nothing for days I just tried so hard to
manage my appetites to manage and
control them and then when it didn’t
work I’d punish myself gate 13 Salvatore
his mother told me esata she was holding
out this wooden spoon with the most
divine smelling ragout who was catering
I thought and wasn’t it odd that the
mother of a 23 year old guy that I just
met was spoon feeding me
well Catherine’s judgmental brain saw so
many things that were wrong with this
picture
but cat didn’t taste it and she didn’t
just taste this phenomenal ragu she
tasted love and acceptance
little by little I learned the Italian
sense of Karen ollie living with ease
and confidence in your own skin
appetites in Italy weren’t managed or
controlled they were satisfied and and
even celebrated hunger was a sign of
health thank goodness you’re hungry
Catering saw what his mother said to me
it’s the sign that you’re alive my
background in America hadn’t taught me
to listen to my body but to trust what I
read in books or on the internet what
was written down in words that is what
was true that is what had authority but
the more time I spent in an Italian
kitchen and as I started to learn to
cook with some authorities mother I let
go of quantities and rational
evaluations she taught me to put the
cookbooks aside what do your hands feel
Catherine she asked me trust your hands
okay all well and good but what about
this 23 year old guy who was still
living at home and who was often spoon
fed himself by his mother
well Katherine sauce salvadora as a
pathetic mama’s boy who really should be
worrying about his internships for
future employments but Katherine saw an
integral member of a tribe the
interconnectedness of Italian families
was so different from the American
families that I was used to but there
was nothing pathologically dependent
about it there was community and support
and love a change in identity means a
change in perception I saw the world
like this and then I saw it like this
it’s one step it’s not a marathon it’s
not thousands of kilometres it’s one
step and it can change your life but
there’s a hitch you have to leave what’s
comfortable it is so much easier to
stick with what you know to stick with
the way that you’ve always seen things
and you’ve always done things but
there’s a problem you don’t just stick
with the ease of what you’re used to
you also stick with your chains what do
I mean by chains the things that hold
you back an old identity can keep you
blocked
what are your chains mine were
expectations other people’s my parents
my cultures often their fears what are
other people gonna think of me sometimes
it’s shame from the past I did this or
this happened to me and so therefore
that is Who I am no it’s not that is an
old identity
keeping you chained in you need a shift
in perspective and this doesn’t
necessarily mean a change in language or
culture or moving to the other side of
the world it can mean a change in your
professional identity let me explain in
the United States I don’t know if it’s
the same in Germany but when you first
meet someone the first question they ask
is what do you do the answer is I’m an
architect I’m an engineer for me the
answer was I’m an actress but then I
wrote a book and people said to me oh so
you’re a writer and I answered oh no no
no no no I’m an actress I’m an actress
but didn’t you write that book oh well
yes I told them yes III did but I’m I’m
an actress who writes sometimes writes
things writes things down on paper oh
okay
it was only so much later that I
realized how difficult it was for me to
take on the identity I am a writer to
even say it I had to practice it in a
mirror because I felt like a fraud
started out with I’m a writer I’m a
writer writer I’m ready I’m a writer
writer I’m a writer I’m a writer I am a
writer what about you how do you think
of yourself do you think of yourself for
example I am a sociologist I am German
okay that’s true but that is one part of
you one perspective one identity you’re
so much more don’t be afraid to take on
another identity for me it was accepting
that I was an actress and a writer that
I am Catherine and k13 being locked into
one identity keeps you from realizing
your full potential k13 us
such Kathryn tastes my message for you
today is to take up your new name and
taste find a new perspective leave your
chains whatever they are and what you’ll
find is that you realize your potential
and more than that you’ll learn to trust
yourself and not just the things that
you read in books or on Wikipedia but
what your senses tell you believe it or
not you’ll learn to trust your hands
back
[Applause]
[Music]
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