Upcoming TEDxUNC Conference Centers on Human Body

The next TEDx conference will take place this Saturday at UNC. The event is similar to a TED Talk you might have seen online, speakers will give talks on variety of topics, sharing their experiences and innovative ideas. This year’s conference will center on the theme of the human body.

Ashita Gona is one of the curators of TEDxUNC.

“One committee member came up with the theme of bodies and the more we thought about it the more we realized it was relevant to the community,” said Gona.

Gona said the theme encompassed the different aspects of the human body that are studied at UNC, like medicine and the humanities.

“We have everything from artistic expression, to athletics, to LGBTQ issues, issues surrounding addiction and eating disorders,” said Gona.

The conference will also feature student speaker, Sarah McShane. McShane won a contest between UNC students to speak at the event.

Her topic is birth and death and our fear to talk about them.

She said her inspiration comes from a doula course she was taking at UNC hospitals to provide support for women giving birth, while at the same time dealing with the death of her father.

“I was learning what it means to give support at the same time I was learning how I most needed support,” said McShane.

During her work as a doula, McShane said she realized how many women were afraid to give birth because of the unknown of the experience.

“I found these incredible crossovers between the birth experience and the death experience and how much fear is involved,” said McShane.

In her talk, McShane will explain how empathy can be more helpful during birth and death than giving advice on how to deal.

“I think there are a lot of parallels with that through the death experience, especially from the family member’s perspective of not really knowing what to look for or what death is like,” said McShane.

The event is free and open to the public. Gona hopes the talks will ignite some interests in the community.

“We really hope that this event sparks interesting conversations, and we would love for as many people as possible to be a part of it,” said Gona.

TedxUNC will take place from noon until six this Saturday at Memorial Hall on UNC’s campus.