TEDxNewy Speaker Gerry Bobsien: “Vegetarians? Degenerates!”
TED is a nonprofit organisation dedicated to ‘ideas worth spreading’ and culminates in 2 annual conferences that feature an array of amazing speakers. In the past, this has included Bill Gates, Bill Clinton, Google’s Larry Page & Sergey Brin & Bono. TEDx events capture the enthusiasm, passion and knowledge of the TED philosophy and transport them to communities all over the world, presenting independent events often featuring local presenters & projects.
Newcastle is hosting its first TEDx event this weekend, TEDxNewy. The day will cover topics such as how schools are killing creativity in children and dying in the 21st century - a new experience for all of us, and feature a selection of speakers with a special connection to Newcastle.
Gerry Bobsien has had a multitude of different careers throughout her life including an industrial blacksmith, curator, librarian and copywriter. Her presentation titled The joy, terror and challenge of being a novice, is based on these experiences.
Urban Insider spoke with Gerry ahead of her presentation at TEDxNewy this Saturday…
You’ve been involved with some iconic Newcastle institutions, like the Newcastle Art Gallery and Lock-Up Cultural Centre. What do you love about Newcastle’s artistic community?
Newcastle has always had a strong cultural heart and the city has always delivered interesting music, art and performance. I love the range of great projects that have gone on around the city over the past decade that I’ve been here and I love how it’s always changing. There’s an energy and do it yourself attitude to a lot of creative people in Newcastle right now and it always keeps you on the lookout for something interesting. I also love how there is so much stuff you barely know about. Funny little underground happenings here and there and from all sorts of people in studios, lounge rooms, laneways and start-up galleries.
You have had quite a diverse background, ranging from blacksmith to ballet mother. Did these experiences inspire your TEDxNewy topic — the joy, terror& challenge of being a novice?
Definitely (but maybe not the ballet mother - that was never part of my job description). Some time ago I tried to work out what it was that made me seek out new experiences and take on new things. I was unsure if I had no aspirations at all or too many. And it was when I was almost drowning under a wave off Bar Beach that I figured out what it was. It was the feeling of drowning that I loved and by this I mean, when something is so challenging you feel like there is no way you can ever swim to the surface, to understand it, learn it or do it. This is when I decided I am in fact a professional novice. I could never really answer the question “what do you do?” It was too confusing and because I do several things at once, it was really hard to define my “job” so now I can just say I’m a novice. I also think that writing has a lot to do with it. It puts a thread through all the things I’ve done and these experiences make their way into my writing one way or another. I have a book coming out in July called the Colour of Trouble and the characters are immersed in the world of art and I drew on a lot of my experiences for that.
What can we expect from your 2013 book release, How to Suspend Your Disbelief and Other Tricks of the Mind?
I’m really excited about this book - To begin with, I wanted to place a story in a hospital radio station full of crazy volunteers and with all the potential of interesting ensemble hospital characters. So we end up immersed in this world where the main character (she’s 17) has to work in hospital radio for six months every weekend as punishment for getting caught having sex with her boyfriend. It was her first time but with a mother who’s a famous continuity expert for the film industry what hope did she have? Her mum’s whole life is about detail. She’s the one responsible for making sure every little hair on Leonardo Di Caprio’s head stays the same in every shot. The weird thing is her Mum has fallen in love with a shiny handsome pastor at a new Christian church and is perfectly happy to suspend her disbelief and overlook those big ticket items like the immaculate conception or the water into wine business but when Harry Potter’s t-shirt changes between two takes - she almost has a heart attack. So despite stealing her mum’s script template and adopting a risk management approach to getting busted. They do. And that’s when she ends up as a broadcaster for a hospital radio station. Her poor old boyfriend wants more and despite her mother’s absolute ban on him, he admits himself to the ER ward every friday night so he can try and see her. It’s a romp and I’m having a lot of fun writing it.
What is your favourite quote?
Well I usually obsess about something someone said for months at a time. At the moment it is philosopher Slavoj Zizek responding to the comment that the film crew interviewing him were all vegetarian. Apologies to Vegetarians but it was and still is very funny.
“Vegetarians? Degenerates! They’ll all turn into monkeys!”
What is your favourite thing about Newcastle?
It’s ratbaggery.
What do you think events like TEDxNewy mean for Newcastle?
Things like TEDxNewy bring momentum to the city. It provides a forum for ideas in a really concentrated way. I went to TEDx in Sydney and it put such a fire in my belly. I heard so many interesting things and it gave me all sorts of ideas. Siobhann Curran has driven TEDxNewy to foster an ideas community in the City and she should be clapped loudly for it.
Tickets to TEDxNewy, being held this Saturday, 12 November at The Playhouse at Civic Theatre, have sold out. You don’t have to miss out on the action however, with overflow seating and a live screening of the talks in City Hall’s Mulubinba Room from 9am till 5.30pm. Alternatively anyone can watch the talks live via webstream at the TEDxNewy website.
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