Once again, thinkers and leaders gathered at AV俱乐部 to share ideas and inspire one another at TEDxNovaScotia.
Hosted and organized at Dal, with the DSU as lead partner, TEDxNovaScotia is a variant of other conferences by TED, a nonprofit organization 鈥渄evoted to ideas worth sharing.鈥� The theme of this year鈥檚 conference was 鈥淐hances worth taking: innovation in a time of indifference.鈥�
More than 300 people attended this year鈥檚 event to listen to nine unique speakers and three musical performances. TEDxNovaScotia began with a warm welcome from DSU President Sagar Jha and was hosted throughout by local musician Julia Feltham. Among the presenters were two with particularly strong connections to the Dal community: Jayme Melrose and Lyndsay Anderson.
Melrose (above) has previously worked as the garden coordinator for the Seymour Green Organic Community Garden, which sits behind the computer science building on AV俱乐部鈥檚 main campus. During this work, she completed her degree in Community Design.
Melrose spoke at TEDxNovaScotia about her more recent work at Common Roots Urban Farm, a community garden that yields fresh fruits and vegetables for local Haligonians and patients of the QEII hospital. At TEDxNovaScotia, Melrose outlined her visions for a greener Halifax, with community gardens and harvestable plants spread across the city.
Lyndsay Anderson has spent the past 13 years living on campus as a residence life manager. More recently, she moved into a new role as manager of student dispute resolution, helping pilot Dal鈥檚 restorative justice program.
Pulling from past experiences as a residence life manager and her BA in Criminology, as well as a continuing master鈥檚 degree in Gender and Women's Studies, Anderson discussed rape culture on university campuses.
鈥淧eople in a rape culture think about the persistence of rape as just the way things are,鈥� Anderson said during her talk. 鈥淚n a rape culture, we鈥檙e surrounded by sayings that encourage rape.鈥� An oft-overheard example of this on university campuses is hearing that someone was 鈥渞aped by an exam,鈥� or seeing a tweet with #rapeface tagged under a picture. According to Anderson, these sorts of sayings only reinforce rape culture, and the students that say them often do not recognize their significance.
鈥淔ortunately, people are starting to take notice,鈥� she said. Anderson outlined a few ways in which rape culture can be addressed on campus, such as advocating enthusiastic consent, demystifying rape and simply talking about it.
鈥淲e need to start making consent part of our foreplay,鈥� she states, and we need to express, 鈥渙ur discontent with rape culture.鈥� For more information, Anderson provided an online resource for combatting rape culture: .
TEDxNovaScotia is made possible every year by local community members, as well as past and present AV俱乐部 students who have volunteered their time. For more information about TEDxNovaScotia, including a full recording of the event, you can go to .