A magical experience at the U of W
by Kristine Klein
Windsorites experienced their first Tedx at the University of Windsor with many speakers, including a young magician.
Tedx is an event much like a Ted Talks, where guest speakers have a chance to share their ideas or discoveries. The event started with the hosts taking a selfie and encouraging the audience to do the same.
After many speakers, magician Keith Brown took the stage. He has been doing magic since the age of six and his speech was “the Magic of Thinking.”
“Magic and creativity go hand in hand,” said Brown. “In order to be creative I need to be willing to go the distance. I need to be willing not to quit… I need to immerse myself completely because I’ve noticed my creativity evolves over time.”
Brown talked not only about creativity, but also other magicians, one being Canadian Dai Vernon, who he considers to be one of the greatest magicians of the last century.
“Vernon once said ‘most magicians stop thinking to soon.’ He believed that magicians were shallow thinkers instead of deep thinkers, that magicians would settle with the first possible answer as the answer instead of an answer as one of many,’’ said Brown. “What if this doesn’t apply to just magicians what if we all can stop thinking too soon?”
Brown said his goal is to get the people of the world to believe in his show.
“My job as a magician is to give you every single opportunity to entertain the idea that what I am doing really is magic,” said Brown.
Brown successfully made the Tedx audience believe in magic by the show of hands after his performance. If it really was magic, the audience will never know because a good magician never reveals his secrets.
The goal of a Tedx event is to change your life with something exciting or different. Jenny Van, a U of W student, said that she will be participating in the 30 day challenge, with was part of a pre-recorded video shown at the event. It is a challenge where you do something for 30 days to create a good habit or to do something interesting.
“The 30 day challenge really stood out to me… My 30 day challenge will be to take photos everyday with friends because I don’t take many photos with them,” said Van.