Sallyport
winning publications. RDA is dedicated to advancing architecture, urban design and the built environment in Houston. Read more: ricedesignalliance.org.
TEDxHouston 2013, in its fourth annual conference, featured more than 30 speakers who shared their own daring goals defined by the program as “moon shots that are audacious and brave by their own rights.” The conference took place Oct. 12 on the Rice campus.
C O U RT E SY O F T H E B A K E R I N ST I T U T E , C O U RT E SY O F R I C E D E S I G N A L L I A N C E
GEORGE W. BUSH WITH BAKER INSTITUTE FOUNDING DIRECTOR AMBASSADOR EDWARD DJEREJIAN
energy, health, Middle East conflict resolution, science and technology, tax and expenditure policy, and Mexico and Asia studies. Capping off the celebratory year was a private black-tie gala Nov. 8 that featured a conversation with former President George W. Bush. Djerejian served as moderator and former Secretary of State James A. Baker III delivered introductory remarks. (Baker is honorary chair of the institute.) At the gala, businessman and philanthropist Hushang Ansary was honored with the James A. Baker III Prize for Excellence in Leadership for his many years of distinguished service in the public and private sectors. —Jeff Falk
More than 900 people attended Live Feed, the Rice Design Alliance (RDA) gala in November. This year’s event honored the Organized Kollaboration on Restaurant Affairs — better known as OKRA — a nonprofit group of restaurant and bar professionals that is crafting enduring connections between food, community, urban design and historic preservation. Read about OKRA’s goal of planting
LIVE FEED RDA GALA
five seeds that cultivate the relationship between food and community at www.friedokra.org/our-mission.html. Oh, and visit the Original OKRA Charity Saloon at 924 Congress to experience the mission in action — and enjoy some great food and drinks. At the bar, 100 percent of the proceeds (after costs) are donated to a different Houston nonprofit each month. In addition to presenting OKRA with the RDA Award for Design Excellence for their advocacy and communitybuilding achievements, the gala raised more than $500,000 to support RDA’s educational programming and award-
The theme of the conference, “The Other Things,” was taken from President John F. Kennedy’s 1962 speech at Rice Stadium, where he announced, “We choose to go to the moon in this decade, and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard.” Speakers shared the stage with the podium from which Kennedy had spoken more than 51 years ago. Rice faculty and alumni on the TEDx stage included Kirsten Ostherr, professor of English and director of the Medical Futures Lab; Sarah Cortez ’72; Adriana E. Ramirez ’05; Anna Piper Whitmire ’07; Ned Dodington ’09; Jan Goetgeluk ’10; and Thierry Rignol ’12. Christian and Lisa Seger of Blue Heron Farm, popular vendors at the weekly Rice University Farmers Market, spoke passionately about farming and healthy food. Each speaker dispensed knowledge that they believed could help shape our society. Whether it is about creating a virtual reality interface that has a wide range of applications (Goetgeluk), analyzing our leadership styles through dance (Whitmire), promoting a scientist’s involvement in policymaking (Rignol), designing a living space that connects humans and animals (Dodington) or observing the world through slam poetry (Ramirez), Houston and Rice thinkers alike shared their small piece of unconventional wisdom — moon shots that will audaciously change the world. To view an archive of all TEDxHouston talks, visit tedxhouston.com/2013. W I N T E R 2 0 1 4 | R i c e M a g a z ine 7