IDEAS WORTH SPREADING

How do you talk about love? 

Writer Mandy Len Catron thinks our current metaphors are too violent and passive. Instead, she suggests we view love as a collaborative work of art. Collaboration requires effort, compromise, patience and a shared goal. Ups and downs are, of course, inevitable, but this metaphor allows us to focus on what we have to offer instead of what we have to lose. 

“The beautiful thing about the collaborative work of art is that it will not paint or draw or sculpt itself,” says Mandy. “This version of love allows us to decide what it looks like.”

This is the abuse Ashley Judd gets online.

In her powerful, unrelenting TED Talk, the actress and activist says enough. Enough with online hate speech. Enough with sexual harassment. Enough with threats of violence against women, people of color and members of the LGBTQ community. Now is the time to take the global crisis of online abuse seriously and to recognize the offline harm of online violence. 

Tiq and Kim Katrin Milan are relationship goals.

The two activists met on Facebook and exchanged 3,000 messages in 72 hours. Three months later, they got married on the steps of City Hall in Manhattan. As a trans man raised in a society that told him he was unworthy of love, Tiq says that “sprinting towards her hand in marriage was the queerest thing that I could do.” 

In their vital and vibrant TED Talk, Tiq and Kim share their vision of love as a tool for revolutionary change. They know that their relationship is not a typical marriage. “We quickly realized that our coming together was more than just a union of two people, but was a model of possibility for the millions of LGBTQ folks who have been sold this lie that family and matrimony is antithetical to who they are -- for those of us who rarely get to see ourselves reflected in love and happiness,” Tiq says.

“What we do here is we create entirely new languages of love,” says Kim. “Ones that are about creating the space for us to be our authentic selves and not imposing this standard of what masculinity or femininity is supposed to be.”

Ella Dawson has genital herpes, and she wants to tell you about it. 

She’s not speaking up for the shock value — she’s telling you because she wants all of us to be able to talk about STIs without shame or stigma. When we make it okay to talk about, she says, people are more likely to get tested and less likely to be afraid to share their status. 

In her badass talk at TEDxConnecticut College, Ella tells the story of her diagnosis, how she overcame feeling like “human trash,” and why we need to end the stigma — now. It’s packed with information (and a shot of humor), and if you didn’t already agree with her, you will by the time she’s done.

Watch the full talk or read the transcript here.

When geoscientist Andres Ruzo was a young boy, his grandfather told him a story about a river that boils in the Amazon. It seemed like a myth, but his elders swore the legend was true.

In our new TED Book, The Boiling River, Ruzo tells the story of his quest to find the bubbling, boiling river hidden in the heart of the Amazon.

Ever wondered what it’s like to come to a TED conference? Join us all week on Snapchat for exclusive, behind-the-scenes coverage of #TED2016.

These beautiful photos will make you want to save the Everglades.

“I still see the world through the eyes of a child,” says Mac Stone. “I try to incorporate that sense of wonderment and curiosity into my photography as often as I can.” His photos make the endangered swamplands look utterly enchanting -- an effort to inspire people to save them.

“My job is to use photography as a communication tool, to help bridge the gap between the science and the aesthetics,” says Stone. “To get people talking, thinking, and to hopefully, get them caring.”

See more amazing photos of the Everglades >>

Give thanks to your elders by listening to their stories.