WEBVTT

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Hi everyone. So, it's been 
a good day, right?

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Yeah. So before I start my speech,

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I want everyone in the audience 
to keep in mind

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the importance of mentorship.

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So, I'm young, I'm a woman.

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I am from a poor family 
with a single mother.

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I am from Dayton, Ohio. I am a filmmaker.

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This is a story of how I became

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a feminist filmmaker in Ohio.

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I would say that a lot of young, 
talented people

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have left Ohio for greener pastures.

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I would say that the staying 
hasn't been easy.

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It's been cheaper. 
I don't regret it. It's possible.

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So, this isn't a total "pull yourself up

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by your bootstraps" story.

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I am aware of the privileges 
that I do have.

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I grew up poor, but I fit in.

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I'm white. I appear to be 
upper-middle class.

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I have my health. So, I want to start 
from the beginning.

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I was always a good student.

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A good art student, at least.

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And I was always kind of saved 
by my art teachers.

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One teacher in particular, Mrs. Dun,

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she gave me 5 dollars 
in gas money to get home

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from high school one day.

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Mrs. Dun saw me through 
my entire college application process.

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She saw something in me 
that I wasn't able to see in myself:


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that I was worth something.

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I didn't always know 
that I wanted to be a filmmaker.

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It wasn't until I was 
at Wright State University.

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I was sitting in class 
with Dr. Charles Derry,

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who's a very revered person 
in our film world.

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He was talking in public about things

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that I'd never heard 
talked about in public before.

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He was talking about taboo things, 
like death, and sex,

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and being out and gay, 
and politics and the war.

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He showed me films where these things

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were the subject matter.

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He showed me that film could be

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an intensely powerful medium.

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So, that was all great.

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I still had a lot of things 
to learn, though.

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For example, when I saw 
my first film camera,

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the K-3, which is very big, it's bulky,

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it's user-unfriendly, I was terrified.

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And I told my male professor at that time,

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I told him, I was joking, but I said,

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"I can't do this, I'm a girl."

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And he told me, he was joking, sort of,

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but he said, "You know, my daughter 
is the same age as you.

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if she were in the room right now,

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she would punch you in the face 
for saying that."

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(Laughter)

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So, it was an important moment though,

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because it was the first time 
that someone pointed out to me

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that I was sexist, against myself.

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And I thank him for that.

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So, Wright State University 
is a competitive school.

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Every year, your class size diminishes.

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So, by my second year, 
all of the women had dropped out,

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except for me.

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So, for 4 years, I was the only woman.

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I had to be fine with it. 
I had to be better than fine.

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I had to be like really 
damn good at everything.

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So, I cut off all my hair, 
which was so liberating,

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but it was definitely for survival.

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In 2008, I was sort of developing

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into a political filmmaker.

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I was really interested in the Sarah Palin 
and Hillary Clinton iconomy

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at that time.

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It was really interesting to me to see 
how the media portrayed them.

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For instance, Sarah Palin was always like

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this pretty, sort of like dumb character,

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and Hilary Clinton was always this like

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shrewd, ugly character,

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and nothing else they did and said 
really mattered in the media.

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And that really bothered me.

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I did my first short film, Park,

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which is a coming of age story of a woman

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growing up on a trailer park.

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Park was a huge project at that time.

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It took so much talent.

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A lot of the people who worked on the film

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are now working 
in the industry professionally.

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It took 3 years to make.

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I did it while I was a student.

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The film was mostly 
about how a young person

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might become a sex worker.

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Park was successful. 
It played at about 9 film festivals,

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one of them being Slamdance.

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And to those of you who aren't familiar

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with the hierarchy of the film festivals,

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Slamdance is a major film festival.

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It happens in Park City, Utah,

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across the street 
from the Sundance Film Festival.

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It's like in response to Sundance.

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It's like the indie of indie film fests.

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(Laughter)

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Yeah. So, my mentor 
and a great documentary filmmaker,

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Julia Reichert had said 
I had beaten the odds.

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And she was right.

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But I wouldn't have been able 
to beat the odds,

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if it hadn't been 
for people like Julia Reichert

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and Steven Bognar.

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They really gave me 
an opportunity to hone my skills

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as a filmmaker.

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My apprenticeship with them

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let me see how masters 
really do their craft.

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There's no better education than that,

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and I thank them.

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I remember I was shooting on a film

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called Remote Area Medical,

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which is a documentary 
about uninsured people

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camping outside a NASCAR stadium overnight,

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to try and get free healthcare 
the next day.

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So, I was with Steve and we were 
interviewing this woman.

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She had been in line all day.

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She was just in line to get glasses.

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She couldn't see. 
She needed glasses to get a job.

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She broke down crying 
during the interview.

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And for some reason, 
we started the interview above her.

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She was sitting in a chair 
and we were shooting down at her.

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And, when she started to cry,

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Steve immediately sank down to one knee,

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and so we could look her in the eye,

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and he finished the interview 
on the ground.

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Being able to document 
a sensitive moment like that

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is a total privilege, 
and deserving of respect.

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And Steve taught me how to be

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an empathetic storyteller.

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As a documentarian, 
you're always looking for that line.

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The line of, "Am I portraying this reality

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the way that is like the most objective?"

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And the line of, "I don't want 
to exploit my subject."

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It's actually really easy 
to exploit someone

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as a media maker.

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You have the camera, 
you have the microphone,

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you have the power over someone.

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So, when you have the privilege

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of being able to like, discern a moment,

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is worth documenting 
or worth being left alone,

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you have to use that power.

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You know, you may 
see something that's interesting,

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or worth documenting,

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but that may be someone else's heartbreak,

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and you have to remember that.

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But the power of media 
as a political tool is undeniable.

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So, in 2012, I left Dayton 
and moved to Cincinnati,

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with my fellow classmates Erick Stoll

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and Chase Whiteside, 
with New Left Media.

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In 2012, we did 
a pre-presidential election series

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for the Internet.

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I am most proud of my contribution

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to the War on Women's Health,

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piece that we did.

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It's a video of that went viral, 
with over 100,000 views.

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It was successful.

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But, I mean, if you remember 
that time at all,

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you know, women's productive health 
was like quite a hot topic.

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If you guys can remember like 
"binders full of women",

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which I'm sure some of you do,

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I don't understand 
what I'm talking about.

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So, I'm a political person,

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I'm a feminist, I'm not afraid to say it.

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So, that's kind of let me 
to where I am now.

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I am the co-founder 
of Women Working Collective.

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We're three women.

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Right now, we're working 
on a short film 


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called Alternative Auto,

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which is about an auto garage

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in Columbus, Ohio.

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It's run and operated by all women.

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It's one of the only 
female run and operated

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auto garages in the world.

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These people, these women are amazing.

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We just wrapped shooting.

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we're really excited about it. 
We're editing right now.

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In short, while I was in Dayton,

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I was lucky enough 
to be mentored by the best.

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My professors at Wright State,

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all the people who helped me 
along the way,

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the women at WISO all contributed

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to me becoming a filmmaker.

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I hope I get to continue to make films.

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I hope to, one day, inspire people

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the way they have inspired me.

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So, to close, for those of you 
in the audience,

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I would like for you to think 
about someone in your life

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who you can mentor,

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or to think about something 
you would like to learn or do,

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and to seek those people out 
in our community.

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They're there.

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We're doing a TEDx. 
They're there, you know.

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You could really enhance your life.

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You will enhance the life 
of others, here in Dayton.

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Thank you.

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(Applause)