Kathryn (Jeri) Hammond

Activist, Atheist, Concerned citizen, Connector, Educator/Teacher, Entrepreneur, Global soul, Idea generator, Lawyer, Student, World traveler, Writer/Editor

Ideas were my world as I grew up with dreams of faraway places and grand adventures. Walking along the dusty backroads of rural Alabama and Mississippi, I watched the civil rights movement unfold and tried to imagine the places with exotic names and mysterious ways that I found on maps and in books. Although I had protested against the Vietnam war, after college, I joined the U.S. Air Force where I served as an intelligence officer and WAF Commander. My first trip abroad was to a remote base in northern Thailand where I was one of only 25 American women serving with several thousand men. That year was challenging in more ways than I could have imagined, but I fell in love with the Thai people and began my lifelong love of exploring the world and experiencing diverse cultures. I still didn’t know what I wanted to be when I grew up, but a brief stint as a paralegal for a computer device manufacturer convinced me that a long-ago dream of becoming a lawyer might actually be possible. Three years at Harvard Law School changed my life and my way of thinking. A summer in New York working on air crash litigation was exciting and I loved the intensity of the practice, but I quickly realized that New York wasn’t a good fit for me so, after graduation, I headed to Chicago to do medical malpractice defense. I fell in love with our "Second City" and it became home in the truest sense, especially after I married one of my expert witnesses who had grown up in the area. I left full-time legal practice to work with him, discovering that my passion for learning and new experiences was a good fit for a small computer software business with clients all over the world. During this time, we sailed our small boat, Star Dancer, down the west coast from Seattle to San Francisco - a daunting challenge, but definitely the kind of grand adventure I had dreamed about. After my husband had a bout with cancer, we moved to Florida for a warmer climate and business opportunities. I didn’t really want to take the bar exam again, so dabbled in politics and started a travel consulting and meetings planning business; however, the need for affordable health insurance led to a new career as an educator. No one was more surprised than I was when I fell in love with teaching and the amazing young people I met! During 7 1/2 years in the classroom, I taught history, geography, English/language arts, psychology, critical thinking, international law, and Theory of Knowledge (an International Baccalaureate course) to middle and high school students. I then worked as a district level IB coordinator and helped an elementary school seeking IB authorization while also moving back to my legal roots teaching various legal and ethical issues courses at a local college. In early 2016, I was selected as a TED-Ed Innovative Educator (TIE) and embarked on a remarkable adventure along with 29 other educators from 12 countries and all levels of the profession. The year-long program included attendance at TED Summit 2016, a magical week at the "global campfire" in Banff. As TIE alumni, we continue to promote TED-Ed and work toward amplifying student and educator voices. This journey has been life-changing and led to my organizing TEDxLakeland in May 2018 - it's a long and winding story with lots of potholes, but the wheels didn't actually come off and I certainly learned a lot. Shortly after my first foray into TEDx organizing, my husband and I moved back to our heart’s home, Chicago, with our two cats, Grayson and Phoebe. We have all enjoyed being home and purchased a condo with amazing views of Lake Michigan in July 2019. It's been fun reconnecting with old friends and making new ones. We also love having guests and introducing people to this amazing city. I was introduced to TED's new initiative, TED Circles, at TED Summit 2019 in Edinburgh and signed up as a pilot host. I've enjoyed having a new way to spread the word about the world of TED and am excited that several friends have decided to sign on as hosts. I've continued to be involved in TED-Ed, especially in nominating and mentoring educators for the TED Masterclass. I've volunteered with TEDxChicago, which was a lot of fun without the stress of doing the actual organizing myself, although I'm considering doing some neighborhood-based TEDx Salons in the coming year. At the moment, my husband, Jim, and I are planning his 75th birthday celebration. We are flying to Sydney in early April to visit our honorary son and his family before cruising from Sydney to Honolulu via New Caledonia, Fiji, and American Samoa. I'm talking to the cruise line about possibly doing TED Circles on some of the sea days. I'd love to do a TEDx event on board, but I think that might be biting off a bit much this time around. However, it is definitely something to keep in mind for the future! Life continues to be an adventure!

Learning, Teaching, Travel, Social Justice, Friends, Young People, TED, Singing, and Politics.

Address problems of loneliness and isolation among seniors, especially those with limited resources, and students in community after-school programs, who may lack a network of supportive adults in their lives. Use a TED-Ed Club/TED Masterclass style program In which they coach each other in order to develop their voices and share their ideas in TEDx talks. The collaborative process will help them develop a more egalitarian relationship where each brings valuable ideas, knowledge, and expertise. This process would culminate in a community-based TEDx event. We can help prepare for aging by creating playlists of the music that forms our personal soundtrack. Research shows that music reaches those with dementia long after other aspects of memory have disappeared. Creating an annotated soundtrack can help caregivers make our days more pleasant and serve as a point of connection with loved ones whose names and faces we may not be able to recall.

International Education, Law and Ethics, Mentoring young people

I first heard of TED in 2008 from the principal of the new and innovative charter school where I had accepted a teaching position. I fell in love with the concept and have used TED Talks in my teaching at all levels. The talks stimulate deep thinking and productive discussion. In 2016, I was fortunate enough to be selected as a TED-Ed Innovative Educator and this year with TIE Cohort 2 has been an experience unlike any other. Attending TED Summit in July 2016 was a transformational experience that exceeded all of my expectations and led to a passion for spreading the word about TED-Ed, TEDx, and all the other great programs that contribute to the TED family. In mid-2017, I approached the administration at the college where I taught as an adjunct about organizing a TEDx event. I used TED Talks in my classes and even gave students the option of doing a TED-like talk as their final project and quite a few of them had encouraged me to organize an event. Unfortunately, although I had a great co-organizer who was a full-time professor and knew the ins and outs of how the administration functioned, not everyone was on-board and I kept hitting brick walls when it came to getting students involved, not because the students weren't interested, but because the administration wanted to make all the decisions and would not allow me to reach out to students and bring them into the process. About 6 weeks before the event (which had already been postponed a couple of times), I was told that they wanted to postpone again until 2019. Since I was planning a move to Chicago in June, that was a nonstarter. I had several speakers who had spent massive amounts of time working on their talks and were really excited, so we got permission to change to a standard license and go forward under a new name. We ended up at the local art museum which was a lovely venue and somehow managed to pull the event together on schedule and had a full house for the event thanks to some amazing people who stepped up and jumped into the deep water with me. Without them, I could never have done it. It is great to know that several people who were involved are planning to carry on with another event next year. I seriously don't recommend that anyone else follow this example, but we all survived and for most of us, it was a wonderful experience. In the end, I have no regrets or, to quote one of my favorite singers, Edith Piaf, "Non, je ne regrette rien."

Cooking - well, not anyone who has met me in the last 14 years! I used to do huge dinner parties and have been known to spend three days making a Perigourdine sauce from scratch. I even considered opening a catering business at one point and still have about 50 cookbooks, including some in languages I can't speak but with recipes I've managed to cook successfully. When I started teaching 15 years ago, I stopped cooking and have been known to go for months without turning on my oven or cooktop. Only recently have I returned to the kitchen, even making dinner for guests at our TED Circles events.