Matei Alecu

Agnostic, Educator/Teacher, Musician, Photographer, Writer/Editor

I grew up in post-communist Romania, a country plagued by economic and social trouble and one that has yet to overcome all the "benefits" of forty-five years of centralised economy and state controlled media. I was seven years old when the communist regime fell so, in essence, I grew up in a free society. At least with respect to information and culture. In my teenage years I had the great opportunity and luck to spend four years in Canada, where I completed secondary education and one year of university. I then came back to my native Bucharest where I completed my university studies, earning a Bachelor's degree in Business Management. My parents thought this would guarantee a sucessful and financially viable carreer for me. Luckily, I never abandoned what I call my humanistic interests (music, art, writing and so on). I guess that if someone were to ask me now that world famous question "what do you want to be when you grow up?" I could finally give a satisfactory answer (for me, at least): a Renaissance man. I am not quite there but I am working on it. And TED helps. Cheers!

Music - both as an avid listener as well as a modest, amateur creator. Literature, photography and films. And certainly engrossing exchanges of ideas - the kind you find in such abundance on this site

Two years ago a friend sent me an email containing a link to sir Ken Robinson's talk, "Do Schools Kill Creativity?" I was riveted by both the talk itself as well as the idea of TED Talks. I began frequenting the website in search of more and more new ideas. I came across Evelyn Glennie's talk on listening and I knew I was hooked. But then again, there are worse addictions out there. I've since translated Evelyn Glennie's talk into Romanian, my native language - yes, it was a labour of love. I try to contribute as much as I can because I truly believe these are "ideas worth spreading".