Weekly Program:  Kio Stark: Why you should talk to strangers

 
"When you talk to strangers, you're making beautiful interruptions into the expected narrative of your daily life — and theirs," says Kio Stark. In this delightful talk, Stark explores the overlooked benefits of pushing past our default discomfort when it comes to strangers and embracing those fleeting but profoundly beautiful moments of genuine connection.

Why you should listen

Kio Stark has always talked to strangers. She started documenting her experiences when she realized that not everyone shares this predilection. She's done extensive research into the emotional and political dimensions of stranger interactions and the complex dynamics how people relate to each other in public places.

Her novel Follow Me Down began as a series of true vignettes about strangers placed in the fictional context of a woman unraveling the eerie history of a lost letter misdelivered to her door.

Stark did doctoral work at Yale University’s American Studies program, where she thought a lot about the history of science and medicine, urban studies, art, and race -- and then dropped out. Because she also taught graduate courses at NYU's Interactive Telecommunications Program, numberless people consulted her about whether or not to go back to school. Those conversations inspired Don't Go Back to School, a handbook for independent learners.

Stark is the author of the TED Book When Strangers Meet, in which she argues for the pleasures and transformative possibilities of talking to people you don’t know. 

Beyond strangers, Stark's abiding fixations include the invisibility of technology; how people learn; practices of generosity and mutual aid; the culture, infrastructure and ephemera of cities; mythology and fairy tales; and advocating for independent learning, data literacy, social justice and feminism. Fiction writers get to dive down wonderful rabbit holes, and some of her favorites have been the forging and stealing of art, secret societies, the daily lives of medical examiners, the physics of elementary particles, bridge design, the history of maps, the mechanisms of wrongful conviction and psychoanalysis.

When not writing books, Stark has worked in journalism, interactive advertising, community research and game design. She writes, teaches and speaks around the world about stranger interactions, independent learning and how people relate to technology. She also consults for startups and large companies helping them think about stranger interactions among their users and audiences.

 
 
Do you wear you Rotary pin every day?  Wearing your pin can draw questions from strangers you meet as you walk through your day.  It happened only yesterday in Costo and has happened at the grocery store while waiting in line.  It can happen anywhere, anytime, but only when you are wearing the Rotary pin which sparks some curiosity in strangers.  Be prepared with your "elevator talk" or a short summation of what Rotary means to you because you may only have their attention for a minute.  If you have the gift of more time to explain about Rotary, then your introduction of Rotary may be so enlightening and motivating that the stranger may go home or back to work and do research on the internet about Rotary International or even your Rotary club.  Even in other countries where talking to strangers is uncommon, it is surprising that they can be engaged if someone simply attempts to share some worthwhile thoughts.   In airports when traveling around our world, the Rotary pin often elicits conversations with others who have been exchange students or scholarship recipients through Rotary.  Aren't you proud to be a Rotarian?  Then, today and every day remember to " don your gay apparel" for the holidays and don your Rotary pin.