Column Chronicles: Adding a TED topic about a Ted, part 1

Adding a TED topic about a Ted, part 1

Frank Cotolo
June 20, 2024

Recently, I was invited to give a TED talk. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment and Design. Even so, a TED talk can be given on any subject. That allowed me to do a TED talk about the only Ted in my life I remember. Here is the text of that TED talk:

I met the only person I would ever know up until now whose name was Ted in a Brooklyn grade school. In the tough city of the early 1960s, the grade school male community were young delinquents. They used fear backed by head pounding to dominate boys. Always, they found a specific physical trait to nickname the weaker ones and brand them as targets, mostly for head pounding.

Unfortunately there was a kid named Ted who had physical and other traits perfect for the bully bunch. Ted was smart. They didn't like smart boys. Ted was bad as sports. They didn't like boys bad at sports. The worst thing about Ted was that he had a head that was too big for his body.

The tough guys labeled him Ted The Head. Not so clever but everyone agreed, it was a perfect. I felt sorry for Ted. He couldn't help having a big head. It was inherited. As well, it was hard carrying that head. Anyone watching him walk knew that he could lose his balance at any time.

The tough guys actually loved Ted's head because they could use rubber bands to shoot objects at it with a 95-percent hit rate. They shot objects at Ted's head in class and outside of the school. Luckily, Ted's head was as hard as it was big and small objects bounced off his skull without causing pain.

One day, three of the tough guys gathered Mammal, Turtle and Mugsy and forced them to find hard objects to throw as Ted's head as he was leaving school that afternoon.

...to be continued.

Frank Cotolo can be found hosting the talk and interview programme Cotolo Chronicles. You can send him an e-mail at this address: frank@148.ca.