Theresa Rose

Here’s something to put on your calendar: TEDxSarasota, an independently organized version of the famous TED talks that generate online buzz every time a new one’s posted. The speakers for the December event are your usual lineup of usual talking heads until you get to one name some of you might know: Theresa Rose, a former “Sex in the Suburbs” columnist at Creative Loafing, who wrote intrepidly of her peeks into online porn and and the role bleach can play in bring a couple closer, who is now a full-time inspirational performer with a deep passion for hula-hooping. The Hoop Woman, as she is now sometimes billed, is still sharing her intrepid and infectious enthusiasm for life but she’s doing it with a hoola hoop. She’s bound to liven up the event.

On Dec. 12 (12/12/12, get it?), Theresa will be addressing the TEDx throngs and the title of her talk? “The Hoop Revolution: How Joyful Movement Will Transform the World.” She recently posted about the stress of preparing for the event over on her blog; here’s a snippet:

In two weeks, I am going on one of the most important dates of my life, and his name is TED.

On 12/12/12 (World Hoop Day!), I will be delivering a TEDTalk at TEDxSarasota called “The Hoop Revolution: How Joyful Movement Will Transform the World”. As I write this, I am deep in the throes of a five-alarm freak-out, doing my very level best to keep my @!%* together. Within 18 innocent inches of these clicking fingers lays (or is it lies?) my tattered TED script, complete with hoop choreography notes that aren’t even close to being incorporated. I’m terrified that while on my Date of All Dates, I will do one of more of the following: forget everything I am supposed to say, sound like a colossal moron, or experience the greatest fear of all hoopers — drop my hoop. It feels like the three nerve-wracking hours immediately before the biggest night of one’s life, still looking unbelievably scary in the bathroom mirror. We know that eventually we’ll create a miracle and be fabulous, but at that particular moment it seems like we’d all be lucky if we got out of the whole darned thing without wetting ourselves.

Click here to read the rest, and be sure to hit up TEDxSarasota.