2016 - Holmiensis 4

N u d l a r , s t u d i e r & s t å l a r
I am not exaggerating if I say, that the
event was a masterpiece of thoughtfulness,
organisation, and teamwork.
Once members of the audience, a 100
people chosen based on their applications,
entered the great hall of Östgöta
nation, one thing became obvious –
immense attention had
been given
to even
the tiniest of details,
from goodie bags to location of
cameras and spotlights. Although
the atmosphere was seemingly relaxed,
small things like an assured
sparkle in the eyes of volunteers or
the slightest tremble in the voice of
the host, gave away the nervousness
caused by the greatness of the occasion.
The first speaker was Robin Rushdi
Al-Salehi. A young lad with nerdy
glasses stepped on the stage and pierced
tense silence with a question: “are cities
designed for people, or are people designed
for the cities?” The screen next to
the speaker illuminated with a picture
of industrial, rather unpleasant urban
paysage. According to Robin, we are
uselessly wasting our space in the cities
and consequentially killing our Mother
Earth. Cities do not need more constructions.
Cities need a better management.
He made a brilliant point by
showing his own project – turning an
unused Flogsta basement into a community
centre. By using the unused
space we are winning the war for our
future that is fought in cities every day.
After Robin came Emma Rosman, an
amazing young enthusiast who developed
an app to bring locals closer to
refugees. “Saying hi is worth a thousand
words” exclaimed her talk title
and indeed, an app like that has a huge
potential in facilitating this treasured
Hi! While listening to her, I could not
help but think, how much effort stands
behind a seemingly simple and elegant
solution to refugee integration, and
wonder why government missed the
opportunity to create something similar.
At 14.10 it was time for Birgitta Jonsson,
an elderly lady that had so much
graciousness in her as I will never have
in my entire life. She stoically stood by
the improvised lectern, speaking calmly
about the need to bring Internet to
the elderly homes all over Sweden.
Because through WiFi,
older people
can still
maintain contact with
their loved ones and live a life
they lived before entering the elderly
homes and gentle hands of caretakers.
“Old people have the same needs and
the same rights as young people. They
should not be excluded from society,”
said Birgitta when we managed to
talk later. The passion about her mission
was clearly visible not only to me
but to the whole audience. This truly
heroic woman endured standing on
stage and deliver her speech in English
despite suffering from slipped disk
and consequences of the seizure she
had years ago. “I told myself that if I
could get through that old people have
the same needs and the same rights
as young people, it was worth it,” she
said. One thing I could tell for sure –
the walls of the great hall of Östgöta
nation have never heard an applause
so sincere and so long as the one that
the audience gave to Birgitta that day.
After much appreciated fika break,
onto the stage came Malin Bobeck.
This stylish woman proved to be a
surprise for me. “Be guided by your
fears,” said her speech title and indeed,
her talk was a story of courage.
Endless, limitless, unbound courage.
This beautiful creature that in my
mind came from the world of magazines
and perfection, has successfully
fought off breast cancer. Her story was
about facing the most horrible scenario
imaginable – not being sure if you
will live another day. It made her tackle
the greatest of her fears and pursue her
wild dreams by becoming a designer
of fabric installations. Malin
presented
one of her
works, a seemingly
grey and rather structured piece
of fabric on the stage. “Clap as hard as
you can,” she instructed the audience
and as soon as everyone obeyed, the
grey fabric transformed. It lit up with
vibrant colours that – like tides – were
changing each other. Illumination went
on until the audience fell silent and the
artwork turned to grey again. Malin
had created sound-sensitive fabric,
filled with optic fibres and LED lights.
Afterwards came David Sumpter, a
man for whom soccer and mathematics
made a perfect combo (although
audience continued to be puzzled
about the connection between those
two). Apparently everything we do
is a form of math. Geometry on the
soccer field can be studied, as well as
optimal positioning, amount of pass
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