Piotr Westwalewicz, Polish lecturer and Polish undergraduate advisor, was a speaker at the TEDx 2018 event on Friday, February 9, 2018. TEDxUofM borrows the template from the world-renowned TED conference, to bring a TED-like experience to the University of Michigan. Their vision is to showcase the most fascinating thinkers and doers--the “leaders and best” in Michigan terms--for a stimulating day of presentations, discussions, entertainment, and art that will spark new ideas and opportunities across all disciplines.

For his TEDx presentation, Westwalewicz discussed the environment he encountered as a teenager in Soviet Poland, which had extreme censorship rules and regular curfews. Westwalewicz shared that he became attracted to how music allowed him to express himself and rebel against the societal rules of Soviet Poland. “Protest was the perfect excuse for fun,” as he described.

Watch his talk here: https://youtu.be/nWmz3h87riU?t=1h2m15s.