On Saturday, November 8, 2025, the Gordon Center for Creative and Performing Arts hosted its TEDxColby College event, a day dedicated to hearing the stories of Colby students in relation to one common idea: heirlooms. A small group of speakers each gave presentations, approximately fifteen minutes in length, which investigated what we pass down and what we carry forward. Topics varied from genetically transferred smiles to inherited language. The theme, which was purposefully broad, invited the Colby community to explore the artifacts intrinsic to our own lives, whether a physical object transmitted from generation to generation or a non-material possession—perhaps an ideology—that diffused over time.
Heirlooms are essential. They denote what endures, and what endures has implications not only for individual values, but also communal ones. When we collectively agree on what lasts, we are collectively forming our fundamentals — the commodities, doctrines, mottos, and wisdom that we deem bear some sort of universal criticality. But society is also flawed. We don’t always choose the right heirlooms. We perpetuate phrases, language, and materials that are damaging. We allow the infiltration of certain abstractions or judgements because heirlooms are not just inherited items, but also normalized ones.
Almost synonymous with an heirloom is the concept of standardization. Once we accept what endures, we often forget to question why we’ve chosen such a thing to constitute inordinate importance. That is not to say all heirlooms are bad. Some are beautiful souvenirs of the past, a reminder of our shared heritage, a token of persistence or bravery or accomplishment. There is a reason we hold onto things, and most often that reason is a good one. We hold onto things because they promise some kind of substance, gravity, notion or conviction we believe is deserving of remembrance. Yet, admittedly, there are times when we choose to commemorate the wrong things, when we allow the endurance of an heirloom that is not worthwhile. So, what do we do then?
Christine Park `26 spoke extensively about smiles. Yes, the legacy of grins. Park notes that “growing up, smiles were heirlooms in [her] family, … [carrying] power.” But this power, she asserts, “is unevenly inherited.” Surely smiles are products of former generations, but they have a heritage beyond simply DNA. They are also a result of our monetary environment. “Some people inherit dental disease not through genetics but geography,” Park explains. “Smiles follow socioeconomic lines long before braces even do.” Though an orthodontist in many parts of the United States may serve a vain purpose, in other places, dentistry is a scarce necessity, a lacking resource that is imperative for survival. But, how do we solve the problem of poor smiles and its associated economic pedigree? Perhaps another student’s TED talk has the answer.
Lamiyass Chen `28, once an ESL student, spoke on the importance of language. The vocabulary we pass down is difficult and inherent to our constructs of speech as biased ideologies. Chen ended the talk by stating that while “we do inherit the heirloom of language,” we don’t “have to inherit its flaws.” Chen’s argument can be extrapolated to offer a broader way of thinking. Few heirlooms are intrinsically bad. They endure for reasons that are most often well intended. So, while heirlooms are transferred, communities have the responsibility of deciding which parts of these artifacts carry importance.
Colby’s TEDx event concluded that agency is indisputably attached to heirlooms. It is our obligation to assess what should last. But, we must also recognize that these legacies are complex. They are imperfect. We must do our best to sort out what survives— to allow that which is worthwhile to persist and correct that which is embedded with inequity.
– Maya Corrie `29
Be First to Comment