full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Heather Lanier: "Good" and "bad" are incomplete stories we tell ourselves

Unscramble the Blue Letters


When we label a person tragic or angelic, bad or good, we rob them of their humanity, along with not only the meinsesss and complexity that that title brings, but the rights and dieiitgns as well. My girl does not exist to teach me things or any of us things, but she has indeed tahgut me: neubmr one, how many mozzarella cheese skicts a 22-pound human being can consume in one day — which is five, for the record; and two, the gift of questioning my culture's beliefs about what makes a life good and what makes life bad.

If you had told me six years ago that my daughter would sometimes use and iPad app to communicate, I might have thought that was sad. But now I recall the first day I handed Fiona her iPad, loaded with a thonasud words, each represented by a tiny little icon or little square on her iPad app. And I recall how bold and hufeopl it felt, even as some of her therapists said that my expectations were way too high, that she would never be able to hit those tiny targets. And I recall watching in awe as she gaalurldy learned to flex her little thumb and hit the buttons to say words she loved, like "reggae" and "cheese" and a hundred other words she loved that her mouth couldn't yet say. And then we had to teach her less-fun wrods, prepositions — words like "of" and "on" and "in." And we worked on this for a few wekes. And then I recall sitnitg at a dining room table with many relatives, and, apporos of aoltublesy nothing, Fiona used her iPad app to say, "poop in tileot."

Open Cloze


When we label a person tragic or angelic, bad or good, we rob them of their humanity, along with not only the _________ and complexity that that title brings, but the rights and _________ as well. My girl does not exist to teach me things or any of us things, but she has indeed ______ me: ______ one, how many mozzarella cheese ______ a 22-pound human being can consume in one day — which is five, for the record; and two, the gift of questioning my culture's beliefs about what makes a life good and what makes life bad.

If you had told me six years ago that my daughter would sometimes use and iPad app to communicate, I might have thought that was sad. But now I recall the first day I handed Fiona her iPad, loaded with a ________ words, each represented by a tiny little icon or little square on her iPad app. And I recall how bold and _______ it felt, even as some of her therapists said that my expectations were way too high, that she would never be able to hit those tiny targets. And I recall watching in awe as she _________ learned to flex her little thumb and hit the buttons to say words she loved, like "reggae" and "cheese" and a hundred other words she loved that her mouth couldn't yet say. And then we had to teach her less-fun _____, prepositions — words like "of" and "on" and "in." And we worked on this for a few _____. And then I recall _______ at a dining room table with many relatives, and, _______ of __________ nothing, Fiona used her iPad app to say, "poop in ______."

Solution


  1. messiness
  2. words
  3. thousand
  4. sticks
  5. apropos
  6. hopeful
  7. gradually
  8. dignities
  9. number
  10. sitting
  11. taught
  12. weeks
  13. toilet
  14. absolutely

Original Text


When we label a person tragic or angelic, bad or good, we rob them of their humanity, along with not only the messiness and complexity that that title brings, but the rights and dignities as well. My girl does not exist to teach me things or any of us things, but she has indeed taught me: number one, how many mozzarella cheese sticks a 22-pound human being can consume in one day — which is five, for the record; and two, the gift of questioning my culture's beliefs about what makes a life good and what makes life bad.

If you had told me six years ago that my daughter would sometimes use and iPad app to communicate, I might have thought that was sad. But now I recall the first day I handed Fiona her iPad, loaded with a thousand words, each represented by a tiny little icon or little square on her iPad app. And I recall how bold and hopeful it felt, even as some of her therapists said that my expectations were way too high, that she would never be able to hit those tiny targets. And I recall watching in awe as she gradually learned to flex her little thumb and hit the buttons to say words she loved, like "reggae" and "cheese" and a hundred other words she loved that her mouth couldn't yet say. And then we had to teach her less-fun words, prepositions — words like "of" and "on" and "in." And we worked on this for a few weeks. And then I recall sitting at a dining room table with many relatives, and, apropos of absolutely nothing, Fiona used her iPad app to say, "poop in toilet."

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
life good 3
ipad app 3
onyx eyes 2
developmental delays 2
situation looked 2


Important Words


  1. absolutely
  2. angelic
  3. app
  4. apropos
  5. awe
  6. bad
  7. beliefs
  8. bold
  9. brings
  10. buttons
  11. cheese
  12. communicate
  13. complexity
  14. consume
  15. daughter
  16. day
  17. dignities
  18. dining
  19. exist
  20. expectations
  21. felt
  22. fiona
  23. flex
  24. gift
  25. girl
  26. good
  27. gradually
  28. handed
  29. high
  30. hit
  31. hopeful
  32. human
  33. humanity
  34. icon
  35. ipad
  36. label
  37. learned
  38. life
  39. loaded
  40. loved
  41. messiness
  42. mouth
  43. mozzarella
  44. number
  45. person
  46. prepositions
  47. questioning
  48. recall
  49. relatives
  50. represented
  51. rights
  52. rob
  53. room
  54. sad
  55. sitting
  56. square
  57. sticks
  58. table
  59. targets
  60. taught
  61. teach
  62. therapists
  63. thought
  64. thousand
  65. thumb
  66. tiny
  67. title
  68. toilet
  69. told
  70. tragic
  71. watching
  72. weeks
  73. words
  74. worked
  75. years