full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Sarah Kay: How many lives can you live?

Unscramble the Blue Letters


Now, I have a story that I've been stumbling over for years and years and I'm not sure if I've found the perfect form, or whether this is just one attempt and I will try to rewrite it later in search of a better way to tell it. But I do know that later, when I look back I will be able to know that this is where I was at this moment and this is what I was trying to navigate, with these wdros, here, in this room, with you.

So — Smile.

It didn't always work this way. There's a time you had to get your hands drity. When you were in the dark, for most of it, fumbling was a given. If you needed more contrast, more saturation, dkaerr darks and btgeihrr brights, they called it extended development. It meant you spent longer inianlhg clamheics, longer up to your wsrit. It wasn't always easy. Grandpa Stewart was a Navy photographer. Young, red-faced with his sleeves rolled up, fists of fingers like fat rolls of cnois, he looked like Popeye the sailor man come to life. cokroed smile, tuft of chest hair, he sowhed up to World War II, with a smirk and a hobby. When they asked him if he knew much about prthopohgay, he lied, learned to read euorpe like a map, upside down, from the height of a ftegihr plane, camera snapping, eyelids flapping the dsekart darks and brightest brights. He learned war like he could read his way home.

Open Cloze


Now, I have a story that I've been stumbling over for years and years and I'm not sure if I've found the perfect form, or whether this is just one attempt and I will try to rewrite it later in search of a better way to tell it. But I do know that later, when I look back I will be able to know that this is where I was at this moment and this is what I was trying to navigate, with these _____, here, in this room, with you.

So — Smile.

It didn't always work this way. There's a time you had to get your hands _____. When you were in the dark, for most of it, fumbling was a given. If you needed more contrast, more saturation, ______ darks and ________ brights, they called it extended development. It meant you spent longer ________ _________, longer up to your _____. It wasn't always easy. Grandpa Stewart was a Navy photographer. Young, red-faced with his sleeves rolled up, fists of fingers like fat rolls of _____, he looked like Popeye the sailor man come to life. _______ smile, tuft of chest hair, he ______ up to World War II, with a smirk and a hobby. When they asked him if he knew much about ___________, he lied, learned to read ______ like a map, upside down, from the height of a _______ plane, camera snapping, eyelids flapping the _______ darks and brightest brights. He learned war like he could read his way home.

Solution


  1. wrist
  2. words
  3. inhaling
  4. showed
  5. darker
  6. chemicals
  7. dirty
  8. fighter
  9. europe
  10. brighter
  11. coins
  12. darkest
  13. crooked
  14. photography

Original Text


Now, I have a story that I've been stumbling over for years and years and I'm not sure if I've found the perfect form, or whether this is just one attempt and I will try to rewrite it later in search of a better way to tell it. But I do know that later, when I look back I will be able to know that this is where I was at this moment and this is what I was trying to navigate, with these words, here, in this room, with you.

So — Smile.

It didn't always work this way. There's a time you had to get your hands dirty. When you were in the dark, for most of it, fumbling was a given. If you needed more contrast, more saturation, darker darks and brighter brights, they called it extended development. It meant you spent longer inhaling chemicals, longer up to your wrist. It wasn't always easy. Grandpa Stewart was a Navy photographer. Young, red-faced with his sleeves rolled up, fists of fingers like fat rolls of coins, he looked like Popeye the sailor man come to life. Crooked smile, tuft of chest hair, he showed up to World War II, with a smirk and a hobby. When they asked him if he knew much about photography, he lied, learned to read Europe like a map, upside down, from the height of a fighter plane, camera snapping, eyelids flapping the darkest darks and brightest brights. He learned war like he could read his way home.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
god bless 3
wooster street 3
sweet potato 3
longer fit 3
moon sees 2
teenage girl 2
darkest darks 2
basketball hands 2


Important Words


  1. asked
  2. attempt
  3. brighter
  4. brightest
  5. brights
  6. called
  7. camera
  8. chemicals
  9. chest
  10. coins
  11. contrast
  12. crooked
  13. dark
  14. darker
  15. darkest
  16. darks
  17. development
  18. dirty
  19. easy
  20. europe
  21. extended
  22. eyelids
  23. fat
  24. fighter
  25. fingers
  26. fists
  27. flapping
  28. form
  29. fumbling
  30. grandpa
  31. hair
  32. hands
  33. height
  34. hobby
  35. home
  36. ii
  37. inhaling
  38. knew
  39. learned
  40. lied
  41. life
  42. longer
  43. looked
  44. man
  45. map
  46. meant
  47. moment
  48. navigate
  49. navy
  50. needed
  51. perfect
  52. photographer
  53. photography
  54. plane
  55. popeye
  56. read
  57. rewrite
  58. rolled
  59. rolls
  60. room
  61. sailor
  62. saturation
  63. search
  64. showed
  65. sleeves
  66. smile
  67. smirk
  68. snapping
  69. spent
  70. stewart
  71. story
  72. stumbling
  73. time
  74. tuft
  75. upside
  76. war
  77. words
  78. work
  79. world
  80. wrist
  81. years
  82. young