full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Samar Ali and Clint Brewer: How to bridge political divides — from two friends on opposing sides

Unscramble the Blue Letters


CSB: Thank you, smaar. And how about you, Clint?

CB: So I grew up in and around a city called Knoxville, Tennessee. It's in east Tennessee. It's in the foiltlhos, just in Appalachia, right outside of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. And my dad was a small-town bank president, and I lived kind of a dual life, a little dual ensixctee. You know, I would come home to a very small place where we lived, where we went to church. But then during the week, modnay through Friday, I would cmoutme into Knoxville, into the city, and go to a prep school there. And at an early age, because of that school, I learned that I loved to write, and I spent my formative years writing for the student newspaper, writing for the literary mgiazane. And, you know, that tunred into going to the University of Tennessee and studying journalism and then a 15-year career as a journalist. And so what I really am, in essence, is a communicator. I'm somebody who, you know, loves to write for people and talk to a lot of different kidns of peolpe. I own a public-affairs firm in nslvalhie and practice there. You know, really, for me, communication is something that can bridge divides between people. And that's what I try to do in my life and with my work.

Open Cloze


CSB: Thank you, _____. And how about you, Clint?

CB: So I grew up in and around a city called Knoxville, Tennessee. It's in east Tennessee. It's in the _________, just in Appalachia, right outside of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. And my dad was a small-town bank president, and I lived kind of a dual life, a little dual _________. You know, I would come home to a very small place where we lived, where we went to church. But then during the week, ______ through Friday, I would _______ into Knoxville, into the city, and go to a prep school there. And at an early age, because of that school, I learned that I loved to write, and I spent my formative years writing for the student newspaper, writing for the literary ________. And, you know, that ______ into going to the University of Tennessee and studying journalism and then a 15-year career as a journalist. And so what I really am, in essence, is a communicator. I'm somebody who, you know, loves to write for people and talk to a lot of different _____ of ______. I own a public-affairs firm in _________ and practice there. You know, really, for me, communication is something that can bridge divides between people. And that's what I try to do in my life and with my work.

Solution


  1. kinds
  2. people
  3. samar
  4. nashville
  5. turned
  6. existence
  7. monday
  8. magazine
  9. foothills
  10. commute

Original Text


CSB: Thank you, Samar. And how about you, Clint?

CB: So I grew up in and around a city called Knoxville, Tennessee. It's in east Tennessee. It's in the foothills, just in Appalachia, right outside of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. And my dad was a small-town bank president, and I lived kind of a dual life, a little dual existence. You know, I would come home to a very small place where we lived, where we went to church. But then during the week, Monday through Friday, I would commute into Knoxville, into the city, and go to a prep school there. And at an early age, because of that school, I learned that I loved to write, and I spent my formative years writing for the student newspaper, writing for the literary magazine. And, you know, that turned into going to the University of Tennessee and studying journalism and then a 15-year career as a journalist. And so what I really am, in essence, is a communicator. I'm somebody who, you know, loves to write for people and talk to a lot of different kinds of people. I own a public-affairs firm in Nashville and practice there. You know, really, for me, communication is something that can bridge divides between people. And that's what I try to do in my life and with my work.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
plaid people 7
united states 2
pluralistic society 2
small southern 2
southern town 2
people stop 2
build trust 2

ngrams of length 3

collocation frequency
small southern town 2

Important Words


  1. age
  2. appalachia
  3. bank
  4. bridge
  5. called
  6. career
  7. church
  8. city
  9. clint
  10. communication
  11. communicator
  12. commute
  13. dad
  14. divides
  15. dual
  16. early
  17. east
  18. essence
  19. existence
  20. firm
  21. foothills
  22. formative
  23. friday
  24. great
  25. grew
  26. home
  27. journalism
  28. journalist
  29. kind
  30. kinds
  31. knoxville
  32. learned
  33. life
  34. literary
  35. lived
  36. lot
  37. loved
  38. loves
  39. magazine
  40. monday
  41. mountains
  42. nashville
  43. national
  44. newspaper
  45. park
  46. people
  47. place
  48. practice
  49. prep
  50. president
  51. samar
  52. school
  53. small
  54. smoky
  55. spent
  56. student
  57. studying
  58. talk
  59. tennessee
  60. turned
  61. university
  62. week
  63. work
  64. write
  65. writing
  66. years