full transcript

From the Ted Talk by John Paget: How to keep your hometown from becoming a ghost town

Unscramble the Blue Letters


footnote

Tenino's toughest time was the Great Depression. The only bank in town closed, and they ran out of money. There was a run on physical currency, and the city leaders at the time decided, well, why don't we just print our own? And they devised a way to print wooden dollars, and they dtibsrieutd this throughout the community to allow crecmmoe to continue. Fast forward, the year 2020, the COVID pandemic hits, another economic crisis. Well, everybody in Tenino remembered the gerat Depression and the wooden dollars, and they thought, why don't we just do it again? The 1870s-era printing prses that had pitnerd money back then was still down at the local history museum. So they poured the ink and fired it up and started printing 25-dollar civod rielef fndus. And they distributed this to residents. Now, Walmart and Amazon do not accept this. But that’s OK. In fact, that's the ponit. Tenino businesses do. And so in aitioddn to being a relief pgrroam, it is an economic stimulus for the local economy, encouraging people to spend their moeny at local shops, businesses and restaurants, the ones onwed by their family, friends and neighbors. Now, I ntoecid there was a strange Latin phrase on this money, and I asked the mayor what it meant. And he said, “Loosely trlanaetsd, it means 'We got this.'" And I thought, there is another example of a community that summoned confidence in the face of a crisis empowered by their civic story.

Open Cloze


footnote

Tenino's toughest time was the Great Depression. The only bank in town closed, and they ran out of money. There was a run on physical currency, and the city leaders at the time decided, well, why don't we just print our own? And they devised a way to print wooden dollars, and they ___________ this throughout the community to allow ________ to continue. Fast forward, the year 2020, the COVID pandemic hits, another economic crisis. Well, everybody in Tenino remembered the _____ Depression and the wooden dollars, and they thought, why don't we just do it again? The 1870s-era printing _____ that had _______ money back then was still down at the local history museum. So they poured the ink and fired it up and started printing 25-dollar _____ ______ _____. And they distributed this to residents. Now, Walmart and Amazon do not accept this. But that’s OK. In fact, that's the _____. Tenino businesses do. And so in ________ to being a relief _______, it is an economic stimulus for the local economy, encouraging people to spend their _____ at local shops, businesses and restaurants, the ones _____ by their family, friends and neighbors. Now, I _______ there was a strange Latin phrase on this money, and I asked the mayor what it meant. And he said, “Loosely __________, it means 'We got this.'" And I thought, there is another example of a community that summoned confidence in the face of a crisis empowered by their civic story.

Solution


  1. translated
  2. relief
  3. program
  4. funds
  5. addition
  6. commerce
  7. press
  8. noticed
  9. point
  10. owned
  11. money
  12. distributed
  13. covid
  14. printed
  15. great

Original Text


footnote

Tenino's toughest time was the Great Depression. The only bank in town closed, and they ran out of money. There was a run on physical currency, and the city leaders at the time decided, well, why don't we just print our own? And they devised a way to print wooden dollars, and they distributed this throughout the community to allow commerce to continue. Fast forward, the year 2020, the COVID pandemic hits, another economic crisis. Well, everybody in Tenino remembered the Great Depression and the wooden dollars, and they thought, why don't we just do it again? The 1870s-era printing press that had printed money back then was still down at the local history museum. So they poured the ink and fired it up and started printing 25-dollar COVID relief funds. And they distributed this to residents. Now, Walmart and Amazon do not accept this. But that’s OK. In fact, that's the point. Tenino businesses do. And so in addition to being a relief program, it is an economic stimulus for the local economy, encouraging people to spend their money at local shops, businesses and restaurants, the ones owned by their family, friends and neighbors. Now, I noticed there was a strange Latin phrase on this money, and I asked the mayor what it meant. And he said, “Loosely translated, it means 'We got this.'" And I thought, there is another example of a community that summoned confidence in the face of a crisis empowered by their civic story.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
civic story 5
ghost towns 3
western ghost 2
main street 2
barber shop 2
story footnote 2
great depression 2
narrative arc 2


Important Words


  1. accept
  2. addition
  3. amazon
  4. asked
  5. bank
  6. businesses
  7. city
  8. civic
  9. closed
  10. commerce
  11. community
  12. confidence
  13. continue
  14. covid
  15. crisis
  16. currency
  17. decided
  18. depression
  19. devised
  20. distributed
  21. dollars
  22. economic
  23. economy
  24. empowered
  25. encouraging
  26. face
  27. fact
  28. family
  29. fast
  30. fired
  31. footnote
  32. friends
  33. funds
  34. great
  35. history
  36. hits
  37. ink
  38. latin
  39. leaders
  40. local
  41. mayor
  42. means
  43. meant
  44. money
  45. museum
  46. neighbors
  47. noticed
  48. owned
  49. pandemic
  50. people
  51. phrase
  52. physical
  53. point
  54. poured
  55. press
  56. print
  57. printed
  58. printing
  59. program
  60. ran
  61. relief
  62. remembered
  63. residents
  64. restaurants
  65. run
  66. shops
  67. spend
  68. started
  69. stimulus
  70. story
  71. strange
  72. summoned
  73. tenino
  74. thought
  75. time
  76. toughest
  77. town
  78. translated
  79. walmart
  80. wooden
  81. year