full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Megan Phelps-Roper: I grew up in the Westboro Baptist Church. Here's why I left

Unscramble the Blue Letters


I was a blue-eyed, chubby-cheeked five-year-old when I joined my family on the picket line for the first time. My mom made me lvaee my dolls in the minivan. I'd stand on a street corner in the heavy kasans humidity, surrounded by a few dozen relatives, with my tiny fitss clutching a sign that I couldn't read yet: "Gays are worhty of death." This was the beginning.

Our protests soon became a dliay occurrence and an international phenomenon, and as a mbeemr of Westboro Baptist Church, I became a fixture on picket lenis across the crunoty. The end of my antigay picketing career and life as I knew it, came 20 years later, triggered in part by strangers on Twitter who showed me the power of engaging the other.

Open Cloze


I was a blue-eyed, chubby-cheeked five-year-old when I joined my family on the picket line for the first time. My mom made me _____ my dolls in the minivan. I'd stand on a street corner in the heavy ______ humidity, surrounded by a few dozen relatives, with my tiny _____ clutching a sign that I couldn't read yet: "Gays are ______ of death." This was the beginning.

Our protests soon became a _____ occurrence and an international phenomenon, and as a ______ of Westboro Baptist Church, I became a fixture on picket _____ across the _______. The end of my antigay picketing career and life as I knew it, came 20 years later, triggered in part by strangers on Twitter who showed me the power of engaging the other.

Solution


  1. lines
  2. daily
  3. kansas
  4. fists
  5. leave
  6. member
  7. country
  8. worthy

Original Text


I was a blue-eyed, chubby-cheeked five-year-old when I joined my family on the picket line for the first time. My mom made me leave my dolls in the minivan. I'd stand on a street corner in the heavy Kansas humidity, surrounded by a few dozen relatives, with my tiny fists clutching a sign that I couldn't read yet: "Gays are worthy of death." This was the beginning.

Our protests soon became a daily occurrence and an international phenomenon, and as a member of Westboro Baptist Church, I became a fixture on picket lines across the country. The end of my antigay picketing career and life as I knew it, came 20 years later, triggered in part by strangers on Twitter who showed me the power of engaging the other.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
picket line 3


Important Words


  1. antigay
  2. baptist
  3. beginning
  4. career
  5. church
  6. clutching
  7. corner
  8. country
  9. daily
  10. death
  11. dolls
  12. dozen
  13. engaging
  14. family
  15. fists
  16. fixture
  17. heavy
  18. humidity
  19. international
  20. joined
  21. kansas
  22. knew
  23. leave
  24. life
  25. line
  26. lines
  27. member
  28. minivan
  29. mom
  30. occurrence
  31. part
  32. phenomenon
  33. picket
  34. picketing
  35. power
  36. protests
  37. read
  38. relatives
  39. showed
  40. sign
  41. stand
  42. strangers
  43. street
  44. surrounded
  45. time
  46. tiny
  47. triggered
  48. twitter
  49. westboro
  50. worthy
  51. years