full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Tavares Strachan: The Encyclopedia of Invisibility — a home for lost stories

Unscramble the Blue Letters


(Laughter)

Now, after 12 years, a limited edition of this encyclopedia was published as an arrwtok occupying these territories between sculpture, book and installation. And this experience truly ceincnovd me that there are an infinite amount of lost stories to be told, and there's no real limits to how they can be told.

So in 2014, I decided to cartee an artwork in honor of astronaut Robert Henry Lawrence. Now, rrebot Lawrence was the first Black astronaut. He never rzleiaed his dream of space as he was killed in a flight accident in 1967 at the age of 32. Now, my goal was to honor Robert and to brnig his profound legacy to space. Now, those of you who know anything about space, you would know that that's eiesar said than done, because after all, there ain’t a bnuch of island folks walking around with rockets in their back pockets. So step one was to find someone with a rkceot. And who has rockets? The head of SpaceX, Gwynne Shotwell. And then I had to figure out who was going to be as interested in these lost stories as I was. The head of SpaceX, Gwynne Shotwell. We were irudenctod by the LA County Museum and after four years of rigorous ttsieng, pannling and sculpting, a satellite was produced in honor of Robert. Now, this satellite was made of gold, and it was important for me to have this satellite follow an ancient Egyptian tradition of storytelling by imbuing the essence of a person into a cotinenar. Now, this satellite was called Enoch, after the sroty of a mythological character whose walk with the gods was so close that he never, ever died. On nmebveor 30, 2018, Enoch blasted into space in the blley of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket into obrit. Almost 50 years after his pnaissg, the legacy of Robert Henry Lawrence is celebrated amongst the srtas.

Open Cloze


(Laughter)

Now, after 12 years, a limited edition of this encyclopedia was published as an _______ occupying these territories between sculpture, book and installation. And this experience truly _________ me that there are an infinite amount of lost stories to be told, and there's no real limits to how they can be told.

So in 2014, I decided to ______ an artwork in honor of astronaut Robert Henry Lawrence. Now, ______ Lawrence was the first Black astronaut. He never ________ his dream of space as he was killed in a flight accident in 1967 at the age of 32. Now, my goal was to honor Robert and to _____ his profound legacy to space. Now, those of you who know anything about space, you would know that that's ______ said than done, because after all, there ain’t a _____ of island folks walking around with rockets in their back pockets. So step one was to find someone with a ______. And who has rockets? The head of SpaceX, Gwynne Shotwell. And then I had to figure out who was going to be as interested in these lost stories as I was. The head of SpaceX, Gwynne Shotwell. We were __________ by the LA County Museum and after four years of rigorous _______, ________ and sculpting, a satellite was produced in honor of Robert. Now, this satellite was made of gold, and it was important for me to have this satellite follow an ancient Egyptian tradition of storytelling by imbuing the essence of a person into a _________. Now, this satellite was called Enoch, after the _____ of a mythological character whose walk with the gods was so close that he never, ever died. On ________ 30, 2018, Enoch blasted into space in the _____ of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket into _____. Almost 50 years after his _______, the legacy of Robert Henry Lawrence is celebrated amongst the _____.

Solution


  1. stars
  2. november
  3. passing
  4. bunch
  5. testing
  6. introduced
  7. container
  8. realized
  9. planning
  10. bring
  11. create
  12. story
  13. robert
  14. artwork
  15. convinced
  16. easier
  17. rocket
  18. orbit
  19. belly

Original Text


(Laughter)

Now, after 12 years, a limited edition of this encyclopedia was published as an artwork occupying these territories between sculpture, book and installation. And this experience truly convinced me that there are an infinite amount of lost stories to be told, and there's no real limits to how they can be told.

So in 2014, I decided to create an artwork in honor of astronaut Robert Henry Lawrence. Now, Robert Lawrence was the first Black astronaut. He never realized his dream of space as he was killed in a flight accident in 1967 at the age of 32. Now, my goal was to honor Robert and to bring his profound legacy to space. Now, those of you who know anything about space, you would know that that's easier said than done, because after all, there ain’t a bunch of island folks walking around with rockets in their back pockets. So step one was to find someone with a rocket. And who has rockets? The head of SpaceX, Gwynne Shotwell. And then I had to figure out who was going to be as interested in these lost stories as I was. The head of SpaceX, Gwynne Shotwell. We were introduced by the LA County Museum and after four years of rigorous testing, planning and sculpting, a satellite was produced in honor of Robert. Now, this satellite was made of gold, and it was important for me to have this satellite follow an ancient Egyptian tradition of storytelling by imbuing the essence of a person into a container. Now, this satellite was called Enoch, after the story of a mythological character whose walk with the gods was so close that he never, ever died. On November 30, 2018, Enoch blasted into space in the belly of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket into orbit. Almost 50 years after his passing, the legacy of Robert Henry Lawrence is celebrated amongst the stars.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
lost stories 8
north pole 3
set foot 2
robert smalls 2
sister rosetta 2
rosetta tharpe 2
robert henry 2
henry lawrence 2
gwynne shotwell 2

ngrams of length 3

collocation frequency
sister rosetta tharpe 2
robert henry lawrence 2

Important Words


  1. accident
  2. age
  3. amount
  4. ancient
  5. artwork
  6. astronaut
  7. belly
  8. black
  9. blasted
  10. book
  11. bring
  12. bunch
  13. called
  14. celebrated
  15. character
  16. close
  17. container
  18. convinced
  19. county
  20. create
  21. decided
  22. died
  23. dream
  24. easier
  25. edition
  26. egyptian
  27. encyclopedia
  28. enoch
  29. essence
  30. experience
  31. falcon
  32. figure
  33. find
  34. flight
  35. folks
  36. follow
  37. goal
  38. gods
  39. gold
  40. gwynne
  41. head
  42. henry
  43. honor
  44. imbuing
  45. important
  46. infinite
  47. installation
  48. interested
  49. introduced
  50. island
  51. killed
  52. la
  53. laughter
  54. lawrence
  55. legacy
  56. limited
  57. limits
  58. lost
  59. museum
  60. mythological
  61. november
  62. occupying
  63. orbit
  64. passing
  65. person
  66. planning
  67. pockets
  68. produced
  69. profound
  70. published
  71. real
  72. realized
  73. rigorous
  74. robert
  75. rocket
  76. rockets
  77. satellite
  78. sculpting
  79. sculpture
  80. shotwell
  81. space
  82. spacex
  83. stars
  84. step
  85. stories
  86. story
  87. storytelling
  88. territories
  89. testing
  90. told
  91. tradition
  92. walk
  93. walking
  94. years