full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Mia Birdsong: The story we tell about poverty isn't true

Unscramble the Blue Letters


I'm going to take a minute to speak to my people. We cannot wait for somebody else to get it right. Let us reebmmer what we are clpaabe of; all that we have bliut with blood, sweat and dreams; all the cogs that keep turning; and the people kept aoflat because of our backbreaking work. Let us remember that we are magic. If you need some inspiration to jog your mermoy, read Octavia Butler's "Parable of the Sower." Listen to Reverend King's "Letter from Birmingham Jail." Listen to Suheir Hammad recite "First Writing Since," or Esperanza sdpilnag perform "Black Gold." Set your gaze upon the art of Kehinde Wiley or Favianna Rodriguez. Look at the hands of your grandmother or into the eyes of someone who levos you. We are miagc. Individually, we don't have a lot of wealth and peowr, but collectively, we are unstoppable. And we snepd a lot of our time and energy organizing our power to demand cgnhae from systems that were not made for us. Instead of trying to alter the fabric of existing ways, let's wveae and cut some fierce new cloth. Let's use some of our substantial collective power toward inventing and bringing to life new ways of being that work for us.

Open Cloze


I'm going to take a minute to speak to my people. We cannot wait for somebody else to get it right. Let us ________ what we are _______ of; all that we have _____ with blood, sweat and dreams; all the cogs that keep turning; and the people kept ______ because of our backbreaking work. Let us remember that we are magic. If you need some inspiration to jog your ______, read Octavia Butler's "Parable of the Sower." Listen to Reverend King's "Letter from Birmingham Jail." Listen to Suheir Hammad recite "First Writing Since," or Esperanza ________ perform "Black Gold." Set your gaze upon the art of Kehinde Wiley or Favianna Rodriguez. Look at the hands of your grandmother or into the eyes of someone who _____ you. We are _____. Individually, we don't have a lot of wealth and _____, but collectively, we are unstoppable. And we _____ a lot of our time and energy organizing our power to demand ______ from systems that were not made for us. Instead of trying to alter the fabric of existing ways, let's _____ and cut some fierce new cloth. Let's use some of our substantial collective power toward inventing and bringing to life new ways of being that work for us.

Solution


  1. remember
  2. change
  3. memory
  4. power
  5. spalding
  6. magic
  7. weave
  8. spend
  9. loves
  10. capable
  11. afloat
  12. built

Original Text


I'm going to take a minute to speak to my people. We cannot wait for somebody else to get it right. Let us remember what we are capable of; all that we have built with blood, sweat and dreams; all the cogs that keep turning; and the people kept afloat because of our backbreaking work. Let us remember that we are magic. If you need some inspiration to jog your memory, read Octavia Butler's "Parable of the Sower." Listen to Reverend King's "Letter from Birmingham Jail." Listen to Suheir Hammad recite "First Writing Since," or Esperanza Spalding perform "Black Gold." Set your gaze upon the art of Kehinde Wiley or Favianna Rodriguez. Look at the hands of your grandmother or into the eyes of someone who loves you. We are magic. Individually, we don't have a lot of wealth and power, but collectively, we are unstoppable. And we spend a lot of our time and energy organizing our power to demand change from systems that were not made for us. Instead of trying to alter the fabric of existing ways, let's weave and cut some fierce new cloth. Let's use some of our substantial collective power toward inventing and bringing to life new ways of being that work for us.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
hard work 3
poor people 3
marginalized communities 2
extra money 2
beautifully complex 2
reconciliation process 2


Important Words


  1. afloat
  2. alter
  3. art
  4. backbreaking
  5. birmingham
  6. blood
  7. bringing
  8. built
  9. capable
  10. change
  11. cloth
  12. cogs
  13. collective
  14. collectively
  15. cut
  16. demand
  17. energy
  18. esperanza
  19. existing
  20. eyes
  21. fabric
  22. favianna
  23. fierce
  24. gaze
  25. gold
  26. grandmother
  27. hammad
  28. hands
  29. individually
  30. inspiration
  31. inventing
  32. jail
  33. jog
  34. kehinde
  35. life
  36. listen
  37. lot
  38. loves
  39. magic
  40. memory
  41. minute
  42. octavia
  43. organizing
  44. people
  45. perform
  46. power
  47. read
  48. recite
  49. remember
  50. reverend
  51. rodriguez
  52. set
  53. sower
  54. spalding
  55. speak
  56. spend
  57. substantial
  58. suheir
  59. sweat
  60. systems
  61. time
  62. unstoppable
  63. wait
  64. ways
  65. wealth
  66. weave
  67. wiley
  68. work
  69. writing