full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Geena Rocero: Why I must come out

Unscramble the Blue Letters


So from 15 to 17 yaers old, I joined the most piouegrists pageant to the pageant where it's at the back of the tcruk, literally, or sometimes it would be a pavement next to a rice flied, and when it rians — it rains a lot in the Philippines — the organizers would have to move it inside someone's house. I also experienced the goodness of strangers, especially when we would teavrl in rmetoe provinces in the Philippines. But most importantly, I met some of my best friends in that community.

In 2001, my mom, who had moved to San Francisco, called me and told me that my green card poetitin came through, that I could now move to the United States. I resisted it. I told my mom, "Mom, I'm having fun. I'm here with my friends, I love taielrvng, being a beauty pageant queen." But then two weeks later she caleld me, she said, "Did you know that if you move to the United States you could cganhe your name and gender merakr?" That was all I needed to hear. My mom also told me to put two E's in the spelling of my name. She also came with me when I had my surgery in Thailand at 19 years old. It's ittnensireg, in some of the most rural cities in Thailand, they perform some of the most prestigious, safe and sophisticated surgery. At that time in the unietd States, you ndeeed to have surgery before you could change your name and gender marker. So in 2001, I moved to San Francisco, and I remember looking at my California driver's license with the name Geena and gender marker F. That was a peourfwl moment. For some people, their I.D. is their license to drive or even to get a drink, but for me, that was my license to live, to feel dignified. All of a sudden, my fears were minimized. I felt that I could conquer my dream and move to New York and be a model.

Open Cloze


So from 15 to 17 _____ old, I joined the most ___________ pageant to the pageant where it's at the back of the _____, literally, or sometimes it would be a pavement next to a rice _____, and when it _____ — it rains a lot in the Philippines — the organizers would have to move it inside someone's house. I also experienced the goodness of strangers, especially when we would ______ in ______ provinces in the Philippines. But most importantly, I met some of my best friends in that community.

In 2001, my mom, who had moved to San Francisco, called me and told me that my green card ________ came through, that I could now move to the United States. I resisted it. I told my mom, "Mom, I'm having fun. I'm here with my friends, I love _________, being a beauty pageant queen." But then two weeks later she ______ me, she said, "Did you know that if you move to the United States you could ______ your name and gender ______?" That was all I needed to hear. My mom also told me to put two E's in the spelling of my name. She also came with me when I had my surgery in Thailand at 19 years old. It's ___________, in some of the most rural cities in Thailand, they perform some of the most prestigious, safe and sophisticated surgery. At that time in the ______ States, you ______ to have surgery before you could change your name and gender marker. So in 2001, I moved to San Francisco, and I remember looking at my California driver's license with the name Geena and gender marker F. That was a ________ moment. For some people, their I.D. is their license to drive or even to get a drink, but for me, that was my license to live, to feel dignified. All of a sudden, my fears were minimized. I felt that I could conquer my dream and move to New York and be a model.

Solution


  1. petition
  2. change
  3. called
  4. field
  5. prestigious
  6. united
  7. traveling
  8. years
  9. marker
  10. interesting
  11. needed
  12. remote
  13. rains
  14. truck
  15. travel
  16. powerful

Original Text


So from 15 to 17 years old, I joined the most prestigious pageant to the pageant where it's at the back of the truck, literally, or sometimes it would be a pavement next to a rice field, and when it rains — it rains a lot in the Philippines — the organizers would have to move it inside someone's house. I also experienced the goodness of strangers, especially when we would travel in remote provinces in the Philippines. But most importantly, I met some of my best friends in that community.

In 2001, my mom, who had moved to San Francisco, called me and told me that my green card petition came through, that I could now move to the United States. I resisted it. I told my mom, "Mom, I'm having fun. I'm here with my friends, I love traveling, being a beauty pageant queen." But then two weeks later she called me, she said, "Did you know that if you move to the United States you could change your name and gender marker?" That was all I needed to hear. My mom also told me to put two E's in the spelling of my name. She also came with me when I had my surgery in Thailand at 19 years old. It's interesting, in some of the most rural cities in Thailand, they perform some of the most prestigious, safe and sophisticated surgery. At that time in the United States, you needed to have surgery before you could change your name and gender marker. So in 2001, I moved to San Francisco, and I remember looking at my California driver's license with the name Geena and gender marker F. That was a powerful moment. For some people, their I.D. is their license to drive or even to get a drink, but for me, that was my license to live, to feel dignified. All of a sudden, my fears were minimized. I felt that I could conquer my dream and move to New York and be a model.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
woman named 2
beauty pageant 2
united states 2
gender marker 2
family members 2


Important Words


  1. beauty
  2. california
  3. called
  4. card
  5. change
  6. cities
  7. community
  8. conquer
  9. dignified
  10. dream
  11. drink
  12. drive
  13. experienced
  14. fears
  15. feel
  16. felt
  17. field
  18. francisco
  19. friends
  20. fun
  21. geena
  22. gender
  23. goodness
  24. green
  25. hear
  26. house
  27. importantly
  28. interesting
  29. joined
  30. license
  31. literally
  32. live
  33. lot
  34. love
  35. marker
  36. met
  37. minimized
  38. model
  39. mom
  40. moment
  41. move
  42. moved
  43. needed
  44. organizers
  45. pageant
  46. pavement
  47. people
  48. perform
  49. petition
  50. philippines
  51. powerful
  52. prestigious
  53. provinces
  54. put
  55. queen
  56. rains
  57. remember
  58. remote
  59. resisted
  60. rice
  61. rural
  62. safe
  63. san
  64. sophisticated
  65. spelling
  66. states
  67. strangers
  68. sudden
  69. surgery
  70. thailand
  71. time
  72. told
  73. travel
  74. traveling
  75. truck
  76. united
  77. weeks
  78. years
  79. york