full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Sofia Ongele: Your creative superpowers can help protect democracy

Unscramble the Blue Letters


The truth is, any of us, of any age, living in some sbnmlecae of a democracy or srvntiig towards it, possess the tools to have a voice in our governments and communities. It's just a matter of learning how to have agency with those tools.

For me, that's been coding and social midea. It's uvaninetonncol, but I found the most success in having an influence by using whatever's in front of me, really tuning in to my networks and communities, meeting people where they're at and centering joy and fun wherever I can. And it works. Let me explain.

In the case of this shcool shooting, the parents of Gracie Muehlberger and Dominic Blackwell began a push to have the two of them memorialized at the entrance of our Central Park. To me and much of my community, this memorial was a no-brainer. To others, it was "grandiose and hilghy inappropriate." That's a dcreit quote, by the way. And a number of local officials agreed with them. But that cannot and should not nullify the needs and the wants of the greater community. So gcarie and Dominic's parents, determined to plorprey memorialize their children, created a petition and organized efforts to push our city council to approve the memorial. The petition got over 10,000 signatures and people eiealmd the city in masses. elaultnvey, they aopevprd, and we all thought we were done.

Open Cloze


The truth is, any of us, of any age, living in some _________ of a democracy or ________ towards it, possess the tools to have a voice in our governments and communities. It's just a matter of learning how to have agency with those tools.

For me, that's been coding and social _____. It's ______________, but I found the most success in having an influence by using whatever's in front of me, really tuning in to my networks and communities, meeting people where they're at and centering joy and fun wherever I can. And it works. Let me explain.

In the case of this ______ shooting, the parents of Gracie Muehlberger and Dominic Blackwell began a push to have the two of them memorialized at the entrance of our Central Park. To me and much of my community, this memorial was a no-brainer. To others, it was "grandiose and ______ inappropriate." That's a ______ quote, by the way. And a number of local officials agreed with them. But that cannot and should not nullify the needs and the wants of the greater community. So ______ and Dominic's parents, determined to ________ memorialize their children, created a petition and organized efforts to push our city council to approve the memorial. The petition got over 10,000 signatures and people _______ the city in masses. __________, they ________, and we all thought we were done.

Solution


  1. school
  2. striving
  3. unconventional
  4. direct
  5. approved
  6. eventually
  7. highly
  8. properly
  9. semblance
  10. emailed
  11. gracie
  12. media

Original Text


The truth is, any of us, of any age, living in some semblance of a democracy or striving towards it, possess the tools to have a voice in our governments and communities. It's just a matter of learning how to have agency with those tools.

For me, that's been coding and social media. It's unconventional, but I found the most success in having an influence by using whatever's in front of me, really tuning in to my networks and communities, meeting people where they're at and centering joy and fun wherever I can. And it works. Let me explain.

In the case of this school shooting, the parents of Gracie Muehlberger and Dominic Blackwell began a push to have the two of them memorialized at the entrance of our Central Park. To me and much of my community, this memorial was a no-brainer. To others, it was "grandiose and highly inappropriate." That's a direct quote, by the way. And a number of local officials agreed with them. But that cannot and should not nullify the needs and the wants of the greater community. So Gracie and Dominic's parents, determined to properly memorialize their children, created a petition and organized efforts to push our city council to approve the memorial. The petition got over 10,000 signatures and people emailed the city in masses. Eventually, they approved, and we all thought we were done.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
central park 4
social media 3
water board 3
high school 2
gracie muehlberger 2


Important Words


  1. age
  2. agency
  3. agreed
  4. approve
  5. approved
  6. began
  7. blackwell
  8. case
  9. centering
  10. central
  11. children
  12. city
  13. coding
  14. communities
  15. community
  16. council
  17. created
  18. democracy
  19. determined
  20. direct
  21. dominic
  22. efforts
  23. emailed
  24. entrance
  25. eventually
  26. explain
  27. front
  28. fun
  29. governments
  30. gracie
  31. greater
  32. highly
  33. inappropriate
  34. influence
  35. joy
  36. learning
  37. living
  38. local
  39. masses
  40. matter
  41. media
  42. meeting
  43. memorial
  44. memorialize
  45. memorialized
  46. muehlberger
  47. networks
  48. nullify
  49. number
  50. officials
  51. organized
  52. parents
  53. park
  54. people
  55. petition
  56. possess
  57. properly
  58. push
  59. quote
  60. school
  61. semblance
  62. shooting
  63. signatures
  64. social
  65. striving
  66. success
  67. thought
  68. tools
  69. truth
  70. tuning
  71. unconventional
  72. voice
  73. works