full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Anne Basting: How to meaningfully reconnect with those who have dementia

Unscramble the Blue Letters

The first step towards that goal for me was to assemble a giant team of artists and elders and caregivers in one care facility in mkauliewe. Together, over two years, we tackled reimagining the story of Homer's "Odyssey." We explored themes. We wrote peoms. Together, we created a mile-long weaving. We choreographed original dances. We even explored and learned Ancient Greek with the help of a classics scholar. Hundreds of creative workphoss we embedded into the daily activities calendar and invited the family members to join right along with us, and had caregivers and staff from every single area of care collaborating on programming for the first time. The culminating meonmt was an ogirinal, professionally produced play that blended the professional performers right alongside the eedlrs and the civreergas, and we invited a paniyg audience to follow us from scene to scene, one in the nursing home, in the assisted living dining room, and flainly in the chapel for the final scene where a chorus of elders all playing plepeone lovingly wcolemed oussydes and the aeniduce home. Together, we had deard to make something beautiful, to invite elders, some with dementia, some on hospice, into making meaning over time, to learn and grow as artists. All this in a place where people were dying every day.

Open Cloze

The first step towards that goal for me was to assemble a giant team of artists and elders and caregivers in one care facility in _________. Together, over two years, we tackled reimagining the story of Homer's "Odyssey." We explored themes. We wrote _____. Together, we created a mile-long weaving. We choreographed original dances. We even explored and learned Ancient Greek with the help of a classics scholar. Hundreds of creative _________ we embedded into the daily activities calendar and invited the family members to join right along with us, and had caregivers and staff from every single area of care collaborating on programming for the first time. The culminating ______ was an ________, professionally produced play that blended the professional performers right alongside the ______ and the __________, and we invited a ______ audience to follow us from scene to scene, one in the nursing home, in the assisted living dining room, and _______ in the chapel for the final scene where a chorus of elders all playing ________ lovingly ________ ________ and the ________ home. Together, we had _____ to make something beautiful, to invite elders, some with dementia, some on hospice, into making meaning over time, to learn and grow as artists. All this in a place where people were dying every day.

Solution

  1. milwaukee
  2. original
  3. finally
  4. welcomed
  5. moment
  6. audience
  7. dared
  8. paying
  9. penelope
  10. odysseus
  11. caregivers
  12. poems
  13. elders
  14. workshops

Original Text

The first step towards that goal for me was to assemble a giant team of artists and elders and caregivers in one care facility in Milwaukee. Together, over two years, we tackled reimagining the story of Homer's "Odyssey." We explored themes. We wrote poems. Together, we created a mile-long weaving. We choreographed original dances. We even explored and learned Ancient Greek with the help of a classics scholar. Hundreds of creative workshops we embedded into the daily activities calendar and invited the family members to join right along with us, and had caregivers and staff from every single area of care collaborating on programming for the first time. The culminating moment was an original, professionally produced play that blended the professional performers right alongside the elders and the caregivers, and we invited a paying audience to follow us from scene to scene, one in the nursing home, in the assisted living dining room, and finally in the chapel for the final scene where a chorus of elders all playing Penelope lovingly welcomed Odysseus and the audience home. Together, we had dared to make something beautiful, to invite elders, some with dementia, some on hospice, into making meaning over time, to learn and grow as artists. All this in a place where people were dying every day.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
million people 2
meaningful connection 2
slow journey 2
beautiful question 2
turning point 2

Important Words

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  2. ancient
  3. area
  4. artists
  5. assemble
  6. assisted
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  8. beautiful
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  10. calendar
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  32. family
  33. final
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  38. greek
  39. grow
  40. home
  41. hospice
  42. hundreds
  43. invite
  44. invited
  45. join
  46. learn
  47. learned
  48. living
  49. lovingly
  50. making
  51. meaning
  52. members
  53. milwaukee
  54. moment
  55. nursing
  56. odysseus
  57. original
  58. paying
  59. penelope
  60. people
  61. performers
  62. place
  63. play
  64. playing
  65. poems
  66. produced
  67. professional
  68. professionally
  69. programming
  70. reimagining
  71. room
  72. scene
  73. scholar
  74. single
  75. staff
  76. step
  77. story
  78. tackled
  79. team
  80. themes
  81. time
  82. weaving
  83. welcomed
  84. workshops
  85. wrote
  86. years