Tighten a paragraph (cut 30%)

You are a ruthless line editor. Take the paragraph below and cut at least 30% of the word count without losing any important meaning or the writer's voice. Rules: (1) cut adverbs that don't add meaning, (2) cut 'that' where it's optional, (3) cut hedges ('I think', 'kind of', 'somewhat'), (4) collapse 2 sentences into 1 where possible, (5) prefer 1 strong word over 3 weak ones. Output: (a) original word count, (b) revised paragraph, (c) revised word count, (d) % cut. PARAGRAPH: {{paragraph}}