I almost feel like a liar labeling this blog a “Call for Submissions” as I have pretty good sense that the the intersect of SMITH readers and coal miners is on the slim side. But hey, everyone has a story…even coal miners.

The Miner’s Story Project is a project that aims to take a very specific group of people with a very unusual and dangerous job and encourage them to share their stories with the rest of us. Armed with a “story trailer” (a storycorps-style mobile recording studio), the project tours mining communities throughout the Southwest US recording stories of “everyday life, amazing events, and everything in between.”

For the vast, overwhelming majority of non-miners reading this, the audio recordings on the project’s website are still fascinating even if you’ve somehow managed to make your way through life without ever having to burrow several miles under underground. Listening closely and see.

This week’s Member of the Week is something of a famous one in a storytelling world that plays with the line between the professional and amateur, the celebrity and unknown. Robin Templeton is the author of the first six-word memoir that appears in the first book: “After Harvard, had baby with crackhead.” Her short, short life story is everything that a six-word memoir hopes to be: honest, specific, authentic, personal, true.

At our book launch party in February 2008 at Housing Works, contributors came from all over the country. They would introduce themselves by memoir (”I’m Jace, page 123, ‘To make a long story short…’”). When the other contributors realized who Robin was, they all sort of came up to her to kiss the ring. They thanked her for her honesty and bravery, and they encouraged her to write more. Now Robin’s working on a full-length memoir about her life, one we hope to see between the pages of pulpy paper soon.

None of the above, however, is why Robin is SMITH’s Member of the Week. We’ve selected her because she’s just contributed a new story to SMITH in our My Life So Far story project—and this story a few more thousand words than her last one. It’s called “Breaking Up With My Mother,” and is a version of an essay she wrote for an anthology from Soft Skull Press, Who’s Your Mama: The Unsung Voices of Women and Mothers. Robin’s newest words remind me of her first six words in this space: honest, specific, authentic, personal, true.

While we usually aim to post calls for submissions for non-fiction stories from the everyday lives of our readers (…it’s kind of our thing), we sometimes have to show some love to the fiction writers out there reading SMITH. National Public Radio is currently accepting stories for their annual Three-Minute Fiction Contest. Up until 11:59pm in July 18th, NPR will be accepting original fictional stories of up to 600 words.

One winner will have their story read on-air during Weekend All Things Considered where they will also be interviewed. And as an added bonus they’ll get an autographed copy of “How Fiction Works” -a must have for any aspiring fiction writer. The complete detailed contest rules are available on npr.org.

The idea that you can learn a lot from listening to others tell stories and share their experiences may be far from a new idea (and one that we at SMITH can definitely get behind), but the fact remains that, in a world of full of unique people, we can be each other’s best teachers if we are willing to share with and listen to one another. This idea is the basis for Now You Know What It’s Like, an online project that aims to give readers a place to share how their job or other current situation has influenced them and what they learned from it. Described on their website as, “a project which explores how our occupations, passions and life experiences make us think differently,” NYKWIL is a great place to go if you’re looking to pick up or dish out some fresh perspective on life.

Submissions can come in the form of text, audio, picture, or video as long as they provide insight into how your job or other experience has influenced your view of the world. And if you’re interested but aren’t quite sure what to what about, check out their suggested examples of previous entries from contributors Cool Papa Bell and Fiasco da Gama.

People simply don’t meet the way they did twenty years ago—no one debates that. Dating and social networking sites have given us a whole new way of connecting with people before we even necessarily know what they look like (because let’s face it, people usually don’t look much like their profile photo in person). What has yet to be seen though is what types of relationships will result from this new form of social interaction. In general, is this better or worse? We’re still feeling it out. And that’s the interesting part.

Meeting Online is a new multimedia project from Marc Weiss, creator of the PBS series P.O.V., explores this subject by collecting stories about people meeting online for the purposes of “dating, mating or hooking up,” and the life-changing relationships that resulted. In addition to being featured on Meeting Online, your story could even become part of a TV series currently being developed by Weiss. So go ahead share that one really messed up story from that week when you tried out Match.com because “a friend made a profile for you.” We’ve all been there.

The problem with finishing any great story is just that -the story is over. Just when you’ve found yourself completely caught up in the character’s lives and sincerely invested in what happens to them, the author has to go and ruin everything by wrapping it all up. 

Well the time has come to take matters into your own hands and pick up where your favorite writer left off. Book: The Sequel is a project that asks readers to choose their favorite book, imagine what it’s sequel would be, and compose the opening line of that story. And although submissions for the print version of Book: The Sequel (available for purchase on their website) have closed, submissions for their online component are continually being accepted. Did somebody say, Life of Pi 2: Richard’s Revenge?

I’m a world record setter. I’m better at something than anyone else. I’ve got the video to prove it.

Last week, I participated in a World Record Appreciation Society event in New York City. My record? Most Six-Word Quotes Read in Under One Minute (note: not memoirs, but quotes from lit, flicks, famous folks). That same evening, a packed house in downtown Manhattan witnessed Quickest Time Chugging Six Diet Cokes, Tallest Carrot Cake, and Most Consecutive Arm Wrestling Victories by a Woman in Her Third Trimester. The night was the manifestation of the Universal Record Database (URDB), which is like the Wikipedia of Guinness Book. URDB features thousands of records by regular people—all validated, community reviewed, and, above all, potentially beatable. URDB sounds a little silly, and it is. But it’s also personal media at its best: participatory, inspirational, addictive—and a genius rethink on a classic form that’s been ruled for far too long by those dusty old dogs at Guinness.

Check out this short video on URDB from the documentary shop, RADAR. Then ask yourself: Can I top,
Most Whoopee Cushions Sat On In 30 Seconds Without Smiling Or Laughing? Better yet, set one of your own. Everybody has a record. What’s yours?

It takes an interesting type of young woman to spend her free time beating people up while wearing roller skates. I discovered this recently when I met up with the girls of Gotham Girls Roller Derby, New York City’s only all female roller derby league, to collect six-word memoirs on the derby life. While these athletes come from all walks of life and all seem to have stumbled into the bizarre subculture that is the world of roller derby, they are united by their intense, almost unhealthy obsession with the sport. The results were amazing and I had a tough time cutting the list down to be short enough to post here. 

I like to hit other girls.-Dainty Inferno (Bronx Gridlock)

Behind the scenes, roller girls stink. -Bluebonnet Plague (Queens of Pain)

Aim for Champagne, Settle for Beer. -Margaret Thrasher (Announcer)

Skate fast, hit, block, hit, repeat. -Dainty Inferno (Bronx Gridlock) Read more »

The current economy may be affecting our lives in a number of negative ways, but isn’t it possible that something good (or least interesting) can come from all this? Inspired by the unexpected outpouring of creative work that followed the Great Depression, First Person Arts has announced the In These Hard Times Contest: an open call to artists of all backgrounds to capture the effects of the current economy crisis. 

The goal is to gather stories from all 50 states that will create a “First Person picture of America in 2009.” FPA is specifically looking for the the “stories that are unique to your family, your community, your town, your region – that capture the idiosyncratic things that are happening where you live,” so whether you’re writing an essay, making a short film or shooting some photos, keep this in mind: the weirder and more personal, the better.

Guidelines can be found on the First Person America website and the deadline for submissions is June 30th.

Our favorite neurotic illustrated memoirist is back, and she’s worshiping Monet, eating at diners, and painting nude self-portraits on commission from her parents. No, really. Read it here in the latest session of Graphic Therapy.