Three minutes, 20+ six-word memoirs. A torrent of self-expression from writers famous and obscure at The Rumpus & Tin House benefit at NYC’s glorious Highline Ballroom on November 17, 2009.

Six-Word Memoirists: Highline Ballroom, Nov. 17 2009 from SMITHmag on Vimeo.

Last week we made our biggest appearance for I Can’t Keep My Own Secrets: Six-Word Memoirs by Teens Famous and Obscure at the –ZOMG!– New York Public Library! And, yes, it’s the one with the famous lions (named Patience and Fortitude) guarding the front steps. We’ve been in awe of the beautiful main branch library on 42nd St and 5th Ave for longer than most SMITHteeners have been alive, so we were extremely honored to appear there.

But the teen contributors far outshone Patience and Fortitude with their Honesty and Courage as they joined us on stage to tell stories behind their sixes. We heard of friendships broken, siblings resented, and operations survived. The poise and eloquence on display was astonishing, as young men and women as young as 13 and as old as 19 talked about their secrets with an auditorium of rapt teens, parents, book industry pros, YA novelists, and one very precocious six-year-old.

When we opened the slam up to the room, we heard former teenagers look back on adolescence with memoirs like “Spent every spare moment making out” and “Oh jeez, Mom, shut the door!” A certain 60-something admitted he often forgot he wasn’t still a teen and shared his reassuring six, “Doctor says it happens to everyone.” So whether you arrived at this post via SMITHteens or AARP, feel free to comment with a six-word middle-school memoir of your very own…

SMITH’s community of storytellers rose to our latest challenge in the style and spirit we’ve come to expect, submitting more than 430 entries from as close as across the hall to as far as at least India
for “Six Words on a Significant Object”. The contest was a collaboration with Significant Objects, the brainchild of Joshua Glenn and Rob Walker. Their contention is one we can get behind: objects with stories attached to them increase in value. The pair have recruited writers like William Gibson, Nicholson Baker, and Curtis Sittenfeld to craft significance for flotsam purchased on the cheap at thrift stores, then selling story and object as a pair on eBay (Gibson’s story of an ashtray catapulted its value to $101 from $2.99). eBay is where the object you see above and this winning story are now headed: “You lose,” she puffed. True. Again.”

The scribe is Rob Agredo, who tells us he is a “reluctant dolly grip, living in the Bronx with his beautiful wife, twin three-year-old girls, and little dog Zuzu.” Rob receives all the loot from an online auction of that lighter/pool ball and his tale about it. Make a bid yourself or follow the money on eBay. Hemingway would surely approve.

It wasn’t easy to arrive at one winner—scroll through the entries, they’re awesome—so we also wanted to mention five more of our favorites and their authors.

“After pool table sex, smoked cigarettes.”
- Kelly Kreth

“He smoked me, I just smoked.”
- Cameron Vest, Reston, Virginia

“Old flame. Great rack. Plays game.”
Paul de Denus, Santa Rosa Beach, Fl

“Fire ball…….colliding………Earth………remain ca…”
Kritika Kushwaha, New Delhi, India

“Never needed those eyebrows. Your rack?”
Pete Sosalski

Dear SMITH:
I asked some of my teen patrons as AISD to try the six-word memoir. AISD (American International School/Dhaka) is one of the top international schools with a population of 700 students (Pre-K-12). Our vision is to prepare students to become stewards of a just and sustainable world.
- Judyth Lessee, MS/HS Librarian, AIS/Dhaka, Bangladesh

Here’s what they came up with.

What happened to the good grades?
- Sky L., grade 6

Just have to keep them guessing.
- Genevieve S.

Horror and mystery is my world.
Dark is mysterious just like me.
- Catherine P., grade 6
Read more »

We know that everyone has a story, but the online project Significant Objects believes every thing has a story, too. Started by Joshua Glenn and NYT “Consumed” columnist Rob Walker, the pair have recruited writers like William Gibson, Nicholson Baker, and Curtis Sittenfeld to craft significance for flotsam purchased on the cheap at thrift stores. They then sell story and object as a pair on eBay to determine whether a great story can make a random object valuable. Their findings say yes, and our newest Six-Word Challenge begs the question (with a extra special nod to original six-word story crafter Ernest Hemingway): Can you create Significance for this Object in just six words? The winning response will be published on the Significant Objects site, and more to the point, on its eBay store. Proceeds from that auction go to the author of the winning submission.

So what about this object, a lighter in the shape of small pool ball? What’s its story? You tell us. Leave your six-word story in the comments area below. The contest is open until Friday, November 6, 8pm EST.

How do you boil down the essence of your digital life in just six words? More than 850 ways. Hundreds of you sent 850+ entries to SMITH Magazine and FRONTLINE/Digital Nation’s “Six Words on the Digital Life” challenge. Your digital life runs from the highly personal (”Hand on iPhone. Baby on breast”) to the practical (”Never marry a man from AOL”) to the financial (”I wish I hadn’t shorted Google”). You told us about new family dynamics (”One MySpace boy. One Facebook boy”) and modern religions (”There is a creator: Steve Jobs”). And more than a few of you offered variations on a reality that’s become all too evident: “Facebook: high school all over again.”

Which is a long way of saying: it wasn’t easy picking our top six short, short takes on the digital life. These memoirists each win three of Rachel Dretzin’sFrontline documentaries, as well as a Six-Word Memoir book of their choice or a SMITH T-shirt. Thanks to everyone for your amazing stories.

Winners:
Introverted autistic son blossoms on internet.-Claire Luna-Pinsker
Sexting is saving our relationship. -Dana Newsome
Husband won’t confirm my relationship status. -Dana Calvo
MySpace boy. One Facebook boy. -Kellie Fournier
I answer spam with sexual fantasies. -Heath Hardin
I can photoshop my wrinkles away. -Mary McConnell

FRONTLINE/Digital Nation is now creating a six-word digital life video gallery of people reading their memoirs. Submit a YouTube link and find more details at Digital Nation.

Our next challenge launches tomorrow: Six Words to describe a Significant Object.

Creative Commons licensed photo courtesy of Flickr user photocology. The caption: “I’m not washing that milk off either.”

Our partner in the Six-Words on the Digital Life challenge, FRONTLINE/Digital Nation, has put some faces to your half-dozen words. They’re streamed in some of the images you’re posted, as well as added a few Creative Commons-licensed shots, to create a whole new way of looking at some of the responses from our latest six-word challenge. Go to Digital Nation and click on the six words button on the left side of the page for a look.

From recent entries such as, “Blocked my own mother on Facebook,” “My life Flickrs before my eyes,” and “Text specs on your pecs. ASAP,” the Six-Words on the Digital Life contest continues with aplomb. Enter here and tell us your digital story today. Tomorrow it will probably be a totally different story.

SMITH Magazine and FRONTLINE/Digital Nation—a PBS documentary project about life in the digital age—want your stories about life in the digital age. In six words, tell us how the web and digital technology are changing how you think, work, live, or love. Whether you’ve done things unimaginable just a few years ago (“I have even Twittered during sex”) or are trying to make sense of how rapidly the world is changing (“Dull persona. Second Life ego enormous”), we want to hear who you are, in your digital life, in six well-chosen words. We’re giving away prizes too … because that’s how PBS rolls. Go to the Six-Words on the Digital Life project to enter.

Nearly 500 of you took the plunge and entered our “Six Words on Water” challenge, inspired by our pals over at Treehugger. It wasn’t easy picking the winners, but TH editor Meaghan O’Neil has emerged with her top three choices. Each writer will receive a Spreadshirt tee adorned by their six wet words.

The Winners:
“Raise a glass, not a bottle,” by Jennifer.
“I’m 60% FULL of IT…You?,” by JB.
“Wet dream: Fresh water for everyone,” by Chica. Read more »

Our friends over at TreeHugger and Planet Green have been devoting lots of virtual space lately to exploring our oceans and waterways in their month-long feature, Blue August. That got SMITH thinking about a Six-Word Challenge about one of summer’s treats and earth’s increasingly rare resources: water. Whether your half-dozen well-chosen words are about water worries (”Save water, shower with a friend”) or the joys of jumping into the deep blue sea (”Oldster surfing: Call it ‘Gray Crush’”), we want your six words on water. Three winners will receive a Spreadshirt tee that shows off their six wet words.

Leave your entry in the comments area below. And we’ll tweet some of our favorites along the way. If you tweet this contest or your own entry, please use the tag #6Wwater.

The contest ends on August 31 (5pm est), and winners will be announced on September 8.

Creative Commons photo, “Through droplets,” from Flickr user hamedmasoumi.