As younger sibling to the now six year-old SMITH site, we realized SMITHTeens, launched in August 2008, also had some growing to do. That’s why we’re kicking 2012 off with the debut of a fresh new look. Along with a dynamic redesign to better showcase memoirs like the nicely poignant, “Finally changed my hair, not myself.” from LoveLaughStudy, the new site also allows for easier navigation in forums with separate subsections for games, rants, raves and more. We’ve also added features like the Random Six button for finding, sharing and spreading the six-word love faster than ever before.

We launched the beta version last month to invite teens to explore the site on their own, shape the space and give us their honest feedback. After all, like its older counterpart, at its heart SMITHTeens belongs to the community. Likewise, it is only with their passion, honesty and boundless creativity (case in point: check out the amazing six-word style birthday cake sent in by the parent of songwriter, one of our most prolific and poetic SMITHTeeners, and February’s Member of the Month) that we continue to reach new heights.

With thanks to our designer Nicole Salzano, tech guru Patrick Roberts and the invaluable input of so many members of a community that delights and inspires us each day in six words and more, we’re excited to announce the relaunch of SMITHTeens. In six words: “We are all growing up together.”

Best Wordplay: “Meditation: Personal search engine via inner-net.” -trust2020
Funniest: “15,000 days spent considering a bellybutton.” -Anstey
Most Sensory: “Hardwired for coupling. Short-circuited being single.” -TawnyPort
Most Circular: “Dad’s baby now changing Dad’s diapers.” -eileenpat
Best Metaphor: “Mouth to mouth couldn’t resuscitate the marriage.” -Laconic from Six Words on Love & Heartbreak
Most Self-Aware: “Won’t let magazines shape my body.” -songwriter from SMITHTeens
Bonus #7—Celebrity Six-Worder of the Week: “Not funny. Funny. Not funny. Funny?” - Jimmy Fallon.
Plus: Six-Word Memoirs are featured in Oprah Magazine.

“Following his blog instead of him.”
“Arranged marriage now sounding pretty good.”
“Hired me. Fired me. Married me.”
“Butterflies still kicking after 30 years.”
“She saw my scars and stayed.”
“I’m six words away from divorce.”

Whether you’re spending the evening with that special someone, taking a stand against a Hallmark holiday or looking to meet a like-minded story lover, come out for a night of SMITH Magazine’s Six-Word Story Show on Love and Heartbreak.

Happy Hour: 6pm * Show: 7pm
Tickets: http://bit.ly/sixonlove2012
RSVP on Facebook: http://on.fb.me/feb14smithshow

The evening starts with a Happy Hour at 6pm and ends with a ‘Six-Word Slam’ in which anyone in the audience can share six words on love, heartbreak, or any part of life.

A cast of star storytellers includes…

Rachel Shukert is a playwright, novelist and author, most recently of the bestselling memoir, Everything Is Going To Be Great. Her work has appeared Vanity Fair, New York Magazine, the Wall Street Journal, Slate, and on NPR. Her play, Eight Days More, a Broadway tribute to Hanukkah, recently played the 92YTribeca.

Saïd Sayrafiezadeh is the author of the critically acclaimed memoir, When Skateboards Will Be Free, and a 2010 recipient of the Whiting Writers’ Award. His short stories and essays have appeared in The New Yorker, the Paris Review, Granta, and The New York Times.

Paul Miller, aka DJ Spooky, is a composer, multimedia artist, and writer. He’s the author of three books, Rhythm Science, Sound Unbound, and The Book of Ice. His essays have appeared in Artforum, Aperture Magazine, The Wire Magazine, The Village Voice, and The Source.

Deborah Copaken Kogan is the author of Shutterbabe, the bestselling memoir of her years as a war photographer, the novel, Between Here and April, and Hell is Other Parents, a book of humorous essays. Her next novel, The Red Book, will be published in April.

Robin Gelfenbien is a writer and performer whose solo show, My Salvation Has a First Name: A Wienermobile Journey, premiered at the 2008 New York International Fringe Festival. She has written jokes for Rosie O’Donnell and appeared on VH1 and in a commercial directed by Spike Lee. She’s also the creator of the storytelling series, “Yum’s the Word,” that features her homemade ice cream cakes.

Mark Lukach is a writer living in San Francisco with his wife and bulldog. He is working on a memoir. He recently wrote a lovely essay about love in The New York Times.

Shubha Bala works for a nonprofit investment firm in New York City after a career as a public radio producer at WNYC and MPR.

Tara O’Grady is a singer/songwriter who has been named one of Irish Voice’s Most Influential Women of 2010. Her debut album, Black Irish, is a collection of traditional Irish songs she arranged in her unique jazz and blues style.

Happy Hour: 6pm
Show: 7pm
Tix: http://bit.ly/sixonlove2012

Most Timely: “All political speeches need laugh tracks.” -JohnBigJohn
Most Optimistic: “Never job hunting, always soul searching!” -shmi (profile image above)
Most Self-Aware: “I still need my Mom’s advice.” -jl333
Toughest Narrative Arc: “Nothing says regret quite like melanoma.” -notyouraveragegrandma
Best Humor: “I think I’m a Type A-.” -l8leigh
Best Wordplay: “Tried running, but life tripped me.” -livinginmymind from SMITHTeens

As we kissed, dream ploughed reality.
- Krisc

Dreamt of future. Woke to past.
- Musically

Captured dreams. Smile beams. Future gleams.
- Contemplative

I dreamt impossibilities, now they’re reality.
- Tonks89

Don’t doubt the unknown. Dream on.
- LaurensRad

I own my dreams. Shut-up destiny.
- Amapola

Dear subconscious, that dream was uncalled-for.
- firefly15

Must have daydreamed him to life.
- TheFamilyRunt

Life can’t aspire to dreams’ expectations.
- Flagitious

Create a dream, live the story.
— andrew

Dreaming of changing the inevitable ending.
— karatza

Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.

Most Writerly: “My muse must be a freelancer.” -TeaTopper
Most Self-Aware: “I’m not handicapped until I’m reminded.” -Heavens_Mantra
Toughest Narrative Arc: “I am hiding behind a username.” -radmadandconfused (profile image above)
Most Surprising Turn of Events: “Mom, dad, I’m not gay. Sorry.” -scarecrow
Best Wordplay: “Shame scarred me more than cuts.” -Contemplative from Six Words on TWLOHA
Most Timely: “Bring Wikipedia back. Project’s due Friday.” -mangafreak101 from SMITHTeens

Plus: Read about the Six-Word Memoir project in the February issue of Oprah Magazine.

awkward image via shutterstock

Whatever happened to awkwardness being a prepubescent phenomenon we were supposed to “grow out of”? Whether 12, 22 or 52, awkwardness still seems to cling to us like a separation anxious child. Consider this a shout out to the anti-suave, the accident prone, the gangly, gawky and socially stunted for making life a humorously colorful place. Read the Six-Word anthems to awkwardness below and rejoice in the fact that whether you walk briskly into glass doors, misread romantic signals or tell racy jokes at conservative parties, you (and your ever-present pseudo pet, the awkward turtle) are not alone. Click on an author’s name to read more of his/her Six-Word Memoirs.

Faked ambition, until it fit. Awkwardly. -hollmariechicago

Finding self through vodka, awkwardness, love. -Starr

My world’s a play, awkwardly cast. -scandalousmuffin

Broken zipper makes it really awkward. -clayray3290

Tender hug. Awkward moment: after hug. -GoddessRock

Anticipated kiss…lingered…didn’t happen. Awkward. -TaNkGirrrl

Make awkward sexual advances, not war. -mmadams

Awkward when dropped by Facebook friend. -Wingle

Best friends. Ultimate enemies. Awkward acquaintances. -Twinklefaerie

Awkwardly waltzing through life’s masquerade ball. -sisterpoet

Started bucket list, seems morbidly awkward. -Bobbee

Life turned into an awkward silence. -reykayjey

Distance makes us awkward. Try harder. -KatelynS

Awkward fetus: Awkward turtle, but awkwarder. -chocolatier

My nametag reads “Socially Awkward Poet-librarian.” -BanjoDan

Acquaintance hired a “dog talker.” Awkward. -Dean6805

Only awkward if you make it. -randomandconfused

My awkward stage never really ended. -bemark12

Met hubby’s ex-lover at funeral. Awkward. -marymc

My life in six words? Awkward. -hollyymad

Photo courtesy of Shutterstock

]]> http://www.smithmag.net/sixwordbook/2012/01/17/six-word-search-awkward/feed/ http://www.smithmag.net/sixwordbook/2012/01/14/now-my-sister-once-my-brother-the-best-six-word-memoirs-of-the-week/ http://www.smithmag.net/sixwordbook/2012/01/14/now-my-sister-once-my-brother-the-best-six-word-memoirs-of-the-week/#comments Sat, 14 Jan 2012 23:29:07 +0000 Alyssa Jocson http://www.smithmag.net/sixwordbook/?p=3026 This week, apocalypse predictions, Tebow crushes and a celebrity baby named Blue Ivy ruled headlines. The SMITH community wrote about these and their own personal headlines via thousands of Six-Word Memoirs. Below are the best stories of the week. For more reading, click on each author’s name.

Best Backstory: “Now my sister, once my brother.” -k-lou (profile image above) with a backstory
Best Source Material: “Aspiring to Betty-ness, Crocker, Page, Friedan.” -StacyJane
Most Candid: “Only porn I seek resembles her.” -renegade
Most Self-Aware: “Had a cookie. Resolutions be damned.” -treehugger from Six-Word Resolutions
Most Writerly: “Write lightly, since I always erase.” -lacrossemiddie from SMITHTeens
Best Imagery: “Relighting old flame with new matches.” -MelMellyM from Six Words on Love & Heartbreak

Six-Word Memoir Video 7C from Lacey Boland on Vimeo.

Language arts teacher Lacey Boland keeps her classroom fresh and modern at Independence Charter School in Center City, Philadelphia by combining the benefits of literature and technology. She has taken language arts to the blogosphere.

For the past two years, Boland has had her 7th graders write Six-Word Memoirs within the context of a blog with the short, yet all-encompassing title, 7Speaks. The blog assignments vary each week, and cover a wide-range of topics: Six-Word Memoirs, controversial current events, reflections on independent reading/shared class novels, and other prompts to get her students creatively cooking.

“Writing and responding to one another on the blog is a great equalizer,” says Boland. “Students who might be less inclined to raise a hand to share their writing aloud with the whole class can share their thoughts more easily on the blog. In fact, many of my students have said that sharing their writing on the blog has helped them to get to know one another better—which I hope helps to make 7th grade just a little easier.” As a painfully shy kid in class, but with plenty to say, I wish blogging had been around during my middle-school years—with an inventive teacher like Ms. Boland at the head of the class.

The blogosphere not only gives the stage-frightened an accessible platform with which to share their written thoughts, but also gives each student an opportunity to go public with his or her ruminations. “On the blog students write for real audiences not only for one another, but for the world, which increases their motivation and accountability in their writing, and provides a sense of purpose,” says Boland, adding that blogging is also a good medium to teach her students internet etiquette and safety.

Her six-word assignment begins, we’re pleased to report, on SMITH. Students start the exercise by reading Six-Word Memoirs and take it from there. Explains Boland: “After lessons on using punctuation powerfully, revising for descriptive and juicy words, and taking part in peer conferences, students are ready to publish. We look at other student examples of Six-Word Memoir slides on the web, and discuss how images and text can work together to tell a story.”

Video is an essential part of the class’s experience. Each class creates its own video of six-worders, chooses the accompanying music carefully. Boland has the students identify any themes they see in the memoirs as a whole, and then pick a song that best fits the overall theme. “Students get to see firsthand the effect that their words have on the viewer—gasps, laughter, and sighs fill the room as we watch each slide and read each student’s Six-Word memoir. This year when I posted the Six-Word Memoir videos on the blog I asked the students to tell the stories behind their memoirs. They were able to say so much in only six words, but their comments also showed how much more they were willing to share.”

The students were also asked to write Six-Word Memoirs from another person’s perspective. In one assignment, Boland’s students composed a Six-Word Memoir from the main character’s point of view in a novel they were reading. The notion was to offer a deep level of understanding about the internal and external conflicts the character was facing—her essence in six well-chosen words.

We give Boland’s six-word assignment an A+. “It’s a challenge even my most reluctant writers have enjoyed,” she reports. “Many continue to scribble Six-Word Memoirs in their notebooks; one student admitted to me last year, that she simply couldn’t stop‚ she ’saw’ Six-Word Memoirs everywhere.”

To view more videos from this inventive classroom, or read the insightful stories behind the memoirs, be sure to check out the 7Speaks blog.

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Note: With the generous support of our publisher, Harper Perennial, we’ve created two free Six-Word Memoir lesson plans, one for our first book, Not Quite What I Was Planning: Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous & Obscure, as well as one for our teen book, I Can’t Keep My Own Secrets: Six-Word Memoirs by Teens Famous & Obscure. Download a PDF of either or both below. All we ask in return is this: let us know how six words works in your class. We love sharing your stories with the rest of the SMITH community.

Teacher’s Guide: First Six-Word Memoir book (click to download)
Teacher’s Guide: Teen Six-Word Memoir book (click to download)

Best Revision: “Boyfriend, career, happiness. No resolutions. Demands.” -ksmolnarzs (profile image above)
Best Wordplay: “Insomnia’s got me down. Er, up.” -bbhead
Most Self-Aware: “Some days, more Lucifer than Lucy.” -ctgoods2
Best Riddle: “Teaching Six to seven and eight.” -Believe with a backstory to explain
Toughest Narrative Arc: “War finished early. Met wife’s boyfriend.” -HappyTummyNinja
Best Opening Act: “Funny Jewish girl. Not Sarah Silverman.” -amymich, from Six-Word on the Jewish Life.

PLUS: Buy your copy of SMITH’s most recent book, The Moment: Wild, Poignant, Life-Changing Stories from 125 Writers and Artists Famous & Obscure (Harper Perennial).