SMITH is teaming up with the National Constitution Center (Motto: “We the people”) for a new project, Six Words to Inspire a Nation, in which we ask readers and museum-goers to suggest the half dozen words they want to hear from President-elect Obama at his inauguration on January 20. Submit your words here. Contest ends January 5. Prizes? Yes, we got them, too—and your words could also be displayed in an exhibit at the museum, found in Philadelphia’s historic Independence Mall. It’s a very special place, and SMITH is honored to join forces for this people-powered six-word challenge. My entry? “Our long national nightmare is over.” What’s yours?
I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again: nothing brings us more pride and joy when a teacher tells us how a class has taken six words and run with them. Jane Ware teaches second grade in San Ramon, CA and writes: “My second grade class has been writing their 6-Word Memoirs each week and from the six word sentences they started with, their new submissions are becoming more sophisticated. Any chance we could get them on the website? What an incredible opportunity for them.”
To Jane we say: Yes, we can. Here’s what the kids in San Ramon came up with.
I’m okay with my word memories.
-Isaiah
Playing soccer. Kick hard. Win game.
-Amanda
Hit head, fall down, scream loud.
-Joey
Video game; Playing it so awesome.
-Josiah
Meeting teachers. Learning stuff. Having friends.
-Tanya Read more »
What a year it’s been. First our little paperback book, Not Quite What I Was Planning: Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous and Obscure, became what Time called “a surprise hit of the year,” landing on the New York Times bestseller list and in The New Yorker. Now the six book has been hailed as one of the top 100 books of the year by Amazon.com editors. We find ourselves in good company between #68: The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life Alice Schroeder and #70: Traitor to His Class: The Privileged Life and Radical Presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt H.W. Brands.
Now, just in time for the holidays comes the deluxe, hardcover edition of Not Quite What I Was Planning, which includes more than 100 new memoirs. Makes for the perfect stocking stuffer, sixth night of hanukkah gift, or classy substitute for a bottle of wine at your next party. Give the gift of six, and watch the six-word memoirs fly. They always do.
After a trip back to my hometown this spring, where I worked with three classes of sixth graders and Mrs. Nixon’s third graders, which created this amazing six-word memoir book of their own, I was asked to talk to students at my high school in Moorestown, NJ. It’s slightly surreal to return to the place you came from as a quasi-celebrity (emphasis, quasi); my first attempt at journalism was a movie review for The Voice, my high school newspaper. I went on to edit that paper, one advised by the uber-cool Perri Geller, who now goes by Perri Geller-Clark, and remains the adult heart and soul of the public school’s journalism program. I saw her, and a few other familiar faces last week—what a kick.
But the biggest kick was seeing some 80 new faces, students who were interested in writing, or storytelling, or just wanted an excuse to bust out of their other classes so hear some old guy tell his story (including how I was once suspended for broadcasting a simulated sex tape over the school’s PA system; good times). When I was done yapping, I asked them for their story (in, of course, six words), and they shined. Above is a lovely six-word memoir from Grace, who reveals, “Urban hippie loves sunshine and rain.” Below are a few more six-word memoirs from MHS teens. If you’re reading this MHS—or any teens for that matter—make sure you submit your six-word memoirs at SMITHTeens. And thanks for not throwing spitballs.
We thought we were impressed when the students from the Writopia writing program sent in their six-word memoirs. They were sensitive, thoughtful, and clever. Some were mega-meta, spanning Hemingway to high school and back again. But that was nothing compared to the talent and poise these kids exude in person.
Reading at the beautiful Jefferson Market Branch of the NYPL, they shared poetry about Woody Allen, memoir about t-shirt selling, and even a screenplay about unlikely friendships. Seeing how much they were capable of made us all the more honored to be specially invited for a six-word memoir segment. We answered a few questions about book publishing, signed our book, and asked the young writers to sign theirs.
Larry said he thought there was “something in the water” making this generation so much smarter than we were (are?) but it’s also just more evidence of how many stories there are inside everyone, regardless of age or background. Tell them. Ask for them. Make your own books and read in the streets. Oh yeah, and invite us to come!
“Remember to masturbate before meeting ex.”
“The psychic said I’d be richer.”
“Mexican and Jewish: I love carnitas.”
These were the sweet six-word sounds from the crowd of more than 100 people who crammed into Clarion Alley in San Francisco for SMITH Magazine’s six-word memoir slam during the world-famous Litcrawl earlier this month. We even had our first “duet” six-word memoir from a couple who told the story of how they decided to come out on that very evening and join us in the alley: She: “You’re no fun.” He: “Yes I am.” And that’s six.
Pictured above: Second from the left (sitting) is Charles “On the playground, alone. 1970, today” Warren and Daniel Handler, whose love and heartbreak memoirs you’ll see below. Behind him (standing) is my sister Susie “Ran east, ran west, ran late” Smith, and Deb “Don’t marry a lawyer, be one” Schneider.
Among the special guests were Jolene Scarella, a nurse in the East Bay who arrived in scrubs and told a story about how she used the six-word memoir form to break through to a really tough Leukemia patient; writer and artist Lisa Brown, who talked about the bigger meaning behind her six-word memoir and iliustration, “I thought I would be taller” (which is among the 100 new memoirs in the expanded, hardcover, deluxe, “wow, what a great gift, man” six-word memoir book) and her husband, Daniel Handler, who closed the night and brought down the house with 10 six-word memoirs on love and heartbreak. This selection appears in the order in which they occurred in his life.
Our song: Pat Benetar’s “We Belong.”
Her father challenged me to duel.
Met in Israel, split like Palestine.
Summer 1988. Parents still hate me.
What we had in common: dorm.
Taught me to drink Wild Turkey.
Crazy unfaithful liar, now a therapist.
Met on rebound, seventeen years now.
That last six-word memoir, about his wife Lisa Brown, is a love story indeed.
As excited as we are bout our forthcoming Teen book and Love book, there are some things we just can’t do—like your very own, full color, fully illustrated six-word memoir not-so-secret diary. Check out this amazing livejournal spread!
SMITH is in San Francisco for Litquake, a week-long festival of readings, panels, and parties. We’re thrilled to be a part of Litquake with a Six-Word Memoir Reading & Slam this Saturday, October 11 at 8:30 in Clarion Alley, between 17th & 18th Streets, Mission and Valencia Streets. On hand will be some famous & obscure contributors telling the backstories behind their six-word memoirs from our first book, Not Quite What I Was Planning: Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous & Obscure (a deluxe, hardcover expanded edition is just out and I’m told is quite a good gift….), and our next one, Six-Word Memoirs on Love & Heartbreak (Daniel Handler fans are in for a real treat). Then we open it up to anyone in the audience to take part in a Six-Word Slam. We’ve done these all over the country, and we’re always blown away by what the audience comes up with. This is good stuff.
Our event is part of the world-famous Lit Crawl, a literary roll of readings, slams, and open mics in the bookstores, bars, cafes, and alleys of the Mission from writers for McSweeney’s, Opium, ReadyMade, Manic D Press, and other literary wonders of the western world. Six-word memoir contributor and editor of the Big Ugly Review, Elizabeth Bernstein, calls Lit Crawl her “favorite night of the year.” Hey you: come crawl with us.
I talk a lot about how the concept of Six-Word Memoirs takes on a life bigger than Hemingway or SMITH Magazine could have imagined. From classrooms to funerals, sports sites to spinning classes, theater groups and churches across the land, six-word memoirs have served as a powerful form of personal expression. Anyone can write one. It’s just six words. All you need to do is ask.
In the last week, two emails arrived from people who asked. Both work in hospitals.
Jolene, a nurse in Oakland, CA, tells this story about a patient with Leukemia:
So I was taking care of this 21 yr old guy who has had Leukemia since he’s been 8 yrs old. he’s pretty debilitated, is wasting away right now—a very sad case. I brought in your book and asked him to come up w/ his own 6word memoir. He thought about it for about 2 minutes (mind you before that i could barely get him to engage w/ me, he was extremely depressed as you can imagine). He then just blurted out: “fat man eats pie then farts.” It’s a metaphor for life you see, we indulge ourselves then we die.
A woman named Abby tells us about six-word memoirs from her teens at a psychiatric hospital in Forest Park, IL:
Dear SMITH,
I am a teacher at a Psychiatric Hospital. I recently discovered 6 Word Memoirs and my team and I presented them to our adolescent (ages 12-18) and young adult (ages 18-24) Inpatient classes. Read more »
SMITH is teaming up with the National Constitution Center (Motto: “We the people”) for a new project, Six Words to Inspire a Nation, in which we ask readers and museum-goers to suggest the half dozen words they want to hear from President-elect Obama at his inauguration on January 20. Submit your words here. Contest ends January 5. Prizes? Yes, we got them, too—and your words could also be displayed in an exhibit at the museum, found in Philadelphia’s historic Independence Mall. It’s a very special place, and SMITH is honored to join forces for this people-powered six-word challenge. My entry? “Our long national nightmare is over.” What’s yours?
