In the spirit of Valentine’s Day, SMITHTeens and teen fiction community Figment.com invited young romantics and cynics alike to share their stories of love and heartbreak in the form of a six-word love letter or break-up note.
We received hundreds of sixers in response, along with their brief backstories on Figment, exploring the ups, downs and unexpected loop de loops of dating life. But in the end there could only be one winner invited to bare soul on stage at our annual Valentine’s Day storytelling show at the 92YTribeca in New York. Today, we are very excited to announce that honor goes to 16 year-old Jackie Yang for her intriguing six-word letter: “A goodbye is a thank you.”
Currently living in Tampa, Florida, Jackie will appear virtually on Thursday night, reading her winning entry on video. A response to a real letter she says was ”written to me by a very special person,” Jackie’s note won our hearts with lines like, “I appreciate that you have spent so much time and effort on us, despite the fact that you have to squeeze hours out of your jam-packed days just to study for the next national math competition.”
We’re thrilled to welcome Jackie to a lineup that includes A.J. Jacobs, Catie Lazarus, Ophira Eisenberg and more! Along with their bevy of backstories, it promises to be an amazing evening of storytelling, starting with a Happy Hour at 6 p.m. and ending with a ‘Six-Word Slam’ in which anyone in the audience can share six words on first loves, recent heartbreaks, or any part of life. We’ll have prizes, golden tickets and heart-shaped gummy bears to share with the audience. We hope to see you there and thank everyone who participated in the contest!
Details:
February 14, 2013
Happy Hour: 6-7pm
Show: 7-8:30pm
92YTribeca, 200 Hudson St., NYC Advance tickets (recommended): just $10!
It may cold and gray for much of February, but in the flower world the middle of the month brings forth a warmer shade of gold. The savvy short-form scribe who writes a six-word caption we fall in love with will win $50 on Shutterfly. Share your six words by 5pm EST on Friday, Feb. 15 in the comments area below to describe the situation you see above. Each entry should be a separate comment and you can submit up to 10 entries; read the official rules for more details.
Contest #16 winning caption describing the photo from last week’s contest is “A sunset’s worth a thousand spotlights.” by TFerguson. Thanks to all who entered—we heart you more than you know.
After a little holiday break the Six-Word Memoir Caption Contest is back. One smart and spirited short-form scribe who describes this heartbreaking photo (hint: it’s really only heartbreaking if you’re a 49ers fan) will win $50 on Shutterfly. Share your six words by 5pm EST on Friday, Feb. 8 in the comments area below to describe the situation you see above. Each entry should be a separate comment and you can submit up to 10 entries; read the official rules for more details.
Contest #15 winning caption to describe the spinning Santa found in this blog post is “Economy’s tough–I deliver sandwiches, too!” by Autumn22. Didn’t win? Pick yourself up and get right back on the bike this week.
Whether you’re heartbroken or head over heels, Valentine’s Day tends to stir up a lot of strong feelings. Especially when you’re in high school. We get it and we’re here to help. Whatever strong sentiment the Hallmark holiday brings up about relationships past, present and fictional, SMITHTeens want to hear about it! In fact, we’re joining forces with our friends at teen fiction hub Figment.com to give teens the chance to say it in six, share the backstory and potentially win a spot in SMITH and Figment’s amazing LIVE Valentine’s Day show in New York alongside stars of the NYC storytelling scene!
How do they enter? Easy! Teens can submit their stories in two ways:
- Go to SMITHTeens and write a six-word love letter or a six-word breakup letter in the comment thread of this post.
- Go to Figment.com and write a story of 500 words or less about a relationship starting or a relationship ending.
**Important Note:** Make sure your story title on Figment is the same as your six-word love letter or six-word breakup letter on SMITHTeens. Your two pieces should be related in some way. They can be about a real relationship you’ve had or witnessed, or they can be about a fictional relationship.
Submit your entries on both sites by Sunday, Feb 4th (11:59 pm est), and you could win the opportunity to read both of your pieces live or via video at our amazing Valentine’s Day event “It’s Like My Heart Has Sciatica” SMITH Mag’s Annual Love & Heartbreak Story Show in New York on February 14th.
Read the official rules here for more detail than you probably want. And remember to enter over at SMITHTeens and Figment (memoirs in comments area below aren’t eligible).
Although usually we feature individual classrooms and their Six-Word Memoir feats of creativity, we’re flipping the script this month to share an amazing video project created by students, staff and teachers alike. Meet our newest “Classroom of the Month”, Vermont Academy, a small boarding school in Saxtons River, VT, nestled against a picturesque, quintessentially New England backdrop of rolling (currently snow-covered) hills. VA prides itself on delving outside strictly traditional learning/teaching styles opting instead for a more active, hands-on educational experience. “From dawn to dusk, our students are busy and engaged in a variety of academic and athletic activities that challenge their brains and force them to engage with one another and with nature.” If you’ve already watched the brilliantly vivacious Six-Word Memoir video above, you’ll know that these are some talented students and faculty members.
VA has a weekly writing prompt as part of their Writing and Speaking Across the Curriculum Program—where every week a different community member reads a piece of writing at the Community Meeting—but this particular project was unique in that it was school-wide. “It was a great way to pull our school community together,” says Erin Cohn, a Writing and Speaking Across the Curriculum Program Coordinator. There’s something about Six-Word Memoirs that seem to bring people together into a wonderfully literary, like-minded community. A few favorite Six-Word Memoirs from the video span a spectrum of emotions, from the inspirational to the musical, to the lackadaisical:
“Adversity is unavoidable but not insurmountable.”
“Planned on rock stardom by now.”
“10:00 PM–This is all I’ve done.”
“Know-it-all learns to reconsider.”
“Warned, resisted, lost. I’m my mother.”
“My story is still being written.”
The beauty of the Six-Word Memoir form is that it’s universal. No matter who you are, where you’re from, whether you love or loathe writing, are 7 or 53, anyone and everyone can write the short, short story of his or her life. This month’s featured classroom is a small writing workshop based in Texas. The students of Rawson Saunders School—a full curriculum school for first grade through eighth grade in Austin, TX dedicated to the education of children with dyslexia— are bright, out-of-the-box thinkers who have struggled with reading and written expression. Historically their writing (mostly spelling and organization) has not been indicative of their intellect often causing them frustration and defeat.
Kat DeWees and Lisa Laville teach the workshop, comprised of eight middle school students recommended by an Academic Language Therapist. Daily workshop activities include listening to a short published work of writing and being guided through a mini lesson on a variety of literary genres. “The workshop is designed to give the students ownership of their writing but most importantly an uninterrupted block of time in which to write,” DeWees says. A couple of the students had some heartwarming sentiments to add: “It’s like writing yoga…so peaceful.” “Two teachers + eight students = enough personal attention…finally!”
Dewees found that the students absolutely loved the simple Six-Word Memoir writing format.
“They feel liberated by having to only produce six words in a concise, poetic format. This is especially important to dyslexic students as they have experienced angst and ridicule surrounding written expression and quantity has been an encumbrance,” she says.
As the students write, edit and revise their sixes, they begin to gain confidence in their stories and themselves. Throughout the year, the budding young authors also get a chance to share their work with faculty, peers, family, and the community. “They begin to believe they are a valued member of a much greater literary society—something they had never dreamed possible…” Check out some of the students illustrated Six-Word Memoirs below.
‘Tis the season to share six words. One smart and spirited short-form scribe will win the gift of $50 on Shutterfly. This week’s Six-Word Caption Contest runs two weeks, so you have until 5pm EST on Friday, Jan. 4 to submit a six-word caption in the comments area below to describe the situation you see above. Each entry should be a separate comment and you can submit up to 10 entries; read the official rules for more details.
Last week’s winning caption to describe the funny face found in this blog post is “The world is ending WHEN?,” by SteveG. Didn’t win? Hang tough and keep playing—it’s not the end of the world, or even the end of the Six-Word Caption Contest.
This book celebrates a number if firsts in the Six-Word Memoir world: our first book that’s entirely illustrated memoirs (and, always, the words and images are all the creation of the memoirist). It’s our first book solely by students, from grade school to grad school. It’s also our first ebook and cost just $2.99. You can get it or gift it on iTunes, Amazon or BN.com. To read it on your iPhone or iPad, you’ll need to download the free TED Books app as well.
Things Don’t Have to Be Complicated is also a reminder about all the different interpretations of the six-word prompt. In the Bronx, students in Leah Ruediger’s third-grade class offered raw works about their just-starting lives with memoirs such as, “My goal is to pass college.” Across town at Parsons New School of Design in Manhattan, 20 graduate students in Noel Claro’s illustration class created intricate mosaics of their own lives in progress coupled with precise language, with results such as “Martha Stewart: sans jail and Asian.” Six-Word Memoirs are a popular prompt in art as well as writing classrooms at Rawson Saunders School in Austin, Texas, a K-8 school exclusively for children with dyslexia, where memoirist Megan Schlab wrote, “Got lost in the clearance aisle.” Read more »
Face it: six words to win $50 Shutterfly is a ton of fun. To enter this week’s contest leave a six-word caption to describe this photo you see here in the comments area below by 5pm EST this Friday, Dec. 21. Each entry should be separate comment and you can submit up to 10 entries; read the official rules for more details.
Last week we sent in the clowns and you responded with witty words to describe the photo found in this blog post. And the winning six is… “At least we’re not mimes again,” by Wolfie. Thanks to all who entered—no fooling.
SMITH and Shutterfly’s Six-Word Caption Contest continues as we seek your six words that describe the photo you see above. One concise clown will win a gift certificate for $50 for Shutterfly. Leave your six-word caption in the comments area below by 5pm EST this Friday, Dec. 14. Each entry should be separate comment and you can submit up to 10 entries; read the official rules for more details.
Doggonit was it tough to pick a winner among the hundreds of smart and witty puppies this past week who shared six words to describe the playful Christmas scene seen in this blog post. And the winning six is… “Ralph never knew he was adopted,” by H2point0. Thanks to all who got into the spirit of the contest—tis the season to be six-y.
