CONTEST & EVENT: Six Words on NYC @ The 92nd Street Y
Sunday, January 3rd, 2010
On January 24, SMITH is having a very special event at the 92nd Street Y to celebrate the release our next Six-Word Memoir book, It All Changed in an Instant: More Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous & Obscure.. We’ll talk about the brilliance of brief writing with A.J. Jacobs, Amy Sohn, and Ben Yagoda, and have lots of audience participation (so come armed with a Six-Word Memoir). We’re also holding a contest: What’s your Six-Word Memoir about your life in New York? From “Husband. Kids. Park Slope. You know,” “Girls from the Bronx are different,” “New Yorker: everything pisses me off,” and New York’s own Neil LaBute who says, in six words, “Writing is easy. Life is hard,” everyone has a New York story (even folks who don’t live here). And everyone loves a prize. We have a bunch of great ones.
• SIX people will have their Six-Word Memoir turned into a song by Michael Hearst of One Ring Zero;
• SIX people will get free admission to the event and be invited on stage to read his or her memoir;
• SIX people will be picked, at random, to win a gift package of Harper books, including the newest Six-Word Memoir book, It All Changed in An Instant.
All SMITH readers get 25 percent discounted admission. Use the code: SWM when purchasing tickets.
Submit your six on yourself/NYC in the comments area of this post by January 18, 5pm EST.
Photo: “Ghosts of New York,” courtesy of Flickr user thomashawk.
Swarming with yellow cabs, busy people.
Midwesterner dusts self off, deep breath.
Midwestern girl takes New York. Gulp.
Midwestern girl meets New Yorker. Soulmates.
Sexy billboards. Yellow cabs. Great food.
Intimidated by the trains. I’ll walk.
Explosion of people, honking cars, smells.
Something for everyone in New York.
Are the hot dogs, pretzels sanitary?
Sea of black-clothed, harried, skinny people.
I perfected the art of subletting.
CIty view from the Ferry? Perfection.
Not New. Not York. Not Perfect.
Upper West to Lower East: HIPSTER!
Lawyer to blogger - WAY more fun.
No, Mom, haven’t met him yet…
One bedroom apartments always too expensive.
Always say I’ll leave, but can’t!
Hate paying cabs airport flat fees.
Sudoku on subway makes ride faster.
Suitcases on subway, not very smart.
Message to tourists: Please keep walking.
Like mac and cheese? Try Fetch’s.
Absolutely the best planet on earth.
Dreaming of a Gramercy Park key.
city sediment exoskeleton seals you inside
Too many parks closed for construction.
Always someone around, except at home.
Can’t see sunrise, even if awake.
What’ve you done for me lately?
Bright sky always blocks celestial events
Just another Jew in New York.
Expensive, exhausting, and weirdly great.
No pay, job security, literary mag.
Still using urbandictionary.com after four years.
Can’t move. Considered old maid elsewhere.
Able to sleep through siren wails.
So much to do. Let’s drink.
The only pets allowed are mice.
Could eat pizza for every meal.
FourSquaring EVill. Consuming LES. Learning BK
Conceive it, then find it here
Foot run over by taxi cab.
New York: “How tough are you?”
Six years in Village. Burnt Out.
New York: “Who are you really?”
Stepped in vomit. Trial by fire.
Car door opens. Biker goes flying.
After NYU moved back to NJ….
I’m just glad that I left.
Heard “slow down” and started laughing
Sleep is for amateurs… and sheep
I miss my gay ex-roommate.
Commuters only lose half our souls.
Most every man gay–Lucky Me!
Can’t make it here, or anywhere.
Get to Carnegie? Blowjobs, blowjobs,blowjobs.
Subway performers make more than me.
Brooklyn born. Left briefly. I’m back.
I use my oven for storage.
Graveyard shift benefit: free car service.
Moving back if the car sells.
Not on my subway line? Dealbreaker.
Elbowed groper on the E train.
Six Years. Three cab rides. WALK.
Scowled at Olive Garden in Times Square.
Morning coffee vendor: Most successful relationship.
Another Christmas tree home via subway.
Journalist. Where’s my Carrie Bradshaw wardrobe?
The bodega guys are my doormen.
Arrived Manhattan, partied Brooklyn, settled Queens.
Giant inflatables. Street sex. Williamsburg nineties.
Shaved legs, hairy armpits. Williamsburg, 1990.
Dreamed of Broadway, got Jackson Heights.
Two kids, three shows, no money.
Brooklyn, not Manhattan, center of world.
He was my subletter. Married him.
Brooklyn. Everything happened to me here.
Dogs have taken over my city.
Let me flirt with famous men.
Snuck into Ritz Carlton. Bathroom sex.
Actor. Waited tables for ten years.
Why so educated and so underpaid?
The street smells like poo everyday.
Merchant Ivory girl, Coyote Ugly world.
Must stir egg cream with pretzel.
Concrete steps’ best use? Stoop ball.
Bright city lights awaken childhood memories
Trains Going By, My White Noise
Cats make more sense than dogs
Yes, I was raised in Manhattan
Have trust fund I do not
Acting. Art. Still striving for it.
Everybody’s a damn journalist around here.
Subway cutie. Eye contact. Smile. Gone.
No job, no apartment, still dreaming.
Blackberry blood stained his murderous fingers.
Happy Brooklyn kid. Then we moved.
I woke up and couldn’t breathe.
Best cure for empty nest syndrome.
I, too, love this dirty town.
Just like I pictured it. Not.
I am writing new life story.
I believe in miracles, don’t you?
I speak but few will understand.
Energy is the base of life.
Think happy thought. Live happy life.
Share the love if you dare.
No more hope. Time to go.
This man stinks. I’m outta here!
This town rocks! Glad I’m here!
Told new story. Got happy ending.
Difficult childhood led to happy midlife.
Uber-creative thoughts have brought happy heart.
Complain, cry, smile, learn, grow, bloom.
Roller coaster ride led me here.
Pretty little girl became friendly introvert.
Never took expected route. Happy trails.
Not an angry New Yorker yet.
Big apple has some big worms.
I’m not in Missouri any more.
Staten Island ferry in wedding dress.
Tourist, get the * outta my way
After six years, no more suitcase.
City–not a toy–can suffocate.
Can’t have simultaneously: job, apt, relationship.
6th floor walkup: my own penthouse.
Have never had a driver’s license.
NY: All others orbit around it.
What accent? Shut the fuck up.
Jay-Z continued where Sinatra left off.
“STAND CLEAR OF THE CLOSING DOORS”
I’m well travelled, through many faces
I can do whatever I want
Ever present, you continue to inspire!
Never thought I’d live in Brooklyn.
No nail clipping on the subway!
“Accidentally” got felt up on subway.
Not your stereotypical nice Jewish girl.
Summering in Brighton Beach beats Hamptons
Originally from Jersey, lie about it.
Born and Raised: Nobody like me.
Both my dads drive taxi cabs.
I love picnics on tenement roofs.
The Projects are beautiful at night.
Got mugged twice. Still won’t relocate.
Jaywalking’s against the law? Yeah, right.
Our gardens grow on fire escapes.
What happened to my Hell’s Kitchen ?
way too crowded. moved to boston.
Hell’s Kitchen was my childhood playground
Going to Fairway. Dreading the crowds.
Hudson River. Not just a runway.
Miss NY down to my toes.
NY- it is in my soul.
New York always on my mind.
ribald ditties. flying-v ukulele. polarizing society!
famous but poor. how’s that work?
Fast asleep in wide awake city
Head shrunk. Still Screwy. Just smaller.
Magical couch shrinks head. Wallet, too.
Sammy’s Romanian
chopped liver.
Heaven calls.
Greatest concert ever heard - in subway.
I tell time by street lights.
Stop and go. Just like life.
Arms stretched out. Sweetness in goodbye.
On occasion, I want to cry.
Submarine heart stick in subway car.
Life underground, head in the clouds.
Dirt under my nails. Successful day.
You were a glimpse, a breath.
I walk taller in this city.
Butch woman lovingly call me shorty.
So many things I want to do.
That’s her photo in the subway
People pile in for faster train.
I wonder if they look too.
Same thing everyday, always new people.
Won’t forget but won’t look back.
You were nothing and everything simultaneously.
Dim Sum took over Little Italy.
Katz’s hot dogs–
Worth the trip.
Watching tourists pose with Bulls balls.
WARNING! Don’t doze on the subway.
Ya love it–
Ya hate it.
Don’t eat Street–
It’s mystery meat.
TVs in taxis–
Is nothing sacred?
Cold and dingy, yet so necessary.
Want to be on “Cash Cab”!
City of lights and broken dreams…
Made it there. Next stop: Anywhere.
Be whatever you want to be
Bagels, Pizza, Burgers - what you got?
“Empire State of Mind”: Hellz Ya!
Subway chatter, a whole new religion
” Moved uptown, didn’t like it much.”
“West End Ave, it’s just weird.”
“Sighting both Olsen twins same day.”
“Buying dope outta hot-dog cart.”
Moving fast. Living fast. Thinking slow.
Rain today.
Cash Cab?
RIght answer!
Living big. Ignorant of the world.
I’m first. Move. Get over it.
Will guard parking spot for food.
Party talk:
Real estate.
Real estate.
The super wants a bigger tip.
Pass a law-
No more revivals.
HELP FEED HUNGRY!
Carnegie Hall
Just
Practice practice practice
Statue of Liberty
Big stoned chick
I thank God I’m an atheist.
Never lived. Childhood dream. Still wistful.
Backpack, hostel, Grey’s Papaya. Delicious experience.
Beep. Beep. No. I’m not sorry.
The lights get in my way
Too many people. I like it.
It’s like we forgot about sleeping
“Four-story McDonald’s, ten feet wide.”
“Chalked body outline, by my door.”
“Beer and sandwich, $35.00 Bus Station.”
“Slept in park till people explained.”
Always asked cabbies, “where ya from?”
“City never sleeps - but I gotta!”
sky line, sky divine, sky scape
Central Park dog party. Who knew?
Fallen “truly” in love countless times.
Gray’s still has it. Hotdogs FTW!
Venti Peppermint White Mocha No Whip
We left and can’t get back.
They won’t let us back in.
We’re stuck in second rate Boston.
Red Sox Yankees who fucking cares?
We just want to go home.
100 mil buys you 50.7 percent.
We rode the twin towers elevator.
Someone returned a package I dropped.
We saw the Broadway show, Cats.
Four people share at Stage Deli.
I’ve never seen so many limo’s.
The ball dropped, then we separated.
Going uptown, saw her going crosstown.
No where else knows a schmear.
Block the box–
Pay the man.
I miss old Jewish cab drivers.
Every waiter’s an actor.
Or dancer.
Botique hotels translates to tiny rooms.
Fifteen dollar martinis.
Don’t forget tip.
Street corner Rolex.
Another lesson learned.
Made eye contact.
Another lesson learned.
Rowing in Central Park.
Pocket fisherman.
Take pictures of people taking pictures.
Grand Central Station.
Sure is busy!
Magical, camera stolen but memories remain.
Empire State Building.
Sure is tall.
Wish I was in New Orleans.
One year studying Art in 1997
Loneliness;strewn broken umbrellas, life passing.
single, unemployed. Can only get better.
No beginning or ending in sight.
Never take a toddler to Macy’s.
Outsider everywhere else. At home here.
Never been there. I have illusions.
Everyone has a taxi cab story
NYC took my Minnesota cousin’s sanity.
Great food.
Beautiful women.
Dog-poo everywhere.
Rainy day.
Senegalise umbrella vendors appear.
Came lonely, left the same way.
The bold and the beautiful everywhere.
Empire of dreams; hole of horror.
no more resolutions, make the change
From the bottom, only go up.
Learning SAT words, cant speak truth.
Who could ever live anywhere else?
Please no fifth floor walk ups
NOT like Sex in the City
Best Place ever for people watching
Harder than you thought…worth it
NOT like Sex and the City
Writer Dreamer Blogger–Like Everyone Else
I star in a taxi-tv commercial.
Was the first fired NYC blogger.
Got fired for having a blog.
I’m a west coaster now, damn!
I am New York - you, too.
I’m in love with my city.
The convenience is awfully inconveniently awful.
Never before left. Now know why.
he had finally tamed the shrew
No heat or hot water today.
Brimming with opportunity, says small-town girl.
The chick flicks portray it correctly…
If I can make it there…
—
Left San Francisco before I got soft
—
How can I afford all this?
—
Finally understand why people never leave
—
It’s amazing what can happen here.
—
Drag queens, Douchebags, Derelicts, Desperation, Dreams
—
I’ve gained 20 pounds of carbs
—
It’s an accomplishment to turn heads.
—
Never knew I needed designer handbag
Fortress of buildings, courtyard of streets.
Viewing Twin Towers’ hole from McDonald’s
Air conditioned subway is cool relief
Too noisy to walk and talk
Artists, vendors, Wall Street wonders, me
Tourists walk so god damn slow!
I’ve had some crazy cab rides.
Drugs Galore. Sound Factory. Roxy. Exit.
One night stand, turned into years.
So many sexy men are gay…
Shopping Spree. Fifth Avenue. In Debt.
Girl sucks my dick in cab.
broad shoulders, giant hearts, enormous spirits
tall buildings, many people, stars everywhere
don’t GET courage, use have it!
New York is my Mount Everest.
I miss Times Square porno theaters.
My apartment door has four deadbolts.
Take three trains to school everyday.
Eight years. Three dorms. Four apartments.
From Manhattan to Brooklyn … and back
Five boroughs of endless horn honking.
I’m only rude for the tourists.
It built us, it broke us.
Does the naked cowboy get cold?
Tiny apartments. Huge prices. Worth it?
Love the energy. Do without smells.
Want to blend in? Wear black.
Was flashed on train. Kept looking.
Still can’t get into Jersey Boys.
Met real Jersey boy in Missouri.
Passed Regis on Columbus again today
Texan at heart. New York soul.
Stop thinking: just make it happen.
Our doormen see everything, say nothing.
I saw something; I said something.
Stayed clear of the closing doors.
Taxi’s weave yellow ribbons through skyscrapers.
Lady Liberty in harbor–welcomes all.
83rd story platform. Heady, glorious view.
Twin Towers, gone–saddens my heart.
Ground Zero–let’s raise it up.
King Kong, Wray, Empire State Building.
Apples: Jonathans, Delicious, Golden, New York.
Times Square, Broadway, Canal Street–must sees!
Looking for Cash Cab, Ben Bailey.
Experience awe, excitement–in New York.
Travelled long to see Liberty–worthwhile.
Loved my visit. Lifetime memories, images.
Sites worth travelling miles to see.
We will never, ever forget 9-11.
Complex city of hobos and heroes.
pregnant, alone, cold, light, chaos, calm.
Quirky, opinionated. Not likely understood elsewhere.
Perpetual walker; devourer of sidewalks, caffeine.
Overly curious, but unwilling subway eavesdropper
Grateful dogs permitted to even snootiest places
First-time visitors pack a neck brace.
I want to meet Donald Trump.
Wish I could kick like Rockettes.
Diversity, reality and celebrity equals unpredictability.
Don’t expect grass, trees or cows.
Concrete canyon winter wind whistles whoosh.
City is black and white…cookies.
Potstickers, pierogi, Pad Thai, pickles, PIZZA!
Brooklyn sounds like Good Humor bells.
Buses splash melting snow…oh no!
Sunday Times, bagel, schmear, regular coffee.
Night is bright in neon light.
Chestnut carts warm the frosty air.
Scallops and Nesselrode Pie at Lundy’s.
Tabasco-French fries slip-up at Nathan’s.
Watching Tuesday fireworks from nana’s roof.
Any subway line united we ride.
Oy ve, it’s settled let’s eat.
here, traffic signals are a suggestion.
where taxis play ‘kill the pedestrian’.
Once, Hell’s kitchen was living hell.
kind. cruel. astounding. unique. new york.
best two years of my life.
baby boy conceived in turtle bay.
Empire state building; how many proposals?
Beautiful smile; local passing expressions.
Third date - Awkward smiles across tracks.
Recession drags. Starving artists still starving.
Holiday present: passing a teary banker.
Still living with our exes. Swap?
Heartbroken. 6 month sublet available!
Devouring frank. Sex or hot dog?
in time. Oyster Bar: step back
Illegal projects apiary. What a buzz!
Subway waiting game: name that fluid!
Another Starbucks, brewing unpublished authors.
Russian Brighton Beach. Da? Net! Blyat…
Geez, that’s unealieveblb. Kudos and such.
Ah yes, nicely put, evneyoer.
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