Have you ever heard of the six-word memoir, or had to write one in school? If not, here is how Larry Smith, the creator, explains them:
Since 2006, I’ve been challenging people to describe their lives in six words, a form I call the six-word memoir — a personal twist on the legendary six-word story attributed to Ernest Hemingway: “For sale: baby shoes, never worn.”
In 2020, Mr. Smith challenged people to write special ones:
I’ve found that some of the most memorable six-word stories arise in the extremes — during our toughest and most joyous moments. So over the past several months, I’ve asked adults and children around the country to use the form to make sense of this moment in history: one person, one story, and six words at a time.
If you were given such a challenge, what might you write?
Here are just some of the memoirs people sent to Mr. Smith, and you can read many more in his guest essay, “The Pandemic in Six-Word Memoirs” — or by looking at the 1,000-plus submissions readers added in the comments on that article.
Not a criminal, but running masked. — Stella Kleinman
Every day’s a bad hair day. — Leigh Giza
Deserted crowded Manhattan, my own island … — Elisa Shevitz
Eighth hour of YouTube. Send Help! — Leela Chandra
Messy hair, messy room, messy thoughts. — Lily Herman
Tuning out parents, under my headphones. — Lukas Smith
Cleaned Lysol container with Lysol wipe. — Alex Wasser
Required school supplies: screens, screens, screens. — Darshana Chandra
Students, read all the selections, then tell us:
Which of the six-word memoirs do you like best? Why?
Which can you relate to most?
What do you notice about the ones you like best? What aspects of pandemic life do they capture? Are your favorites funny? Sad? Profound? Silly?
Before you write your own pandemic six-word memoir and post it to our comments, keep in mind that the examples you read above were published in Sept. 2020, and it’s now over a year later. What comes to mind when you think about the last year, or even the 19 months since quarantines first began? What small details of your life seem especially interesting, poignant, funny or relatable?
Finally, tell us: What is your six-word pandemic memoir? Post one or more ideas in our comments section.
