Name: Kathi Wright
Place: Near Sequoia National Park, Calif.
SMITH member since: March, 2008

A fling that began five years ago continues today. Although she does not recall precisely how she stumbled upon SMITH, Kathi Wright was hooked from the moment she found us. Since joining SMITH in 2008, Kathi has been flirtatious with her submissions (nearly 300). This sporadic, yet consistent collection captures her gratitude for motherhood, humble introspection, and independent spirit.

By day, Kathi is a secretary at an alternative continuation high school in California. Rooted “on the juniper fringes of the Sequoia National Forest,” she is full of love, full of hope, and sometimes, full of howls—a theme that echoes in many of her stories.

She is a proud mother (“Full moon rising, birthed a star”), overflowing with love for her daughter and, more recently, her grandson (“The Man Cub” in the My Life So Far project). Although her path has been peppered with chaos, and a love of her own has proven more elusive, Kathi has maintained her passion and humor. Her story “August Train,” offers a window into a bohemian lust for adventure that is undeniable. Learn more about May’s Memoirist of the Month as Kathi Wright answers six questions about her life and writing.

When did you start writing, and what have been turning points in your creative life?
There isn’t a time I can point to and say that is when I started writing. It is a long-standing pleasure of mine. I have always been a great observer and listener, and I think a natural progression has been to write and capture what our senses trace. In kindergarten, I used to fill the top edges of my drawings with random letters, pretending I was writing a great story. Later, I preferred writing letters as a means of correspondence to that of a simple phone call. I have a gypsy streak, and find adventure in a road trip, open roads have drawn me to places where I’ve found beauty and depth that I then settled into. This gypsy wrote reams of letters home to family and friends.

I worked for Cesar Chavez for nearly three years as a legal assistant; spent one cold and dirty spring working in potato cellars in Idaho, worked in a library, and as a cocktail waitress; have counted spruce bud-worms for the USFS, written for a small-town newspaper, and worked as a Special Education Aide in a juvenile probation camp whose wards were violent gang-affiliated offenders.

Those experiences, and others, blended into a wild and sometimes raw stew of memories and stories, events that shaped my life, creative and otherwise. The birth of my daughter was truly a turning point in my life; the need became great to write about her, to put pen to paper, to regularly remember and record life events. She was verbal at a young age, and so filled me with wonder and awe. I don’t think I had ever laughed with such abandon or loved so unconditionally until I gave birth. It was the two of us, alone together, tangled up in diapers and love.

My life has been humble, but full of grace. I have found the greatest pleasures in the smallest, albeit wondrous, moments of my life.

Can you share a favorite Six-Word Memoir, Moment or other story of yours and tell us why it’s meaningful to you?
Of all of my SMITH stories, I would have to choose “August Train,” [from the "My Life So Far" project] because of the magical quality of the random and unexpected events that came together to make one unforgettable, dream-like 24-hour period of time.

What authors inspire you or do you admire?
I am an avid reader and enjoy many authors. Barbara Kingsolver, Anne Lamott (especially Operating Instructions), Connie May Fowler (everything), Ayelet Waldman, (The Bad Mother was so brutally honest and I so admire her), Diane Ackerman (have you read A Natural History of the Senses?), Daniel Woodrell, James Lee Burke (he captures all of the human senses in his writing and he will answer you if you happen to write to him), Louise Erdrich, Craig Allen Johnson, and many others.

Is there someone’s writing on SMITH that’s especially moved you?
The first memoir I favorited on SMITH was by a member named Emily Pandise, who wrote, “There was more laughter than tears.” I related to that after traveling a somewhat convoluted and oft-rocky path through my life. Through it all, what is important to me is the laughter and joy and friendships made along the way.

I connect with stories about triumph over adversity, for the most part, but not solely. Javagirl’s recent story, Day One, about her son’s childhood diagnosis of autism, ending with his pending college graduation, brought me to my knees.

There are many other wordsmiths on the site, from then to now, whose words have sent me into fits of laughter or brought tears to my eyes or caused me to ponder the mysteries of life. We share so much through such diverse lives—somewhat like being on the same page in different books. Our submitted stories and memoirs prove we are filled with grit and gumption and undeniable heart. So many of your words strike a chord within me, and I thank you for baring your souls, and toes, your fishnets and hats, losses and triumphs, full moons, and sunsets.

When you’re not writing, what do you enjoy doing?
Seeking out wild places, learning to fly fish, reading, photography, crafting, Zumba, yoga.

Finally, Kathi Wright, what’s your Six-Word Memoir for today?
This life; a beautiful, winding road.

The students were encouraged to notice not just the words used in the memoirs but also the positioning of the words on the page and the book’s overall design. The class then went on to explore the Six-Word Memoir project as a greater movement by checking out some YouTube video compilations, celebrity six-worders and memoirs from teenagers just like them.

Several of the students have IEP’s (Individual Education Plan) and struggle with reading and writing in some capacity; still, as we’ve so often found, the Six-Word Memoir format is for everyone. Although the main focus of their creative writing course this semester was dramatic writing, students took the creative liberty to mix things up by incorporating other forms of creative writing into the curriculum as well. Each student was required to create three to four memoirs of her own, whether funny, sad, serious or random.

“We quickly saw that while some of our students used the format as a way to just express their creativity and silliness others quickly gravitated towards revealing more serious and sad anecdotes from their life experiences,” Platow says.

The memoirs were then used as a jumping off point to talk about grammar and punctuation, from the importance of comma placement to the true use of a semicolon. Finally, the memoirs were proudly hung on a wall on the first floor in an a high traffic area.

Platow adds: “We hope it will be a conversation piece for other students in the school who are learning a lot in only six words about their peers.” Here’s a look at some of the wonderful Six-Word Memoirs from Essex Street Academy.

“Chaotic is my real middle name.” -Zane

“Lost my mind, now I’m here.” -Steven

“Dreams won’t happen till you’ve spoken.” -Elsa

“I love you; Stop doing drugs.” -Aaron

“Six-Word Memoirs taught us a lot about our students and also taught the kids that efficiency of language can be a powerful way to make a point or share something poignant about themselves,” Platow says. A big SMITH Magazine thanks to everyone at Essex Street Academy who shared their Six-Word memoir experiences with us!

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Note: With the 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)

Name: Coleen Goodson
Place: Chicago area,
SMITH member since: May, 2010

Scrolling through the stories of Coleen Goodson, known to regulars of the site as ctgoods2, it’s easy to feel inspired by her true joy of the written word. Coleen has written nearly 2,500 stories on SMITH—from the intimately personal like “Mom disapproved until our 20th anniversary” (her first Six-Word Memoir); to the playfully self-effacing, “Raised by crazies. Keeping up tradition”; to indeed, a perfect sentiment for a community of writers: “Thinking in italics from now on.” A transplant to a small northern Illinois town that’s “a sneeze south of Wisconsin,” Coleen is a wife to one and mom to three who works as an executive administrative assistant by day while dedicating her nights to her family and her writing. Coleen reveals that she first heard about SMITH after receiving a particularly tough critique by a writing teacher: he told her she used too many words. “I was determined to do better on the assignment but really felt at a loss, because of course, I loved all of my own words,” she explains. “So, I Googled, ‘Write a memoir use fewer words.’ SMITH Magazine popped up and I have been a loyal fan/addict ever since!”

Coleen was kind enough to take a pause from her prolific life to tell us about how a Catholic school punishment led to a love of competitive writing and other stories about her life and work in our “Six Questions For…” interview. As always, we’re delighted to send our Member of the Month the Six-Word Memoir T-shirt of her choice courtesy of our friends at Spreadshirt.

When did you start writing, and what have been turning points in your creative life?
I started writing in Catholic grade school, first as penance, then competitively. Sister Alodia was firm in the belief that children should be seen and not heard and I was the unofficial president of the chatterbox club. She sentenced the power talkers to copy stories, word for word, in legible Palmer Method. Needless to say, I only kept quiet while I was writing and ended up working my way right up to The Count of Monte Cristo. Eventually, all that “copy” writing got me interested in school-sponsored writing contests as well as scholarship competitions.

A major turning point in my writing life happened a few years ago. I decided I would write a memoir maybe for publication, maybe not. I took a class geared toward that genre and landed at SMITH after the aforementioned critique. There, I became friends with another member, one whom I refer to as my cyber sister. We shared life stories, sob stories and a few success stories. She was instrumental in kick-starting a stint of paid writing assignments—pop culture feature articles for a successful media company. Her input, encouragement and her good word of my writing ability restored my confidence to write for publication.

Since then, I have continued to write as well as encourage and assist other writers. I recently completed the facilitation of my fifth round of a writers’ Plotting Group. I am please to say that I have helped over thirty writers plot out their novels. Currently, I am working on a short story for a competitive writing challenge. This is the ideal distraction/procrastination from the novel that I intend to complete, hopefully sometime this year.

Can you share a favorite Six-Word Memoir or other story of yours and tell us why it’s meaningful to you?
A SMITH story of mine that is an all time favorite is, “Neither terminal nor contagious. Merely menopause.” This was a true memoir at the time it was written. The situation itself overwhelmed me on many levels. Being able to reduce what I thought was this enormous life event to a succinct six words made me feel powerful. That story changed my outlook from one of facing a problem of a lifetime to one of solving a simple word problem. A sound example of the power of words.

What authors inspire you or do you admire?
I love them all. But the authors that inspire me most are those with works in progress, published and as yet to be. I admire Joyce Carol Oates—what a powerful darkness. Stephen King is another—he’s just got a truckload of imagination and success. Jules Verne and Kurt Vonnegut—they are the guys responsible for science fiction in the classic sense. I could go on and on and on….

Is there someone’s writing on SMITH that has especially moved you?
I have been touched by so many of the folks on the site. Some have moved me to words of passion, some have left me without any words at all. Some have made me laugh so hard, I could float away. I will say though that there is a small group of folks that not only move me but support me and I hope they know the feeling is mutual.

And I have often been moved by moments where the SMITH community has rallied around its members: youthful crisis, middle age morose, new life, the passing of life, the changing of life. Each time these instances have been presented, I am in awe and privileged to be a part of the community that figures out a way to be supportive and rewarding and consoling to its own.

When you’re not writing, what do you enjoy doing?
I love spending time with my crazy family and diabolical dogs. I’m a voracious reader and eater. I especially enjoy the time I spend with my family, eating and solving the world’s problems at my kitchen table.

Finally, what’s your Six-Word Memoir for today?
Write your memoir. Use fewer words.

Spring always seems to reinvigorate creativity and inspire new ideas. The days are getting longer, the sun is shining brighter and the Six-Word Memoirs are less “Wishing for other reasons to shiver” and more “Mudluscious and puddle-wonderful Spring. -e.e. cummings.”

Which brings us to this month’s featured classroom! Meet Meghan Adler, learning specialist, seasoned writer and poetry teacher at San Francisco Day School in San Francisco, California. Adler is a longtime fan of Six-Word Memoirs who recently attended SMITH founder Larry Smith’s workshop to benefit 826Valencia. She says that her school boasts a community of learners in which perpetual intellectual curiosity and love of learning are highly celebrated. Adler exemplifies the school’s overall mission by exuding an optimistic energy, love of writing and a Six-Word Memoir teaching force to be reckoned with.

This conductor of masterfully brief creativity works with five bright students enrolled in a Performing Arts Elective. Adler and her students recently embarked on a journey into literary world of Six-Word Memoirs, divulging everything from Six-Word secrets to short, sweet odes to San Francisco.

“Twice a week for 50 minutes, I meet with 6th and 7th grade poets in a class called Poems, Poetics and Poetry,” says Adler. “We study forms, poets, and write our own poetry. My students especially love the six-word format because they love structure. Somehow the rules create and allow a structured freedom of sorts. For the shy poets, taking a risk in six words to share a secret, a memory or a fear is easier than delving into a longer poem. Of course later, they may be inspired to keep going, but the six-word prompt helps them enter. I am so grateful for this form that’s helped my poets take risks, share, create, and take real pride in their work.”

These San Francisco students were generous enough to share their sixes with the SMITH community. “One of my students started to have so much fun with the exercise that he came up with one for me as he watched me try to untangle some jewelry: ‘Middle-aged woman strangled by necklace.’”

Get ready to laugh, lament, be inspired and laugh some more as Adler’s students take you on a delightfully youthful, slightly self-conscious and wonderfully witty literary ride.

Six Words On Life
Ollie (6th Grader)
Am I too old for that?

Jamie (6th Grader)
Life never stops even when asked.

Lili (6th Grader)
Food messes. Mom cooking. Yum.

Kapp (7th Grader)
Great minds think alike. Not really.

Katherine (7th Grader)
I am too much for six…

Six Word Secrets

Ollie
Knew I shouldn’t, but I did.

Jamie
Boy! Was that a bad idea!

Lili
Hush. Quiet. No. Please don’t tell.

Kapp
200 dollars. Didn’t actually pass go.

Katherine
I’m sorry. I was always sorry.

Six Words on San Francisco

Jamie
Uh oh. Here comes the fog!

Ollie
People are different on the bus.

Katherine
I fell out of the tree.

Kapp
Hills look bigger from the bottom.

Lili
Me no ride the bus.

On April 18 2013, National Poem in Your Pocket Day (you celebrate by choosing a poem you love and carry it in your pocket to share with co-workers, family, and friends), Adler and her students plan to take the Six-Word Memoir phenomenon to the rest of the school by rolling out craft paper on the floors in the hallways for people to write their own six words about San Francisco. We can’t wait to see the wealth of new sixes that this project will inevitably help to create!

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Note: With the 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)

“Fellows, we’ve secured an energy source.” — JT
“Trending #PinkBunnyCookies #RandPaul choice filibuster snack.” —Lorraine M.
“What is this, a Peep show?” —June

Check out all the entries here in the Contest #23 post, and take a spin through all our winners over on SMITH’s contest page.

In the past few months, this ever-creative community of writers has shared thousands of six-word captions. We thank you all, as well as our partner, Shutterfly, and congratulate our winners. Stay tuned for more contests here in our world of Six Words in the months ahead.

Name: Lisa Bottone
Place: Warren, New Jersey
SMITH member since: May 29, 2008

Lisa Bottone, known to the SMITH community as sisterpoet, began her Six-Word Memoir writing with six words that live up to her screen name: “Love is a four letter word.” Lisa first heard about our lively, literary online world in an old-school way: at a book festival in Brooklyn back in 2008. Nearly five years and 2,398 memoirs later, sisterpoet is everything a writing community could ask for: a poetic, funny, and thoughtful writer, and a frequent commenter on the work of others, often offering more than just six words of praise and support.

Lisa is a lifelong writer with a passion for music—Morrissey, founder of the band The Smiths is quite appropriately her favorite—is also a teacher who has taken her love of the six-word form back into her own life offline, where she introduced Six-Word Memoirs in her seventh graders at Warren Middle School. In our “Six Questions For….” feature, Lisa tells about more about her and her life and work, in six words and many more.

When did you start writing, and what have been turning points in your creative life?
I started writing when I could hold a writing implement. I have a book of fairytales my mom gave me from when I was a child and I am told I would pretend to write my own despite the fact that I could not even form a letter.

A turning point in my writing came when I was asked to be a part of The National Writing Project as a writing fellow. It was an intense experience on many levels. I wrote a story called “Shelley is not a Hippie,” a memoir piece, and it was published as part of an anthology in connection with the National Writing Gallery. It was not the publishing/end product that impacted me as much as the process I took to see it to completion.

As part of the program I was required to post a piece for feedback. Fellows from all around the county could “press” me or “bless” me on any given part of my piece. They did both. Until that point I was not comfortable sharing my work. I hate being like a turkey on the table but realized the importance of being vulnerable. A professional journal piece in fact came out of that experience as well as I try to encourage other teachers to allow themselves to go to that place as writers—that place of full exposure—if they expect that of their students.

A second major turning point came one summer in Asbury Park. I was on the boardwalk and saw an ad for a workshop “Using Music to Write Memoir.” I had just come out of the carousel place I visited as a child. We lived in Brooklyn yet we drove all the way there to go to the beach and the Easter Parade and such. Over 40 years later, I found myself sitting in the broken house that held so many memories. “She is broken,” I jotted down in my notebook as I sat on the floor of the now shell of a building. That night at the workshop, the presenter played instrumental music as we free wrote. I heard the faint sound of a carousel in the background. I wrote and wrote and wrote until I cried. I shared with the only other woman who showed up and she cried too. There we sat in the old Steven Crane house with many ghosts so to speak. It was a feeling very difficult to put into words. It changed me as a person and a writer.

Can you share a favorite Six-Word Memoir of yours and tell us why it’s meaningful to you?
“Learning to sit comfortably eating alone.” Those were six words I recited on an NPR show that featured SMITH Magazine and a few of us discussed the backstory to the memoir. I believe it is strong image and is universal in the message. At times of change, you have a choice. If life hands you a situation that forces you to “eat alone,” literally or symbolically, you must sit with that and find a way to get comfortable.

You’re a teacher who’s taught Six-Word Memoirs in your classroom. What surprised you about the students’ work?
I have brought memoir writing into the class in a number of ways. I have used them in poetry lessons and short story lessons for example. This year, I decided to participate in a pilot program called BYOD (Bring Your Own Device). I decided my pilot lesson would be a Six-Word Memoir lesson for seventh graders, one that incorporated the use of technology.

The students’ depth of expression and the honesty never ceases to amaze me. I am touched by their level of trust to open up in such a way that their story is out there. They put their heart on their sleeves and dig deep. They have something to say. They want to be heard. They have a voice. Memoirs are a place for them to say in six words what some of them have never tried to articulate let alone creatively. [Note: watch a video compilation of their work below.]

As for the technology component, the end product compilations have been extraordinary works of creative expression. I love the way they have become excited to and not afraid to take their products to as many outlets as possible. One student placed her memoir on Instagram. Not as a class assignment but as an expression of her pride in her work. Other students are entering state media contests and local art contests.

What authors inspire you or do you admire?
I am a Shakespeare nerd. ‘Nuf said.

How did you come up with the SMITH handle sistapoet?
I am a huge Morrissey fan. He sings a song in which he says “sister, I’m a poet.” I hate labels in general and I think it is funny when people latch onto them and cling for dear life. Morrissey is pretty well known for his sarcasm. I believe he sings of the people who need to call themselves poets are really not. So am I a poet or just a girl who calls herself one? Am I a girl who calls myself one because I want to be one, thinks I am, or wants people to think I am?

Finally, what’s your Six-Word Memoir for today?
Made my choice, I am sure.

Laureatte first came to SMITH after reading about the site “in a much older person’s copy of AARP Magazine.” At the time, she was working the night shift at a hospital, where she had a lot of down time. “While my co-workers played online Mahjong,” she recalls, “I wrote memoirs and chatted with a companionable group of insomniacs and intercontinental types on SMITH.”

From the tiny, mountainous town in Tennessee which serves as her perch for an active travel, craft and writing life, the incomparable L2L3 answered six questions from SMITH Magazine.

Name: Laureatte Loy
Place: Northeast Tennessee
SMITH member since: February, 2010

When did you start writing, and what have been turning points in your creative life?
I’ve been an avid creative writer since grade school; it was a convenient, solitary activity and one that appealed to me as a young only child in rural Michigan. During high school I edited the school paper and co-edited our yearbook. Then came college and afterward, a job as a psychiatric nurse that required volumes of handwritten observational documentation. Except for occasional commercial ad/brochure writing for friends who owned businesses, writing was shelved for years. I did win an NBC writing contest that secured a free trip to Disney World and a spot on our team to represent western Michigan in the annual Goofy Games. I should add that after being selected as a finalist in the writing portion of the contest I also had to run through tires while carrying glasses of Kool-Aid and then face off in an orange juice squeezing contest. Years later, on SMITH, I thought, “Hmmm… Six words seems like a navigable number of words.”

Can you share a favorite Six-Word Memoir of yours and tell us why it’s meaningful to you?
“My masterpiece hangs on monkey bars” will forever be my favorite. After a series of miscarriages I gave birth to my son, on lucky St. Patrick’s Day, when I was 39. I’d always believed that life would be less purposeful, meaningful, etc. without having a child. This isn’t true for everyone but it was, and is, for me. My son is my gravitational center and the majority of my decisions reflect an effort to do the best I can to assure that he becomes an open, thoughtful and productive human being. It ain’t always easy.

You’ve formed many friendships, virtually and in person, with other SMITH members. Can you share a story about these bonds?
I’ve met ten SMITH members in person, eleven if you count the benevolent dictator himself. I guess the stand-out shared Sixer experience happened early on and was made memorable due to both the warm camaraderie and sheer terror involved. Skyrocketjones went for a leisurely drive to the top of Pike’s Peak with my son and I in the summer of 2011. Let me repeat. Summer. Lots of altitude. Far less in the way of guard rails. After reaching the top, my trembling stopped and we spent exactly fifteen minutes in the visitor’s center before the blizzard hit. Really, I’m a Michigan girl. It was a full-blown blizzard. We ran to the car, hoping to beat the icy fate that I imagined looming on every twist and turn on the downhill. Remember, no guard rails? Skyrocketjones is a trooper and she took great care of us during our adventures there. I must say that every Sixer I’ve met has been warm, welcoming and generous with their time and hospitality. I look forward to meeting more of you in the months ahead.

What’s a passion outside of writing?
Saying it out loud sounds so ordinary, but I love to travel and to cook. Often the twain do meet as I like to explore the local grocery stores during my travels and pick up fifteen bottles of hot sauce and 40 pounds of coffee from Costa Rica, 4 pounds of dried morels from Switzerland, or maybe imported French mustard from Canada. Yes, I do get a suspicious eye from the Canadian Border Patrol guys when they ask for the purpose of my visit to Canada and I reply that I need to buy mustard.

I also love to sell things that I believe in. That could be convincing someone to read a book or selling bowls to L.L. Bean—I’ve done both. My nurse alter-ego has a small business that wholesales handmade wooden ware to businesses large and small. No one who knows me would have said that I was meant to be a nurse. It is predictable that of the nursing specialties I could have chosen, psych was the best fit.

What authors inspire you or do you admire?
Although the great, classic writers of the world certainly evoke thought and emotion, they speak to me in whispers. On the other hand, Rick Bragg, Ruth Reichl, James Lee Burke, and Jane and Michael Stern come through like the sound system in the Kennedy Center. They make me belly-laugh, spew drinks and swear, often after too little sleep, that they’ve spied on my life and used it in their own first person. I’ve corresponded with some of them and even talked a couple into contributing to a SMITH book. James Lee Burke is the most stunningly descriptive author that I’ve ever had the pleasure to read and if I were given an opportunity to inherit one author’s ability to write, I would choose his, hands down.

Finally, Laureatte Loy, what’s your Six-Word Memoir for today?
My guardian angel demands PTSD leave.

And here’s a calendar that I wasn’t quite planning on but could not be more excited about: the first-ever “Very Six-y Ladies of SMITH Mag” calendar. Each month features a photograph of one of our amazing ladies —Believe, Canadafreeze, Sisterpoet, and more—as they offer us a glimpse of their lives. Like the best parts of SMITH, the Six-y Ladies calendar sprung from the community when Wench put out a call for calendar girls with this Six-Word Question. You can find it on Shutterfly*—it’s a truly beautiful thing from a truly beautiful community.

*SMITH Magazine makes no money from the Six-Y Ladies calendar; and not much from the memoir-a-day version.

December’s Member of the Month, Elizabeth Kalman, aka Believe, is known as much for her words online as she is for her wears offline. Kalman, a piano teacher, wife, and mother of two budding wordsmiths from Virginia Beach, VA, is the creator of the “Believe Hats” that now adorn so many SMITH member heads (including editor Larry Smith’s, pictured here). She’s sewn some fifty hats so far, each with the member’s nickname embedded, and shipped them off to people she’s solely met in this community. “The hats have taken on a magical quality that the community is responsible for, not me,” she says. Maybe so, but seeing, as the saying goes, is believing—and Elizabeth Kalman gives this community much to Believe in. She recently took time out from her busy life and put her rarely idle hands on the keyboard once again to answer six questions from SMITH.

Name: Elizabeth Kalman
Town: Virginia Beach, VA
SMITH member since: January, 2011

How did you first hear about SMITH?
I came across the site when I was googling for ideas for New Year’s toasts. One of the firsts toasts that I came to was Contemplative’s, “To inspired beginnings and captivated endings” on the Six-Word Memoir project. I was instantly hooked. I have always loved the idea of keeping a journal, but never actually had the focus/consistency/patience to do so. Six Words filled that void for me. I find the boundary of using limited words inspires my creativity.

When did you start writing and what have been turning points in your creative life?
My life has been one long creative journey. I fell in love with stories very early on. My mama was (and is) a magical storyteller. My bedtime stories were elaborate. There were always the classics, Winnie the Pooh and Wind in the Willows, but then there were the ones that she wrote for me and my brother. They were filled with dragons hiding in hollyhocks and talking snapdragons. I have been playing the piano since I was four years old and teaching since I was sixteen, so I’ve always loved the way lyrics and music work together. Writing came a little later. I had a college professor that I loved. I hung on her every word, and she told me that I used too many words. She was the first person to be interested in my written story. I’m new to the actual writing scene and so far I am most comfortable writing in increments of six.

Your family has also gotten into the six mix. Care to tell us anything about that?
Well, my husband has actually been on six for over a year now. Of course, I was not aware of that. All I knew is that there was this one guy who seemed to be on at random intervals and would generally dedicate a small amount of time to harassing “Believe” among others. To say that he is a practical joker would be an huge understatement. He was actually found out by the resident sixer detective, L2L3. She and I have both agreed to protect his identity, but my fingers were crossed when I promised that.

My oldest daughter was inspired to start a profile when we met Larry Smith at a speaking engagement in Virginia Beach. She writes under the name pipedream. She is a brilliant writer. Her basic English assignments read like poetry. My youngest has recently started her own account, but she has been writing sixes for a while now as she was part of the class that went by the name TheOceanFlora last year. I am on a mission to promote Six-Word Memoir writing in classrooms and I was lucky enough to be able to practice on her class! The six-word concept works so well for high school students. I’m testing the waters with a younger group of writers and I am already amazed at the progress they make with, not only writing in general, but self-expression.

You’ve forged many bonds in the SMITH community and have become famous for your “Believe Hats.” When did you decide to start making hats for fellow Sixers. Who got the first one?
Who got the first hat? Tricky question. The first hats were sent to Wench as a “Welcome to the world, Constantine” present. But the Believe Hats really started a life of their own when I sent one to DynamicDbytheC and her beloved James.

What got you into the hat hobby?
I started making hats a few years back when I was sick. My immune system crashed in a major way. It landed me on my couch for an extended period of time. It was during the summer and my little girls were stuck inside on the couch with me. So we taught ourselves to knit. There is a song by Stephen Sondheim titled “Finishing the Hat” with lyrics that go, “Finishing the hat / How you have to finish the hat / How you watch the rest of the world from the window while you finish the hat.” And that is what we did that summer: we watched the world from a window and finished hats. But we really wanted to do something more. And that is what happened with DynamicD’s hat; I was watching her world from a six-word window and wanting to do more, so I made hats. The hats have taken on a magical quality that the community is responsible for, not me. And there is lots of magic out there. Larry is wearing the fiftieth hat. And I even have a hat of my own, courtesy of NumbrOneAunt!

Finally, Elizabeth Kalman, what’s your Six-Word Memoir for today?
Long on passion, short on time.

Take for example the community support that has coalesced around newly-minted SMITH member John Roedel (JohnBigJohn), whose contributions include candid stories and Six-Word Memoirs about raising his autistic son. In Roedel’s words, “Even though I come from the windy and groundhog world of Wyoming, I feel connected in a very unique way to these other contributors.”

It’s hard not to notice that something magical happens when we exchange our stories at SMITH. That’s why this holiday season SMITH is once again encouraging our members to celebrate StoryCorps’ National Day of Listening on November 23 by taking time to record interviews with loved ones and share them on StoryCorps’ “Wall of Listening.”
StoryCorps, best known for its chic MobileBooths and StoryBooths, launched National Day of Listening in 2008 to provide storytellers yet another way to record and share their interviews.

“People tell us all the time they would love to record their story, but the MobileBooth hasn’t come to their state, or they don’t live in a city where our StoryBooths are located,” says StoryCorps Associate Manager Krisi Packer. “The National Day of Listening’s DIY method gives everyone a chance to tell their story.”

So how do SMITH members get involved? It’s easy. You can record a StoryCorps interview from anywhere. You don’t even need fancy recording equipment to participate. The basic recording device on a computer or Smartphone will do. StoryCorp has developed a National Day of Listening Do-It-Yourself Instruction Guide, a list of suggested questions, and a video that walks you through how to record and conduct your interview. When you share your story, write SMITH Magazine under the field “Company or Organization,” so we can feature your interview on SMITH.

“The National Day of Listening amplifies StoryCorps’ mission that every voice matters, every story counts,” says Packer. At SMITH Magazine, launched in 2006 with the tagline, “Everyone has a story. What’s yours?” that’s something we can get behind. So gather around a recording device with a loved one, ask for their story, and add it to the “Wall of Listening” this holiday season!

• Share Your Story on the StoryCorps National Day of Listening Site
• Check out the National Day of Listening DIY-Guide
• Read Instructions on How to Record Your Interview
• Listen to other National Day of Listening Stories on the 2012 Wall of Listening

Six Words on Political Life at the National Constitution Center
More than 25,000 Six-Word Stump Speeches have been shared in our interactive exhibition at Philadephia’s National Constitution Center. On Oct. 29 we’re having a special politically themed story show at the center where six storytellers will start with a stump speech and then tell a longer backstory. Check out the line-up—including local Philly treasures Pierre Robert and Jane Golden—and buy advance tix.

Six Words on Jewish Life:
Our new book, Six-Word Memoirs on Jewish Life, comes alive at a combination of story shows with local talent, and talks from editor Larry Smith. On Nov. 3, we’ll be at the Wilshire Boulevard Temple in Los Angeles for an evening of Jewish-life themed stories from six storytellers. Find out more and get tickets at WBT’s site. And here are six words to sweeten the deal: Free blintzes served following the show.

On Nov. 11, we’re doing a Jewish story show as a part of Philadelphia’s First Person Arts Festival, including a can’t-miss story by author Piper Kerman called, “Bad News, But It’s Not Cancer,” about telling a certain editor of a storytelling community’s Jewish parents she is on her way to prison for a crime she committed a decade earlier. You don’t have to be Jewish to come or love these two shows! Get tickets now—these shows will sell out.

Plus: SMITH’s Larry Smith tells the story of the Six-Word Memoir project and leads the audience into their own Six-Word Slam at book fairs in Cherry Hill, NJ; Houston and Virginia Beach.

Check out our new SMITH Live section for regular updates on future events. Follow us on Twitter or join our Facebook page and you won’t miss a thing.