The Green Life Winners! (Happy Earth Day)
When TreeHugger and SMITH asked our communities for six words on their "Green Life" we had great expectations for mini-memoirs on all things eco. Still, once again, what you came up with in just six words blew us away. So it is on this Earth Day, a day when everyone hugs the tree huggers, that we're thrilled to announce six winners of the first annual SMITH Mag/TreeHugger Green Life contest. The grand prize winner--and recipient of an iPod nano etched with the winning memoir—is Kay R for her brilliant, Saw the light, turned it off. Second prize goes to Marcus Eder, who reveals in six words: "I read my porn online now." We're not sure what's in his DVD player now, but what's coming next is his new prize, a set of Planet Earth DVDs. The above winners, and these four runners-up below, receive a copy of SMITH's new bestselling book, Not Quite What I Was Planning: Six Word Memoirs From Writers Famous and Obscure. Runners-up: My solar backpack recharged my soul. -Krissie Nagy Threat level has reached Code Green. -Kevin Letourneau Walk the talk, and just walk. -Rita Ann Save water. Shower with a friend. -Mego (Melissa Gould) We're not sure what to do with these two entries, except, well, smile: Does anyone hug the tree huggers? -Harlan Stanton I read Tree Hugger every day. -JonnyU Honorable mentions: Pee in cup. Water plants. Repeat. Grow your own stash (of beans). Right now, some dinosaur is chuckling. Vegetarians taste better. We're grain fed.
The Church of Six Words
I'm a devoutly lapsed Jew. But that doesn't mean I'm completely without religion. Once a year, I put on a green sweater and go to Easter services with my wife. Even though Jesus isn't my main man, I do find the music and spirit of the place, well, uplifting. "Darling," my wife asked a few weeks ago as we walked through the almost-blooming garden of St. Luke's in Manhattan's West Village, "what do you think about during the service?" I answered truthfully: nothing, I just kind chill, space out, try to keep up. And then I fessed up that I was wondering how to get the six-word memoir book into church book groups everywhere. While only a handful of the six-word life stories are specifically about religion ("Not a good Christian, but trying," "Atheist plus Methodist make Jewish children"), the pious and the punks have told us alike that the book has been an inspiration. And one minister has already challenged the readers of his "faith" column to wonder, "What would Jesus' six-word memoir be?" Personally, I've greeted the six-worders that have touched on religion with much less cynicism that I would have before the six-word memoir project began. Now, I gladly embrace each new six-word memoir on faith. How can you not be moved by this short, short life story that popped up on SMITH one morning: "God, how long was I sleeping?" As if my Easter prayers were answered, a week after going to church, I received this note from the Rev. D. Geoffrey Taylor.