6-word memoirs

A memoir is a story from our own lives.

The idea for a 6-word story came from Ernest Hemingway.

Hemingway was an American novelist, short-story writer, and journalist. He was born on July 21, 1899 and died on July 2, 1961.

One day he bet a friend that
he could write a whole story in 6 words.
He wrote a very sad story.
His story was "For sale: Baby shoes, never worn."
He won the bet.

Smith Magazine had a contest last year. People had to write a story from their lives in 6 words.They collected 1,000 stories and made a book.

You can read some of the 6-word stories here.

Some people in the Our Stories course wrote 6-word stories:

I'm fifty- three, no fun yet.

Life is interesting, dull and exciting.

I applied to six colleges no degree .

I will be an animal lover forever.

After finishing, we found the can-opener...

Came to Program Read; now reading!

Honey I'm home you are not.

Number one looking for Number two.

My Love is like a Rose!

I'm up. I'm dressed. Now what?

MYSELF

Myself ...

Here I am sad

as sad will be

Myself has left sadness

dark and very lonely

Myself has no laughter

no smiles

Myself... all that I see is a very empty world

Myself has no love or freedom

I wish I could just die in peace

By

Yvonne Murray

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

A Stars Death in the Sky (A Dirge)

by Mark Sigsworth

Do you see it up there in the sky

Brightly shaping lights of thine

See it brightly bleeding

Will it die up there in the sky

It watches us from above

Sees us die ourselves from our own design

Floating on what we call land and sea

Breathing in deaths breath from our dying time

When will its lives blood not reach us

That star in the sky

Sight beyond sight

Gripping itself tight

The energy from it

Slowly fading away

We feed on its death

Light feeding us from its death

All the while its feeding on us

Too late for it for it is dead

Now we watch as it fades from our eyes

Creating new life from our lies

New birth new light

Life starts from the beginning

Inverted death oh so sweet

We give our life oh what a treat

Life is over from death above

Leaks from life bleeding onto us

Life done, now death done

Light retreat death obsolete

Retreat retreat

A Night at the Night Cafe

By Eric Rawlinson













The lights are dim, as is the mood, thinks Sarah, stirring her drink lazily with a finger, trying to fight the boredom that threatens once again to take her. She found herself in some backwater café for the third week in a row with nothing to do except look at the other occupants of the room. She does not jump this time when her companion, the cloaked and hooded figure beside her, cracks a bunch of the peanuts in his hand and drops the fragments to the table.

“Must you keep doing this?” Sarah protests, raising the drink to her mouth. Taking a whiff, she places it back down again without taking a drop.

His companion sifts through the cracked pieces, searching for the small red-lined nut. “I’m hungry and they still haven’t brought our food, therefore peanuts.” He pops one into his mouth.

“No,” Sarah grumbled, “I mean why do you keep doing this? Why do you come week after week to this place just to crumble peanuts, eat questionable food and drink a tiny shot of whiskey. Surely there are more livelier places.”

He tosses yet another nut up into the air and catches it in his mouth. He spies Sarah out of the corner of his eye. “Of course there are more lively places then this. But I like this place the best.”

“But, why?”

“You ask that question a lot you know,” Her friend smirks, but with a hint of annoyance in his voice, “This is the best place to observe.”

Sarah looks confused as the youth performs the stunt of tossing and catching again. “Observe what?”

The youth smiles, “Them.” He motions with his hands to indicate the far side of the room and the occupants of the rest of the café.

Sarah shook her head, “They’re not doing anything.”

“Of course they're not doing anything. But they’re still doing something by being here.” He continues, knowing that Sarah will only insist he should, “Take that man by the pool table in a white shirt. Of course it is the uniform of an employee. But notice how he looks at the pool table. He longs to join us, but more importantly, he wants us to join him in a game of pool, to enjoy the evening. But he knows that people come here to avoid one another, while at the same time, trying not to be alone.

“Such as those guys by the window. They have worked long and hard all day at jobs they do not like to support families they barely know. Lifeless and loveless they mingle here. Or the man asleep at his table. He’s here because he has no where else to go. And then there is the man in the corner with the girl. Little does she know, she’s just one of many girls that have been on his arm in the past week. And he is a special case himself. A true visionary of the light places, before slowly moving to the darkness. He’s a tortured artist who works for his art, and for his love. And he finds his muse in his darkness. And his heart.”

Sarah nods, understanding, “If I didn’t know better, I’d say that was…”

The figure nods, “It is. Now you know why I come here all the time. I wanted to see him. And to imagine, what it is like to be here.”

Sarah smiles appreciatively, “Why don’t you go up and talk to him?” She asks, “Ask him about his life. Ask him about how he feels.”

The figure sighs and shakes his head. “I cannot. Because the computer is not programmed to do that.”

Dining Room

When I was young my favorite room was the dining room. As you come in from the kitchen the first thing you see was a wall with two lights on it. Right in front there was a hut, with cups, glasses and plates inside. From the kitchen on the left side there was a large window and door which led to the front door. On the right side you come to a hallway which lead to the living room. As you go further in there another wall with a table in front. In the center there was a dining room table. When I was a young this room was used for many things like, besides eating there, we did homework, plaid card and born game. When we had family meeting it was do in this room. When I was growing up, this room was the most used room in the home.

by Ramsey

My Story of Vincent Van Gogh

This is one of Vincent's portrait painting of himself that he painted himself.

When Vincent was still alive he only sold one of his paintings for 10 dollars or 20 dollars and the one who bought it was his brother Theo. This is two of his quotes that he said.

"It is not the language of painters but the language of nature which one should listen to.... The feeling for the things themselves, for reality, is more important than the feeling for pictures."

"I can't work without a model. I won't say I turn my back on nature ruthlessly in order to turn a study into a picture, arranging the colors, enlarging and simplifying; but in the matter of form I am too afraid of departing from the possible and the true."

Here is a letter that Vincent wrote to Theo when he was only 19 years old in 1872.

The Hague, August 1872.

Dear Theo,

Many thanks for your letter, I was glad to hear you arrived home safely. I missed you the first few days and it felt strange not to find you there when I came home in the afternoons.

We have had some enjoyable days together, and managed to take a few walks and see one or two sights between the spots of rain.

What dreadful weather! You must have sweltered from the heat on your walks to Oisterwijk. There was harness racing yesterday for the Exhibition; but the illuminations and the fireworks were put off because of the bad weather, so it's just as well you didn't stay on to see them. Regards from the Haanebeek and Roos families.

Always your loving Vincent.

His influences that Vincent van Gogh has with was Paul Gauguin. He and Paul Gauguin met in Paris in year 1887 in the month of November. Vincent was born in 1853 and His death was in the year of 1890.

by Jennifer

Top Dog

I think Vincent Van Gogh was a very brilliant man. I think he is the Top Dog.

There was a catastrophe and the world ended. The world was being destroyed. Big and small paintings flowed by my eyes, as I realized the beauty amidst all of Van Gogh's paintings the beauty flowed through my body. I drew some stuff up and compared a few.

by Geoffrey

Cute Baby

I have always had very thick hair ever since I was a child, my mom said I was a cute baby and she always loved my hair, she combed it neatly down around my head and trimmed it a little when ever she needed to, enjoying the touch of it.

by Marg

Click on the picture to see more about the artist Mary Cassat.

A Man Who Was Liked By Others

Once upon a time there was a man who worked very hard. I know that he worked hard because he is wearing average clothes and he is beginning to wrinkle. He was a man who was liked by others. He was not married and had one child. His wife has passed away and he vowed never to marry again.

by Mary

Click on the picture to see more about the artist Vincent Van Gogh.

Call that Love

What is love without a family. A family is what you treasure not what you bury. So let's give a cheer to our family and call that love. Friends will come and go but family will always be there. Now I ask you again what is love really all about. Love is like the wind when it's blows. Two love birds together as the wind blows . So does the love birds. So high that the eye can see. Love is what you put into it not what you make of it.

done by Donnalee

Click on the picture to see more about the artist Mary Cassat.

The World and the Fox

"People say we are scary but to tell you the truth we're not much different from people. The only reason why we only come out at night is because sunlight hurts our eyes. We have poor eyesight as it is that's why we make our noise so we have an idea of what's up ahead," the fox remarked.

"We may look different. We have small bodies but big wings. Our wings help us catch our prey faster. We don't mean to scare you humans. It just happens that way. If you see us flying around leave fruit in a tree somewhere. We will be able to find it I promise".

"Thank you and good day!"

By Pete Essery

Click on the picture to see more about the artist Vincent Van Gogh.

censorship and rating systems

I know that some of the stories I am writing are not for the faint of heart,
but what I want to know is why is there censorship on T.V.,
and why do movies and television have a ratings system while most books do not?

I know that there are many books for children, and teens like J.K. Rowlands' Harry Potter series. But when I was under eighteen I could buy a Stephen King novel and not get the third degree from the sales clerk.

What do you think?
Add your comments below.

stories are important because... they inspire us

Stories are very important to me because I really like to read. My goal is to write an autobiography.
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I'm taking this course so I can make my stories more interesting. This is my first online course ever!!
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I like stories because it helps you to write and spell and its fun too!!
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The reason why I like taken the course because I like to read to the kids especially my godson. So I can get better at it.
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Stories are important to me because It gets my mind motivate and it help me think and tell stories. I am a creative thinker and I like to imagine that I am somewhere far away and I am telling the story about where I am and what I do in my story. I enjoy writing stories. Then reading them to people. I think story writing is important because it makes children imagine as well and think. I also like to draw for me stories. They are fun to create because you’re the one telling the story and it helps me think better in the morning and throughout the day. I love to create stories. I make up stories for me niece and nephew so they can read then to me. They even love when I add pictures to the story.
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Stories are important to me special when I am reading the bible the feeling is so real in my soul it make me felt so good about my Savior. His stories can save the world.
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Stories are very important to me, as a writer, as a reader and more importantly as a listener. I love to hear people telling stories and performing stories. Stories to me are a form of expressing my thoughts and ideas and hearing the thoughts, feelings and beliefs of others. They are powerful teaching tools and an amazing form of entertainment. I like stories, whether it is one I have heard a thousand times or a brand new one. They are important because they tell us who we are. I do like fantasy the most, stories with fantastic or supernatural qualities. Not sure what else to say.
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Stories are important to me because it helps me to focus my mind on reading and it also helps me to become a better reader. Reading is fun and it gets you to open up and get a sense of what is happening.

stories are important because... they connect us

Stories are important because, you can get to know someone better, by knowing were they come from, and how they grow up. It also gives you an opportunity to see throw there eyes on life and how they once saw life as a child.
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I think stories are important to us because we get to learn about different things about are families and its all about the different history with their stories.
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I like personal stories as they are someone's real experiences and you can learn so much about that person and about their history. As they say, "everyone has a story." My father used to tell me stories about his life and I wish I would have documented them, as they could have been passed along to the up-coming generation.
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I also like stories because I like to see people's personal histories preserved.
I like telling stories and listing to stories. Stories tell about our history and where we come from.
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Stories are important because you can go all the way back to the stone age by looking at stories. I remember my Grandmother telling my about the way she grow up by telling my stories about her life. You can learn about the world by the stories people tell you.
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I think that telling our own stories and our family stories is a powerful way to gain confidence in writing and become our own best friends.
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I love telling stories and I love to read. I believe that recording stories on paper for future generations is important or they will be lost.
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Reading makes me relaxed, and I think in the future I would like to write a book about my life story.

stories are important because... they teach us

I would like to become a teacher and I think the best lessons come from stories. If I could become a better storyteller, I think it would make me a better teacher.
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I like stories because they tell us about things.
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Stories are important to me because it is part of our life. Everything, actions, words that are said becomes a story. It is a way to pass on values, information and it is a good way for people to stop making mistakes or repeating their mistakes by hearing other peoples stories.
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The reason why I like stories, because it is very interesting and it teaches you a lot different thing about life.
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To me it is very important to everybody to learn how to read both for the young and very old because stories are very educational.
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stories are important because... they take us to new places

I really think stories are important because it shows you that people know how to read about what ever they want.
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Stories are important to me because I can go to different places and learn about different people. I like all sorts of stories and my favourite stories are by Stephen King. He has a really good imagination.
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I love movies and that’s why stories are important to me. If there were not stories we would not have any movies in the world and well, Do you want to live in a world that has no STAR WARS, GONE WITH THE WIND and THE GODFATHER? What kind of world is that!
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I love all kinds of stories. I love to read and imagine myself being in those far away places that I read about.
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Stories are important because they make people feel emotions. It lets me escape to other worlds and opens up my mind to new things and ideas.
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I love stories when somebody tell it to me it feels like it is entertainment to me
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our stories video and audio

How to make a good story part 1

How to make a good story part 2

Famous people tell their BEST STORY EVER


The Three Little Pigs

Grandma Ri Tells a Snowflake Fairy Story

All the Stories Belong to Anansi the Spider

The legend of Nanabozho

The Sweater by Roch Carrier


Portrait of an Artist

Starry Starry Night

Vincent and the Quilters 1

Vincent and the Quilters 2

Vincent and the Quilters 3

Inspired by the Artist


A son asks his father about his marriage and divorce and marriage

A great-nephew asks his great-uncle about the secret of long life

Debra asks her friend Ed about his best tip ever

A Big Brother and Little Brother ask each other questions

Listen to more stories

Question Generator

Great Questions List


Stories that Drums Tell

The Gumboot Dance

A Dance Story