Micro-Memoir at Providence Athenaeum
Monday, April 04, 2011
When a roomful of people get 200 words to tell a life story, it takes some focus... and prompting.
And wine and snacks.
That's the formula of Micro-Memoir, a semi-regular literary event sponsored by Not About the Buildings, at the Providence Athenaeum. Last week, 30 memoirists got one of the following prompts:
Tell about your most memorable water experience.
Tell about your most memorable rescue.
Tell about your most memorable pizza.
Tell about your most memorable enemy.
Then with 30 minutes, some notebook paper, and sharpened number 2 pencil, the participants wrote and wrote, cutting 'til it was down to 200 words.
Then it was time to read aloud. From funny to poignant, glib to revelatory, each showed how much can be extracted from a narrow slice of life. Bespectacled Steve recalled a day of surfing huge waves in Hawaii as a teen (water), Annie read of a threatening, ponytailed nemesis from her Brockton classroom (enemy), John shared how a rescue dog that no one wanted ended up rescuing him, and Matthew Lawrence, the literary force bethind NATB, shared how a pizza joint around the corner from the United Nations had finished his most perfect, nerdy day as a 10 year old.
And that is 200 words.
The next micro-memoir will be May 5, at the Providence Athenaeum. Go here for information.
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