Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Life at 18, in six words

Say you're a spring-semester high school senior, just a few months from graduating. What would you say if you had to sum up your life, or your philosophy, in six words?

That's the question North Mecklenburg High School English teacher Harriet Regen posed to her senior students recently. Regen got the idea from Smith Magazine, the website that first popularized Six-Word Memoirs.

The results offer a neat little window into the minds of smart teenagers.

You could pick out the optimists:
Smile lines will mark my face.
I see the glass half full.

And the reflective:
Asian, American--Which one? Or both?
New things, old memories, prefer latter.
I wish that I danced more.

Some, you could tell, had become high-school weary:
Nerd gone missing, found doing homework.
Dream of college -- let's leave today!

And of course, every class has a jokester:
I'm not very good at following directions.
That, I must confess, was my son.

Regen's assignment made me wonder what I would had written at 18. I really have no idea. Looking back now, I'd say this:
She couldn't wait to leave Ohio.
Even better:
Metabolism was faster in those days.

I do love these six-word memoirs. I'd love to hear yours. How would you describe your 18-year-old self?

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Senility has set in, can't remember.

Anonymous said...

Excited but hesitant....let's get going!

Anonymous said...

Not ready to be a mother.

Roy B. Santonil said...

What's a "blog?" Are you kidding?

Anonymous said...

I'm leaving the farm for life in the city.