One-man Band

            John stood alone on stage.  Looking out on the audience, he started to rethink his choice on firing the other members.

Graduate Student

            As Walt left the testing center, the smile on his face from his final test faded.  He looked at his new book list, welcoming Law School.

Fine Mess

            Timmy looked over work with a satisfied gaze.  After an hour of work on his room, everything was placed exactly where he wanted it: out in the open.

All Alone

            James looked down the street noticing the strangers who looked on without a word.  He walked among the sea of people.  All of them, alone.

Good Grief

            Although it hurt, Jenny was happy for her grief.  The crying washed out her eyes, so that she might see her world more clearly.

Artist Statement:

Each one of my tiny stories is based off of commonly used oxymorons.  Most of these phrases are used without really thinking about what they meant if they were taken literally.  They are more of second nature to us because we have heard them all of our lives growing up.  But I thought it could be fun to take what we say and make it into a literal story.  My stories started off funny, but the more I got into the oxymorons the deeper my stories started to become.

Some of my inspiration came from the stories from the author Shel Silverstein.  A lot of my favorite stories from my childhood came from his books.  In just a few words (and in a rhyming matter) Silverstein tells a whole story and even leaves a lot for the reader to infer about the past, present, and future.  He gives them room to decide what life was like before and after the small story but also gives them direction as to where to go with that story.  This is what I tried to do with my tiny stories as well.  I gave enough detail to tell the short part of their life, but tried to give direction for the readers to create their on story as well.

The reading talks about the little things in our lives and how often we miss them.  There are many little things in our own lives that we miss, and sometimes they can be the greatest details.  Whether it is the details that we put in our stories to make them so real, or the details that can give us inspiration for our stories.  The tiniest things that we might not see can create great stories.  And when your stories can only be 30 words or less, one little detail can help create a full story when you have a limit to what you can say.