This week, I blogged about President-elect Obama’s solicitation of stories on his change.gov site, and later about Larry Smith’s Top 10 List of User-Generated Storytelling Blogs.
The next day, I learned of somewhat of a convergence between these two:
SMITH Magazine and the National Constitution Center ask you to help President-elect Obama inspire America.
In six words, give him guidance. Or offer ideas for his inaugural address. Or share six memorable words for January 20th and beyond.
In six words, a President can say a lot: “Malice toward none, charity for all,” “Nothing to fear but fear itself,” “Like a thousand points of light.”
So give your speechwriting a try.
Authors of our judges’ six favorite submissions will [word missing here — probably “receive”] a six-word memoir book from SMITH Magazine and a year’s membership to the National Constitution Center.
I’m guessing most of the 6-word submissions won’t be stories (not that it’s impossible to tell a story in six words), but the concept still appeals to me, especially since I was once a speechwriter.
Thought-provoking post and blog. Relevant to your comments is the fact that many experts have argued these days that there are five, not four generations in the U.S., including Obama’s generation: Generation Jones…the heretofore lost generation between the Boomers and Xers, now 42-54 years old.
I’ve noticed quite a bit of buzz about GenJones in the context of this election; I saw several discussions on national TV about Obama being a Joneser, as well as about GenJones voters being a key swing vote.
You may find this link interesting, my friends and I have been linking people to this page because we think it matters: it has a bunch of print excerpts and videos of big time publications (e.g. The New York Times, Newsweek, etc.) and pundits (e.g. David Brooks, Clarence Page, etc.) all talking about Obama’s identity as part of Generation Jones: http://www.generationjones.com/2008election.html