Top 5 Liked Tiny Memoirs From Survey of British Literature

The Tiny Memoir Contest is a contest from the New York Times that challenges students to write a meaningful and interesting short story about themselves in exactly 100 words. SMIC Students from the Survey of British Literature course wrote their own tiny memoirs and posted them on a discussion board. Here are 5 stories with the top number of likes:

4 likes: “Shadow at The Door” by Lu, Roy

It was a 9^th grade midnight, the room pulsing with the dim light of my phone. I hid under the blanket, scrolling through videos, ignoring the world outside.

Thump, thump, thump.

The door creaked open a few centimeters. A shadow lingered there, watching. I panickily turned off my screen and held my breath until the door closed. My heartbeat slowed; I thought she’d left. I pressed play once more before drifting off.

Morning came, and my phone was gone. When I found it under my pillow, a WeChat message from my mom glowed in darkness: “You should’ve stayed asleep.”

5 likes: “Untouched” by Cao, Swan

It began with an itch, soft enough to ignore.

Then it spreads – quietly, like undercurrents.
Bleeding, burning, blood red. It peels me open, exposes the flesh, crimson, wet, alive.

My skin won’t listen.
It chews my pills, drinks my medicine like nutrients.

It won’t stop.
It spreads rotten traces across me, leaving sleepless nights, and a hollow me.

Am I not doing enough? Each pill chokes me, each dressing stings, yet it rots deeper, devouring what I try to save, slowly.

Sleep was mercy, waking was punishment.

I used to count my wounds. Now I count what’s left untouched.

6 likes: “My College App Nightmare” by Wei, Joy

When I was in elementary school, I loved to scare myself. Flicking off the lights and locking the door, my pajama-clad friends and I squinted at the dark bathroom mirror, “Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary, Bloody MaAAAAAAAAAA”. We never managed to stay for the third chant. I don’t know why I was obsessed with these silly sleepover superstitions; perhaps the safety of escape, or the adrenaline rush without consequence. But now, a real nightmare stares at me through another dark mirror, one I couldn’t escape. Instead of chanting, I simply tapped my trackpad, and the Common App portal glowed to life.

7 likes: “Indoors” by Xie, Emily Tong

Scab-covered palms, sweat-covered face.

Ten hours of toil in a relentless race.

Uniforms on, up at three, 

picking the leaves fallen from trees.

Here I sit, pen in hand, paper on my desk, a quiet expanse beneath soft light.

Looking out the window, in the warm embrace of painted walls and rich oak floors.

Sheltered, safe, worrying about college, about things that feel enormous but are not.

Outside, the world moves, bending under labor I rarely see, while I sit, untouched by ache..

Inside, I breathe ease.

And in that quiet, I finally understand the weight of what I’m given.

10 likes: “Growths” by Ning, Alex

Alex Ning.

In Beijing.

Third grade.

Math contest.

Star champion.

The fourth year.

Number one again.

Two golden medals.

Winning is nonstop.

The talented genius.

Then, move to Shanghai.

No math contests there.

At first, perfect grades.

And then, serious decline.

Small mistakes, I believed.

I competed in the Hackathon.

Champion’s best prizes, I want.

However, got worse than bronze.

Once determined to strive hard.

Confidence and pride fell apart.

Now I frequently use the internet.

Various amazing persons, I have met.

I am insignificant compared to them.

Arrogance faded, I learned the lesson.

I was never this distinguished genius.

(Each line contains 1 more letter than the previous)

(Each stanza contains 1 more word than the previous)