What does each paragraph do? What does each add to the telling of this small story? Fishman anchors the whole story in this one goal he had at age 10 - to return the Pepsi cans and get money for them.Īs you read, you might trace the structure of the story. (Some states, like Michigan, its very name like a granite monument, gave you 10 cents.) I decided I would return those cans and give the money to my parents. Fishman’s short, powerful story:Īround this time I learned that American supermarkets gave back 5 cents for every returned empty. Somehow, his family ends up with 24 Pepsi-Colas in their refrigerator. “In the Soviet Union, we were secretly wealthy, but we arrived in Brooklyn as paupers,” he writes. This essay describes a memory from when the writer was 10 years old and his family had just immigrated from the Soviet Union to Brooklyn. Yet that one focus ripples out, and says so much more.Ī moment I’ll never forget from my childhood is … Mentor Text: ‘ My Secret Pepsi Plot,’ a 2014 Essay From the Lives Column, by Boris Fishman A list of awards you’ve won won’t do it, but an engaging story about making brownies with your stepbrother just might.Īs you’ll see when you read the texts below, none of them try to tell the whole story of a life, but, instead, illuminate an important aspect of it through focus on one event or moment. This advice is similar to advice often given to high school seniors writing college essays: You have only 650 words to show admissions officers something important, interesting or memorable about who you are and what matters to you. For example, start with “the day the Santa Claus in the mall asked me on a date” rather than “the state of affairs that is dating in an older age bracket.” Tell a small story - an evocative, particular moment.īetter to start from something very simple that you think is interesting (an incident, a person) and expand upon it, rather than a large idea that you then have to fit into a short essay. Much of that advice applies to our contest as well.įor example, several points boil down to reminders to keep it simple, including tips like:ĭon’t try to fit your whole life into one “Lives.” The editor of the column once posted some advice on “How to Write a Lives Essay” to guide those who submitted to the column annually.
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