Confessions of a teenage mind Issue #29

Brooklyn-based reading series Cringe finds entertainment in embarrassment

By Kirsten Klym
Published: September 1st, 2006 | 12:00am

The very thought of sharing the sincere yet incredibly naive stories written as a 14-year-old makes one crave a sedative. This need to numb, say Brooklyn roommates Sarah Brown and Liz Schroeter, is the best indicator of potential material for Cringe, the reading series they’ve been co-hosting at Freddy’s Bar & Backroom every first Wednesday of the month since April 2005.

What began as Brown and Schroeter sharing their earliest journals and teen writing to amuse each other and their friends eventually grew into an outlet for an increasing number of both male and female participants. Mobs of readers and audience members have been crowding into the dive bar (now standing-room only) to read and hear diary entries, letters, poems, song lyrics, and the occasional abandoned rock opera in front of strangers. “It feels good to laugh at yourself,” says Schroeter. “I always joke that it’s better and cheaper than therapy.”

While Cringe’s britches are busting at the seams (with a few ideas hinting at expansion), its founders continue to enjoy the free monthly shows and sense of community they create. It’s a space for personal reflection and reminiscence, too.

“If there’s one thing to be learned from Cringe,” Brown says, “it’s yeah, he noticed you, and then he pretended like he didn’t, drew a helicopter on the back of his notebook, made fun of you with his friends, and then jerked off about you later in the second-floor bathroom. Tell me that’s not cathartic on some level.”

For more information about Cringe, visit Queserasera.org/cringe.