Amy listed everything she wore for a year in her diary because she never wanted to repeat an outfit. Kitty wrote about the “frothy mounds of [her] soul” and how her “dying heart cries in pain.” Tracy had a letter that she wrote to David Duchovny, which she later used as a template for letters to other actors, including Rider Strong and Dean Caine.

Welcome to Cringe Night, a monthly reading (first Wednesdays) in Brooklyn where people read unedited excerpts from their teenage diaries.

As I sat in Freddy’s Back Room, located on Dean Street and 6th Ave, waiting for the show to begin, I had no idea what to expect. I started chatting with Adrian, a man sitting near me, whose friend came last month and had told him to go. “He said that it’s an absolute riot and ridiculously uncomfortable,” said Adrian.

The concept of Cringe started when Sarah Brown, the creator, uncovered her old teenage diaries and decided to email them as monthly newsletters to her friends. Today, it has grown so popular that Sarah has just compiled most of the reading material from volunteers into a book that was released just last week. Even in its published form, the diary entries and love poems are still unedited, complete with cross outs and notes on the side.

Sarah said that these diaries were great because everything seemed equally important at the time of writing it – for example, “I hate my mother! She won’t buy me that pair of jeans! I had meatballs for dinner tonight, and it was delicious!” all in the same paragraph.

Some of the funniest of the night included those by Kitty, who read from a poem that she wrote when she was in Switzerland. She described her object of affection as having a “Swiss chocolate mouth” and wrote, “You’re like Swiss, well-fed and apathetic.” She also read her entry that was titled, “We Will Survive, Won’t We?” which was heartbreaking yet comically earnest.

One of my favorite readers was Tracy, who read the letter she wrote to David Duchovny, later revised to include Gillian Anderson. In the letter she talks to Duchovny about sports, and then goes on to say, “You are both very good actors. Keep up the good work!” She signed it off as, “Your number one fan,” which was crossed out, she said, and replaced with “Your friend, Tracy.” Tracy said she later used this letter as a template for a slew of other actors, such as Leonardo DiCaprio and Ethan Hawke.

And then there was Maggie who wrote constantly about her best friend, Emily, but in a way that made it seem like they were lovers. This one was particularly cringe-inducing: “We used to be lovers, but now it’s difficult. We broke up!”

The last person who read was Josh, who did not have a diary entry but a mix tape list, and he explained his hilarious reasonings for putting up the songs, revealing a teenage boy that was only just beginning to learn about music. The first three songs on the list were by Rush, and the next three songs were by the Eagles – to which he said that there was a difference between the boy who put Rush before the Eagles and the boy who put the Eagles before Rush. The former, said Josh, probably was “on the math team, and still has a mullet.” He had crossed out Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin because it was the prom theme song. “I probably made it for one of my guy friends because I hadn’t figured out yet that mix tape was what you gave to girls,” he said.

It was a great night, and I was pleasantly surprised by how much I laughed during the readings. If you are interested in attending, which I highly recommend, just drop by Freddy’s on the first Wednesday of the next month at 8:30 pm.

Photo by Dene Chen