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You don't usually look to subway walls for inspiration

Writing on the wall at Park Street station

When Venita Subramanian heard about some artists in New York who put out markers and sticky notes so subway riders could write up inspirational messages on a station wall, she thought Boston should do the same thing.

So Subramanian, a designer at a local company and some friends, put out plenty of markers and notes on the southbound platform of the Red Line at Park Street Friday night. And for three hours, people getting off or waiting for trains crowded along the wall, writing their own messages and reading those others had left.

Boston has America's back

A boy and his note:

Inspirational note
Inspirational note
Inspirational note
Inspirational note
Inspirational note

Lizi Bennett also took note of the notes:

Inspirational notes
Neighborhoods: 


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Comments

I cant think of another word other than "Adorable" . But its witchin hours. I best wait for E to show up and affirm.

Gaffin, dude, Sir, I do and must loudly affirm that You are the best newsman...since... 3..2..1 Contact. You are so consistent and I super YUGELY dig that you are such a top rate supergeek! It takes a special soul to go from havin' a BBS with a gopher & "Fred the Middlesex News Computer" all the way to hacky cache tweaks and flawless website presentations. I only learn about problems you had after you fix them.

I particularly love your full blast coverage of the venerable BRA sorry BPDA (wasnt sure if i just burped), the good stuff is seeing actual Nimbyness of our abutting dirt dwellers who say “no no no not in mah backyahd" i enjoy reading the vitriol back and forth between the bike gang and the car gang but watching them do their keyboard warrior stuffs is good times yo.

without any sarcasm as to the matter of guns/weaponry & hooligans amok in the area, you really make us all safer by keeping us informed. I dont see any consistency with regard to those things from the general commercial news offerings. I count on you to know whats gone bang in what part of town. (I hate guns and dont think we need them any longer in this post agrarian superwalmartsized society. but thats my own issue with the 2nd)

Can I call you an Institution? Because other than the serious news topics and the whats going on around town items - you have established a very unique uncanny and at times hilarious venue (hint to whomever this scums guy is, i cant get over his/her grasp of wit) of news all while doing it within a realm of commercially established super-news channels that love to blitz, scare, torture its viewers incessantly but all of them (ALL) are basically second rate compared to your dedication and effort.

I think the city should just grant you a lifetime tax waiver on the prop. Yeah thatll be embarrassing to have your own tax waiver called "Gaffin Lifetime Tax Waiver for Excellence in Being a Boss of The Real News Around Town" . (no offense Charlestown) but anyway, I was going to write all this on sticky notes and go plaster them on the wall but figured since the city sleeps so hard during my awake time I have to wait.... So i post here instead.

There, I said it. Flame away but I said what I have been wanting to say for a very long time.

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The Post-It notes are certainly a nice way to express your own personal thoughts of the day, and offer a bit of comfort to passers by. Yet, they're mostly anonymous and only exist at that one moment in time and space.

After the UK "brexit" vote; which carried similar overtones of racism and xenophobia; an idea sprang forth of wearing a safety pin as a simple outward sign that you aren't someone whose heart is filled with hate. In the wake of the US election, the idea is starting to catch on here.

As you are riding on the , shopping at a store, or just walking on the street; strangers will be looking at your face and wondering:

  • Does this person hate me?
  • Do they want to hurt me?
  • If they saw my child being attacked, would they at least call for help?

The safety pin lets others know you are a "safe" person. It says you don't care who they are, or who they voted for, but if someone else tries to harm them, you'll do what you can to help.

And that's all it says. It doesn't say you're liberal or conservative, religious or agnostic. It's not a statement about the Second Amendment, it doesn't express an opinion about abortion and it has nothing to do with global warming. Wearing a safety pin is neither an "anti-Clinton" symbol nor an "anti-Trump" symbol; it's just an "anti-hate" symbol. I still have hope in my heart that's something most Americans can agree upon — if we ever needed something to bring all of us together, it's now!

Unfortunately, a lot of people voted for the president-elect for no other reason than their extreme dislike of Mrs. Clinton. They don't all harbor ugly vitriol towards their fellow Americans. I imagine many of them cast a "protest vote" without considering the aftermath because it seemed impossible he could actually win. Those people now bear a responsibility — if they don't truly hate others who are different than themselves, they need to let them know.

Inevitably, a minority of Americans will mock and denigrate this idea, for they have nothing but hate in their hearts and nothing positive to offer the nation. Safety pins won't undo all the rips in the fabric of society, any more than they can undo rips in the fabric of your clothing. But in a crisis when things are unraveling to your dismay, they'll give you a chance to try and patch things up, or at least hold it together for the time being.

A simple safety pin sends a subtle, comforting, yet very powerful message. Just like people, they come in all different sizes and colors. You can wear them on your heart, on your sleeve, or even in your beard.
    IMAGE(https://elmercatdotorg.files.wordpress.com/2016/11/safetypin1.jpg)
          #SafetyPinAmerica
          @SafetyPinUSA

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This must be the one of the greatest positive healing idea of 2016.
We as a society must steer away of from demonizing mental healing, therapy, or counseling.
Posting positive thoughts or gestures is form of therapy. I encourage everyone adopt these method in all aspects of the need to heal.
For example, at furneals and other tragic events. I believe it could be a positive use to express dissension with the balance of a positive reply.
The Thank You Boston for showing the United States how to express yourselves without destroying yourselves.

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After reading a few of these messages, from the funny taco one to the Massachusetts has your back one, I do feel a tiny bit of weight lifted.

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Please don't do this! The papers would never be cleaned up or tossed in the trash can. There's too many track fires due to garbage on the tracks.

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Should have included this in the original post: The T agreed to this on the condition it end at midnight and that all the notes be taken down. Subramanian said she'll take the notes, put them on large boards, take photos and see if anybody'd want them for a more permanent display.

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Sorry dude, not seeing a difference between post-it notes and leaves on the tracks (which are the root of many ills).

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Leaves are on the tracks. The Post-It notes were on a wall, and were all taken down and didn't wind up on the tracks.

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And the words of the prophets are written on the subway walls

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...we need to explain the reference to the young'uns? Amazed Adam missed this one for his headline.

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But, yeah, decided not to use it for just that reason. I'll do better next time!

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I often find myself googling obscure or fragmented lyrics to find out where they came from. Most times it works very well!

Also, a fair number of the youngsters dug into the back catalogue of Paul Simon after he teamed up with Mumford and Sons a few years back.

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are rather good...and accurate.

The messages of

"Give him a chance to do the right thing"

and

Love Trumps Hate

don't seem to fit in, however.

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The words of the prophets
Are written on the subway walls


The Sounds of Silence
- Simon and Garfunkel

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