Subway Therapy

A day after Donald Trump was elected president (a phrase I still can't believe is real), an artist set up "Subway therapy" in a 14th Street subway corridor. People were encouraged to write down their thoughts on a Post-it Note and stick it to the wall. It has since spread to other spots—a week later there are thousands of messages in Union Square, and people are still adding to the multi-layered, multi-surface creation.

I—like a lot of people I know—was devastated by the election results. We had gone to the Javits Center to celebrate what was sure to be a historic night, and left at midnight before any official announcement, but with heavy hearts. I barely slept at all that night, but I was actually glad to get up and go into work in the morning, knowing that I wouldn't be alone in my grief. As hard as this has been, I can only imagine how hard it would be to weather alone—a minuscule dot of blue in a red state—and I've never been more thankful to wake up in New York City.

The messages on the wall seem mostly positive, although the "Fuck Trump" sentiment is not underrepresented. Just scanning the messages made me tear up—I know I live in one of those "liberal bubbles" and I'm surrounded by "coastal elites," but it's comforting to know that New Yorkers are generally in agreement about our country's current (and terrifying) situation.

I've been feeling so many emotions this past week, but one of the main ones is helplessness. Everything that has gone wrong or every dreadful thing yet to come seems too large to even really comprehend, let alone stop. I know a few thousand Post-it Notes are not going to stop the fact that Donald Trump is our President-elect, but behind every Post-it is a real, live person—people that aren't willing to remain silent anymore, people that know that love is stronger than hate and people that I truly believe will prove that we are, indeed, stronger together.