I’ve seen this photo in my external hard drive many times. And whenever I see it, I think back to this one college course I took with my Public Speaking class in my first year (Fall-Winter term). In this half-credit course, I had one assignment that had me writing to a local politician. I don’t quite remember what was being asked—but I wrote something along the lines of my first impressions of Providence. I compared it to where I came from; that the difference between them was like night and day. The potholes everywhere; that there were barely any flowers or trees to even redeem downtown Providence. It was a hot mess. Kennedy Plaza didn’t even count…nor did Gaebe Commons. And by Spring, here was this potted plant along the way. I remember walking by it on the way to the mall. And slowly but surely, I could see downtown was starting to transform. Whether I had made a small contribution or not, or if this was something already in the works—I was very happy to see downtown Providence improve for the better and not look so dreary when I talk about it to other people from back home. ••••• #lookingback #thinkingback #flowers #memories #myotherhometown #plants (at Providence, Rhode Island) https://www.instagram.com/p/Ch1Fs2XO9ML/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=