Write me a Note I’ll Remember Forever.

There is many a time when I stumble upon things I could’ve never imagined. Maybe it is the simplicity in these discoveries that put a smile on my face and I begin to wonder about different people, their lives, goals and dreams. This is one of the few things that have made me a tourist every day in San Francisco and essentially, in the United States too.

It doesn’t take a lot of effort for anyone to stop and write up a personal message. Yes, a personal message – carve it on a tree, graffiti it on a bench while waiting for the bus or even squeeze a letter into a glass bottle that could float across the ocean. But please, write them only if you have something to say, something real. You never know who will read those words, and who those words will inspire.

Now it will all make sense, trust me.

The other day I came across little messages pasted on a wall that was wrapped with scaffolding all around. What do you know, it’s another construction zone in Hayes Valley. Anyway, I stopped to read all of the messages which were sparked by an instructional header that read “my first love was…” Bonus points for you if you’ve seen these, and perhaps a double bonus if you contributed.

On the corner of Hayes and Octavia, next to a very expensive boutique, here it is:

Random find on the corner of Hayes & Octavia

Each 4×7 ‘love template’ also had a hashtag at the bottom right corner: #theleagueofci and of course I followed through in finding out what this grand wall of first love stories was all about. It is called the ‘The League of Creative Interventionists‘, launched in January of this year and is founded by Hunter Franks who is a San Francisco based artist.

So what is it really? Well, they describe themselves as ‘a worldwide network of people working to break down social barriers and build community through creativity’. And the wall of first love stories was designed to capture stories of people simply passing by. Still not convinced that this is brilliant? Its okay, let me tell you more. Currently they’ve reached (outside of San Francisco) Minneapolis in Minnesota and Cologne in Germany and still wanting to land in more places.

When I stopped and read through the stories written over a collage of about 50 cards, I shared giggles and sighs with at least 5 strangers. They had stopped were looking through the messages with me. We could relate to all these stories despite not knowing anyone who might have written them.

For your amusement alone, I picked 3 cards I thought I could relate to most and have posted them below. If you want to read more, you know where to find it.

# 1

# 2

# 3

You can find The League of Creative Interventionists on twitter here and on Facebook here.