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A very animated Green Line driver and other stories making us smile this week

Riders wait to board a Green Line trolley. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)
Riders wait to board a Green Line trolley. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)

Editor's Note: This is a roundup of this week's moments of joy from WBUR's seasonal newsletter, The Pick Me Up. If you want a little bit of good news to help you get through the week and push through to spring, sign up here. 


From a tasty MBTA map to a remarkable camera comeback, here are the things bringing us joy this week.

1. This MBT-Amazing pan of focaccia

The customer technology team at the T loves a good bake-off, product manager Ashli Molina said in a recent tweet. And she posted a photo to back it up, flaunting her coworker Anna Chung’s gorgeous T-themed focaccia loaf.

With its cherry tomato Red Line and seaweed T logo, I’d say this loaf is the tastiest transit map I’ve ever seen.

2. Happy memories recovered by a kind stranger

While the digital camera is enjoying a renaissance thanks to Gen Z, Coral Amayi’s blue Olympus camera recently experienced a more surprising kind of comeback. Thirteen years ago, Amayi lost her digital camera during a tubing trip in Colorado’s Animas River. The camera’s memory card held photos from a friend’s wedding and bridal shower, TODAY.com reports.  Amayi, heartbroken, expected to never see those pictures again.

What she didn’t expect was that Spencer Greiner would recover her rusted camera while fishing over a mile down the river earlier this month. Despite the camera spending over a decade in the rapids, he was somehow able read the SD card. Greiner went on to post the surprisingly preserved photos to Facebook in an effort to find the owner. And with the collective help of the internet, he was able to reunite Amayi with her memories.

3. A Green Line driver making riders’ commutes a little brighter

When the intercom turns on during an evening ride on the B Line, you might end up hearing a little more than just what stop is up next. When MBTA operator Wali Holly is at the helm, he adds sports shoutouts and a list of anime recommendations to his usual notices.

Holly told Boston.com that he’s made it his goal to put a smile on his passengers’ faces, and by engaging in what he calls “shenanigans” over the intercom, he’s succeeded. Riders have taken to social media to shout out Holly’s “epic” onboard antics over the last few months.

We may not be able to account for how much traffic he’s bringing to anime streaming sites, but we definitely know he’s brought quite a bit of joy to his passengers.

P.S. — Speaking of bringing joy… I hope The Pick Me Up has delivered its promise to bring you joyful stories all through this month. This will be the last installment of this newsletter for this season, but we’ll be back soon. In the meantime, subscribe to The Weekender to get a roundup of interesting stories and tips for your weekend every Saturday morning. Thank you so much for reading!

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Hanna Ali Associate Producer
Hanna Ali is an associate producer for newsletters at WBUR.

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