smarties

I didn’t put candy and poems in the car from the beginning. The rideshare companies advised that some drivers provide snacks and other amenities for their passengers and that they not only may receive bigger tips—or tips at all—but might have a more enjoyable driving experience.

I was paralyzed by the realization that I couldn’t possibly have snacks that would please every passenger. Plus, what about allergies? So, at first, I just stuck with bottles of water. Soon, after enough passengers asked about it, I added a nifty phone charger that attaches to the back of the headrest on the front passenger seat and unspools retractable charging cords for three different kinds of devices.

Then came spring and the delirium of driving UMass students on Derby Day and to the myriad other festivities in the run-up to graduation. Every weekend was greener and more alive with blossoming flowers, warming temperatures, open windows, better bonuses, and big tips. 

By the time graduation weekend rolled around, I was ready to roll with whatever came my way. On that Friday, I picked up a big, glittery gift bag that said “2023” on it and a giant bag of Smarties. I figured the Smarties would be an awesome way to celebrate the new grads ‘cause—get it?—they’re “smarties”!

The response was intoxicatingly positive. The kids loved the candy; they loved the sparkly bag. And they loved the “smarties” pun. Remembering the pride of my former students when they’d received their undergraduate or graduate degrees, I felt genuinely excited for them and glad to offer a little added celebration during what were usually very short rides around campus or town. 

Then, on some of the rides, at least some of the longer ones, it would emerge that I’d been a college professor, and as we discussed that experience, the students would ask if I had any advice for them as graduating seniors. Depending on what we’d talked about, I would share something, usually a quote from a poet or philosopher I found inspiring or my students had responded to in the past. 

And that is how the idea of adding poems to the box of candies in the backseat was born. I printed out some of the passages I’d been sharing, laminated them, and put them in the bag with the candy. For the rest of the weekend, the kids were thrilled with both the candy and the laminated quotations. In groups, they’d pick through and share what they’d gotten with one another, occasionally trading because this one is much more you, Tara, or, oh my god, this is perfect for Jack, isn’t it? He’s gonna die!

That bag has become a carefully labeled box, so people know its purpose. I’ve diversified the candy inventory: retiring the Smarties (for now) and adding in a variety of sweet, chewy, chocolatey, salty, sometimes with seasonal themes. And I’ve expanded the selection of poems and quotes. I’ve also added a colorful array of scented Crayola markers and a passenger guestbook. 

Not everybody is interested in candy or poems. But most everybody seems happily surprised that this is available on an Uber ride. As you might expect, more people take the candy than the poems. And some people take a lot of candy. I can hear the wrapper after wrapper furtively slipping into their bags. This makes me smile to myself. Some people need encouragement that taking or even looking at a poem is okay. In the end, though, even the people who don’t take a poem often look at a few and say they think it’s great that they are there, and many people do take one. 

A few even seem powerfully impacted by the poem they’ve drawn out of the box, even if they don’t share with me what it is. 

Finally, and most touchingly to me, passengers love to leave notes of inspiration for the unknown future riders who will occupy the backseat. Some flip through the book with mild curiosity, pause, take a pen, and grow silent as they think about what to write or draw. “Stay true to yourself always,” writes “Reese.” And Jaime, who I told you about earlier, from whom so much has been violently taken, advised, “Live your life to the fullest and don’t let no one take that from you…” 

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