On April 15, 2013, amidst the chaos, it was hard to imagine that the tragedy of the Marathon bombings could make a city stronger, but that’s what it did. Not healed, certainly, but the outpouring of mutual support lifted Boston’s spirits, its baseball team to a World Championship, and inspired thousands of people to give back even more in ways large and small.  

In that positive and reflective spirit, a group of local cultural institutions has organized various exhibitions and events organized under a single online campaign: #BostonBetter.  These commemorations are intended to “summon our best selves, individually and collectively.”

They explain it further this way: “#BostonBetter has multiple meanings. On one hand, better means healing—better physically and emotionally. But it also means an improvement in quality: a better choice, a better life. It is Abraham Lincoln’s “better angels of our nature” and William Faulkner’s “try to be better than yourself.”

Here’s to making #BostonBetter!