NATICK, MA — At least Rebecca Potts can look back on 2020 and laugh.
Last April, Potts was texting with a friend from high school who shared that someone in Newton was posting jokes in public to brighten the pandemic-darkened days. Potts told her twin 11-year-old daughters about it, and the trio decided to bring the fun to their Natick neighborhood near Coolidge Field.
Potts grabbed an old whiteboard, wrote a joke on it and planted the sign in front of her Sheridan Street home. A few hundred days later, Potts is still posting a daily joke — and kidding aside, the gesture has made an impression.
"I just thought it would be nice to keep people laughing through the hard times," she says.
One person left a thank-you note near the joke board with a few dollars, as if Potts was a busker in a subway station. Just this week, someone left her a Christmas gift: the book "What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions." People driving by sometimes stop to take pictures. One local woman takes photos of the daily joke to send to her grandson, Potts said.
"I started walking each morning in March at the pandemic beginning," a neighbor from Grant Street wrote on a postcard to Potts. "Your 'joke of the day' has brought me a smile, chuckle or eye roll most mornings. Thank you for this gift — it continues to help keep my spirits up."
As hard as the pandemic has been, people like Potts have fought back with cheer and kindness. Whether it was those birthday car parades seen last spring or rocks with encouraging slogans left at local parks almost everywhere, the pandemic has highlighted the optimists among us. It's an important role, Potts said, as community events in Natick have been canceled over the past 10 months.
Potts takes her role as neighborhood joker seriously. She puts a lot of thought into the daily joke, tailoring the gags for kids or adults, depending on the day. Sometimes she'll use contextual jokes. If there are construction workers in the neighborhood, she'll use construction jokes. She posted a series of one-liners about snow after last week's nor'easter.
"What is a snowman's favorite drink at Wendy's? A frosty," read Monday's joke.
She gets the wisecracks from a range number of sources. Sometimes it's from her middle-school age daughters, and her father has pitched a few dad jokes. Natick resident Susan Lane has suggested a few. Of course, Potts keeps the jokes politically correct and family-friendly.
Her favorite one so far: "Why did the art thief's van stall in the middle of a heist? He didn't have the Monet to buy Degas to make the Van Gogh."
There have been hecklers, which is expected with comedy. A former teacher of hers walked by recently. He told her he liked her effort overall, but he didn't find a few recent jokes all that funny.
"He's still critiquing me 30-plus years later," she joshed.
The joke board has also helped her get through the pandemic. Potts, 51, is an executive assistant, and has been able to work from home during coronavirus. She can see the joke board from her home office, and that means she can see how passersby react to the goofs.
"That brightens my day, every day," she said.
December 22, 2020 at 11:02PM
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A Joke A Day Keeps The Pandemic Blues Away In Natick - Patch.com
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