The Wall That Talks Back — Don't Ever Give Up, Waco, Texas
A stop on the Waco's Walls trail

1The Wall That Talks Back

“Don't Ever Give Up” — Devin Watlington with the youth of CIS Heart of Texas & VASA, 2022MURAL

A nine-foot bookshelf of good advice, painted by teenagers who meant every word of it.

Somebody looked at a long black wall and thought: bookshelf. Not a small one — a giant's bookshelf, where every spine is a thing you needed to hear today. CHOOSE HOPE. Love Yourself. Don't Ever Give Up. And propped at the end, a framed picture where two hands make a heart in the middle of the word JOY — which means the wall doesn't actually spell joy. It spells J-♥-Y, and then waits to see whether you'll say it out loud.

Here's the part that will stay with you: this wall was the teenagers' idea. When Communities In Schools asked its youth council what needed saying out loud in Waco, the students said teen suicide prevention — then helped design the wall, invited the whole neighborhood to paint days, and shelved these books themselves with artist Devin Watlington in 2022. The tall purple spine carries their whole argument: THE EPIC STORY OF TOMORROW CAN'T BE WRITTEN IF IT ENDS TODAY.

📍 Walk me there See it on the trail map

More views

The Wall That Talks Back — The bookshelf, straight on
The bookshelf, straight on
The Wall That Talks Back — The whole wall in one look
The whole wall in one look
The Wall That Talks Back — Down the shelf from the HOPE end
Down the shelf from the HOPE end
The Wall That Talks Back — The JOY frame up close
The JOY frame up close

Is this your wall?

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