New York City has placed sewer-sized decals on sidewalks outside subway exits to assist passengers in finding their final destinations. You all know the moment. You come out of the subway — even in the city you’ve lived in for years — and wonder, “Which way is West?” You’re angry at yourself when you walk a block in the wrong direction. As you turn around you fret, “Did anybody notice?”

My only concern is that by placing the signage on the ground, not enough people will notice it, or that it will be obscured by passing feet.

Dana Goldstein

Dana Goldstein, a former associate editor and writer at the Prospect, comes from a family of public-school educators. She received the Spencer Fellowship in Education Journalism, a Schwarz Fellowship at the New America Foundation, and a Puffin Foundation Writing Fellowship at the Nation Institute. Her journalism is regularly featured in Slate, The Atlantic, The Nation, The Daily Beast, and other publications, and she is a staff writer at the Marshall Project.