Unlike most every average human being since the beginning of the species at the age of 36 I have:
Just trying to keep things in perspective. While it may have been ok to have been born in the past 150 years (for me), boy howdy am I glad I wasn’t born in 922.
I mean really, really hate graffiti. It makes me angry on a cosmic level. You want to express your distaste for the system? Fine, whatever. You are doing yourself no favors by doing it this way. You want to tag SOMEONE ELSE’S property?!? Did YOU work for that?!? Did YOU bust YOUR ass to keep it tuckpointed and clean?!? Are YOU the one paying insurance premiums?!?
Graffiti makes me feel like some angry old Grandpa.
Trash
Because the antique terracotta needed some help.
But then I came across this. This “FORGIVE” graffiti has been popping up here and there throughout the city over the past few years. Sometimes it will be up and obvious, sometimes it will be tucked away in a little corner.
And then I soften a little…
I get romantic about this.
I make narratives. I think of things that could be… What does this mean?
More Forgiveness
And then I think of James Baldwin and that maybe it is just a little but of that sensibility in all of it…
And I see this one:
Aww...
Following the drips from his paint can…
Following....
Following....
Up the block…
Following...
Oh, man… nevermind. Damnit…
Oh, nevermind...
You almost had me thinking you were something there for a second, Mr. Graffiti. Almost.
*I think I have to note that graffiti in my mind isn’t the same thing as public murals or street art. They serve very different purposes and operate on different planes.