Midtown Marred
Today’s weather was the sort that pulls you out the door and down your block before you even know where you want to go.
And so I found myself wandering down a typical midtown street, past quiet old houses and rambling gardens. But what to my wondering eyes should appear? The tagged up fronts and sides of approximately one building per block - all the way across town. It made me mad. Really, really mad. Vandalizing anything is wrong - but it seems especially heinous to deface someone’s house.
It brings to mind some recent discussions from around the Metroblogging network on whether so-called street art encourages graffiti. To which I answer: street art IS graffiti. Is there an aesthetic difference between the above photo and some time-consuming, multi-colored wonder? Yes. BUT - if they’re both painted on a structure that doesn’t belong to the person holding the pen/can/paintbrush/sticker then guess what - they’re both wrong, illegal, vandalism, bad. Ick ick ick.
I hope whoever did this feels like a super badass today. I feel like he/she’s a jerk.
Related posts:
I love those old houses in Sacramento. Looks like a bit of cruel and unusual punishment for this crime might be in order.
Stick the fool in a pigeon-infested hot-spot for a few days. They can work their own special ‘graffiti’ magic on him/her.
I heard that midtown crime rate has increased - keep the hoodlums in South Sac!
I miss Sac - wish to move back soon, and right back to Midtown
This post has been nominated for The Sacramento Bee’s roundup of regional blogs, which appears Sunday in Forum. As part of an unofficial program, you can help decide which blog posts are included by voting at http://www.ipsosacto.com/bw. Voting usually closes Thursday evening.
The Sunday newspaper column is limited to less than 800 words. Blog posts included in the column are often cut to fit. No editing is done other than to add ellipses to indicate deleted passages. The blog’s main address will appear in The Bee, and the online copy of the article will contain links to the actual blog post.
A list of the regional blogs monitored can be reviewed at http://www.ipsosacto.com/bloglist.
If this post is used, The Bee would like to use the photo. Please contact me at jhughes@sacbee.com if the a full-resolution photo is available for use.
John Hughes