Comments on: Representin' the Mid '90s

By: More Childhood Nostalgia in Neighborhood Street Art, This Time From the ’90s « Mission Mission

Wed, 04 Aug 2010 19:09:47 +0000

[...] I Love the Mid-’90s Explore posts in the same categories: Art [...]

By: jimbeam

jimbeam — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 19:23:24 +0000

And in honor of today…

Legalizing drugs would definitely help deal with the underlying reasons for gangs.

By: zinzin

zinzin — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 16:52:48 +0000

um, no. i wasn’t making a distinction between tags “a” and tags “b”.

i’m saying i’d rather have a few tags – regardless of provenance – than overt & tolerated street crime.

also….”cleaning up” the neighborhood – as i am sure you know – isn’t going to make gangs go away. the issue there is far deeper than a “clean up”.

pimps & ho’s…i am not so sure.

By: jimbeam

jimbeam — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 14:28:58 +0000

Hahaha, that’s just awesome. You’d rather have gang tags in your neighborhood than non-gang tags? Even when you consider what gang tags indicate? I thought you guys were all about cleaning up the neighborhood.

By: zinzin

zinzin — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 18:12:39 +0000

yeah. i get it. and i don’t disagree.

that said, while it’s a huge pain in the ass to paint over tags, i’m trying (believe it or not) to focus my energy – both good & bad – on bigger issues in the hood.

i’ll take a few tags any day, over pimps & ho’s & drug dealers dragging their asses up & down my block all day & all night.

right now we have all of it. we’ll see what we can do…

By: Glenparker

Glenparker — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 16:49:41 +0000

I agree Zinzin. Although I do have a problem with gang members tagging private property I realize they do it to mark their territory and that I can sort of understand. But these punks who spray what they think is cool or artsy little doodles on private property deserve their asses kicked and a one way ticket back to the suburbs of New Hampshire.
I’m not sure who would be your third group.

By: zinzin

zinzin — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 15:28:22 +0000

i’d say there’s plenty of tags from both camps:

gang kids (“ms13″, “norte”, “sur”, etc)

and “art” kids (“spray”, “orfn”, “count chocula”, etc.).

and likely there’s a camp of kids that doesn’t fit either above stereotype (and damn them for not fitting).

if we’re talking about the scrawl (and “art”) that’s shown here on MM, it’s the latter 2 camps for sure.

By: jimbeam

jimbeam — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 13:43:52 +0000

Dude, people tagging MS13 and scribbling on houses are, most likely, not kids who have recently moved to the mission and consider themselves artists. We’re talking about two different things here.

By: Glenparker

Glenparker — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 04:43:41 +0000

Funny but I’ve lived most of my life and never had to bother with tagging but now all these asshole “artists” have moved to SF and suddenly hey man it’s the neighborhood just put up with it.

By: mark

mark — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 01:55:29 +0000

yeah man, that will teach em. if someone doesn’t get all weepy about your castle being tagged, or doesn’t happen to agree with you about the (obvious) things that go along with living in a city, then you should go tag their shit! this ain’t cuba, it’s the u s of america man! you got the right, man, it’s totally ethical!

By: Glenparker

Glenparker — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 22:57:32 +0000

How about I express my artistic abilities on your car or bicycle? Would that be ok? I promise to make it real artsy and cool.
So because I live (and was born) in the Mission I just have to accept acts of vandalism? Please give my your address so I can come over and vandalize your shit in the name of art.
And why yes, I do pay taxes on my property; imagine that.
If you do not see houses tagged in the Mission then you are blind. It’s fucking everywhere.

By: zinzin

zinzin — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 21:53:29 +0000

heh. for some reason, the tags on my wall (and block) almost always say “MS13″…which for me is kinda worse than “pussy juice”.

far as houses tagged…quite a few along 19th between SVN & DP.

but 19th is apparently the divider between red & blue turf, so it’s not entirely surprising (with a tip of the hat to G & our rich tapestry).

By: jimbeam

jimbeam — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 21:44:55 +0000

No, I think you got what I meant.

I think it’s good when people take pride in their homes and their neighborhood. I’ve yet to see any houses tagged up in the Mission (at least ones that aren’t currently unused) and I think it would be pretty lame if “Pussy Juice” showed up on the front of your house Zin.

I think the difference comes down to the rest of the property/areas/sidewalks in the neighborhood and what we think is appropriate for those surfaces.

By: zinzin

zinzin — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 21:42:07 +0000

while the notion of “castle” may be misused, i think that G’s tone is saying more like: “if you live in the mission, you need to accept your house getting tagged as part of our rich tapestry”….

with perhaps a bit of “you uptight homeowner who wants to limit freedom of expression by not liking tags…why don’t you go live in Pac Heights if you don’t like the mission as gritty as i like it”.

so while i agree with jimbeam that some folks like graffiti and some don’t, and while i think glenparker’s comment was reactionary…

the notion that any mission resident (homeowner or otherwise) cannot take pride in their own home, in the way that they wish to take pride in it, and perhaps even strive to make the neighborhood a bit more to their liking, seems a little small minded.

and the anti-homeowner sentiments…i just don’t get it.

but hey, maybe G & jimbeam & glenparker were saying something completely different, and i totally misread all 3 posts.

By: jimbeam

jimbeam — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 20:07:41 +0000

Hey, did you pay taxes on your property? Do you hold the allodial title?

Your home isn’t your castle in the US. Deal with it.

Also, the graffiti is generally posted in a neutral tone. Some people appreciate graffiti, some don’t. I don’t think anyone is changing any minds around here.