| THIS IS A READ-ONLY ARCHIVE FROM THE SORABJI.COM MESSAGE BOARDS (1995-2016). |
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after visiting reading frenzy and powell's, having a bowl of spicy vegan stew at the energy bar (or is it the power bar? it's one of the two, on tenth street, across the street from the central library) and poking around at the beloved finnegan's; i went to pioneer square. i sat for a while, organizing the zines in my backpack, finding my chalk, and overall enjoying the action and sunshine. i took a piece of chalk in hand and prepared to write. i'd decided yesterday that i was going to go draw with sidewalk chalk downtown, it just washes off anyway. i started with nonsense "HAHA SAID THE CURLY PINK PIG." "THE SHEEP DID IT." (an old joke, much overused during my senior year of hs) then moved on to "DON'T SMOKE. IT STINKS." "I THINK I'M CUTE." beside what was either a pile of vomit or a spilled coffee drink. "IT'S A BIRD, IT'S A PLANE, IT'S CHALK." "IT'S CALLED A SMILE, TRY ONE SOMETIME" "BE ALL YOU CAN BE. ARMY. R.I.P." "RUN, RUN, AS FAST AS YOU CAN, YOU CAN'T CATCH ME; I'M (crossed out: THE GINGERBREAD MAN) A GIRL." i wrote responses to possible questions, but mostly meaningless statements "THIS IS NOT A STATEMENT." people can put meaning into everything. i generated a little interest, people stopping my to say "it's true" nodding and smiling. "is this performance art?" one man asked, but my reply was "i just felt like using sidewalk chalk." a woman stopped me, "is this a feminist art project?" i was in the middle of writing "I WON'T BUY YOU DIAMONDS." and i said "no, does it have to be?" the policeman: short, fat, caught me while writing "YOU ARE HERE" smack dab in the middle of the square. i immediately drew back into my shell, putting up my 'sweet, innocent, not-so-little girl' facade. i bagan to rub out the message according to his instructions, but he changed his mind and had me follow him to his office. on the way across the square, a middle aged woman stopped him. "you can't cross pioneer square." "whyever not?" "you can't walk here with a bad additude." this comment put a smile to my face. it made me realize how absurd the situation really was. if i played his "silly little game" for a while, everything would be alright. his office was in the back of the construction site underneath starbucks. i told the truth, that i didn't realize that it was wrong and the rain would wash it away, no charge. he called my actions "criminal mischief" a term which, if anything, defines the norse god loki more than y simple chalk writings. i asked why i wasn't supposed to draw with sidewalk chalk, people did it during the rose festival all the time. "people don't want to see it." during the entire 45 minutes that i was doing this, i had one negative comment other than the policeman, and it wasn't logical: "you shouldn't do that." "why not?" "it's public property." "it washes off." isn't public property supposed to belong to everyone? when i was finally allowed back into the sunshine, i'd been banned from the entire 3 park area. i don't know the exact bounderies, but i'll still be able to go to oak street. if i go into pioneer square, finnegan's, or the library within the next month, i could be arrested. i felt my last few moments with the policeman had a tinge of humor. he spied my first message "HAHA SAID THE CURLY PINK PIG." he was rather, shall we say, porkish. "what do you mean by that one?" he asked. "oh, nothing, i just made it up." i hurried away before i burst out laughing. my experience has led me to believe that government sees any and all deviation, however harmless, as a possible threat. policemen are not there to keep the peace as is commonly believed, but to herd us, like sheep, into the corporations best interests. you don't see a policeman going after people dropping cigarette butts, but those things can be dangerous (ever had one dropped on your foot? hurts like hell.). no matter what people say, this is not a democracy. we live our lives in constant fear of being caught straying from the herd, but who gives the government so much power? we do, and we can take it away. by staging absurd, peaceful demonstrations, people can get the media interested and encourage people questioning their faith in the government. i need to look at the bill of rights again. i seem to remember something about freedom of speech and i want my rights--every single one of them. |
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you should see the episode when Homer becomes a hippie. I get angry that street performers are brushed under the rug. They arent allowed on subways. Guliannai's selective enforcement of the "quality of life" laws. A white guy doing kareoke to sinatra tunes with his nutcase neighbor tap dancing is ok...but im positive kids elsewhere beatboxing or drum circles in the park are expelled. a guy with a saxaphone on the corner here about a year ago lasted about 15 minutes. yet they let freaks and/or out of work actors dress up like celebrities hang around Mann's no problem. In europe street performers are almost always appreciated for what they are.....often talented...and a brief intermission in daily grind. At least in London and Paris. |
i'm planning to get a group of people together on 22 april, the day before i'm allowed back, with a bunch of chalk and go to the square. who's with me? |
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i figure that if i make a big deal out of it it'll end up being a big joke in the area. "chalk riot in pioneer square. news at eleven." i need to review the laws of the city...it could end up being a huge deal, and a lot of fun. |
so I went outside and pulled the wooden stick off the side and carried my pieces of cardboard back inside. I didn't really want to go to the fucking mall, but I was supposed to meet my parents in the food court. I was stopped again, and this time the guard refused to tell me why. I was OK with it, though, because it is a privately owned building and all. your writings were a form of graffiti, though, pez. I am pretty anti-griffiti. and it hasn't rained in a long time. should it be OK to paint in the square with watercolors? should it be OK for starbucks to hire people to chalk in a great big green mermaid sign in middle of the square every morning? that would suck. |
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like these http://www.usc.edu/isd/archives/la/pubart/LA_murals/Silverlake/unity.html http://www.usc.edu/isd/archives/la/pubart/LA_murals/Silverlake/thai.html http://www.usc.edu/isd/archives/la/pubart/LA_murals/Silverlake/precioussea.html http://www.usc.edu/isd/archives/la/pubart/LA_murals/Silverlake/circus_books.html http://www.usc.edu/isd/archives/la/pubart/LA_murals/Silverlake/woman.html http://www.usc.edu/isd/archives/la/pubart/LA_murals/Silverlake/peace.html and fianlly this one....on th best god damn mexican resturaunt in LA , as far as I am concerned. When friends and family visit from out of town we ALWAYS go here. Its fun to watch them underestimate the margaritas like i did when i first went there http://www.usc.edu/isd/archives/la/pubart/LA_murals/Silverlake/chavo.html all of these murals are all within a mile or two in and around sunset blvd. and these are just a few of the dozens of others |
i think i did have a couple of messages in my writings, like "WHY NOT?" "THIS IS NOT A STATEMENT." "NEXT TIME, LOOK ME IN THE EYE." "STEP ON ME." what if i just dropped pieces of paper with the same messages on the ground? would that be littering? i've been reading lately about a march that took place last year, downtown. part parade, part demonstration, it was peaceful until the police began herding them and clubbing the stragglers. i don't believe in violence or hate, but i do believe in standing up for rights. some of these laws seem to have gotten out of hand. |
we have something simalar to the murals only in portland. companys pay to have ads painted on buildings. |
cyst has a point. and this is a pickle of situation. what is chalk made of? could the dye be a toxin once washed away? |
the last people I would want differentiating between art, politics, commerce, etc., (and between modes such as chalk, color pencil, watercolors, oils, permanent paint, etc.) are the cops. I want them to uphold the law in as fair a manner as possible, leaving all subtle determinations for the courts. the cops shouldn't let you or anyone else draw all over the square with any utensil. I think they did the right thing. anyway, pez, you should be thinking big. you should be defacing billboards. now that's big-time fun. (yeah, the cops you arrest you if they catch you. you should be careful not to get caught!) |
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Such is the power of graffiti. |
i used a type of chalk labeled "nontoxic". the river's prolly more toxic than the chalk, not that i'd go partaking in either. i wonder, if a bunch of kids drew hopscotch at the square and started playing, what the cops would do. |
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when the security guard told me I had to leave because I had a sign with a potentially dangerous stick, he didn't seem disturbed at all that a man using a big, long, heavy cane was walking past us. pez, you troublemaker. |
My heart hurts for those who scream through their art and tags that they want to BE NOTICED....that they are more ALIVE than brick and stone..... SEE ME FEEL ME TOUCH ME HEAL ME ya know? |
Damn the "man" for busting you down with your fun. What I think if amusing is the reasons people like that give for their assault on your freedom of speech and expression. Here in Missoula (the extreamly liberal, or granola as some people call it, college town.) something like sidewalk chalk writings would either be seen as cute and funny, or as a PC statement which no one would touch for fear of offending said PC group... Sometimes the world is just odd. |
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to kids, the police want to be as friendly as possible, so they'll learn to trust them. then they crack down on the same people as adults. little animals are cute and easier to train. |
my heart does not go out to them. graffiti is for bathroom walls, where discussions can be started, and existing billboards, which are eyesores that shouldn't be there in the first place. |
um, yeah. |
if one of my uncles did it (one's a fairly well-known local cardiologist, the other's a cop) they'd be told to move along. if my mom did it, she'd be told to move along, because she'd be in her nice downtown clothes. if my cousin's daughter did it, people'd say it was cute. if a homeless person did it, they'd be either instantly arrested or people'd stay away from the crazy person. i was probably saved by my innocent act and by not making any "smart remarks". there was a sign in his "office": "if it's not yours, don't touch it." i almost asked if that went for public property too. |
have the kids do the same as you, and see what the cops do. maybe the children could write political messages and you could play hopscotch. videotape the whole thing (and post it on the web, of course). now that would be art! and possibly a court case! |
http://www.oregonlive.com/pioneersquarecam/ |
i used to play hopscotch all the time, but i can't remember how! i wish i knew. |
Also, some jerk spray painted my bike one night. Not that I was in love with the bright orange colour the bike was originally, but it was a hell of a lot nicer than bright orange with taupe spots. I also had to replace my hand grips because the paint kept coming off onto my hands. But maybe the funniest thing is, I told my dad: "someone painted my bike yesterday." He replied, "did they do a good job?" He was totally serious. See, I moved to Brooklyn, and that stuff is normal, but I grew up (and my dad still lives) in a suburb of Toronto, where there is almost no grafitti anywhere, and I certainly have never heard of anyone's bike being painted. |
on monday i got kicked out because i had a chair with me. no threats, just got told i had to leave. it's a pretty cool chair, too. built to use with a drafting table. vintage 50s-ish style, bright "primary" green. there's a sign on the back, "judy's air". i sat around in the thing for about half an hour in plain sight and then played hackey sack for another hour before the rent-a-cop even said anything. it was good that i had the chair because all the seats on the MAX were full so i could still sit down. |
here we have street chalk artists, and everyone seems cool with them, no one steps on their work or gives them shit. They make murals on the sidewalk of major shopping streets all summer, sometimes their creations are damn near 10 feet long. I don't know if they have to pay the city or not for the rights. We have street musicians too, in subway tunnels, in front of buildings, all over. Most of them aren't very good (not like the brilliant ones seen in Paris), except for this guy who's always in the subway at Finch. He plays classical guitar like a mother fucker, and if kids walk past he breaks into a song by whatever rock band's t-shirt they're wearing. Sometimes and accordion guy backs him up as well. In Dundas station there was a flute player that was great too. I think they have to get permits to play in the subways, but clearly they're not very hard to get. I'm pretty sure they just did this to cut down on the number of people trying to play in one station at once. Outside areas are a musician free-for-all. Summer is quite musical downtown. did i mention it also rains fucking candy here? |
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the red line was the one completed...the last 4 stops anyway, in the north. The downtown and south la portions have been completed for years. |
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sometime tomorrow check out mr. ridiculous and look at the columns. you might see something a little familiar. *eeek! happy dance* |
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why do women and protein-deficient artist boys get away with so much? if i'd been you, i'd have been trying to scrape up some bail money. |
"i immediately drew back into my shell, putting up my 'sweet, innocent, not-so-little girl' facade." because i don't look like the type of person who'd make trouble. clean, pleasant smell, combed hair. plus i think i earned points for continuing to say that it would wash off and i never said how far i went or for how long. once he let me go, i left immediately. i was actually pretty scared. my only defence was to accent how scared i was. |
