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Lincoln Heights is home to the Church of the Epiphany, one of Los Angeles’ oldest religious structures. When it was built (1887), the majority of parishioners were Anglos, but Native Americans, Italian immigrants, and Latin Americans all come to worship over the years. The church clergy strongly supported Cesar Chavez, the famous leader of the social and political action, and even hosted farmworkers protesting for equal rights when they needed a place to rest. Chavez spoke in the church that welcomed Latinos with Masses including Mexican symbols such as mariachi music and a mural of the Magi as three Aztec kings. As a site with a rich history in social and political action, the church still strives to help fight for equal rights into the future.
More Information: articles.latimes.com/2005/jun/16/local/me-church16 (LA Times)
Visit the interactive maps and images about Monuments: Diversity, Democracy and Freedom by The City Project.
Photo Credit: preservation.lacity.org/node/366?size=_original
We sure didn't have a rowing club when I was in high school. We did, however, have a juggling club and a writing club -- nothing that required alot of equipment.
No, we had a programme called "Strive for Excellence" by where you received a coupon good for a free cheeseburger @ the mall when you made the honor roll.
"...we'll always win and we'll always fight / cheer orange, black and white / Rah! Rah! Rah! "
Go Bears.
"Let us strive to know the Lord; as certain as the dawn is His coming, & His judgment shines forth like the Light of Day!" ~ HOSEA 6:1-6
Image in use at:
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Filename - DSC_7337 Lonely Tree Sunset NR - Topaz OPII tag 2015
Following the Son...
Blessings,
Sharon 🌻
God's Beauty In Nature is calling us into a deeper relationship with Him...
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Bloggers are welcome to use my artwork with, “Image from Art4TheGlryOfGod by Sharon under Creative Commons license”, and a link back to the images you use.
Please let me know in the comment section below, thank you...
Art4TheGlryOfGod Photography and Watercolor Paintings by Sharon
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Faith, Hope & Love in daily Art meditations...
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Please inform me if an image hasn’t been uploaded, and I’ll ensure it’s available for you.
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Life is indeed difficult, partly because of the real difficulties we must overcome in order to survive, and partly because of our own innate desire to always do better, to overcome new challenges, to self-actualize. Happiness is experienced largely in striving towards a goal, not in having attained things, because our nature is always to want to go on to the next endeavor.
Albert Ellis, Michael Abrams, Lidia Dengelegi, The Art & Science of Rational Eating, 1992
Graham, Washington
092013
Morning glories turn their trumpets to the sky, and nothing in nature mocks them for it. They do not aspire to be blue, they embody blue.
Read more at scrollwork.blogspot.com/2010/08/blue-toward-blue.html
The officers of the student-run Investment Management Group (supervised by Dr. David Myers) are putting on a talk about financial markets for some high school students who are in the Strive Program (website: striveyouth.com/) today - Feb 27th at 5:15PM in the FSL.
The officers of the student-run Investment Management Group (supervised by Dr. David Myers) are putting on a talk about financial markets for some high school students who are in the Strive Program (website: striveyouth.com/) today - Feb 27th at 5:15PM in the FSL.
Make a picture that strives to demonstrate empathy for a subject you may not have necessarily felt a sense of emotional connection to before.
— Zun Lee
I try not to write explanation's with my 26 submissions, however with this fortnights describe how I arrived at my final outcome.
I think this fortnights challenge has been hard. I was a few days in and I hadn't a clue where I was going with this, when I had the most almighty row with my 12 year old son. My friends all have children hitting that 'teenage' bracket (It is a stage in my child's development I have never experienced before) and when we get together over a cup of tea and cake, we re-tell tales of parent/ child battles. The general gist is never very positive but the row got me thinking; this is a stage that must be so hard for the child. Not only are they coping with physical changes but emotional ones too. They are striving to find a sense of self, so with that in mind I asked for volunteers (and parental permission) to photograph teenagers that I did not know very well. I asked that I photograph them in their space, somewhere where they felt comfortable. I wanted to make a set of portraits that reflected the person, not hinting at the turmoil they must at times be experiencing as they reach out towards adulthood.
The officers of the student-run Investment Management Group (supervised by Dr. David Myers) are putting on a talk about financial markets for some high school students who are in the Strive Program (website: striveyouth.com/) today - Feb 27th at 5:15PM in the FSL.
The officers of the student-run Investment Management Group (supervised by Dr. David Myers) are putting on a talk about financial markets for some high school students who are in the Strive Program (website: striveyouth.com/) today - Feb 27th at 5:15PM in the FSL.
Apollo Theater heritage being explained to my guests - historical information with the personal community touch at Apollo Theater Wall of signatures is what we do.
Harlem Heritage Tours is the OFFICIAL provider of cultural sightseeing expereinces in the village of Lady Harlem.
Imam Saffarini, the Hanbali faqih and sufi, explained in his Sharh Mandhumat al-Adaab:
“Night prayer is superior to day prayer because:
It is more concealed and closer to sincerity. The righteous early Muslims (salaf) used to strive hard to hide their secrets [f: i.e. the actions between them and Allah].
Hasan [al-Basri] said, ‘It used to be that a person would have guests staying over and he would pray at night without his guests knowing…’
And because night prayer is harder on the lower self, because night is a time of rest from the tire of day, so leaving sleep despite the lower self being desirous of it is a tremendous struggle (mujahada). Some have said, ‘The best of works are those the lower self is forced to perform.’
And because recitation in night prayer is closer to contemplation, because things that busy the heart are mostly absent at night, so the heart is attention and is with the tongue in understanding, as Allah Most High said, ‘o! The night vigil is (a time) when impression is more keen and speech more certain. [Lo! You have by day a chain of business. So remember the name of your Lord and devote yourself with a complete devotion.]’ (Qur’an, 73: 6-7) It is because of this that we have been commanded to recite the Qur’an in night prayer in a steady recital (tartil).
And it is because of this that night prayer is a shield from sin…
And because night vigil time is the best of times for voluntary worship and prayer, and the closest a servant is to his Lord.
And because it is a time when the doors of the sky are opened, supplications answered, and the needs of those who ask fulfilled.
Allah has praised those who wake up at night for His remembrance, supplication, and to seek forgiveness and entreat Him, saying, ‘They forsake their beds to cry unto their Lord in fear and hope, and spend of what We have bestowed on them. No soul knows what is kept hid from them of joy, as a reward for what they used to do.’ [Qur’an, 32: 16-17]
And He said, ‘Those who pray for pardon in the watches of the night.’ [Qur’an, 3: 17]
And, ‘[The (faithful) servants of the Merciful are they who walk upon the earth modestly, and when the foolish one address them answer: Peace;] And who spend the night before their Lord, prostrate and standing…’ [Qur’an, 25: 63-64]
Allah most negated similitude between those who pray at night and those who do not: ‘Is the one who worships devoutly in the watches of the night, prostrate and standing, fearful of the Hereafter and hoping for the mercy of his Lord, (to be accounted equal with a disbeliever)? Say: are those who know equal with those who know know? But only people of understanding will pay heed.’ [Qur’an, 39: 9]” [Saffarini, Ghidha al-Albab Sharh Mandhumat al-Adaab,
Friends from all over with us on Saturday's (04/10/2010) "Taste of Harlem Walking Tours" - friends tasted food from various ethnic communities in Harlem: Jamaican, African, African-American and the classic Spanish dish "Rice & Beans" in above pic. Via the food friends visited historic sights and learned about Harlem's history - only with Harlem Heritage Tours.
Images can have meaning or not. We sometimes strive for perfection and there are those who believe perfection is boring (as a great artist friend boasts). Sometimes the trivial things in life are interesting and sometimes only the pinnacle essence of the moment is the only moment that matters to be captured. There are so many different studies, from pictorialism, modernism, surrealism, realism, minimalism and maybe some other isms....I must admit I love them all. And is worth every bit of study to understand its thrust and meaning behind the image.
:: Sale @ Strive Designs 12/26/15 ::
On Sale 12/26/15 - 01/02/16
▶►▸ ▶►▸ SALE PRICE: 35L ◂◄◀◂◄◀
REGULAR PRICE: 149L
===INCLUDES==========================
★ Mesh Dress (Rigged - 5 Sizes)
★ Animated Champagne Glass
★ Mesh Necklace
★ Slink High Shoes
***NOTE: Feet are NOT included! You must purchase them thru the Slink Store
INWORLD STORE:
maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/POSSEDUTA/111/223/2848
**NOTE** - Sale Prices ONLY available inworld!
MARKETPLACE:
Hong Kong strives to integrate into the China nationwide express rail (top speed of 380km/h) network which extends a total length of 16,000km by year 2020. The rail network is now under construction and part in operation. To build the Hong Kong section of the Guangzhou- Shenzhen- Hong Kong Express Rail Link, the cost is HK$67-billion for a length of 26km, probably the world's most expensive train line. Opponents and supporters gather outside Legislative Council to express their views alongside other political petitions as the Council members are hot debating in-house on funding vote. Debate and vote resumes next week.
Reggie Bush, doesn't let alcohol control him, if he did he wouldn't be able to score against Texas, a top ranked team. College athletes do drink, OU student-athletes drink, they are suppose to be drug free when they are in season. If an athlete has respect for their team they will choose to abstain from alcohol. If not and found out this will lead to disapproval from the team and could cost a game or meet and their trust in you will be lost. Peer approval is very important when someone is involved in a team, it represents a family. Everyone depends on everyone else to keep everything working smoothly.
Strive to sit at least 6 people even in a small room. If the room is larger, divide it into areas that sit various groups of people from 2 to 6. ...Log on to Indiaproperty.com to get a well connected posh apartment.
This photo taken by and appears courtesy of George Fischer, local photographer; Zero Effects Photography.
Despite a very rainy day on Saturday, September 12, 2015 over 90 volunteers braved the weather to remove over 191 bags of trash and 500 pounds of metal from the historic Bread and Cheese Creek! 4 bicycles, a leather sofa, leather chair, a sing, a chain link fence, a charcoal grill, two shopping cards, an entertainment stand, two pallets, three tires, a gas pump handle labeled “Leaded Fuel Only were also removed! The majority of the trash consisted of fast food trash, plastic bottle and cans.
Our cleanup was ran in association with ran in association with National Day to Serve and the Ocean Conservancy’s International Coastal Cleanup as well as American Rivers.
We would like to thank all our incredible volunteer form the community, Towson University, the Cub Scouts and the U. S. Airforce who helped to make out cleanup so successful! We would also like to thank Gotugo for donating a portable restroom for the event! Thank you everyone for all your hard work and for helping us strive for a cleaner, greener, healthier community and environment!
Out next Cleanup is October 3rd as we cleanup the Peninsula Expressway. We hope to see you there!
Graffiti (plural; singular graffiti or graffito, the latter rarely used except in archeology) is art that is written, painted or drawn on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from simple written words to elaborate wall paintings, and has existed since ancient times, with examples dating back to ancient Egypt, ancient Greece, and the Roman Empire (see also mural).
Graffiti is a controversial subject. In most countries, marking or painting property without permission is considered by property owners and civic authorities as defacement and vandalism, which is a punishable crime, citing the use of graffiti by street gangs to mark territory or to serve as an indicator of gang-related activities. Graffiti has become visualized as a growing urban "problem" for many cities in industrialized nations, spreading from the New York City subway system and Philadelphia in the early 1970s to the rest of the United States and Europe and other world regions
"Graffiti" (usually both singular and plural) and the rare singular form "graffito" are from the Italian word graffiato ("scratched"). The term "graffiti" is used in art history for works of art produced by scratching a design into a surface. A related term is "sgraffito", which involves scratching through one layer of pigment to reveal another beneath it. This technique was primarily used by potters who would glaze their wares and then scratch a design into them. In ancient times graffiti were carved on walls with a sharp object, although sometimes chalk or coal were used. The word originates from Greek γράφειν—graphein—meaning "to write".
The term graffiti originally referred to the inscriptions, figure drawings, and such, found on the walls of ancient sepulchres or ruins, as in the Catacombs of Rome or at Pompeii. Historically, these writings were not considered vanadlism, which today is considered part of the definition of graffiti.
The only known source of the Safaitic language, an ancient form of Arabic, is from graffiti: inscriptions scratched on to the surface of rocks and boulders in the predominantly basalt desert of southern Syria, eastern Jordan and northern Saudi Arabia. Safaitic dates from the first century BC to the fourth century AD.
Some of the oldest cave paintings in the world are 40,000 year old ones found in Australia. The oldest written graffiti was found in ancient Rome around 2500 years ago. Most graffiti from the time was boasts about sexual experiences Graffiti in Ancient Rome was a form of communication, and was not considered vandalism.
Ancient tourists visiting the 5th-century citadel at Sigiriya in Sri Lanka write their names and commentary over the "mirror wall", adding up to over 1800 individual graffiti produced there between the 6th and 18th centuries. Most of the graffiti refer to the frescoes of semi-nude females found there. One reads:
Wet with cool dew drops
fragrant with perfume from the flowers
came the gentle breeze
jasmine and water lily
dance in the spring sunshine
side-long glances
of the golden-hued ladies
stab into my thoughts
heaven itself cannot take my mind
as it has been captivated by one lass
among the five hundred I have seen here.
Among the ancient political graffiti examples were Arab satirist poems. Yazid al-Himyari, an Umayyad Arab and Persian poet, was most known for writing his political poetry on the walls between Sajistan and Basra, manifesting a strong hatred towards the Umayyad regime and its walis, and people used to read and circulate them very widely.
Graffiti, known as Tacherons, were frequently scratched on Romanesque Scandinavian church walls. When Renaissance artists such as Pinturicchio, Raphael, Michelangelo, Ghirlandaio, or Filippino Lippi descended into the ruins of Nero's Domus Aurea, they carved or painted their names and returned to initiate the grottesche style of decoration.
There are also examples of graffiti occurring in American history, such as Independence Rock, a national landmark along the Oregon Trail.
Later, French soldiers carved their names on monuments during the Napoleonic campaign of Egypt in the 1790s. Lord Byron's survives on one of the columns of the Temple of Poseidon at Cape Sounion in Attica, Greece.
The oldest known example of graffiti "monikers" found on traincars created by hobos and railworkers since the late 1800s. The Bozo Texino monikers were documented by filmmaker Bill Daniel in his 2005 film, Who is Bozo Texino?.
In World War II, an inscription on a wall at the fortress of Verdun was seen as an illustration of the US response twice in a generation to the wrongs of the Old World:
During World War II and for decades after, the phrase "Kilroy was here" with an accompanying illustration was widespread throughout the world, due to its use by American troops and ultimately filtering into American popular culture. Shortly after the death of Charlie Parker (nicknamed "Yardbird" or "Bird"), graffiti began appearing around New York with the words "Bird Lives".
Modern graffiti art has its origins with young people in 1960s and 70s in New York City and Philadelphia. Tags were the first form of stylised contemporary graffiti. Eventually, throw-ups and pieces evolved with the desire to create larger art. Writers used spray paint and other kind of materials to leave tags or to create images on the sides subway trains. and eventually moved into the city after the NYC metro began to buy new trains and paint over graffiti.
While the art had many advocates and appreciators—including the cultural critic Norman Mailer—others, including New York City mayor Ed Koch, considered it to be defacement of public property, and saw it as a form of public blight. The ‘taggers’ called what they did ‘writing’—though an important 1974 essay by Mailer referred to it using the term ‘graffiti.’
Contemporary graffiti style has been heavily influenced by hip hop culture and the myriad international styles derived from Philadelphia and New York City Subway graffiti; however, there are many other traditions of notable graffiti in the twentieth century. Graffiti have long appeared on building walls, in latrines, railroad boxcars, subways, and bridges.
An early graffito outside of New York or Philadelphia was the inscription in London reading "Clapton is God" in reference to the guitarist Eric Clapton. Creating the cult of the guitar hero, the phrase was spray-painted by an admirer on a wall in an Islington, north London in the autumn of 1967. The graffito was captured in a photograph, in which a dog is urinating on the wall.
Films like Style Wars in the 80s depicting famous writers such as Skeme, Dondi, MinOne, and ZEPHYR reinforced graffiti's role within New York's emerging hip-hop culture. Although many officers of the New York City Police Department found this film to be controversial, Style Wars is still recognized as the most prolific film representation of what was going on within the young hip hop culture of the early 1980s. Fab 5 Freddy and Futura 2000 took hip hop graffiti to Paris and London as part of the New York City Rap Tour in 1983
Commercialization and entrance into mainstream pop culture
Main article: Commercial graffiti
With the popularity and legitimization of graffiti has come a level of commercialization. In 2001, computer giant IBM launched an advertising campaign in Chicago and San Francisco which involved people spray painting on sidewalks a peace symbol, a heart, and a penguin (Linux mascot), to represent "Peace, Love, and Linux." IBM paid Chicago and San Francisco collectively US$120,000 for punitive damages and clean-up costs.
In 2005, a similar ad campaign was launched by Sony and executed by its advertising agency in New York, Chicago, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and Miami, to market its handheld PSP gaming system. In this campaign, taking notice of the legal problems of the IBM campaign, Sony paid building owners for the rights to paint on their buildings "a collection of dizzy-eyed urban kids playing with the PSP as if it were a skateboard, a paddle, or a rocking horse".
Tristan Manco wrote that Brazil "boasts a unique and particularly rich, graffiti scene ... [earning] it an international reputation as the place to go for artistic inspiration". Graffiti "flourishes in every conceivable space in Brazil's cities". Artistic parallels "are often drawn between the energy of São Paulo today and 1970s New York". The "sprawling metropolis", of São Paulo has "become the new shrine to graffiti"; Manco alludes to "poverty and unemployment ... [and] the epic struggles and conditions of the country's marginalised peoples", and to "Brazil's chronic poverty", as the main engines that "have fuelled a vibrant graffiti culture". In world terms, Brazil has "one of the most uneven distributions of income. Laws and taxes change frequently". Such factors, Manco argues, contribute to a very fluid society, riven with those economic divisions and social tensions that underpin and feed the "folkloric vandalism and an urban sport for the disenfranchised", that is South American graffiti art.
Prominent Brazilian writers include Os Gêmeos, Boleta, Nunca, Nina, Speto, Tikka, and T.Freak. Their artistic success and involvement in commercial design ventures has highlighted divisions within the Brazilian graffiti community between adherents of the cruder transgressive form of pichação and the more conventionally artistic values of the practitioners of grafite.
Graffiti in the Middle East has emerged slowly, with taggers operating in Egypt, Lebanon, the Gulf countries like Bahrain or the United Arab Emirates, Israel, and in Iran. The major Iranian newspaper Hamshahri has published two articles on illegal writers in the city with photographic coverage of Iranian artist A1one's works on Tehran walls. Tokyo-based design magazine, PingMag, has interviewed A1one and featured photographs of his work. The Israeli West Bank barrier has become a site for graffiti, reminiscent in this sense of the Berlin Wall. Many writers in Israel come from other places around the globe, such as JUIF from Los Angeles and DEVIONE from London. The religious reference "נ נח נחמ נחמן מאומן" ("Na Nach Nachma Nachman Meuman") is commonly seen in graffiti around Israel.
Graffiti has played an important role within the street art scene in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), especially following the events of the Arab Spring of 2011 or the Sudanese Revolution of 2018/19. Graffiti is a tool of expression in the context of conflict in the region, allowing people to raise their voices politically and socially. Famous street artist Banksy has had an important effect in the street art scene in the MENA area, especially in Palestine where some of his works are located in the West Bank barrier and Bethlehem.
There are also a large number of graffiti influences in Southeast Asian countries that mostly come from modern Western culture, such as Malaysia, where graffiti have long been a common sight in Malaysia's capital city, Kuala Lumpur. Since 2010, the country has begun hosting a street festival to encourage all generations and people from all walks of life to enjoy and encourage Malaysian street culture.
The modern-day graffitists can be found with an arsenal of various materials that allow for a successful production of a piece. This includes such techniques as scribing. However, spray paint in aerosol cans is the number one medium for graffiti. From this commodity comes different styles, technique, and abilities to form master works of graffiti. Spray paint can be found at hardware and art stores and comes in virtually every color.
Stencil graffiti is created by cutting out shapes and designs in a stiff material (such as cardboard or subject folders) to form an overall design or image. The stencil is then placed on the "canvas" gently and with quick, easy strokes of the aerosol can, the image begins to appear on the intended surface.
Some of the first examples were created in 1981 by artists Blek le Rat in Paris, in 1982 by Jef Aerosol in Tours (France); by 1985 stencils had appeared in other cities including New York City, Sydney, and Melbourne, where they were documented by American photographer Charles Gatewood and Australian photographer Rennie Ellis
Tagging is the practice of someone spray-painting "their name, initial or logo onto a public surface" in a handstyle unique to the writer. Tags were the first form of modern graffiti.
Modern graffiti art often incorporates additional arts and technologies. For example, Graffiti Research Lab has encouraged the use of projected images and magnetic light-emitting diodes (throwies) as new media for graffitists. yarnbombing is another recent form of graffiti. Yarnbombers occasionally target previous graffiti for modification, which had been avoided among the majority of graffitists.
Theories on the use of graffiti by avant-garde artists have a history dating back at least to the Asger Jorn, who in 1962 painting declared in a graffiti-like gesture "the avant-garde won't give up"
Many contemporary analysts and even art critics have begun to see artistic value in some graffiti and to recognize it as a form of public art. According to many art researchers, particularly in the Netherlands and in Los Angeles, that type of public art is, in fact an effective tool of social emancipation or, in the achievement of a political goal
In times of conflict, such murals have offered a means of communication and self-expression for members of these socially, ethnically, or racially divided communities, and have proven themselves as effective tools in establishing dialog and thus, of addressing cleavages in the long run. The Berlin Wall was also extensively covered by graffiti reflecting social pressures relating to the oppressive Soviet rule over the GDR.
Many artists involved with graffiti are also concerned with the similar activity of stenciling. Essentially, this entails stenciling a print of one or more colors using spray-paint. Recognized while exhibiting and publishing several of her coloured stencils and paintings portraying the Sri Lankan Civil War and urban Britain in the early 2000s, graffitists Mathangi Arulpragasam, aka M.I.A., has also become known for integrating her imagery of political violence into her music videos for singles "Galang" and "Bucky Done Gun", and her cover art. Stickers of her artwork also often appear around places such as London in Brick Lane, stuck to lamp posts and street signs, she having become a muse for other graffitists and painters worldwide in cities including Seville.
Graffitist believes that art should be on display for everyone in the public eye or in plain sight, not hidden away in a museum or a gallery. Art should color the streets, not the inside of some building. Graffiti is a form of art that cannot be owned or bought. It does not last forever, it is temporary, yet one of a kind. It is a form of self promotion for the artist that can be displayed anywhere form sidewalks, roofs, subways, building wall, etc. Art to them is for everyone and should be showed to everyone for free.
Graffiti is a way of communicating and a way of expressing what one feels in the moment. It is both art and a functional thing that can warn people of something or inform people of something. However, graffiti is to some people a form of art, but to some a form of vandalism. And many graffitists choose to protect their identities and remain anonymous or to hinder prosecution.
With the commercialization of graffiti (and hip hop in general), in most cases, even with legally painted "graffiti" art, graffitists tend to choose anonymity. This may be attributed to various reasons or a combination of reasons. Graffiti still remains the one of four hip hop elements that is not considered "performance art" despite the image of the "singing and dancing star" that sells hip hop culture to the mainstream. Being a graphic form of art, it might also be said that many graffitists still fall in the category of the introverted archetypal artist.
Banksy is one of the world's most notorious and popular street artists who continues to remain faceless in today's society. He is known for his political, anti-war stencil art mainly in Bristol, England, but his work may be seen anywhere from Los Angeles to Palestine. In the UK, Banksy is the most recognizable icon for this cultural artistic movement and keeps his identity a secret to avoid arrest. Much of Banksy's artwork may be seen around the streets of London and surrounding suburbs, although he has painted pictures throughout the world, including the Middle East, where he has painted on Israel's controversial West Bank barrier with satirical images of life on the other side. One depicted a hole in the wall with an idyllic beach, while another shows a mountain landscape on the other side. A number of exhibitions also have taken place since 2000, and recent works of art have fetched vast sums of money. Banksy's art is a prime example of the classic controversy: vandalism vs. art. Art supporters endorse his work distributed in urban areas as pieces of art and some councils, such as Bristol and Islington, have officially protected them, while officials of other areas have deemed his work to be vandalism and have removed it.
Pixnit is another artist who chooses to keep her identity from the general public. Her work focuses on beauty and design aspects of graffiti as opposed to Banksy's anti-government shock value. Her paintings are often of flower designs above shops and stores in her local urban area of Cambridge, Massachusetts. Some store owners endorse her work and encourage others to do similar work as well. "One of the pieces was left up above Steve's Kitchen, because it looks pretty awesome"- Erin Scott, the manager of New England Comics in Allston, Massachusetts.
Graffiti artists may become offended if photographs of their art are published in a commercial context without their permission. In March 2020, the Finnish graffiti artist Psyke expressed his displeasure at the newspaper Ilta-Sanomat publishing a photograph of a Peugeot 208 in an article about new cars, with his graffiti prominently shown on the background. The artist claims he does not want his art being used in commercial context, not even if he were to receive compensation.
Territorial graffiti marks urban neighborhoods with tags and logos to differentiate certain groups from others. These images are meant to show outsiders a stern look at whose turf is whose. The subject matter of gang-related graffiti consists of cryptic symbols and initials strictly fashioned with unique calligraphies. Gang members use graffiti to designate membership throughout the gang, to differentiate rivals and associates and, most commonly, to mark borders which are both territorial and ideological.
Graffiti has been used as a means of advertising both legally and illegally. Bronx-based TATS CRU has made a name for themselves doing legal advertising campaigns for companies such as Coca-Cola, McDonald's, Toyota, and MTV. In the UK, Covent Garden's Boxfresh used stencil images of a Zapatista revolutionary in the hopes that cross referencing would promote their store.
Smirnoff hired artists to use reverse graffiti (the use of high pressure hoses to clean dirty surfaces to leave a clean image in the surrounding dirt) to increase awareness of their product.
Graffiti often has a reputation as part of a subculture that rebels against authority, although the considerations of the practitioners often diverge and can relate to a wide range of attitudes. It can express a political practice and can form just one tool in an array of resistance techniques. One early example includes the anarcho-punk band Crass, who conducted a campaign of stenciling anti-war, anarchist, feminist, and anti-consumerist messages throughout the London Underground system during the late 1970s and early 1980s. In Amsterdam graffiti was a major part of the punk scene. The city was covered with names such as "De Zoot", "Vendex", and "Dr Rat". To document the graffiti a punk magazine was started that was called Gallery Anus. So when hip hop came to Europe in the early 1980s there was already a vibrant graffiti culture.
The student protests and general strike of May 1968 saw Paris bedecked in revolutionary, anarchistic, and situationist slogans such as L'ennui est contre-révolutionnaire ("Boredom is counterrevolutionary") and Lisez moins, vivez plus ("Read less, live more"). While not exhaustive, the graffiti gave a sense of the 'millenarian' and rebellious spirit, tempered with a good deal of verbal wit, of the strikers.
I think graffiti writing is a way of defining what our generation is like. Excuse the French, we're not a bunch of p---- artists. Traditionally artists have been considered soft and mellow people, a little bit kooky. Maybe we're a little bit more like pirates that way. We defend our territory, whatever space we steal to paint on, we defend it fiercely.
The developments of graffiti art which took place in art galleries and colleges as well as "on the street" or "underground", contributed to the resurfacing in the 1990s of a far more overtly politicized art form in the subvertising, culture jamming, or tactical media movements. These movements or styles tend to classify the artists by their relationship to their social and economic contexts, since, in most countries, graffiti art remains illegal in many forms except when using non-permanent paint. Since the 1990s with the rise of Street Art, a growing number of artists are switching to non-permanent paints and non-traditional forms of painting.
Contemporary practitioners, accordingly, have varied and often conflicting practices. Some individuals, such as Alexander Brener, have used the medium to politicize other art forms, and have used the prison sentences enforced on them as a means of further protest. The practices of anonymous groups and individuals also vary widely, and practitioners by no means always agree with each other's practices. For example, the anti-capitalist art group the Space Hijackers did a piece in 2004 about the contradiction between the capitalistic elements of Banksy and his use of political imagery.
Berlin human rights activist Irmela Mensah-Schramm has received global media attention and numerous awards for her 35-year campaign of effacing neo-Nazi and other right-wing extremist graffiti throughout Germany, often by altering hate speech in humorous ways.
In Serbian capital, Belgrade, the graffiti depicting a uniformed former general of Serb army and war criminal, convicted at ICTY for war crimes and crimes against humanity, including genocide and ethnic cleansing in Bosnian War, Ratko Mladić, appeared in a military salute alongside the words "General, thank to your mother". Aleks Eror, Berlin-based journalist, explains how "veneration of historical and wartime figures" through street art is not a new phenomenon in the region of former Yugoslavia, and that "in most cases is firmly focused on the future, rather than retelling the past". Eror is not only analyst pointing to danger of such an expressions for the region's future. In a long expose on the subject of Bosnian genocide denial, at Balkan Diskurs magazine and multimedia platform website, Kristina Gadže and Taylor Whitsell referred to these experiences as a young generations' "cultural heritage", in which young are being exposed to celebration and affirmation of war-criminals as part of their "formal education" and "inheritance".
There are numerous examples of genocide denial through celebration and affirmation of war criminals throughout the region of Western Balkans inhabited by Serbs using this form of artistic expression. Several more of these graffiti are found in Serbian capital, and many more across Serbia and Bosnian and Herzegovinian administrative entity, Republika Srpska, which is the ethnic Serbian majority enclave. Critics point that Serbia as a state, is willing to defend the mural of convicted war criminal, and have no intention to react on cases of genocide denial, noting that Interior Minister of Serbia, Aleksandar Vulin decision to ban any gathering with an intent to remove the mural, with the deployment of riot police, sends the message of "tacit endorsement". Consequently, on 9 November 2021, Serbian heavy police in riot gear, with graffiti creators and their supporters, blocked the access to the mural to prevent human rights groups and other activists to paint over it and mark the International Day Against Fascism and Antisemitism in that way, and even arrested two civic activist for throwing eggs at the graffiti.
Graffiti may also be used as an offensive expression. This form of graffiti may be difficult to identify, as it is mostly removed by the local authority (as councils which have adopted strategies of criminalization also strive to remove graffiti quickly). Therefore, existing racist graffiti is mostly more subtle and at first sight, not easily recognized as "racist". It can then be understood only if one knows the relevant "local code" (social, historical, political, temporal, and spatial), which is seen as heteroglot and thus a 'unique set of conditions' in a cultural context.
A spatial code for example, could be that there is a certain youth group in an area that is engaging heavily in racist activities. So, for residents (knowing the local code), a graffiti containing only the name or abbreviation of this gang already is a racist expression, reminding the offended people of their gang activities. Also a graffiti is in most cases, the herald of more serious criminal activity to come. A person who does not know these gang activities would not be able to recognize the meaning of this graffiti. Also if a tag of this youth group or gang is placed on a building occupied by asylum seekers, for example, its racist character is even stronger.
By making the graffiti less explicit (as adapted to social and legal constraints), these drawings are less likely to be removed, but do not lose their threatening and offensive character.
Elsewhere, activists in Russia have used painted caricatures of local officials with their mouths as potholes, to show their anger about the poor state of the roads. In Manchester, England, a graffitists painted obscene images around potholes, which often resulted in them being repaired within 48 hours.
In the early 1980s, the first art galleries to show graffitists to the public were Fashion Moda in the Bronx, Now Gallery and Fun Gallery, both in the East Village, Manhattan.
A 2006 exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum displayed graffiti as an art form that began in New York's outer boroughs and reached great heights in the early 1980s with the work of Crash, Lee, Daze, Keith Haring, and Jean-Michel Basquiat. It displayed 22 works by New York graffitists, including Crash, Daze, and Lady Pink. In an article about the exhibition in the magazine Time Out, curator Charlotta Kotik said that she hoped the exhibition would cause viewers to rethink their assumptions about graffiti.
From the 1970s onwards, Burhan Doğançay photographed urban walls all over the world; these he then archived for use as sources of inspiration for his painterly works. The project today known as "Walls of the World" grew beyond even his own expectations and comprises about 30,000 individual images. It spans a period of 40 years across five continents and 114 countries. In 1982, photographs from this project comprised a one-man exhibition titled "Les murs murmurent, ils crient, ils chantent ..." (The walls whisper, shout and sing ...) at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris.
In Australia, art historians have judged some local graffiti of sufficient creative merit to rank them firmly within the arts. Oxford University Press's art history text Australian Painting 1788–2000 concludes with a long discussion of graffiti's key place within contemporary visual culture, including the work of several Australian practitioners.
Between March and April 2009, 150 artists exhibited 300 pieces of graffiti at the Grand Palais in Paris.
Spray paint has many negative environmental effects. The paint contains toxic chemicals, and the can uses volatile hydrocarbon gases to spray the paint onto a surface.
Volatile organic compound (VOC) leads to ground level ozone formation and most of graffiti related emissions are VOCs. A 2010 paper estimates 4,862 tons of VOCs were released in the United States in activities related to graffiti.
In China, Mao Zedong in the 1920s used revolutionary slogans and paintings in public places to galvanize the country's communist movement.
Based on different national conditions, many people believe that China's attitude towards Graffiti is fierce, but in fact, according to Lance Crayon in his film Spray Paint Beijing: Graffiti in the Capital of China, Graffiti is generally accepted in Beijing, with artists not seeing much police interference. Political and religiously sensitive graffiti, however, is not allowed.
In Hong Kong, Tsang Tsou Choi was known as the King of Kowloon for his calligraphy graffiti over many years, in which he claimed ownership of the area. Now some of his work is preserved officially.
In Taiwan, the government has made some concessions to graffitists. Since 2005 they have been allowed to freely display their work along some sections of riverside retaining walls in designated "Graffiti Zones". From 2007, Taipei's department of cultural affairs also began permitting graffiti on fences around major public construction sites. Department head Yong-ping Lee (李永萍) stated, "We will promote graffiti starting with the public sector, and then later in the private sector too. It's our goal to beautify the city with graffiti". The government later helped organize a graffiti contest in Ximending, a popular shopping district. graffitists caught working outside of these designated areas still face fines up to NT$6,000 under a department of environmental protection regulation. However, Taiwanese authorities can be relatively lenient, one veteran police officer stating anonymously, "Unless someone complains about vandalism, we won't get involved. We don't go after it proactively."
In 1993, after several expensive cars in Singapore were spray-painted, the police arrested a student from the Singapore American School, Michael P. Fay, questioned him, and subsequently charged him with vandalism. Fay pleaded guilty to vandalizing a car in addition to stealing road signs. Under the 1966 Vandalism Act of Singapore, originally passed to curb the spread of communist graffiti in Singapore, the court sentenced him to four months in jail, a fine of S$3,500 (US$2,233), and a caning. The New York Times ran several editorials and op-eds that condemned the punishment and called on the American public to flood the Singaporean embassy with protests. Although the Singapore government received many calls for clemency, Fay's caning took place in Singapore on 5 May 1994. Fay had originally received a sentence of six strokes of the cane, but the presiding president of Singapore, Ong Teng Cheong, agreed to reduce his caning sentence to four lashes.
In South Korea, Park Jung-soo was fined two million South Korean won by the Seoul Central District Court for spray-painting a rat on posters of the G-20 Summit a few days before the event in November 2011. Park alleged that the initial in "G-20" sounds like the Korean word for "rat", but Korean government prosecutors alleged that Park was making a derogatory statement about the president of South Korea, Lee Myung-bak, the host of the summit. This case led to public outcry and debate on the lack of government tolerance and in support of freedom of expression. The court ruled that the painting, "an ominous creature like a rat" amounts to "an organized criminal activity" and upheld the fine while denying the prosecution's request for imprisonment for Park.
In Europe, community cleaning squads have responded to graffiti, in some cases with reckless abandon, as when in 1992 in France a local Scout group, attempting to remove modern graffiti, damaged two prehistoric paintings of bison in the Cave of Mayrière supérieure near the French village of Bruniquel in Tarn-et-Garonne, earning them the 1992 Ig Nobel Prize in archeology.
In September 2006, the European Parliament directed the European Commission to create urban environment policies to prevent and eliminate dirt, litter, graffiti, animal excrement, and excessive noise from domestic and vehicular music systems in European cities, along with other concerns over urban life.
In Budapest, Hungary, both a city-backed movement called I Love Budapest and a special police division tackle the problem, including the provision of approved areas.
The Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003 became Britain's latest anti-graffiti legislation. In August 2004, the Keep Britain Tidy campaign issued a press release calling for zero tolerance of graffiti and supporting proposals such as issuing "on the spot" fines to graffiti offenders and banning the sale of aerosol paint to anyone under the age of 16. The press release also condemned the use of graffiti images in advertising and in music videos, arguing that real-world experience of graffiti stood far removed from its often-portrayed "cool" or "edgy'" image.
To back the campaign, 123 Members of Parliament (MPs) (including then Prime Minister Tony Blair), signed a charter which stated: "Graffiti is not art, it's crime. On behalf of my constituents, I will do all I can to rid our community of this problem."
In the UK, city councils have the power to take action against the owner of any property that has been defaced under the Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003 (as amended by the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005) or, in certain cases, the Highways Act. This is often used against owners of property that are complacent in allowing protective boards to be defaced so long as the property is not damaged.
In July 2008, a conspiracy charge was used to convict graffitists for the first time. After a three-month police surveillance operation, nine members of the DPM crew were convicted of conspiracy to commit criminal damage costing at least £1 million. Five of them received prison sentences, ranging from eighteen months to two years. The unprecedented scale of the investigation and the severity of the sentences rekindled public debate over whether graffiti should be considered art or crime.
Some councils, like those of Stroud and Loerrach, provide approved areas in the town where graffitists can showcase their talents, including underpasses, car parks, and walls that might otherwise prove a target for the "spray and run".
Graffiti Tunnel, University of Sydney at Camperdown (2009)
In an effort to reduce vandalism, many cities in Australia have designated walls or areas exclusively for use by graffitists. One early example is the "Graffiti Tunnel" located at the Camperdown Campus of the University of Sydney, which is available for use by any student at the university to tag, advertise, poster, and paint. Advocates of this idea suggest that this discourages petty vandalism yet encourages artists to take their time and produce great art, without worry of being caught or arrested for vandalism or trespassing.[108][109] Others disagree with this approach, arguing that the presence of legal graffiti walls does not demonstrably reduce illegal graffiti elsewhere. Some local government areas throughout Australia have introduced "anti-graffiti squads", who clean graffiti in the area, and such crews as BCW (Buffers Can't Win) have taken steps to keep one step ahead of local graffiti cleaners.
Many state governments have banned the sale or possession of spray paint to those under the age of 18 (age of majority). However, a number of local governments in Victoria have taken steps to recognize the cultural heritage value of some examples of graffiti, such as prominent political graffiti. Tough new graffiti laws have been introduced in Australia with fines of up to A$26,000 and two years in prison.
Melbourne is a prominent graffiti city of Australia with many of its lanes being tourist attractions, such as Hosier Lane in particular, a popular destination for photographers, wedding photography, and backdrops for corporate print advertising. The Lonely Planet travel guide cites Melbourne's street as a major attraction. All forms of graffiti, including sticker art, poster, stencil art, and wheatpasting, can be found in many places throughout the city. Prominent street art precincts include; Fitzroy, Collingwood, Northcote, Brunswick, St. Kilda, and the CBD, where stencil and sticker art is prominent. As one moves farther away from the city, mostly along suburban train lines, graffiti tags become more prominent. Many international artists such as Banksy have left their work in Melbourne and in early 2008 a perspex screen was installed to prevent a Banksy stencil art piece from being destroyed, it has survived since 2003 through the respect of local street artists avoiding posting over it, although it has recently had paint tipped over it.
In February 2008 Helen Clark, the New Zealand prime minister at that time, announced a government crackdown on tagging and other forms of graffiti vandalism, describing it as a destructive crime representing an invasion of public and private property. New legislation subsequently adopted included a ban on the sale of paint spray cans to persons under 18 and increases in maximum fines for the offence from NZ$200 to NZ$2,000 or extended community service. The issue of tagging become a widely debated one following an incident in Auckland during January 2008 in which a middle-aged property owner stabbed one of two teenage taggers to death and was subsequently convicted of manslaughter.
Graffiti databases have increased in the past decade because they allow vandalism incidents to be fully documented against an offender and help the police and prosecution charge and prosecute offenders for multiple counts of vandalism. They also provide law enforcement the ability to rapidly search for an offender's moniker or tag in a simple, effective, and comprehensive way. These systems can also help track costs of damage to a city to help allocate an anti-graffiti budget. The theory is that when an offender is caught putting up graffiti, they are not just charged with one count of vandalism; they can be held accountable for all the other damage for which they are responsible. This has two main benefits for law enforcement. One, it sends a signal to the offenders that their vandalism is being tracked. Two, a city can seek restitution from offenders for all the damage that they have committed, not merely a single incident. These systems give law enforcement personnel real-time, street-level intelligence that allows them not only to focus on the worst graffiti offenders and their damage, but also to monitor potential gang violence that is associated with the graffiti.
Many restrictions of civil gang injunctions are designed to help address and protect the physical environment and limit graffiti. Provisions of gang injunctions include things such as restricting the possession of marker pens, spray paint cans, or other sharp objects capable of defacing private or public property; spray painting, or marking with marker pens, scratching, applying stickers, or otherwise applying graffiti on any public or private property, including, but not limited to the street, alley, residences, block walls, and fences, vehicles or any other real or personal property. Some injunctions contain wording that restricts damaging or vandalizing both public and private property, including but not limited to any vehicle, light fixture, door, fence, wall, gate, window, building, street sign, utility box, telephone box, tree, or power pole.
To help address many of these issues, many local jurisdictions have set up graffiti abatement hotlines, where citizens can call in and report vandalism and have it removed. San Diego's hotline receives more than 5,000 calls per year, in addition to reporting the graffiti, callers can learn more about prevention. One of the complaints about these hotlines is the response time; there is often a lag time between a property owner calling about the graffiti and its removal. The length of delay should be a consideration for any jurisdiction planning on operating a hotline. Local jurisdictions must convince the callers that their complaint of vandalism will be a priority and cleaned off right away. If the jurisdiction does not have the resources to respond to complaints in a timely manner, the value of the hotline diminishes. Crews must be able to respond to individual service calls made to the graffiti hotline as well as focus on cleanup near schools, parks, and major intersections and transit routes to have the biggest impact. Some cities offer a reward for information leading to the arrest and prosecution of suspects for tagging or graffiti related vandalism. The amount of the reward is based on the information provided, and the action taken.
When police obtain search warrants in connection with a vandalism investigation, they are often seeking judicial approval to look for items such as cans of spray paint and nozzles from other kinds of aerosol sprays; etching tools, or other sharp or pointed objects, which could be used to etch or scratch glass and other hard surfaces; permanent marking pens, markers, or paint sticks; evidence of membership or affiliation with any gang or tagging crew; paraphernalia including any reference to "(tagger's name)"; any drawings, writing, objects, or graffiti depicting taggers' names, initials, logos, monikers, slogans, or any mention of tagging crew membership; and any newspaper clippings relating to graffiti crime.
I'm in the (current) mind set of 'why take more and more photos when I have a stack of gooduns sitting in old neglected folders..."
The officers of the student-run Investment Management Group (supervised by Dr. David Myers) are putting on a talk about financial markets for some high school students who are in the Strive Program (website: striveyouth.com/) today - Feb 27th at 5:15PM in the FSL.
These gentlemen are members of the choir using the trombones as a tool to express their faith in God. Me and the global fam had a wonderful time today on the Harlem Gospel Walking Tour.
You get authenticity like this only with Harlem Heritage Tours. Im from the housing project directly across the street where the block party took place yesterday on the other side of the complex on the West 112th street side.
From the tradition of Sweet Daddy Grace - Google him.
The officers of the student-run Investment Management Group (supervised by Dr. David Myers) are putting on a talk about financial markets for some high school students who are in the Strive Program (website: striveyouth.com/) today - Feb 27th at 5:15PM in the FSL.
Project UNIFY is a Special Olympics program that strives to create school climates of inclusion, acceptance, respect and human dignity for all students with and without intellectual disabilities. It is youth driven, with leadership teams working at the national, state and school levels to develop strategies promoting school communities where all young people are agents of change.
The Hawaii Youth Activation Community is inclusive and consists of five special education students and five other students – representing Oahu, Kauai and the Big Island. Its purpose is to develop strategies and activities to promote Project UNIFY within their schools and encourage other schools to implement Project UNIFY. Members are responsible for representing Project UNIFY within their communities, advocating for support of the program and Special Olympics, and serving as mentors to other Project UNIFY school based committees.
The Hawaii Education Leaders Network consists of 14 members including representative from the Hawaii Department of Education, Hawaii After School All Stars program, Special Olympics Hawaii, Youth Activation Community, and one student representing the Hawaii State Student Council. The Governor is an honorary committee member.
“Sometimes we strive so hard for perfection that we forget that imperfection is happiness” Karen Nave
Here is a list I've been working on after being inspired by Immortal Thrill-Seeker who was in turn inspired by a gent who goes by fubuki
You can see Immortal Thrill-Seeker's lists Here and Here
Thank you both for your inspiration, and my apologies for the blatant rip-off!
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I don’t think I have 100 things I worry enough about to make a list, but we’re about to see.
I don’t sweat petty stuff.
It’s all petty stuff.
“First, do no harm.” (Often attributed to the ‘Hippocratic Oath’, but, alas, not so…)
~Why make thing worse, just cuz you can?
I strive to always leave things better than I found them. Or (and?) leave things that aren’t mine alone.
I believe in treating people nicely whether or not I think they deserve it. Somebody, somewhere thinks they do, and they are probably right.
I try not to come off as arrogant. Somebody taught me everything I know, I know damned little, and there is always somebody out there who knows more than I do.
Okay, I lied a little. I know a little bit about a huge amount of things, but I know everything about absolutely nothing!
You’re only as old as you feel, and I don’t feel a day over 80. Most days.
I’m a Cancer. (The astrological sign, not a blight on society or the disease, although some might say….) This means I am supposed to have a kind, emotional, romantic, imaginative, sympathetic, nurturing, and intuitive character, but one which is also prone to changeability, moodiness, hypersensitivity, depression, and clinginess.
~I can attest to all of the above, in some concentration or another, at some times or another…
I was born only two days into Cancer, so I’m also Gemini receding which means you can throw out all of the above on a moments notice and go with the exact opposite.
I haven’t had an original thought in years. Not to worry, though. I’m not using other people’s thoughts (except while writing this list). I thought of everything years ago, now I’m just coasting.
I’m not “anti-social”. Quite the opposite, really. I “get” what society is all about. I just don’t have any big need to be around other people all the time.
That being said, I love the company of a few close friends. Just not constantly.
I have crappy shirts, but if you need one, you will have it. Be warned, you’ll probably be swimming in it, though. I’m not tiny.
I’d rather be fat and happy, and quite possibly live less long, than to worry about every goddamned calorie I’m about to ingest. I’d also rather eat stuff that isn’t a product of modern chemistry, exclusively.
I can’t remember the last time I ate a Twinkie. Or anything Hostess makes, for that matter. Yuck.
I started smoking when I turned 30. I needed a vice.
I’ve really only stopped smoking a couple of times. Once while I was hospitalized for almost 3 weeks. Bastards who run hospitals are uncaring that you might REALLY need a smoke. Took me almost a month to get back up to my half-pack a day habit!
I’ve never “needed” a cigarette, really.
People who think things “have changed”, aren’t paying close enough attention. Hitler could happen again tomorrow.
I do not own a gun. I’ve never owned a gun. I’ve never felt the need. I’m not a cop, a GI, nor a felon.
~I’m not afraid of guns, and I’m a damned good shot.
~If YOU ever point a gun at me, you had better be one, too. Otherwise you may be sorry, and a bit worse off for having done it. (and don’t flood me with messages about “all felons don’t own guns” and shit. Who needs it?)
I’ve had a gun pointed at me twice. I’m still here. Questions?
I am secure in who I am, but you can make me feel bad about myself, if you try hard enough.
~Make it good when you do, though. You won’t get a second chance.
I mentioned being nice to people. I try to respect them, for the same reasons.
I ALWAYS pull over for emergency vehicles, the second I see them coming. That may be someone’s grandmother they’re trying save, and if it were my relative they were trying to save, I’d want them to have all the help they could get.
If you tailgate me, I may hit the brakes. More likely though, I’ll pull over and let you pass. You’re probably just a fucking dick, but you might also be trying to get to the hospital in time to see your baby born. I don’t know, and I don’t think it’s worth the risk if I’m wrong.
I have a great sense of humor. It’s dry and acerbic, and sometimes I’m the only one who thinks something funny, but it’s my opinion and it counts!
I am not prejudiced. I can find stuff to hate about everybody. Skin color, religion, or “orientation” are just WAAY too easy. Hell, finding stuff to hate is too easy. I go for the challenge. I try to find something I LIKE in everybody.
I’m not always successful.
I don’t beat myself up too much. That’s why I let other people exist in my world.
I’ve had a lot of “personal” firsts. One was at about 11. Another milestone was about 14. Several occurred during my 15th and 16th years. A big one was @ 24. If you want to know which one goes where, you’ll just have to ask.
I’ve known since I knew there was something to know.
I accept responsibility.
I am not a big fan of organized religion.
I am not a spiritual person.
I think we get this to do once.
I think once is enough, especially if done right, and done well.
Anything worth doing, is worth doing right, and doing well.
I don’t care if I’m wrong. It happens.
~A lot.
I learn more from it than being right all the time.
I am not an “adrenaline junkie”. In fact, I’m kind of the antidote for that.
There is no excuse for doing less than my best. (Of course, I may avoid doing anything at all, to keep out of THAT trap!)
I am a decent reader. I like to read. I cannot, however, just pick up a book and read it. I have to have a reason. If I don’t, I can’t “get into” the book, and will not get very far. However, If I do get into a book, I won’t be able to put it down until it is read, and will most likely be somewhat disoriented and suffer a withdrawal upon completion….
Driving: Point it in the direction you want to go, and go as fast as you possibly can.
(this rule doesn’t work without all of the others already in place)
I’ve owned 17 different cars. I’ve only ever made payments on two of them.
I’ve never felt the need to be a parent.
I sometimes wonder what kind of parent I would have been?
I told you I could flip-flop with little or no warning.
I built a bridge, and got over it along time ago.
I’ve always been able to do, or learn to do, anything I needed done, including pat myself on the back when I did good, so that I didn’t have to depend on others to do it for me.
That last thing turns out to be not as great a thing as I used to think. Needing others makes them feel good, and being needed makes me feel good.
I over-think stuff.
I don’t get poetry. I wish I did. I think I’m missing something.
I don’t get opera, either, but this one I don’t care about so much. If I want to hear a bunch of loud vocals I can’t understand, I know where to find Fred Durst.
I’d like to be more romantic. I’m not sure why, since I’m a hermit.
I have about 30 places I’d like to visit before I die, but probably won’t get to because it would require the invention of a time machine first.
I love to fly.
I could whistle before I could talk, and could swim before I could walk.
I am self-entertaining. I will let you entertain me, if you want to, however.
I don’t always have a dirty mind, but it is about a 60/40 split.
The last video game I owned was “Breakout”. Yes, that one.
I don’t (usually) name my pets.
~I’m not a dog person anyway, but like they need a name to get them to come to you? All you really need is a crotch. Or meat. Both?
~I’m a cat person, and they don’t need names because they don’t come when you call them anyway. And when they do, “here kitty kitty” works as well as anything.
~I also like fish, but name them? Whatever for? I can tell ‘em apart by color, or species. ~I will name a bird, if and when I own one. They need one because they always talk in the third person, and it is good to know what the hell they’re on about.
I currently own one cat. “Own” used loosely, of course. She’s been with me for about 9 years now, and was about 6 months old when she took pwnership of me. About a month ago, I thought she had gotten out (house cat 100%) and couldn’t find her anywhere. It scared me worse than I would have thought it would.
~I realized I wasn’t done with her yet.
Then, after an hour of searching, she waltzed out of the bedroom and yawned.
~A true “glad you are safe so I can kill you” moment.
I scare people without meaning to.
I will play the devils advocate just to see who I can get a rise out of.
I’ve only ever had one wet dream. I don’t recall the dream itself, but I do recall with vivid clarity the results. Too bad we can’t have them more frequently. I’d do laundry every day if I needed to.
I think people who can focus in on what they want to do, or be early in life are the lucky ones. I’m 48 and I still don’t know what I want to be. I just know I’ve never wanted to be a fireman. Or a doctor, much to my mother’s dismay.
If I could figure out what “normal” was, I’d probably want to be it, while also being elated that I’m not.
They might not do anything for me sexually, but I’m fascinated by breasts.
I believe we are wired the way we are for a reason. You’re only SUPPOSED to have to learn stuff once. It is a time saver.
~If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, & sounds like a duck, it’s probably a duck. However, if you’ve never seen or heard a duck, how would you know?
~Some things you’re supposed to be able to “learn” without actually having to experience the actual “thing”.
~I think it’s called “extrapolate”?
I don’t need to drop a brick on my foot to know it ‘probably’ isn’t going to feel good.
I don’t need to push the edge all of the time to be able to identify it.
Sometimes I question everything around me. Sometimes I forget. Sometimes I couldn’t care less.
While I understand that everyone has their own likes and dislikes, I find it useful to remember “Vanilla is a Flavor, Too.”
I find that anyone whose username refers to their foreskin/fetish status, is usually a little too “focused” for my tastes…
I’m not usually squeamish, but cleaning up fresh, warm dog poop or vomit will make me gag. Seriously. Maybe “wretch” is a better word.
I’ve never been so drunk that I’ve passed/blacked out. Mostly due to not being able to figure out the point to it, I guess.
I only drink in social settings, and even then it isn’t guaranteed that I will.
I’ve smoked MJ, and tried crank (how old am I?) and coke. The only thing that was remotely entertaining was the dope, and even that lost its appeal eons ago.
~If you’ve seen me, you know I don’t need anything else that give me the munchies!
I always wanted to try ‘shrooms but just never got the chance.
Drunk people make me laugh, unless they are mean-drunk, and then I’m just sad.
Alcoholics are a different story altogether. My father was one. They require way too much patience and effort. I try to be compassionate, I do. But if you are going to be self-destructive, do it alone, please.
I grew up with a rule about guys not hitting girls.
~I don’t think it was quite right.
No one should be hitting anyone else that doesn’t want to be. Anyone who hits someone else, deserves everything they get. Take note, girls. If you hit first, expect to find yourself on your ass at some point. I don’t like violence, and will avoid it if at all possible, but do NOT touch me in anger.
I don’t think divorce courts are fair. To either party. Especially if children are involved.
I don’t think people who procreate should be allowed to divorce. Not until after the children grow up. Or until after the parents do. In fact, marriage requires a license. Isn’t it about time procreation does, too?
I realize there are mitigating circumstances in almost any/every situation.
I also think anything can be justified.
I don’t think everything should be.
If I find myself “trying to justify” what I’m doing, I stop and seriously reconsider if what I’m doing should be done.
Why don’t the little voices ever tell you to kill yourself? Or, do they, and we just don’t have anyone left to tell us about it?
~Crap. Over-thought it.
'Pay it forward' & 'Steel Magnolias' will make me cry every time I watch them, and if either one is on, I’ll watch it, too. I have to.
'The Replacements' & 'A Knights Tale' are two of the funniest movies ever made.
I am both a “Trekkie” & a “Trekker” and I know the difference.
~I’m not altogether proud of knowing it, though.
I think jewelry is highly over-rated, but I’d still like to have someone buy me some someday.
I think every guy peeks at urinals. If they didn’t, why do they put in those barriers? But seriously, who cares?
~I think this one is lied about more than masturbating.
~I, of course, have never peeked.
I think most everything could or should be easier. I think it is human nature to make stuff as hard a possible.
I don’t worry about rich people being rich. I’m also not too concerned about poor people being poor. We all should learn to be content with what we have. I am amused however by how rich some people think they need to be. I mean what on earth does Bill need with more money?
I don’t think it is my job to worry about what offends you.
I’ve worn Jockeys and I’ve worn boxers. Boxers are more comfortable, but I think jockeys look better.
Thongs belong on feet.
Spandex should be a privilege, not a right.
Blatant nudity is over-rated and usually not photographed well. Subtle suggestiveness is much more intriguing.
I’m not anal enough to count this and see if I hit 100. It is just time to go to bed, so I’m stopping here and posting it…