...I'm okay with being REALITY-based.




Thursday, April 17, 2003
      ( 5:01 PM )
 
Neighborhood Commentary

I live in, shall we say, the part of town most suburbanites would never venture into. That part of town reserved for the target of our city's racist and fear-mongering editorials. I actually think it's lovely and I absolutely love my neighbors, community, and I am hopeful that gentrification won't ruin it. I took a non-scientific survey on my evening walk with the Kid last night of war graffiti - or rather anti-war graffiti, since there wasn' t any pro-war graffiti anywhere.

Now, in my limited experience, neighborhoods like mine don't often have graffiti that comments on international politics, but interestingly, it's everywhere here. I think the graffiti itself is telling - while "70% of Americans" appear by all accounts to support BushCo's policies...that 70% neither lives in my neighborhood and probably (I'm just guessing here) lives in a little higher of an income bracket than most of my neighborhood. Here's what the working class has to say:

In the windows of 36 houses that I passed, paper signs that say "No War" Three of those houses also had in their windows the traditional WWII symbol of a family member at war or MIA.

On about 18 mailboxes (the big, blue kind) that I passed only on my walk (I've seen many more on my busride into downtown): "Rich Man's War"

Pasted on a storefront wall: "These Colors Don't Run..the World"

On a painted ad on a bus stop bench for a Balloon Delivery Service...the Ad says "Deliver a Surprise!" and the Graffiti reads "...Attack"

Spray Painted on 2 dumpsters (4 blocks apart): "Bush Kills - God Loves"

And on a mural of dancing stick figure sillouettes, the words spray painted in between each figure "Collateral Damage"

Yep, BushCo is winning hearts and minds. All over town.



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