I was reserving this title to describe my aunt’s shopping trip and her energy wasting ways but as I read today’s Post, I get angrier and angrier.
Yesterday a young Mr. John Tsombikos, age 18, was arrested after he and his associates were finally caught spray painting at 7th and V. I am glad. I hope that previous tags where he has defaced city and private property are added on to this charge. But that wasn’t the thing that is getting me going.
The bastard is from Great Falls, a f*cking suburbanite who came to the city to do his mess. What there aren’t any buildings in Great Falls to paint? DC residents who have no real voice in Congress, no representation, really high taxes, crappy schools, and we’ve had to look at his graffiti and clean it off with OUR TAX DOLLARS.
Yeah, I read his ‘reasonings’, a confused mess of trying to pay homage to a dead friend, something about youth, anti-rich people. Funny coming from a guy who graduated from McLean High School. Hey I bet they have air conditioning at McLean and never had to shut the school early because his city school was so messed up that no one could open a window.
Yes, tragic accident being born middle class and all. Some of my closest friends were born middle class, and I don’t hold it against them. But I get very annoyed with middle and upper middle class youth who think they have all the answers to poverty. Hubris. I also get very annoyed with people of all ages and income levels from the ‘burbs who come to the District and flagrantly disrespect the city and it’s citizens. John is no better than the guy from MD tags who pops out of his car to piss on H St or the guys with VA tags who buy drugs in my alley. No better, but better known.
COMMENT POLICY- Note I did not use his tag name. Neither can you. I will delete your post, even if I like you if you mention it because I do not want my site associated with that man.
Agreed. I’m glad they arrested the little punk. I’d like to spray paint “B*RF” on his face.
Mari, I agree with you completely.
The guy should be locked up for a long time.
An anti-capitalist who grew up on the Upper East Side and has never held a job – what a jack*ss.
Any way to find out of the city is planning on billing him for the cost of “buffing” his artwork?
BL
It’s just graffiti. I know it costs money to clean up, I know people don’t like it, and I know he’s an arrogant little punk. But aesthetic judgments aside, this stuff wasn’t gang-related, and consequently I don’t think it can be approached from exactly the same urban blight perspective that’s appropriate for railing against most graffiti.
Make him do community service. Fine him enough that he’ll never think about doing it again. But locking someone up for spraypainting? That seems a bit extreme to me (as does the policy against using his nom de guerre — is that just to avoid google picking it up, or an attempt to de-mythologize Mr. Tsombikos?).
I say we rent a Zipcar and make our way out to f*cking Great Falls with some spraypaint to Mr. Artsy Fartsy Pants’ home and pay homage to our dead friends, middle age, and anti-suburb sentiments on his parents’ home. Stuff like “DC 4EVAH!” and “SHAW RULZ!”
Tom- mainly to avoid Google and his surname is not an easy spell so I don’t expect any hits from it. Also my site, my rulz. I’m the queen of this space and don’t you bytchez 4get it.
Yeah, just graffiti, like pee, or littering it is still very disrespectful of the citizens living here (not that I think any of these kids care about the feelings of anyone over the age of 20) and once is sorta one thing, but the graffiti was prolific, and it makes him and his little friends no better than the other taggers who were caught last year (mores, nores? forgot). Would I want to lock up a guy who repeatedly used my neighborhood as a toilet and a trash can? Yup. Not in years maybe, but at least a week and years of monitored parole with community service.
If you haven’t noticed when some of us try to do right by the community and someone comes by and tries to undo it, it pisses us off. It pisses us off even more when they don’t live here. Like the drug dealers who commute from other side of town to deal on my block. Or people with MD tags who throw whole bags of trash out the sides of their cars.
Even if he is not locked away for a while I am happy that he has been named and exposed and his ‘philosophy’ examined. I’m even happier in the age old knowledge that like other worshippers of their own youth that he too will get old, G-d willing.
Jim- it’s Flexcar for me. But maybe we can take the bus? Does metro go out to Great Falls?
People aren’t initaling or signing off on their comments…. the Queen is not happy. If you want to know what the comments were. #1 was saying they liked the ‘art’ #2 wrote “He still sponges off mommy & daddy, has never actually paid for anything of real significance and therefore has no concept of property value, is not an actual artist, knows no-one in the productive art world, and has never held a real job.”
Yet neither signed their posts so I deleted them. I tend to let these things go when I’m in a good mood.
They quoted me in the WP Express yesterday on this lil jack*ss. I really hate the Post because they made his criminal behavior ok because of his dead friend…all I can say is B-U-L-L-S-H-#-T.
He is a criminal and even though he will get away with a slap on the wrist for defacing millions of dollars worth of real estate and property.
The line that made me turn purple…he was “in Scotland protesting the G8”. Great to see another privelaged little jack*ss protest the “man” and all of the evil things they do to “poor people”.
To all of the folks who side with him…I HATE you…I HATE your “cause”…and I cannot wait to find one of you tagging something in my neighborhood again because you are in for an ass whooping.
Tom…the “it is just graffitti” excuse drives me nuts because that is not the point. He broke the law and he defaced property…if he is found guilty he should be the one to shell out to fix every spot that he defaced.
Mari and Jimbo…I will drive you over there…hell I will rent a hummer and fly a banner saying “F#CK Anarchists” from the back. We can serve hamburgers (the Post “informed” me he is a veg) and have a mini protest in his neighborhood and see how his little neighbors react to that.
“Yet neither signed their posts so I deleted them. I tend to let these things go when I’m in a good mood.”
I don’t mind. I liked the art and I hope he goes legit.
Actus- thanks for putting an id to the words.
UP,
My faith forbids me from riding in Hummers, but if you can find a 1950s gas guzzler that gets 5 miles to the gallon I’m good.
Yeah, the Scotland thing got me too. I can’t even fathom going to London this year because I find the $150 tax they throw on to land into Heathrow just jacks up the price by 30% and then throw on the exchange rate, it’s too much.
Oh and back to the sponging off of mom and dad. After sleeping on it, it is a curse of many of a young man not to have a decent concept of day to day economics when they’ve never been force to hold a job AND do their own taxes. I remember I wanted to kill Nora Bombay’s brother Charles, over this very issue. And Charles was the capitalist kind of dreamer.
Tom…the “it is just graffitti” excuse drives me nuts because that is not the point. He broke the law and he defaced property…if he is found guilty he should be the one to shell out to fix every spot that he defaced.
That’s fine. I understand that and agree with it. But I think people would do well to measure their rhetoric. Do you actually “HATE” those who side with this guy? I don’t think they deserve your hate. I have a similar reaction to those above calling for a lengthy jail sentence. Something can be bad and worthy of punishment without it being appropriate to call for blood, so to speak.
I’m trying to measure my words on this, because while I enjoyed much of [this guy]’s work, I realize that it involved infringing on others’ rights. And I recognize that I can enjoy the neighborhoods I live in and travel around thanks to the dilligent efforts of property owners who have been here much longer than my renting self — people like many of you on this thread. So I try to be respectful of the fact that, having fought these kinds of battles before, many people will react strongly against anyone who expresses sympathy for vandals of any sort. But, although you may feel I’m underestimating B’s crimes, I think many people are overestimating them.
It is just graffiti. Wasting folks’ money and time is bad, and it shouldn’t be understated how bad it is. But there are much worse things going on in this city.
Nope. Still no sympathy here.
I won’t dispute the quality of graphical representations but I do have a problem with the how and where.
When wrongs are done they must be punished if possible. Cops caught some vandals. As these things go criminals are judged and sentenced. According to the news last night apparently this crime is a felony. Mr. Tsombikos, in all fairness should receive the same punishment as a poor kid from Suitland with a pro-bono lawyer. If a poor kid would get 6 mos to a year, he should get 6 mos to a year. But it’s probably not going to go that way, the well off can hire lawyers who can get them off.
I’m never going to say it’s ok for folks from MD or VA or WV to come to DC slumming and then vandalize the property of DC residents so they can fulfill some revolutionary/ artist fantasy. oohh, I’m gonna go to the city and be all bad. Why can’t people do this crap in their own backyards?
All of you who enjoyed the tagging, well, it is a free country and you have a right to like it as much as those of us who don’t have a right to dispise it.