Thursday, September 10, 2009

We Can't Bomb the World into Peace

Homework is to read the article: Craig Castleman's "The Politics of Graffiti." Bring in an annotated copy and be prepared to respond to a question connected to the reading. We will watch a classic film entitled: Style Wars. It is a long film, bring coffee. Thursday, I will show you another film about Bay Area Graffiti scene. The essay related to this genre will be due October 6-8.

Read pp. 33-51 in Chaos.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Itzel Diaz
English 1B

Free write on The politics of Graffiti

The Politics of Graffiti, an article by Craig Castleman shows the two sides of Graffiti writing; Castleman talks about the war that New York Mayor John V. Lindsay declared to graffiti writers in 1972 and compares the cons and pros of graffiti art in New York City. Along the article Mayor Lindsey often expresses his opinion about graffiti as, “the worst forms of pollution we have to combat.” (22) and defines graffiti writers as being, “insecure cowards” (22) Lindsey often insults graffiti culture and the ones that promoted like pop artist Claes Oldenberg who says that, “graffiti trains slides in and brightens the place like a big bouquet from Latin America.” (25) Whether we see graffiti as being an art or a vandalism act, is important to recognize the fact that to create real graffiti art, talent and style are required; we also have to remember that these new form of art needs a place to exist. Art is subjective and not everybody is going to appreciate it the way others might do, that is the reason why graffiti artist have to respect others property and not impose their art to the eyes of the ones who do not appreciate it.

Anonymous said...

doris lewis
English 1b

Free write on The Politics of Garffitti

In the Politics of Garffitti by Craig Castleman it give us the meaning and aspects of garffiti. Garffiti is a creative destruction that many writers do not recognize.In 1972 Mayor John recognize garffiti in New York. he states the pros and cons of garffiti. one of the reporters states that the "garffiti pollutes the eye and mind...the worst form of pollution we have to combat."(22)i beleieve that it is not harming anyone because there is more important issues they should be worried about.He stated thAT THE Ugliness of Gaarffiti andthe ugly message

Eugene Kwan said...

The article “Politics of Graffiti” explored the history of Graffiti versus Vandalism in New York City during the 70’s and early 80’s. The author Craig Castleman begins from the birth of graffiti that sparked the imagination of the inhabitants in New York from a teenage going by the name “Taki 183” who painted his name prolifically on every surface in the city. Thus beginning a exchange of subjective opinions on Graffiti from high societal figures.
Politicians like John V. Lindsay despised the very nature of graffiti by stating that it was the “worst pollution” the city had to endure, and it polluted the minds of citizens with its “obscene” language. The mayor spent millions of tax payers money in combating the graffiti art movement popularized by teenagers and young adults who rebelled against city officials. The judicial system was more forgiving on graffiti as a crime against the citizens of New York because judges would routinely pardon writers caught by MTA train police because harsher punishment did not fit the crime morally.
Proponents like the New York Magazine hailed graffiti artist as the next art that deserved some respect because it consist of serious talent. The magazine even created a top list of graffiti deserving ranks of popularity. Citizens would approve of the graffiti pieces called “burners” but testify against writings called “tags” which were nothing more than scribbles on the inside of the trains. The article ends in a question on where graffiti was heading in to future because it is a art form that is not going to be subdued.

Muno said...

Munkhjin Munkhbaatar
English 1B
Professor Sabir

The politics of Graffiti

In the Politics of Graffiti by Craig Castleman shows us what the graffiti is and what it does to our community. The film begins with how and when the graffiti gave a birth. In the film the graffiti is shown from both good and bad sides. The author talks about how the New York Mayor John V. Lindsay declared war with graffiti writers because they vandalized public places and properties like trains, stores and etc. The film is pretty fair for both the community and the graffiti writers because the film shows pros and cons of the graffiti. The only reason people don’t like graffiti writers because they write their graffiti in private property. No one wants to have something that makes their place look bad. But the graffiti is an art because everyone cannot draw and write graffiti and also it is a way of saying their opinion to the public. People say graffiti will be approved if graffiti writers stop writing in private or public properties but if we think in our society everything is private or public and there is no place that they could write.

Anonymous said...

Jose Vasquez
English 1B
Freewrite on The politics of Graffiti
The article “Politics of Graffiti” talked about the history of graffiti and how it started as a form of art but later became an act of vandalism which became a huge problem in New York City during he early 70’ and 80’s. Craig Castleman talked about the creation of graffiti and how it became so popular. Graffiti started in New York City by a young man who called himself “Taki 183”. Taki 183 started writing him name all over the city, which became a huge issue because other people started doing the same. Since so many people started doing graffiti on public property the city of New York was starting to look like an abandoned city were people just came to do what ever they wanted. Graffiti was a huge problem that the government had to intervene and penalized people who did graffiti. In 1972 the mayor of New York City decided to take action by declaring graffiti as an act of vandalism. The mayor wanted people to stop graffiti because it was making he city look ugly and it was costing the millions of dollars yearly to remove graffiti from public property. When people heard that graffiti was going to get penalized by the government many people who did graffiti became angry at the government because they felt that they had the freedom to express themselves any way they wanted.