July 2, 2005
some stencil rancor
I mentioned in the blog entry below a graffito on a truck which had the words "EXTREME RANCOR." I said it was part of a street media campaign because I've been seeing that phrase (usually just the phrase) spray-painted all over town. I first saw it at a little park at the intersection of 16th St. and Columbia Rd. in NW DC.
I took the photograph as much for the following story as for the graffito.
I was at that park with my drumming group, the Rhythm Workers Union, to support a community barter. The park is also a gathering place for some homeless Latin men, usually drunk when they're there (I call them "borrachos," using a Spanish word I've heard others use). At the end of our drumming, a couple of these borrachos got into a fight. I sat there observing the fight, not really wanting to get involved. They were both so drunk, and so clumsy in their movements, I thought they wouldn't do much damage to each other. But then I saw one of the men bleeding from the mouth and left my drum to help some of the other borrachos break up the fight.
Shortly thereafter I saw the bench in the photo. It was where one of the men who was fighting was sitting. It was an illustration of what I had just seen: "RANCOR IS A MONSTER." I thought, somewhat irrationally perhaps, that someone, with grafitti, has cast a spell on this place, causing people to be belligerent.
And then, days later, I saw the phrase again, and then started seeing it all over town, the same word--"RANCOR"--in the same distinctive (for grafitti) style of writing (I want to say "font"). Which made we think that maybe the artist was not casting spells or trying to create rancor, but rather point out the rancor that already exists in this town. I want to be generous, rather than paranoid, in my interpretation.
But however you look it, it still represents a street media campaign, which in itself is a very interesting phenomenon. I will keep looking for the rancor so I can speculate on where this strange campaign is going.
Posted by jeb at July 2, 2005 7:10 PM | TrackBack