Quick Recap of Graff event

Field notes Converted to Blog Notes.

Hip hop did not die…it just moved to Berlin.

Break dancers really like making gestures about ejaculating

Now I understand why there is an all womens graff jam

Rap in german just sounds unpleasant

Seeing the graff battle and seeing people timed while doing a throw-up reminds me of that scene in I’m Gonna Get you Sucka where they time people thieving from a car.

Funny how security people are always brown no matter what country you’re in

NY caps are most popular 2nd is Chicago White Sox…surprising. Go New Era. and Globalization.

Everyone still loves DA Bulls.

I have never thought that the smell of spray paint could be overpowered…I was wrong…smelled good.

Seeing a little graff kid walk up to a “legend” and asking him to tag his black book was really precious.

Export

Wonderful progress made on the research front today.  Painting sesh with some prolific Berliners. Interviews, flicks, and unforgetable moments on a roof. The burner that these three women did will be upped tomorrow. I am saving a bunch of other flicks for the publication.

In other news.

I am dreading my landlord? coming tomorrow. Every once and a while he “stops by for a day or two stay. I am just not looking forward to not being able to  just laze around in my boxers while listening to ITUNES U and eating my cereal in the morning. I think I am going to try to spend as much time out of the house while he is here. Not cause he is a bad fellow. Just cause I don’t want to be bothered.

I think I would feel weird having video chats with the rents when he is around. Sigh. Plus I just dont want to feel pressured to do anything. Like dishes. Whatevs, how about another beer then.

Paint the Town Red

Graff shop, Walls of Fame, and Random Bombing and tagging. I thought I was going to transcribe notes today, but yeah that didn’t happen. So Just some flicks and some little thoughts.

Picture doesn’t do this justice, but every stair of the escalator had a tag

In a culture and society where we revere order and structure, the kind of chaos brought about by this kind of tagging tends to make people squirm. Personally I like how hectic it is. I like how it is gushing with visual stimulus.  Your eyes are drawn everywhere and nowhere.  Also if it were not for tagging; pieces and burners would not exist.

Trains. A moving canvas. A symbol of an efficient, developed, and industrialized city. A technology that is only as successful as it is controlled wearing that which represents to many city officials as a loss of control

Overkill graff shop. No one steals paint in Berlin. Unlike Chicago where paint cannot be sold in the city or where you have to be 18 to purchase it, thus turning 16 year olds with spray cans into criminals, Berliners have fewer opportunities to participate in the criminal aspects of graff because they can just go buy the paint. By commodifying and legalizing certain avenues of graffiti (like having a graffiti shop) suddenly crime goes down.

Wall of Fame. I have notes on this place, but like I said. Transcription will come some rainy day.

Sticky Icky

Thought:

Having a voice recorder and walking around talking into it makes me feel like a mix of Egon from ghostbusters, indiana jones, and Jeff Goldblum from the fly/big chill.

Massive update with pix from the first Wall of Fame here in Berlin/some field notes coming this sat or sunday….basically when I feel like transcribing/waiting for the DSL/WordPress to move at the pace of a snail when uploading pics.Actually I think I will be ironic and go to the american Bro bar to do this cause they free wireless and a burger/beer deal for 4 euros or something which is under my 6 euro a day budget.

Til then here is something from the past few days

Graff and Important German phrases

I never thought that the most important phrase for me to learn would be “i am just taking photos.” But since even documenting graffiti requires you to “theoretically” hop fences this is a pretty useful thing to know.

In other news, it may sound strange, but I have actually never wanted to paint less in my life than since being here. Something about seeing graff everywhere just takes some of the appeal away.

I will expound on both these statements and include some more critical thoughts about my research once a week..probably on sundays.

Neighborhood Graffiti

Around the Block

Went wandering around the neighborhood. Big Accomplishment of the Day…Found the Grocery Store. I am not being sarcastic at all. But it was closed…(sunday). Better luck tomorrow.

I have more graff flicks but WordPress is being a jerk. Later…later.

Day 1 Berlin

Being here has been strange already.  I think that being in a foreign country without much of a grasp of the language, which is an overstatement for me, is like being in a loud and silent environment at the same time.  I hear all of these voices and see all of this activity but have no idea what it means. I see buildings, but they lack meaning cause I have no idea what they siginify.  I see the city breathing, but I cannot hear the pulse.  As someone who is a talker, and is very much comforted by language and understanding, I feel very vulnerable right now. I practiced a very simple phrase on the plane for a while, and I told myself I was going to use it, but when it came time to perform I totally copped out. I know I know I know. I feel quiet and it is a really strange and foreign feeling.  I know this will change in some time, but for now it is crazy–particularly cause it is just me…no other program mates to comisserate with.

Off for a walk…

Oh and Here is my place

9 Days Til ex-Pat Time

In 9 days I will leave the US for a year. I won’t be in a university. I won’t be working. I will just be out of the country. Ok that is not entirely true. I will have to write 3 pages reporting on what I am doing every 3 months.

So what am I doing? I am starting a Watson Fellowship. I am going to Berlin for three months, Cape Town for Three months, and Brazil for 6 months (?). I will be studying Graff. Specifically, how race and gender affect a Writer’s narrative in the graff game.

Point is the tone of this blog is changing. Random musings about nothing are done. Instead, posts will mostly be about my work. My time in these countries. My day to day anxieties and triumphs. oh but there will be more pictures…I am buying a digital camera tomorrow.

If you want to get in touch with me leave a comment with your email or some contact info. I will get notified when you comment and can then get in touch with you via email. I won’t publish your personal info in the comment unless you want me to.

Day 9 before leaving (BL):

I am eating everything. I cannot smoke. The love that brings me to a mellow is not here. So, I am eating. I am wearing a cardigan in the summer because I am spending that much time in front of the fridge. To say the least, I am nervous. I am horrified. I am excited.  I am eating. Mostly I am nervous about language. I have tried to learn german on tape, but that is turning into a fool’s errand. How will i navigate in berlin? I hope I have some kind of charm.

Under the Bell Jar

Everyday I check a series of blogs.

I check fashion blogs like:http://facehunter.blogspot.com/ , Music Blogs like: http://hypem.com/ , Art blogs like: http://www.woostercollective.com/ , and Cultural blogs like: http://www.hipsterrunoff.com/

Generally, I surf away from them feeling inspired and informed.  And with the latter having had a good quiet chuckle.  But recently there has been one particular blog that has left me feeling incensed.

The blog in question is Graff News.
Now as you may or may not know, I am very interested in studying graffiti and street art as a cultural movement, and particularly invested in unpacking the racial and gender politics in the cultural movement.  Well, consequently I read everything I can about the subject. Magazines, messageboards, DVDs, blogs.  Most of the material documents the art and or the motivations of the Writer. However, Graff News has been taking a different approach of late. Recently there have been a series of posts chronicling the arrest and sentencing process of Graffiti artists/vandals across the globe.

Now, for the record my beef is not really with Graff News.  Really I value them broadcasting this information because it needs to be out there. My reason for feeling as if I am under the bell jar after reading these posts is that i just cannot believe that lawyers, police, and judges across the world are really trying to send kids away to jail, bankrupt families, and transform KIDS into criminals for writing their name on a wall. I know it is illegal, and I am not trying to petition the legality, rather the severity of punishment.  Are we really going to jail someone who writes their name in the same place that houses people who rape, murder, and commit other violent crimes against human beings?  It is just sad that it has come to this. It is just sad that something that does not damage or physically harm anyone is being treated in such a way. Fuck. This almost makes me want to go to law school and to specialize in defending Writers.