TAGGERS: GROW UP, YOU PUNKS

TO THE EDITOR: I’m writing in response to the article “Tagged Out”
[April 15] by Ben Jacklet, which decried the one-year sentence imposed on tagger
Max “Flare” Dornfeld, and was sympathetic to taggers in general. My question to
Ben is, to what extent do you believe tagging or graffiti has a right to exist
in our culture? Are there no areas out of bounds, no responsibility that must
be placed on those that defile private and public property where [graffiti] is
unwanted? You quote business owners who don’t mind their walls being tagged–what
about those who do? “Flare” was arrested after tagging a wall that he described
as “just an ugly parking lot” that “looked way better with graffiti than with
gray walls.” That may be, depending on his artistic skill, but the pertinent question
is, do the owners of the building feel the same way?

I’m not against the idea of graffiti–much of it I find to be a vibrant, visually exciting art form. The public walls on the Comet and RKCNDY were amazing, continuously changing canvases. Unfortunately most tagging is of the quick, inartistic, squiggly line-drawing variety, done with no real artistic vision. Who out there really thinks that our freeway signs should be covered with this crap and then have to be fixed on the public’s dime? I do think it’s appalling that there are no longer any free walls for graffiti artists to show their work. However, [graffiti] should not be imposed on those who don’t want it.

My real beef is that Jacklet’s article is written in the all-too-familiar vein of “oh, look at how the big, bad, business-driven Seattle police are oppressing the underground, unwanted, alternative-lifestyle taggers,” and takes an almost thoroughly uncritical view of the taggers.

Kirk DeGrasse


TAGGERS: BUY REAL ESTATE FIRST, GO TAG LATER

TO THE EDITOR: In regards to Ben Jacklet’s article “Tagged Out,” Max
Dornfeld’s one-year jail sentence for tagging at first seems extreme. However,
Dornfeld [was] described as “one of Seattle’s most prolific taggers.” While
the specific tag Dornfeld was arrested for may seem “petty,” the cumulative
effect of his handiwork is far from it, not to mention the effect of hundreds
of other taggers’ “artistic contributions.” Also, keep in mind that Dornfeld
had a record and attempted to evade the police.In my opinion, tagging is
not an art, it is a statement of disrespect toward property and community. If
Dornfeld believes that an ugly parking lot with gray walls looks better when
adorned with his signature, he should find a way to purchase his own property,
and then he can do whatever he wants to it as long as it’s not a nuisance. That’s
the whole idea of owning private property–it’s yours to do what you want with
it, and you should be able to protect it if you don’t want it covered in messy
scrawls.

The last thing I’m buying is Dornfeld’s opinion that it’s society’s responsibility to provide for his welfare. The government’s duties are to protect our safety, privacy, and property, but it’s not the government’s job to take care of everyone. That’s where individual responsibility comes in. Maybe if thousands of dollars of tax money weren’t required for graffiti cleanup, [the money] could be devoted to more worthwhile causes. Be creative, not destructive.

Kari Mueller


TAGGERS: BOO FUCKIN’ HOO

TO THE EDITOR: So the vandal–excuse me, graffiti artist–known as
“Flare” thinks it’s unfair to be sent to jail for causing thousands of dollars’
worth of damage to other people’s property. Well, boo fuckin’ hoo. Maybe he’d
prefer the following punishment: having each of his victims spray-paint THEIR
tags on his car, and his favorite leather jacket, and his most expensive pair
of Reeboks. Better yet, invite them to tattoo his goddamn forehead. Then see
how he likes having to serve as an unwilling billboard for other people’s “natural
need to write on things.”

Peter H.


TAGGERS: PROPERTY-DEFACING WANKERS

TO THE EDITOR: Max “Flare” Dangerfield [sic], the tagged-by-the-cops
graffiti tagger, should get life, not just a year. Graffiti sucks. It’s urban
trashing as an excuse for artists too cheap to buy paper. Max and his incognito
wannabe ilk should get lives! Paint or draw on paper like an artiste or, hey, Flare, here’s an idea–paint the inside of your fucking cell, you property-defacing
wanker!

Hank “Flash” Matisse


HUMP IS A LOT OF THINGS, BUT GAY AIN’T ONE OF THEM

TO THE EDITOR: Excuse me, but who died and left Wm. Steven
Humphrey an authority on feminism [I Love TV, April 15]? In a particularly inane
example of a column I rely on for inanity, Mr. Humphrey declares that feminists
don’t like camp humor. Say what? Just how, for fuck’s sake, does W.S.H. define
a feminist? Is a feminist some sort of tailor-made composite of attributes that
Wm. doesn’t appreciate? A cross between Nurse Ratchet, Andrea Dworkin, and a
wire-hanger-wielding Mommie Dearest, perhaps? Tell Humphrey to get a clue! Most
of his colleagues at The Stranger are feminists or, at the very least,
write sympathetically about feminist issues.Since Humphrey’s simple mind seems
to gravitate toward stereotypes, let him try this on for size. As a feminist
woman I have noticed that gay men come in two types: the kind I like, who love
camp and love strong women–the stronger the better; and the second type (and
for some odd reason the Hump springs to mind), who are habitual women-bashers,
always eager to pump up their aging queens’ egos by producing easy targets for
feeble wits. Basically they are the gay equivalent of frat boys (only frat boys,
to be fair, usually write better and have fewer pissy, hissy fits.)

Just in case Wm. hasn’t gotten the point yet, I am a feminist, I love camp, and I would like nothing better right now than to shove my high-heeled feminist boot right up his sagging camp excuse for an ass.

Flavia DeMain

Editor’s Note: Wm. Steven Humphrey is an avowed, confirmed, committed, slavering, slobbering breeder. Hump has sex with women, not men, and Hump prefers strong women–the stronger the better.


THE FICTIONAL MR. TRUE

TO THE EDITOR: I was pleased to see that you are dropping the tedious
charade that went by the name of Everett True. You didn’t fool us for a moment.
We knew the querulous Mr. True was not even a real person, let alone actually
from England.

Julie McGalliard


HOORAY FOR FAT

TO THE EDITOR: In response to Ms. Shapiro’s cartoon: Thank you
so much for your support [“The Virtues of Fat,” Samantha Shapiro & Lauren R.
Weinstein, April 22]. As a man that has a hard time finding a woman of curves,
it was refreshing to hear a young lady defend the shapely woman. You’d be surprised
how many WOMEN (yes, WOMEN) tell me I like fat girls when I proclaim my lust
for Betty Page, the Russ Meyer UltraVixens, and the Latina hotties that make
my nuts swell in the Ricky Martin video. I’m nothing short of crucified for
not wanting to mount the likes of Kate Moss and Winona Ryder. Doesn’t anybody
else think they look like little boys? I think any man that dreams of nailing
waifs should immediately be picked up, tortured, and investigated for child
molestation.My personal mission in the coming millennium will be to bring
the Full-Grown Woman back to the forefront of male fantasy. Keep up the good
work.

John Bender


YES, WE ARE AWARE

TO THE EDITOR: Hooray to The Stranger for including the
McKenna-Pavitt interview last week [“Sex, Drugs, Computers: Bruce Pavitt has
a Terence McKenna Freak-Out,” April 22]. To me, McKenna is one of the most important
voices around, and it was exciting to see him recognized by the local “hip and
groovy” rag. In the six years I have lived in Seattle and read The Stranger,
this is the first article I’ve seen yet on psychedelics or any of its advocates.Surely
some of you staffers are aware of the transformative power of these drugs, especially
the ones found in plants and fungi. I wonder why there isn’t more coverage of
drug issues in your/our paper. There is a war on our freedom of consciousness
that is truly Orwellian in scope and intent. We are infantilized in this way.
I hope that The Stranger uses some of its power to [increase] awareness
of these magical substances. For those who have not yet heard: If aliens were
to land today on the White House lawn, it would be minor news compared to what
can happen to you on five dried grams of psilocybin mushrooms in silent darkness.
I’m not exaggerating.

Joey