THERE GOES THE NEIGHBORHOOD

Graffiti has been around in my neighborhood for a longer time than I’ve been alive. It was always a nuisance to most people but for young adults and teens it was a beautiful type of art. It was an art that expressed infinite ideas. There were millions of different types of styles, color schemes, patterns, lines, designs and such. A (graffiti) writer was greatly appreciated by the people of newer generations. Graffiti was great because it allowed teens to express themselves through art on an unlimited amount of canvas.

For many writers graffiti was a hobby, it was a good source of fun. Some did it because they had problems at home or school so they relieved their stress by decorating the streets of our neighborhoods with their art. Maybe some were never praised for doing anything good so they showed off their artistic side using creative lettering and flamboyant colors to cover roof tops, bill boards and even trains. And for the most dedicated taggers it was a way of life. It was like a drug made especially for them. These people painted 24/7 and were well known amongst the many fans of this artistic crime.

Eventually these great artists grew too old for the game. They could no longer “get up”, due to fear of getting caught, and were quickly forgotten. These great artists had had their chance to illuminate the Gage Park neighborhood. Now it was the younger generations turn.

My generation (the group people near my age) started getting into it at around seventh grade. The few of us who started to enjoy graffiti at an earlier age were into it for the same reason as the older ones. By the end of eighth, however, almost all of the kids in my neighborhood started “tagging”   not because they enjoyed the art, but because they thought it was cool. The young teens must have recognized that graffiti writers were well known and considered “cool” for doing dangerous and daring things like “hitting up” an illegal wall. These young teens started displaying their own writing on walls, vandalizing any piece of property that didn’t belong to them, showing no respect. They recklessly went over all of the beautiful art, stamping their vandalism over pieces that had taken years of practice, and a lot of talent, to perfect. That’s how my neighborhood slowly faded from being covered illegal art to vandalism. There goes the neighborhood.