Obnoxious

this. i thought i was the only one

Monterey weekly Hideous. Modern art. Criminal. Free expression. Graffiti can inspire strong, divided reactions within a community, leading to disagreements over what it is, whether it has purpose, and what to do about it. For recent CSU Monterey Bay grad Scott Lydon, it was initially a way to understand the increasing prevalence of gang-related homicides in Salinas. After the March 2010 death of a 6-year-old boy from a stray bullet in a drive-by shooting, he was struck by a desire to get involved in anti-gang efforts. “I was very upset to see this happen, especially after I had seen violence up close and personal on two deployments to the Middle East,” Lydon says. “I wanted to learn as much as I could to somehow address the issue.” Under the guidance of mentor Dr. Ruben Mendoza, a professor of Social, Behavioral and Global Studies, Lydon’s concern evolved into an honors thesis. Influenced by Mendoza’s work researching the symbolism and territoriality of gang graffiti in other U.S. cities such as El Paso, Texas, and Tucson, Ariz. – and inspired by his own experience with geographic information system mapping while working as a radar technician in the Navy – Lydon decided to examine the graffiti in Salinas. He teamed up with David Sosa, another CSUMB senior, to work on a year-long honors Capstone Project through the archaeology department. For the first few months, they went out every Sunday to take pictures of graffiti for later analysis – over 500 in all, concentrating on the areas around the five most recent homicide locations. But what they found soon steered the project in a new direction: Most of the graffiti they were coming across was not actually done by gang members. Investigation into one ambiguous symbol – a red TNG – led them to 12ozProphet, an online forum where users can share and discuss their graffiti. There they discovered “tagging crews,” groups of graffiti writers that regard what they do as street art, rather than a way to mark territory. When Lydon and Sosa eventually encountered one such crew in the field, it turned out to be just a couple of bored teenagers. Less than 5 percent of the graffiti Lydon and Sosa mapped showed gang connections. “We watch the news and we read the newspaper and it just seemed like all the reports we were seeing about Salinas were about gangs,” he says. “I went into the project expecting to see way more gang-related graffiti.” Nevertheless, their preliminary research into the theory behind gangs still provided a useful background for trying to understand the tagging crews. “Most of these gang members are second-generation immigrants, so many of them are having trouble assimilating. Gangs give them a hierarchy and structure that is not there for them in society,” Sosa says. Graffiti groups also can provide individuals with a sense of belonging they might not find elsewhere. “Tagging crews bring these kids together as a group to produce something,” he adds. The results of the study impressed Mendoza, who encouraged Lydon and Sosa to share it with policymakers. Studies like the one done by Lydon and Sosa can help explain youth violence, the type of crimes kids are committing and why, Mendoza says. “Unfortunately, too many of our schools have eliminated the arts, and we’ve reduced our kids to little more than test takers. They begin to dread the institution, so once they’re out of it, they want to deface it.” But when they took their project to a special Salinas City Council meeting about graffiti, they made little headway. According to Lydon, the city is trying to clean up public areas and track taggers, but lacks resources to launch preventative efforts. Now, Lydon hopes to get the information out in order to start a public discussion. He is particularly enthused about the possibility of having more street murals in Salinas, which in previous case studies have made a positive impact and help people feel safer. He and Sosa believe that with education and opportunity, there is potential to transform an urban facet of Salinas. “There has to be an outlet for these kids to use that energy in another area or they’ll just keep defacing property,” Sosa says. “There has to be a mentality change, where they understand the effects of what they’re doing.”

This is much better than my pic Ctk crushin the bay. Much respect. I'd rather spend my time up there then in the wack ass 831.

. that's it or now folks

let's get this page started

hova in the bay

it's funny how you think i live in salinas.

and you stay on my dick cerote. just shut up you pimpled ass faggot. nobody was talking to your long haired punk ass.

people keep hating orby keeps painting. i keep smoking.. i'll probobly end up getting lung cancer.

Lolwut? Too bad I can't neg you right now faggot.

Hahahahahahahahahahahah Hahahahahahahahahahahah This is exactly what I thought before I seen this post! Fucking LuLzzz

dude... you'rebetteroffdead

honestly man, i can never hang out or stay friends or even want to be friends with people who just live ordinary casual lifes. I only have a few close homies who we all love doing the same thing(graff) and what not. there are no real friends man, just a few homies. it's hard finding people to trust too. i talk to people and will be cool with them but if i can't relate to you in anyway then what the fuck? you always need people around you who like adventures,traveling,getting in trouble,etc,etc. those are the type of people i can be good with. but if you're just some faggot who doesn't like doing anything then fuck off. all my past friends ended up being wack and lame. so when i hit high school i hung around the crowd who smoked weed,got up,liked to party an just straight bullshit around. life is about expiriences and moments. i don't wanna be going to college and wait till i sort my life out.. i dropped out,working full time,and many other things i have to deal with.. as long as im not some zombie just laying around doing nothing then im good.

thread of the year.

Those are things people should keep to themselves. People here saying shit like " I don't care who he is so I don't Care if he died he was probably a scumbag whatever I'm just being a troll so I can get attention" yea man cool, talking shit about a dead man. People got shit to say just keep it To your ignorant ass self. In the end of the day cops killed a man and got away with it. Nothing can be done but atleast keep your fucking mouth shut about someone you don't know who just died. Chances are one if us here will suffer from a close death if not have sufferd already. People die everyday but once death comes for someone close to us, it's a whole different story. Whatever almost forgot this was ch.0 the epiphany of ignorance.

Damn read some fucked up shit on this. Truth is when cops know they did something that could have consequences on there life and job they try to do whatever they can to make it look like what they did was the only thing to do. Cops always I mean always have a story to make up and can easily make a story seem so truthfull and so real the media and people buy into there bullshit. That's the only thing they can do cause if the actuall facts came out they no there fucked. Think about it. If you took someones life(being a cop) you're gonna try to save your own ass from the consequences. That's exactly what I would do if I were a pig. Save my own ass and get away with Murder. Rip to your homie forsit.. People should have some respect for the deceased. No matter who they are.. I should expect more respect coming from the older cats we got on here..

Must spread rep Crywolf. good shit man

damn this nigga pleads the 5th like no other

Fixed*