In this week’s feature, Nico Dodd delves into the graffiti art community whose canvasses are the walls and abutments around the C&O Canal underneath the intersection of Key Bridge and Whitehurst Parkway:

“People come into the Georgetown area because they’ve heard that it’s kind of easy online,” said Matt. “People write about it and people post pictures about it and write about how easy it is. A lot of other D.C. spots are less publicized, because the artists that are D.C. and local have to really fight for it, so that newcomers and people that are really experienced in the area, you know, don’t have to work as hard to get there.”

As more high-profile graffiti artists stake their claim to prime real estate, the C&O Canal maintains its local reputation as a haven for amateur tags and murals. For those who grow up in the area, it has become tantamount to an institution—close enough to hang out, and just on the law enforcement’s periphery.

On the Editorials page, the editorial board lauds the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program for its significant contribution to the alleviation of poverty, and warns against GOP efforts to slash the program’s funding.

In News, Vanya Mehta examines the appointment of Robert M. Groves, the head of the U.S. Census Bureau and a member of the National Academy of Sciences, to the post of University Provost and Executive Vice President.

For Sports, Daniel Kellner discusses Miami Marlins manager Ozzie Guillen’s five-game suspension for insensitive comments about Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, hoping that athletes don’t abandon their important roles in public discourse on account of isolated instances of backlash.

In Leisure, Julia Lloyd-George praises Mask & Bauble’s and the Theater and Performance Studies program’s joint production of Macbeth, which breathes fresh life into an ageless tale of dark ambition. The show premieres tonight at 8 p.m. in the Davis Center.

Page 13 this week analyzes the University’s planned changes for Sunday Masses, as Georgetown has brought in famed Hollywood directors to spice up the services.

And finally in Voices, Connor Jones worries that presumptive Republican nominee for president Mitt Romney’s swerve to the ideological right during the GOP primary will force him to govern from the far right, to the detriment of the country, or risk losing the support of his party.

The graffiti that appeared on the Village A rooftops last week is gone, and with it, all potential community charges.

Area Coordinator Cory Peterson, who sent an email to rooftop residents last week about the incident, told students on Friday they would not be charged for the graffiti clean-up.

“Thank you to those who emailed and stopped in the office to chat about the graffiti and your knowledge of when it appeared. And thank you to those residents who voluntarily cleaned it up,” he wrote in an email. “As a result of the quick community response, the matter was addressed and no community charges are necessary.”

Oddly enough, Georgetown isn’t the only D.C. school with response-to-vandalism problems.

GW’s Residential Property Management office emailed students in the Ivory Tower dorm last Friday, threatening to levy community charges on all residents for damages to the building. However, the message “was not authorized,” according to a successive email sent Friday night. Now, GW plans to reevaluate its listserv email policies.

Photo: Georgetown Housing

[Editor's note: The photo attached to this post is not the graffiti in question, but since it was on the Village A rooftops a few weeks ago, we figure it's close enough.]

After graffiti appeared on the Village A rooftops this week—and presumably startled tour groups—Office of Residence Life Area Coordinator Cory Peterson sent out one hell of an email to rooftop residents.

“The 400 level rooftops are an important part of the daily tours given of Georgetown and the graffiti has demonstrated an unconscionable lack of regard for the property of his or her community,” he wrote.

Read the rest of this entry »

A resident at 35th & O St noticed this graffiti on the exterior of Saxby’s earlier this week.

On a georgetownforum listserv e-mail, e said he saw “punks outside the neighborhood” have been hanging out near the coffee shop lately—and it’s pretty clear he suspects they defaced the building. From his e-mail:

“i have noticed some punks from outside the neighborhood skateboarding on the O St side of Saxby’s Coffeeshop sidewalk recently.

“today, on the same building next to the picture window, i noticed gang graffiti along the same stretch of sidewalk.  it’s not particularly distinctive, bold black linear with a few anatomical suggestions…of the variety you’ll see in urban ghetto’s”

Maybe they did. But when you assume, you can make “a few anatomical suggestions” out of yourself.

Photo by Hilary Nakasone

On Sunday, September 13, Georgetown’s Department of Public Safety reported an incident graffiti involving a Nazi symbol in Village A, according to the September Daily Crime Log [PDF].

The log describes the incident as:

3:28 a.m. September 13, 2009
Village A

Destruction of Property: Unknown suspects, using spray paint, stenciled an SS symbol over a cross.

The case is still open.

Last year there were several cases of graffiti involving Nazi symbols, including a few incidents involving “a Christian cross with SS bolts.”  The graffiti prompted a rally in Red Square against “acts of hate” on campus.

Associate Director of DPS Joseph Smith would not comment on whether DPS believes the most recent incident is related to the graffiti found on campus last semester, writing in an email:

There was one apprehension for a statue desecration, but not for any of the other graffiti incidents. From there it is not appropriate for me to conjecture on an open investigation, but we are looking into all possible leads.

The Daily Crime Log does not mention DPS notifying the Metropolitan Police Department.  When asked whether MPD had been notified of the incident, Smith replied that he believed that they “were notified of the graffiti problem last spring.”

As was the case with the previous incidents of Nazi graffiti, no Public Safety Alert was sent out to the campus community.

Graffiti artists have taken over part of the men’s restroom on Lauinger’s fourth floor. It isn’t just “[Roommate's name] is dynamite in the sack” and a phone number, though. Instead, they pun with grout.

On the wall above the urinal a series of phrases have had words replaced with “grout,” including “Grout of Africa”, “Twist and grout”, “The Grout Gatsby”, and “Brokeback Groutain,” which doesn’t seem that clever.

The last entry violates what seems to be a rule of grout theory–it has to be funny. Alexander the Grout works, so does the Grout Depression, but Groutshington, D.C. doesn’t. Equally disappointing is the scrawled graffito “God saves.” Sure, it’s a Jesuit school, but why ruin the fun, anonymous proselytizer?

Graffiti isn’t new, and neither are puns. It’s compelling, though, to imagine the Georgetown students who not only take pens into the bathroom, but choke down urinal cake odor long enough to think of a joke and write it on the bricks.

Posted by Will Sommer