Our man at the scene Kai has the update:
Tiny memorial upon my arrival this morning. Glad to see the community mourning in a healthy way.
And it’s probably not a good idea to mess with the perpetrator:
She lives on Dolores St between 18th and 19th. Her name is Carmen Castillo. She harasses all the neighbors and frankly, she’s a bitter old crazy lady. She carries around an exacto knife, so be careful!
UPDATE: Further fun via Twitter:
@missionmission I might have a lead on swing slayer. Grumpy lady walks by hood tattoo shop, pokes head in, yells “don’t do it” and walks off
— David Covell (@davidnotdave) January 15, 2012
Previously:
If that’s still there the next time I walk past, I will certainly take it down. Stapling signs to trees is bullshit. Childish bullshit.
umm, looks like it was thumb-tacked actually…
People who know what staples look like are bullshit.
It’s hard to tell the difference between clear push-pins and staples on white card in a dinky photo WHEN YOU’RE SEEING FUCKING RED.
Fuck you both.
Wow. What’s up with all the hate around here lately?
How on earth could you not tell those are push pins?
Also, its starting to look like you and crazy swing killer lady would make a good couple?
Witless for the prosecution.
@Crank old mission guy:
You have to admit there’s plenty of irony in getting all furious over something as petty as a sign thumb tacked to a tree, in a post about someone getting all furious over something as petty as a swing hung from a tree…
I mean come on, you’ve got tons of pics in your Flickr pool of street art. How does this little bit of ephemeral and low impact street art differ? If anything, it strikes as having far *less* impact than all the wheat paste and grafitti that you lovingly photograph and comment on?
@witless
Only if you consider a tree as just a pole sticking out of the ground. Maybe it’s the Indian in me, there’s nothing petty about a tree — it’s a lot closer to a child or a dog than a light standard or a utility pole. Which is where I think we fail to communicate. You can post all the crap you want on one of those last two and I won’t blink an eye, but if you abuse a tree, you abuse a living thing, and to me, you are a person without a heart.
As for that last comment, if you think there’s anything ‘loving’ in any of my photographs of Mission blight, we really have failed to communicate. Those pictures are the best of the worst — a record of stupidity, an exorcism of revulsion, and someday, I hope, a reminder of escape.
@wrybread please don’t feed the troll.
that’s the thing! usually he’s not a troll–cranky is one of my fave commenters. must be having a bad day…
Or maybe, just maybe, Andrew, I really believe what I’m saying, and I have no way of understanding how the rest of you on this blog could be so… other. I mean, it’s sort of an ‘Alice down the rabbit hole’ feeling, when you see a bunch of your neighbors dancing around your grandmother and pissing on her and saying, “What? What’s wrong? Why do you have a problem with this?!”
Does that help explain why I have a problem with the comments on this thread at all?
fuck you all
Speaking of childish bullshit…
Do staples actually hurt trees? I mean, it seems like they would just either eventually fall out or else get grown over and absorbed, no?
Does tagging actually hurt walls? Do girls peeing out bus windows actually hurt buses or streets? Probably not. But they’re all ugly and disrespectful, and if you condone them, you’re ugly and disrespectful, too.
Go away?
Ahh, ok, I was assuming you objected because it damaged the trees. Do you know what it is specifically that bothers you? Rusted staples staying in the tree after the flyer is gone? Or something else? I mean, why are staples worse than tacks or nails? Or is it the fact of hanging things on trees at all?
I’m not being sarcastic; I’m just curious, because it isn’t something that it really ever occurred to me that people might be upset by.
“Or is it the fact of hanging things on trees at all?”
^This, more than anything else.
Of course, rusty staples in trees are offensive, but it’s all these other dingbats who are making a big deal out of my mistake about staples v. push-pins.
I also make a habit of removing posters in Spanish that are taped to trees, and signs asking people to “respect nature” that are wired to trees.
Staples are a tree’s body piercings. They’re just trying to get XXXTREEEEME
Putting staples, nails, tacks, etc. into a tree will most definitely harm it in the long run. Bark protects the tree from rot, pests, etc. Puncturing the bark destroys this protection.
would some organic vegan granola make you feel better?
Not as good as a Cleveland Steamer would make you feel, honey.
This concept of damaging trees as offensive is about the dumbest thing ever. It is pretty obvious that humans must destroy aspects of nature to survive (e.g. eating plants, building shelter, drinking water, pooping, etc) just like all animals. What we do is just as much nature as what a salamander does.
You have drawn an arbitrary line of what is ok and not ok. That arbitrary declaration proves the logic is false.
…why am I wasting time on this?
Why are you wasting time on this?
Jamin Time (did you actually mean ‘Jammin’ Time’? Because if so, right on, TIME TO JAM):
I don’t agree or care, but as a friend to logic I must note that the line is not at all arbitrary. Damaging living things in a way that is unavoidable in order for humans to live (building shelter, eating plants, etc.) is obviously easily distinguished from damaging living things for non-essential reasons like entertainment. I assume that is the line COMG intended to draw (although I don’t want to put words in his mouth).
Hipsters hate nature, just look at how the treat DP.
Dolores Park is not “nature.”
Trees, bushes and grass are man made?
Damn, you two are boring old farts.
Anyone want to put up a swing on her block? Maybe put up a few, just to show dissatisfaction?
This has to be one of the best threads in a while. Good stuff everyone!
ur life must suck
My life is pretty amazing and I think this thread is pretty great.
On the one hand, bitter old crazy lady who hates fun.
On the other, adult children who think there’s no reason anyone could possibly object to their ‘right’ to public fun.
The match of the century.
seriouspost: the old lady should have just chilled out. the swing-lovers should have been a little more cognizant of other people using the sidewalk. Everybody gives a little, we all go home happy.
NO THIS IS THE INTERNET YOU HAVE TO PICK A SIDE AND LET EVERYONE KNOW YOU ARE RIGHT. PUSH PINS IN A TREE ARE AN AFFRONT TO THE GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT.
The swing was a fun gesture, but it wasn’t going to last long just like any other street art. Get over it and/or create your own example.
nOOOOOOOOOOO! k now somebody give out the old lady’s twitter account so we can death rape stalk her so like a zillion years. ps go niners!
Bitter old ladies need a bitch slap from time to time.
Can you come by my place? I have a bitter old lady neighbor (who’s as nosy/crazy as this one) who is in dire need of a bitch slap.
Perhaps an opinion offered by a Druid who has been washed in the blood of a tree would settle the ongoing argument about any possible harm done to that tree used to post that sign.