Last Tuesday, November 10th, a group of students gathered in White Plaza to mourn the 20th anniversary of what is widely considered one of the greatest modern losses of the graffiti-tagging community: the tearing-down of the Berlin Wall.

The Berlin Wall, erected in 1961, began as an 11-foot tall blank canvas that stretched across the entire city. Over its 28-year life, the wall accumulated layers upon layers of artistic and eye-catching graffiti until it was torn down in an effort led by President Ronald Reagan, who famously decried, “Tear down this wall. It just looks kind of tacky, guys.”

Neither before nor since has a government destroyed a public graffiti project of the same scope. Said one of the participants in the gathering, Cindy Wells ‘12, “It really was a tragic loss. What do we have today that even comes close? Writing on a blog? Twitter? Give me a break.”

Though 20 years have passed since the wall was torn down, many of Tuesday’s participants echoed the sentiment that, even today, graffiti artists are still subject to criticism by conservative pricks who just don’t understand their art.

Dude, Northern California is hella sick.  I don’t even know how people survive in places like Kansas or Canada or anywhere else. 

We’ve got a gnarly beachfront to surf in the summer and insane mountains to carve in the winter.  And the weather is always hella sunny, so people are much more chill than in the East Coast. 

The one time left to visit my uncle in Boston it was hella cold, but I still wore shorts and flip-flops because I had to represent the Yay Area.  The Yay Area is what we call the Bay Area here. 

A lot of people also don’t know that California has hella farmland, where we grow hella dank food for the country, like the papayas that I buy at the grocery store.  Those things are so good.  I think if I had the choice I’d want NorCal to be its own country, that’s how tight it is here.  I’m even thinking about getting a tattoo of the California flag on my back, because my friend got one on his arm and it looks sick.  Norcal for life! 
 

Sophomore Jeff Greneman was sending a text message on his iPhone today when he realized he made a typo. The iPhone autocorrect replaced “You going to the football game?” with “I totally hate you and can’t understand why you would do something like that” Unfortunately, he had already hit send and there is no cancel button on the iPhone. Jeff was worried that the recipient would not understand his message. “I hope she realizes what I meant,” Zach nervously worried. Fortunately she did, and replied, “I’ll meet you there.”