Letter: Students aren’t criminals if they use graffiti to honor dead friends

Tuesday, March 24, 1998 | 11:03 a.m.

Graffiti involves anything in which graphic style is utilized, including layout, art and illustration, and use of conventional or unconventional fonts, printed or freehand. The message may be encoded. Everything in printed form, whether by machine or by hand, requires invention, conception and layout. Even words chiseled in rock on a headstone are the work of a talented graphic artist. Signs, billboards, magazines, even the color scheme on your house reflect the roots from which graffiti is derived.

Graffiti that society finds most offensive is that which is not invited: the "in your face" type. Graffiti can be expressed through clothing, tattoos, hair design, cars, music, speech and in attitude. Graffiti forms draw attention to a point expressed or conceived by the inventor or author. It is an attention-getting device either to get your business, your money, your appreciation, your attention or your insult. Graffiti has existed since the dawn of civilization, and I hardly think that it's going to stop in 1998.

We all use color, symbols and words to express to ourselves and others the very essences that form the root of our character and personality, some of which is sanctioned by our society and some of which is not. The very same conditions to express life can also be used to express death. It is one thing to prosecute those with criminal intent, but those grieving the death of a loved one can hardly be termed "criminals."

Aaron Lester