The BORF Brigade and the disaffected youth of the world...

I guess the BORF Brigade did something last weekend in the North Capitol Street corridor, according to this Youtube video and discussion on the Eckington e-list. The video explains that their friend "Borf" committed suicide a few years ago and their efforts targeting property in Washington, DC are in his honor.

I don't understand...

The person who killed himself lived in the suburbs, and probably didn't kill himself because of development practices in DC. Sounds like they ought to be focusing their efforts in the suburbs, dealing with anomie, reading William Whyte's Organization Man, shooting up suburban high schools, etc.

How many suicides in the city vs. the suburbs anyway?

By building vital urban places in the center city, the city is the antidote to anomie. But it's not the city's job to fix the suburbs.

I suppose that for the BORF Brigade, knocking over an outhouse is a deeply political act.

I will say that knocking over an outhouse is a lot easier than joining a civic organization and getting your hands dirty (although we end up dealing with the same kind of material often enough) and working with others to create and implement successful change. And I always say that it's easier to move out of the city rather than stay and work for change--the BORF Brigade needs to be "blaming their parents" and tagging their own homes and their parents cars--tagging cars in the suburbs would be a deeply political act.

Maybe 8 years ago, I attended the Ozzfest (under semi-protest) with a friend who had an extra ticket. My reaction was that I didn't need to listen to 24 year olds tell me how I should be thinking politically. I am not ready to change my mind on that...

Graffiti on a car. Image from I-Car.com.