Dear ‘Disrupt,’ please try to explain your acts

Dear “Disrupt”: I have seen your graffiti tags in Olympia and in the Evergreen woods in the last several weeks. I am curious about what you mean by “disrupt.”

Last winter, city workers labored in the rain and cold to finish a retaining wall project on West Bay Drive. When the forms came away, we saw poetry etched into what may have been yet another boring wall. You might say the poetry “disrupts” our commute or walk past the wall, and softens the day. It must also be disrupting for city employees to have to use chemical solvents to clean your graffiti off of their new walls. I wonder if this is what you had in mind.

If you are new to the area, Disrupt, you may not be aware that Olympia has many nonprofit and student organizations, city offices, and state and federal agencies filled with individuals committed ending hunger, offering housing, responding to climate change, offering safe spaces, beautifying our city, protecting public lands, and more. At The Evergreen State College, faculty, staff and students are engaged with sustainability and justice issues, developing skills for becoming effective change agents.

In short, thousands of us are engaged in many forms of “disruption” every day. Please join us.

I know graffiti is a form of expression, and can be a form of art. I appreciate some such expressions in our community. It can also be just one more eyesore in our built and natural environments.

This story was originally published October 14, 2015 at 5:00 PM with the headline "Dear ‘Disrupt,’ please try to explain your acts."