CANVAS, YES

I really like art. Not that I'm artistic at all. Or a student in the arts. Except for Jim McGehee's juco class in Art Appreciation. I guess it's like Mr. Beckmeyer's Music Appreciation class in high school. I really liked it, though I'm not too musical either.

Maybe Appreciation is the key. I can appreciate, and I'm glad I'm built that way. I appreciate the 12-hour day that roofers across the street put it today on Dr. Joel's house. With a huge wind gusting pretty steady. Could I be a roofer? In Arizona? Anywhere? Not any more than I can be artistic or musical, I'm afraid.

But what I don't appreciate is graffiti. I don't care how detailed, how effective, how beautiful it may be. If you're that talented, then put it on a canvas. The side of a building, wall, or any object that is not yours is defacing property. Old fogey. Yes, I am. But even when I wasn't, I didn't deface property.

Except once. The last week of high school, I did help spread the news that our class was graduating and needed to make all denizens realize it, too. I didn't do the most famous spot, the Daniel's Hill Wall erected with WPA money, but a friend and I sprayed a few sides of public property before we got cold feet. I can only recall two places, but that was two too many.

Had we only had canvas. We could have painted 66 and 67 on it. "It'll be Heaven in '67" would have been good. But what rhymes with six? "We got our kicks in '66", but that had already been takenby a famous highway and tv series. "We took our licks in '66." Naugh. "We liked Stevie Nix in '66." Lame.

I guess sometimes canvas isn't necessary to express a monumental event.