Free Speech 101

Thought of this the other night, painted it up on a furniture box and attached it to this old train with some springclamps. Whoever took it down kept the springclamps but left the sign, so it'll be going up somewhere else soon.

Some folks have taken to whitewashing my signs and spraypainting "USA #1", "God Bless USA" etc. in red, so I decided to mimic their work (below:)

I guess they didn't appreciate it as it was gone after a day or two.

The usual response from my loyal opposition is to tear up the signs and leave them in a pile, so now whenever I leave a new sign I take the remains of the old ones away.

There are those that would contend that the signs themselves are litter, and they have the right to think that. It's my opinion that when the founding fathers gave us the right to free speech they meant for us to use it, and if a citizen felt their country was engaged in an illegal, immoral war, or if they wanted to see a sitting president impeached, it was their right to broadcast their opinions to as many of their fellow citizens as possible.

In fact, I'd even say it was our obligation.

FB - 365

USA - 108

Northbay Impeachiness

Constantly commuting between my home and San Francisco has turned the 101 into something of an ongoing art project, and for the last couple of months it's been hard to drive it without seeing signs for impeachment or against the war.


The good people who take the time to go and take down my signs (and tear them into teeny-tiny little pieces...) have been hard at work too and it's hard not to feel a little sorry for them: by now it's become evident to all parties that they cannot possibly win, they can only respond too late.

One of the things I love most about this medium is that it allows the common individual so much power to broadcast.

Another thing I love about it is that it's a game where I get to make practically all the rules. Someday I hope every road starts looking like the 101.

FB - 355

USA - 108

Berkeley: Home of Free Speech

Jimi plays Berkeley

FB - 346

USA - 108

WA, NY, AZ

This sign in Phoenix made it onto Fox News, TV and Web.

http://www.therealmccain.com

FB - 346

USA - 100

More SF/Beethoven Appassionata

Finale to Beethoven's "Appassionata" Sonata

Claudio Arrau - 1965

Sometimes I think music like this is the only thing that keeps me going.

FB - 346

USA - 87

Coit Tower/SF

Yesterday I put this sign up by Coit Tower around 8 a.m. It was about 15 feet long, highly visible and still up at 3 p.m.. Here's how it looked from the waterfront:



You get to this fence by driving up to Coit Tower, parking, and walking less than a hundred feet in almost total seclusion. The section of fencing most visible is about thirty feet long and overlooks a fairly decent chunk of the waterfront just south of Fisherman's Wharf. Highly Recommended for large texts. (Here's how it looked in my apartment: )



After I hung it I went for a drive and was pleasantly surprised to see these signs still up from the day before:


101 Northbound

101 Southbound

101 Southbound

This meant that damn near everyone driving on the 101 through San Francisco got to see, along with all the corporate billboards, garbage and graffiti, at least one instance of an individual invoking their right to free political speech.

So, for that matter, did a large number of people looking up at Coit Tower.

Cardboard and Paint, People... That's all it takes. Cardboard, paint and a little bit of cleverness and you can talk to a quarter million people a day. Easy.

http://www.freewayblogger.com/howto.htm

FB - 339
USA - 87

March 2nd, 2007

Today I expressed

my political opinions

To 176,000 people.

And probably more.

You should try it sometime.
http://www.freewayblogger.com/howto.htm

FB - 335

USA - 87