Even on Good Days, The Nights Are Dark

From Festivities to Ambulance Rides

Jul 17, 2025

This past weekend was full of fun events in the city of Springfield, MA. From the Jazz & Roots Festival to the return of the 20 year old tradition of the Italian Fest Festival with their main attraction of the Grease Pole. The city was out in full force with large groups of people walking around & day drinking in the downtown area. While the events were all right off of Main St, they were both held in the downtown area. Beautiful sounds of jazz musicians, DJs playing jazz influenced house music, to the Italian bands playing classical Italian music. Instruments that aren’t normally played came out of retirement to bring the sounds of heritage & culture to life.

Unfortunately, like many great events in history the weekend is overshadowed by the darkness & violence that plagues many of our cities. Even with tons of fun things to do around the city, people still find time to argue & bicker between each other. Their actions may have been justified or even out of place, but the fact reminds it’s hard to host fun events in the city when people come out in huge numbers & cause more harm than good. We had an opportunity to be united under the city of firsts. The chance to show the world that our city is beautiful & unique. We have a melting pot of amazing heritages & cultures that can all come together & paint a beautiful picture.

WWLP.com ← News article

When the sun is hot & the tensions start to rise, violence is sure to follow. We face the reality that a lot of people carry firearms, not out of self-defense but as a way of showing force & aggression. When you take the class & test for your LTC, you’re reminded that this are tools for self-protection & hunting. The sad reality is that a lot of the youth are paying for firearms with their serial numbers scratched off & usually stolen from another state. They aren’t getting the hands-on training on what is right & wrong. They aren’t understanding proper stances & techniques to ensure the safety of those around you. Hell I’ve seen people carrying large-capacity firearms in their basketball waist-bands. I been around youngins’ that are carrying extended magazines & no holster. No holster. So you’re able to acquire an extended magazine well-above the legal limit of bullets, but you didn’t invest in a way to properly hold your firearm? I’ve read news articles of people who were being chased by the cops & had to use their spare hand to hold their waistbands from falling because they had a handgun that was too heavy for their pants & they aren’t wearing belts. I’m not judging them for their style choice, I’m simply saying at least spend some of that money to purchase the necessary equipment to ensure your own safety.

Springfield is known such great things & it saddens me deeply to know that our rich history is being tarnished by violence & animosity. My actions on the highway sign is promotion for such a beautiful place & it gave the city something to talk about, whether good or bad. A lot of citizens had their opinions on the situation, but I believe the majority of the city thought it was hilarious & added a sense of joy. My actions were done with good intentions & a positive message. It brought the city together for a brief moment in history.

I know other writers who didn’t like it & thought I was dumb for doing something that would get a lot of attention. It’s that what graffiti is all about? Getting recognized for your works of art. Getting your name seen by as many people as possible. I’ve noticed the more I paint, the more I see other people complaining about arbitrary rules that were established on the foundation of doing something that is all about breaking rules. I can’t even count the amount of graffiti writers who are stuck on aged out rules that were meant to be broken.

Of course there are graffiti rules that shouldn’t be broken, but what is the fun in doing something illegal if you can’t break the rules? What’s the fun in playing by the same playbook that everyone is forcing themselves to be aligned with? Wouldn’t you want to stand out from the average people doing the same shit? My brain works differently than a lot of people & I find myself lost in thought trying to understand some of the dumb things said online. Then I snap back into reality & realize that the internet is way for some people to have a different personality & ego. They can construct whatever makes them happy & then surround themselves in an echo chamber of people telling them they are right. After all, social media is designed to group us together in teams of people who think the same & watch the same content.

Being the person that I am, I’ve always wanted to be different than the masses. Not because I want to be that lone wolf or guy who doesn’t accept societal standards, but because I know deep down I’m different than a lot of people. I don’t have the same line of thought, for better or worse, & that’s what makes me unique. I’m not your typical person you’d meet on the street or in the workplace. I live my life to the fullest & I take chances that are calculated & weighed out to ensure a positive outcome for myself & family. I know the effort I put in now will help make me successful. Not necessarily financially successful, but successful in terms of mentality & health.

My latest collection of original paintings is live; bold, vibrant, & inspired by the walls I chase every day (Here)

Of course, I need to be financially stable to survive life. But I don’t think we need to slave ourselves away to a company that only cares about the bottom-line. Companies are chasing profits & don’t prioritize the people who help make their dreams come true. Don’t waste your life helping corporations make all the money, spend some time figuring out what makes you happy & chase that. Chase the things you think would help make your story the best one possible.

New zine in development, check out the 1st copy (Here) Only a few copies left

This spot below has been around for awhile. I never took my drone over there until now. Super cool spot, thankfully all of the construction equipment was taken out before I got these shots. I went there 3 times to paint. The last one, the pink block letters, I did while I had COVID. I didn’t know it at the time, it was winter out maybe like 30 degrees & I was sweating like I had ran a marathon. I didn’t know until later that I was sick.

I’ve recently been seeing a lot of Hero 1492 monikers. I remember starting out painting I would travel to tucked away spots & find Hero 1492 paintings on the walls. I was always impressed. One painting I didn’t notice until a few months ago is tucked in between two highway overpasses in Springfield Northend & it’s a traffic cone painted by Hero.

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Here’s some freebie paintings on freight trains. They look like they’ve seen better days but they’re still running!

Wide selection of moniker that I seen on the trains that day. I like how the Mean Streak paint sticks come out very thick as compared to the Markals. Never noticed until the pictures were side-by-side.