10.01.2007

Tagtown: The Traditional Intro Column

"Tagtown"

Apparently that’s another name for Washington DC. I’ve only heard it once in the nine years I’ve been around the city. I guess an article came out last year or the year before about the term and Fox 5 picked up on it. I asked a friend about it over some beers and she said “Oh yeah, I’ve heard that.”

It refers to the badges a lot of us wear around the city after work. Or more often the case, we forget to take them off after we leave work. Supposedly they are like badges of status and we’re judged by them depending on where we are.

I think it’s actually for the graffiti that covers the extensive construction we have in town. Nearly every spare bit of concrete on a construction site around here is covered with colorful graffiti. Just like the bridges are.

Or maybe it’s for the tags we get on our hands going in and out of clubs and bars. Rocket Bar, Wonderland, Bedrock Billards, Sign of the Whale, 18th Street Lounge. Places you don’t have to pay pointless covers in order to just be smashed up against bar and not got good service.

Or maybe it’s the tag that the Masons left on the city? Rumor mills and urban legends abound about various marks and street layouts that mean more than we think they mean. Places you can see from the top of 13th street, right past U.

To me a tag is just a label. Something you put on an object so you know what’s it is, what’s it is worth, how long it will last, who owns it, whatever. Everyone that lives here has tagged DC in their own way. I know I have. But more importantly, DC tagged me. It shows up in drawings, illustrations, comics, photos… nearly everything I work on or work in. Somehow, and quite by chance I might add, I ended up here both for school and for work. I’m not saying I’ll be here forever, but this stupid town obviously got under my skin, so I’m going to share it with you, fine readers.

It’s a bit of the DC side of the DC Conspiracy. I’m sure comics will come up now and again, but mainly it’s about what I’ve tagged in DC and what DC has tagged me.

Welcome to Tagtown.