Cauldron

Issue date: 9/20/07 Section: Letters to the editor

In the issue of 28 August 2007, Cauldron printed an article in its "A&E" section on "street artists," which featured the productions of and an interview with a man calling himself "Give Up." His works usually display a razor or a bullet together with the signature monogram: "give up." The man is apparently preaching a message of radical despair. Yet your interviewer fails to ask him even one critical question. She should have taken him seriously and challenged him with the questions people want to know the answers to: Is "Give Up" exhorting us to suicide? If not, why do his posters? What societal effect does he suspect he has had? Does he fear that his works are scandals to depressed non-sophisticates, especially the poor homeless of Houston? That he fancied his work, in his own words, "kind of clever" and able "to really piss some people off" anyone could have guessed. Meanwhile, the Houston Symphony's opening night goes unnoticed by Cauldron. Remember, Editor Chemam, that Cauldron exists because of the University of St. Thomas, a Catholic institution fundamentally hopeful in regard to human community and culture.

Sincerely,
Brian Piper

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