The Lion's Pride Lion's Pride Volume 12 (Spring 2019) | Page 49

After getting to know this student, I started researching how graffiti
started and went from there. I started sketching “tags” and would write
my name in a sketchbook with some funky, yet terrible letters. I started
sketching the name “Panda” and taught myself how to do bubble and 3D
letters on paper. Being a Christian, I did not want to break the law by
painting on walls illegally, so I came up with the idea of “chalking.”
Every day, I would walk back and forth from school with a box full of
chalk in my backpack. As I would walk by parks or places with smooth
sidewalks, I would take my chalk and “tag” the ground with it. The
name “Panda” was all over town, on the ground next to parks, schools,
and sidewalks. Everyone who was a teenager saw the name “Panda” and
would talk about it and wonder what it meant. I did this for about two
years. Then, some problems came up. Being a 16 year-old can be scary;
making dumb decisions without thinking happens a lot.
One day, I thought it would be a cool idea to chalk on a park wall
that was on the main road of the high school. This was a prime spot
because all the school buses would see it driving up and down to and
from the school, so, being a stupid non-thinking teenager, I went up to
the wall next to the busy road and started chalking. I took my time,
about ten minutes, drawing on the wall, “Panda.” When I was all done, I
sat down next to it and listened to music, enjoying the nice sunny day.
Having no guilt or worry of my art being a bad thing, I noticed that a
city car pulled up. I stood up and smiled and was being friendly to the