Civil disobedience is fun.
And against the law.
You'll have to decide for yourself just how far you want to go, and just what the consequences will be. This is different from place to place, depending on who you piss off.
It's generally not good to go in groups (unless you're doing a large public action) but I would recommend atleast one friend. They'll be there for both your for safety, and to serve as a look-out.
One important thing to remember is that, whatever message you are trying to convey, a lot of people may miss it if all they can see is the destruction of property. Good luck!

bathrooms | stencils | stickers | wheat paste | zines
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bathrooms - This may sound trite, but the first time you write a serious message in a bathroom stall, you'll feel an amazing sense of power. You'll feel like you just published a novel, I promise.
Okay, maybe not a novel, but it's seriously cool. Every single person who has to pop a squat in that stall WILL read your message, simply cus there's not much else to do. Make it catchy enough, and it will be stuck in their head for days. I suggest Sharpies. Don't use those big phat tagging markers, cus they aren't clear enough to read, and everyone will smell what you're doing as soon as that cap comes off. top
stencils - So you've got something you want to say, but you don't have time to spray paint it? Using either cardboard or some kind of linoleum, just draw your message on, and cut it out with a zippo. don't forget to leave some material to hold everything together. Iin LA and NY I notice people do this a lot on sidewalk, but it also works nicely for the side of buildings, benches, or public monuments. The nice thing about stencils is that they can be rolled up and shoved in a back-pack, or thrown away quickly. I would recommend wearing latex gloves, cus then you won't look sketchy with spray paint all over your hands.
Of course, spray painting public or private property is highly against the law. And not fun at all. Nope, not even a little bit. top
stickers - These are alone the same lines as stencils or tags. You can print stickers on your computer, zerox them onto sticker paper, or just hand draw them on to those little office supply labels. Point is, all you have to do is peel and stick.
Fastest, easiest, almost fool-proof way to say something. Problem is, there's not much you can say in that space. But if you're trying to promote or create interest in a group or zine, it's a good way to do it. You can find some stickers to print out on the sticker page, here, if you're motivated to just go stick things. top

wheat paste - My sophomore year of university there was a sorority girl who went out drinking with her friends for her birthday. Her "friends" let her go home, too drunk to walk, with some guy they had never met. She puked all over herself, and passed out in this guy's room. He took her to the shower to clean her up, and raped her in the stall while she was passed out. One of his dorm mates walked in, saw the scene, and reported him for assault. He got kicked out of school and, later, he and his parents sued the school over his expulsion.
The "letters to the editor" were filled with people who, while disgusted with the boy's behaviour, lambasted the girl for her irresponsible behaviour, claiming that if a girl goes out drinking with a guy, she shouldn't be surprised to be raped.
Shortly after this case was reported in the news, posters went up with the rapist's picture and the details of the case, as well as quotes from some of the "letters to the editor". I have no idea how they went up, nor who put them up. Nope. No idea at all.

But i'll tell you what, if they'd gotten put up with wheat paste, they woulda stayed a hell of a lot longer. You can buy wheat paste from art supply stores, but making it is cheap, fun, and so very, very DIY.

Ingredients:
1 cup of wheat flour
1/2 cup of rice flour
3 teaspoons of cornstarch
2 cups of water

Put the wheat flour, rice flour, and water together in a pot on the stove on low heat. Stir it until it start to thicken. Stir it constantly or you'll get gross flour lumps. This will take about 10 or 15 minutes. Take it off the heat when you can feel it thicken..
Add the cornstarch to about half a cup of water in another container and stir it, or shake it, until there are no more lumps. Add the cornstarch mixture to the flour mixture. Stir it up more until it is all mixed in.

When we used to make wheat paste, we would make about 5 or 6 times the recipe, so it takes a little longer for it to thicken. But just keep stirring. Once wheat paste dries, those posters aren't coming down. Yhey won't go away until they get covered up. Wheat paste works especially well on wood. Also, make sure that any ink you use isn't water soluble, cus it can mess up your message. top

Zines aren't really against the law, unless you steal office supplies to do it. Zzines are a long, arduous process. However, they are the cheapest, easiest way to get your anti-social message out. I know it's been done before, but at some point, I want to make a guide to making zines.
I've made more zines than I care to count. Some of them were zeroxed on school machines with stolen supplies, and some were actually copied and colated with color covers (Thankyou benjones and darby!). You can do it however you want.

My words of advice are as follows:
1) Always lay the sucker out, page by page on paper. Make a ghetto version, with your complete lay out taped or glued onto 8 X 11 paper just like you'd like to see it appear in mini form. Otherwise, you'll end up with pages out of order, or the wrong page on the back of something, or whatever. Do your copies from that sample.
2) Never send taped or glued artwork through a feeder, even if it seems like that would be the easy way to make double sided copies. Your work will get torn up. And then you'll be pissed off.
3) Lots of places, like Office Depot, trust you to keep count. If you believe that stealing for corporate giants is okay, then that's the best place to go, cus you can tell them you made half as many copies as you did, and they won't bother to check. I love supporting local businesses, but I can't always afford it. it's even better if you can do it at work, but not everyone has that kinda job.
4) Don't expect to make any money of this. Don't even expect to break even. If you do, cool, but remember that you made this to get a message out. Leave them wherever you think people will find them; music stores, coffee houses, etc. There are also zine distribution guides, with huge lists of zines, and conventions, too. Find out more, here.

Mostly, just have fun putting out a product that has a message you really care about. Make sure to put contact info of some sort, though an anonymous e-mail address or PO Box is obviously a better idea than your personal information. You want like minds to be able to contact you, but not psychotic stalkers.
Now, have fun, and send me one! top

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