So an update to the “Fear Words” article is now in order.  A quick recap: Thickness, Inc. is the corporation we started for Bomb Chicago, simply to give us protection from people that might want to try and hold us responsible in some vague and weird way for issues they might have with graffiti art.  Once the corporation is formed, one then must file their Doing Business As (or DBA) with the state.  Upon filing our request for the Bomb Chicago DBA we were notified that our request had been rejected by the state due to Article 4, stating: “A corporate or assumed name shall not contain any word of phrase that would create the connotation that is offensive to good taste and decency.”  After we got that news I wrote the editorial piece, “Fear Words”, as a commentary on how we as Americans have become so scared and fearful of everything.  Soon after writing the short piece we were contacted by Time Out magazine wanting to do a piece on Bomb Chicago and, specifically, the state rejecting our DBA.  We agreed.  As they interview date approached, we were again contacted by Time Out telling us  that in preparing for the interview they had contacted the state and started asking questions in regards to the subjectivity of the process.  As they pushed for answers they were quickly moved up the chain of command and got a supervisor on the line that said the state would reverse their decision and indeed grant Bomb Chicago it’s DBA.  That is great news and I thank Time Out for helping us push this through, but in saying that I have mixed feelings.  On the one hand, it’s fantastic whenever someone finds the clarity and common sense to make the correct decision.  On the other hand, shouldn’t the state be putting more thought and research into the decisions they make?  My thoughts are, if your going to take the time to reject someone’s request and send them a letter essentially telling them they are morally bankrupt you better be ready to defend your words and statutes you so conveniently lean on.  I’m not trying to make this out to be something larger then it is, but it goes to show that the media - and regular citizens - questioning their government officials and holding them accountable for the decisions they make is important.

NBF