Students who paint memorials on the 34th Street Wall to honor friends and loved ones eventually mourn the artwork itself.
The pink-painted memorial for Lauren Marcus, a recent UF alumna who passed away on Aug. 19, has shown signs of being graffitied on less than two weeks after it was created.
“That’s horrible,” said Marissa Jaacobi, a 20-year-old UF marketing junior, who was a friend of Marcus’ and helped paint the memorial. “I think it’s extremely disrespectful.”
Although painting on the wall is a Gainesville tradition, some students decide to respect the memorial sections, while others choose to paint over them.
Jaacobi said when she and her friends first discussed painting the wall, they talked about what would happen when it was eventually painted over. She said she thought people would wait longer.
“There are lots of other spots that aren’t dedicated to people,” she said.
Another one of Marcus’ friends, Marissa Bernstein, said she was not surprised that section of the wall has been painted again.
“People are people. There’s nothing you can do about it,” said the 20-year-old UF telecommunication senior.
Marcus’ memorial is pink and says “in loving memory of Lauren Marcus.” It is covered with notes to her from her friends and loved ones.
The graffiti is blue spray paint that says “fr8 train” with a star in a blue box.
Marcus’ is not the only memorial on the wall that has been painted on.
A few panels from Marcus’ section of the wall is a memorial for Leland Wade Carlton, a father and husband whose panel has been up for about a year and is showing signs of being repainted. That section is next to the one honoring the victims of the Gainesville murders, which is retouched every few months because of grafitti.
Occasionally, student volunteers will come in and paint over the stray spray paint, including hateful remarks painted in the “remember” section in November.
There is no public entity in charge of whitewashing or maintaining the paint on the wall, according to Gainesville Public Works.
Despite the additional paintings to the mural, Bernstein said the most important part of the memorial was the gathering together of friends to honor Marcus.
“It was nice, meaningful,” she said. “It’s more about the act than the aftermath ... It doesn’t take away from what we did.”
A version of this story ran on page 8 on 9/16/2013 under the headline "Painting over 34th Street Wall memorials concerns students"
