We wouldn’t want anyone to think that we revisit these topics in a deliberate, cynical way, but there’s no denying that certain subjects are evergreen here at DCist. Church parking, smoking bans and ticket presale passwords: we know you can’t get enough of them. Neither can we.
Yet there’s one topic that towers above all the others. We’re referring, of course, to Borf, aka John Tsombikos. As you might imagine, we were fascinated to read the interview with Tsombikos in the latest issue of the anarchist zine Rolling Thunder. Spanning ten pages, it has to be considered the most definitive Borf interview to date (unfortunately, there’s no online version).
But at this point John Tsombikos’ story is fairly well-known — the details of his imprisonment and anarchist personal philosophy are both pretty much what you’d expect. And there’s not a lot to be taken away from his broad condemnations of yuppies, gentrifiers and the media that covered him (we love you too, John). No, the part that really intrigued us was this:
RT: So the project began in October 2003? When was it that BORF started to appear more prominently around D.C., and when did the public start reacting to it?
Tsombikos: I don’t know about the other kids that write BORF…
And, more importantly, this:
RT: Any idea what’s next for BORF, after all that has happened?
Tsombikos: Nope. The BORF Brigade has kicked me out of the group for too much media exposure and losing my anonymity. It’s all up to them now, I guess.
Borf Brigade, huh? In some respects, these allusions to a larger Borf movement are completely unsurprising. Although we have no doubt that Tsombikos is responsible for most of the Borf graffiti around the city, the tag’s sheer omnipresence argues for others being involved as well. In fact, the others argue for it themselves: you might recall our coverage of the Borf-in at Dupont Circle during the summer of 2005, at which time the assembled Tsombikos-supporters handed out spray paint, saying, “I am Borf, you are Borf, Borf is everybody — we hope”.
