Calkins: The mural said, ‘We can do better.’ Within weeks, it was vandalized.
Crosstown High rising senior Alyssa Flowers helps touch up a mural her classmates worked on that got defaced by vandals. (Patrick Lantrip/The Daily Memphian)
Geoff Calkins
Geoff Calkins has been chronicling Memphis and Memphis sports for more than two decades. He is host of "The Geoff Calkins Show" from 9-11 a.m. M-F on 92.9 FM. Calkins has been named the best sports columnist in the country five times by the Associated Press sports editors, but still figures his best columns are about the people who make Memphis what it is.
A bright, colorful mural appeared under the railroad crossing on Cooper Avenue near Peabody Park. Maybe you’ve seen it as you’ve driven past.
A group of students from Crosstown High School made it happen. It was dreamed up by Kate Robinson, a 16-year-old sophomore at the time.
Together, those Crosstown students had pitched in and done a wonderful thing.
“Then I woke up to the photos,” Robinson said.
This was Monday, June 10. A friend had driven past the mural and discovered it had been vandalized.
“It looked like someone had walked up to it and thrown paint on it,” said Andres Arauz, the teacher at Crosstown who had overseen the project. “There was also profanity. And they painted the letters: GFY.”
Go bleep yourself.
“I was devastated,” Robinson said. “I told my mom that we have to go see the mural. Then I burst into tears.”
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Crosstown High school Graffiti Geoff Calkins Brandon Marshall Subscriber Only2025 is almost over. Now is the time to support your trusted local news source.
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