You’ve heard all the stereotypes about Make DC Weird. They’re misguided, they’re uninspired, they hold parades where ten people show up (not counting a heavy DCist media presence). In other words, Make DC Weird isn’t very weird at all. But local arts activist Moe Erikson wants to change that. He wants to make Make DC Weird weird.
“Make DC Weird can’t make DC weird unless they’re weird,” says Erikson. “We have this situation now where conventional people are trying to promote weirdness. Which itself would be weird, if it weren’t so Washington. They basically formed an NGO to make the city weirder. And now they sell $2 stickers that say Make DC Weird. None of it is going to work. To make DC weird, we need a weird movement trying to make DC weird. That’s what I’m trying to make Make DC Weird.”
Erikson doesn’t call his efforts to weirden the Make DC Weird movement a movement, but rather a conversation about what it would mean for Make DC Weird to be weird. “Make Make DC Weird Weird is a weird slogan,” says Erikson. “It provokes confusion, which is the first step in promoting weirdness.”
Now that phrase is on a mauve diaper designed by Erickson that Make Make DC Weird Weird is selling for $2. All proceeds will go towards doing weird shit to the Make DC Weird people in the hopes that some of the weirdness will rub off on them. Sales of the diaper have been scant so far, but Erikson isn’t daunted, saying the effort to make Make DC Weird weird has already weirded out a lot of people, most importantly those in Make DC Weird.
“I don’t really get it,” said Erik Moe, the as yet normal artist behind Make DC Weird. “Last night about ten people wearing diapers over their pants showed up in my yard with boomboxes on their shoulders. But they weren’t playing any music. They just stood there staring at me until I asked what they wanted, at which point they started dancing like crazy and playing air guitar in silence. Then a large man in a muumuu came running up and started yelling at them, telling them to turn off that damn music. He was quickly doused in purple paint and started writhing on the ground. This all went on for about five minutes before a woman in a pickup truck pulled up and blew a whistle. They all ran to the truck and hopped in the back, and then it screeched off into the night. Now I’ve got paint stains on my sidewalk. The whole thing was totally bizarre.”
“I think he’s starting to catch on,” said Erikson.
Only time will tell if Make Make DC Weird Weird will make Make DC Weird weird.