How the era-defining graffiti tag came to be

Story by Adam Rideout Redeker

Slithering throughout the seventh-floor dorm room, Ebeneezer Squeezer revealed its renowned message to the two prophets: “Tina Chopp is God! Praise Her or Die!” Upon exposure to this revelation, the prophets hurried to inform their friends of the serpent’s sermon.

Ennui ends here. Shock, fear, disgust, exasperation and unsettlement accompany the urban legends and student lore of Western Washington University. Take heed that the legend of Tina Chopp manifests itself amidst obscurity and, therefore, leaves the meaning of her presence on campus up to interpretation.

Though long-retired, cases filled with manila folders perpetuate the legacy of the Wilson Library’s comment book. The archived collection of three-hole-punched papers is a fascinating gateway into the minds of the student body from 1984 to 1995. One name, repeatedly scrawled in abundant variations of ink and graphite throughout the years, lends itself to the immortal graffiti spray-painted in the minds of past students.

JAN. 29, 1985

“GREETINGS,

SAY, JUST WHO IS THIS ILLUSIVE “TINA CHOPP” ANYWAY? YOU KNOW, THE CREATURE, OR AT LEAST YOU SHOULD KNOW THE SLOGAN (ANYONE PASSING THROUGH THE EDENS HALL UNDERPASS WILL HAVE A PASSING ACQUAINTANCE, SO TO SPEAK:) “TINA CHOPP IS STILL GOD.” OF WHAT? DO I NEED TO WORSHIP HER…ER…IT? DO MY HARD EARNED TAXPAYERS DOLLARS GO TO SUPPORT THIS PHANTOM DEITY? WHAT IS THE MEANING OF LIFE? LOOK, I REALIZE THIS ISN’T ANNE LANDERS, BUT YOU GOTTA HELP ME - - I FEEL MY ETERNAL PRESENCE MAY BE ON THE LINE. SIGNED: PUNK RASTA FROM EDEN.”

This message in the comment book is one of many. It exposes the collective confusion spurred by campus icon Tina Chopp. Walking through campus in the ‘80s and ‘90s, it would have been easy to spot a graffiti tag left by anyone in the know.

Who is Tina? Some considered her a deity, some allegedly knew her as a friend of a friend and some simply turned a blind eye when they saw the slogan written on walls around campus.

Weeks passed from this entry in the comment book until another commenter claimed to know the truth, stating that they were present at Tina’s deification during a science fiction club meeting. According to the writer, the slogan started out as a practical joke among club members and quickly grew out of hand. To this, an anonymous responder fired back with vigor, “This hard-boiled demystifier is a lying heretic and recalcitrant Christian — probably claims to have been around for Tina's Incarnation too. Those who belittle Tina’s divine beneficence should beware! Praise Tina or perish, swine!”

“PORK CHOP IS GOD,” reads one page. “Tina Chopp is not God, she’s the Anti-Christ,” reads another. The comment book is a fountain of student perspectives on the lore of Tina Chopp but ultimately leaves the reader befuddled. For the official story, as it comes from acquaintances of the prophets, one can turn to the Church of Tina Chopp’s official website.

According to the website, the story goes like this: In 1981, two Buchanan Towers residents agreed to take care of their friend’s pet boa constrictor, Ebeneezer Squeezer. By crawling across their dorm floor, the snake revealed a message to the students, who are referred to as “the freaks,” “The Prophets,” and are presumably named Randy and Bruce. The snake’s message was this: “Tina Chopp is God! Praise Her or Die!” After relaying the message to their constituents (cited as “friends” on the website), followers of the holy snake proceeded to inscribe the message in chalk around campus. The slogan and its surrounding lore proliferated into zines, a satirical bible and extensive graffiti.

Sightings of the graffiti were reported all across campus in the ‘80s and ‘90s, but according to the church, the range of Tina Chopp’s legacy extends far past Bellingham.

“Keep in mind that the people who did the tagging were not, and are not, associated with the church, in any way,” Reverend Guido Super DeLuxe, High Priest of the Church of Tina Chopp, wrote in an email. “I have received notification that the phrase ‘Tina Chopp is God! Praise Her OR DIE!!’ has been written in such places as Cuba and China. As far as I know, it is still being tagged around the world.”

As this new ideology emerged, followers of the church began to amass, craving more insight into the story of their deity. Publications were issued for those in need, spreading the word of the church’s esteemed deity. These newsletters and zines were created by high priests Guido Super DeLuxe and Osiris Ranebo. The contents consisted of drawings, biblical teachings and short stories. These zines are still available online, and physical copies are sold at a bookstore in Seattle. Some zines sell for over $100, the notion of which is distasteful to Reverend DeLuxe.

It appears through the mist of confusion and obscurity that Tina Chopp represented on campus, there emerged two camps of propagators. The “Tinites,” who yearned for further knowledge and came to follow the teachings of Tina Chopp through the materials provided by the church, and those who simply adopted the legacy of Tina Chopp to apply to their lifestyles.

One member of the latter camp recalled his experience with Tina Chopp in the ‘80s. The story he shared, however, differs from the church’s posited narrative.

“Tina and the guy who started Tina Chopp is God both lived in Buchanan Towers. I think they were neighbors or one lived above the other. And it began as one of them, the guy, being loud and bothering her. And she said something and he didn't like it so [one] night he went all over campus writing Tina Chopp is God. It was everywhere. On walls, on steps, on the vertical side of steps. And the saying took off,” Les Lee said in an online message.

As with countless other non-members of the church, the message of Tina Chopp worked its way into Lee’s life.

“I was downtown once and there used to be a public phone booth on the southwest corner of Holly and Railroad,” Lee said. “The phone rang while I was walking by and I answered it. A voice said, ‘Tina Chopp is God,’ to which I replied, ‘Ebeneezer Squeezer will return.’ Then they asked who I was and I told them and then they hung up.”

A man rolls shirtless through campus on a unicycle. Another offers his pet ferret to enthralled farmers market shoppers. If there were ever a college town befit to support the message of such a heavily stratified satirical religion, Bellingham is it. Our eclectic residents are known to not only support the bizarre and extraordinary but seek out the meaning and entertainment behind them.

A student account that corroborates Lee’s story nestles neatly into the stack of the old comment book.

FEB. 12, 1985

“In response to the many questions concerning Tina Chopp and whether she was woman and god or just woman or just god… well I know from Lee Ann who attended Western for 5 years and is usually a good source of info that Tina Chopp was a real person who at one time spurned an offer from a young man for an evening of frolic or tedious boredom… the young man was so taken aback with self pity that he decided to immortalize Tina by making a deity of her. Tina has since moved to Wyoming where she is living under a pseudonym; the young man died in Mazatlan during a beer chugging contest with his buddies from the Tri-Cities. Thus deities + stories are born, die and at times rise to trouble us.”

Long-time Director of Libraries Diane C. Parker responded to the entry, imprinting on the graphite-laden page with her typewriter: “Tina has become a legend in her own time.”