Thread by @benjaminwittes

A sunflower tale.
A thread for Ukrainian Independence Day.

For the last few days, I have been engaged in a game of cat-and-mouse with someone (I don’t know who). But let’s call him Karla.

As you likely know, I have several times planted sunflowers on this corner only to have them destroyed.

These sunflowers are meaningful to me both because in our original planting back in April, the one on this spot was planted by @OMarkarova—so their destruction seemed like …

a particularly direct symbolic attack on Ukrainian statehood—and, more importantly, because the sunflowers on this corner directly face the front gates of the embassy (the Gates of Hell, as I have named them).

So the third time I planted them, on Sunday, I was determined either to frustrate Karla’s destructive plans or to catch him in the act.

So I put in a hidden camera.

If you look carefully, you can see it in the sign I put in front of the flowers.

Karla looked carefully.

The next morning, the sunflowers were fine. The camera—the whole sign, in fact, was gone.

So the next day, I put a second camera in. I also staked the place out Monday night—for many hours.

Nothing. Sunflowers survived until Tuesday.

But I was tired. And last night, I had projections to do against this and other embassy buildings anyway.

So Karla got a free pass.

Once again, today, hidden camera is gone.
Sunflowers are fine.

So today, I’m not even hiding the camera. I’ve put it on the streetlight in plain sight. It is watching over the sunflowers. The neighbors are keeping an eye on it for me.

And I’m asking people who pass by the corner of Wisconsin and Edmunds to snap a pic of it and tweet it at me.

Probably Karla will steal it and rip out the sunflowers, again, but hey, that’s the game. And one day we’ll catch him and he’ll defect.

That’s all I got.

Happy Ukrainian Independence Day!

Update: the camera survived the night. So did the sunflowers.

I added another one—and a couple of locks. Have at it, Karla!

Update: I am told by two neighborhood sources that both cameras have been removed. Anyone with any information about who removed them, please DM me or get in touch.

Paging @SecretService: Did you guys see anything? This seems to have happened in broad daylight.