IMG_8402, originally uploaded by Prince of Petworth.

I’ve driven by this building located at North Capitol Street and just south of R a number of times and I’ve always wondered what was going on here. So I finally walked by it this weekend and I was dismayed to see that it is also called “The Bobby Fisher Memorial Building”. Bobby Fisher of course was the famous world chess champion. But he was also a notorious anti-Semite and after hearing about the 9/11 attacks he was interviewed on a Philippines radio station saying “This is wonderful news”. I mean Bobby Fisher was no Pol Pot, Hitler or Stalin but it still rubs me the wrong way. I know they are just trying to be contrary but do you think this “memorial” is in poor taste?

Updated: Well, indeed, I am a jackass. It turns out the Bobby Fisher memorialized is not a former chess champion but rather a friend of Borf’s who tragically committed suicide.