This is who I am..forever

August 21, 2008 at 6:57 am (art, culture, life, scars, story, transformation) (, , , , , )

I went to high school with Noah! It was a treat to hang out with Noah when I was in Richmond, and he was kind enough to play hooky and hang out with me when I ran around getting interviews of other folks you will meet soon. He is a talented artist, graphic designer, and activist. His most recent project is Skull-A-Day… absolutely worth checking out, as well as his home grown socially conscious graphic design and consulting company Another Limited Rebellion. Noah taught me something, and I’m not sure I ever thanked him for it…the power of saying “we” when pitching new ideas.

“Knuckle tattoos are very specific in our culture. Who has knuckle tattoos? Serious hard-core punk rock folks…there is a choice being made when you get knuckle tattoos to very specifically remove yourself from a certain segment of society. You will never be a banker. Well…probably…never be a banker. The world is changing.

These tattoos were a 30th birthday present to myself. 30 is a charged year for people. I like to turn those kinds of things on it’s head because I think it’s a load of crap, but at the same time I think it’s hard not to have a response to it. I found a mug when I turned 30 that said, “30…over the hill.” And I think 30 was over the hill…a long time ago. Now..it’s nothing. I think people don’t realize until they are in their 30, that it’s young. But when you’re younger…life ends when your 30…because that means you are going to be old. Which is funny because that means that you’ve got from 21-30 to have all your good times… apparently.

So for me then 30 is when you are a grown up. So I got mine at 30 as a way of saying…this is it…this is who I am…forever.

I had been thinking about it for a long time. There is something really gratifying about tattoos that are always seen, and there is no avoiding it. That was important to me. I wanted something that was going to stand out in that way.

I had already gotten most of my tattoos by the time I decided to get my knuckles done …but really had an urge..I had to get them…and I needed to find something that fit the 8 spaces you have to fill.

I had already gotten most of my tattoos by the time I decided to get my knuckles done …but really had an urge…I had to get them…and I needed to find something that fit the 8 spaces you have to fill.
One day I was in a store and I saw someone had a tattoo of the I Ching on their arm. Taoism is very important philosophy to me and is very essential to my spirituality. For a while I used the I Ching as a tool for learning more about myself. I stopped eventually, I didn’t want to know about the future anymore, I was totally satisfied with the now, and I didn’t care to get that advice anymore. But I really loved what it was about, that all of the elements in the universe are interconnected. And that everything affects everything else. So how you throw these coins and sticks and how you divine the I Ching is because of how it is all connected. That really resonated with me.
So these are the 8 trigrams that are the 8 central components to the I Ching.

Because I work on the computer all day, every two key strokes… is a hexagram. So I am constantly making my future, my world, through the work that I do.
What’s interesting is that it has not gotten a dramatic response. Most people don’t comment on them. I think they feel like they are being polite by not saying something. The people that do…is the little only lady who says, “That’s so nice.”
And I think, really? OK. Wow.

I have hard time explaining them to people because it is too complicated. I’ll say, “Those are the Trigrams of the I Ching”. And there are three words that people don’t know. And then I say it is an ancient divination system, using more words that people don’t understand.

The funniest response I got was from some punk rock people who felt like they were odd in that I hadn’t done them in the right order. Normally you get all these tattoos down your arm, and you have filed up your body. And then, all that is left is your knuckles. You have already committed to the body suit of tattoos, and this is the last frontier. But the last frontier is here already. This is what I want now. And boy did that satisfy me, I got them, and you know that urge I told you I had? Well I am done with that for a while. This is really there. These aren’t these hidden-underneath-my-shirt-underneath-my-pants thing that a lot of tattoos end up being.
I don’t want to cover them up.
This IS me.

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Soldiers and Tattoos

July 31, 2008 at 2:38 pm (story) (, , )

Michael and I had an interesting conversation on our way to Raasa Leela’s Farmhouse in Ashland.

Michael explained that when he served in the army (to get his G.I. Bill) that tattoos were looked down upon. At that time, only sailors and farmers had them. My how things have changed.

I am fascinated by soldier tattoos, and am considering dedicating a section of the book to soldier tattoos. This genre of tattoos caught my attention when they started banning tattoos in the military. http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2007/03/marine_tattoo_changes_032007/ I had assumed it was because of the amount of tattoos made in honor of fallen soldiers, but this article tells a slightly different story. If you or any one you know has a soldier tattoo, or fallen soldier tattoo, please send along your story and photos, and I will post them on the blog and consider them for the book.

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