Week 9 - "Not Just For Bikers"

In "Not Just For Bikers Anymore: Popular Representations of American Tattooing" Margo DeMello examines the ways in which tattoos have been represented by mainstream American media, by academics, and by the people who wear tattoos. Early in her paper, DeMello talks about 4 different events she attended that held tattoos as the main focus. These events "were organized and attended by individuals eager to portray a new culture of tattooing, one that includes, not bikers and other "low lifes," but educated professionals..." (DeMello 38). For my research paper, I too am examining the shift from "primitive" tattooing to "fine art" tattooing and the impacts that shift has on society's desire to accept tattoos into out mainstream consciousness. As a writer, I know I'm supposed to be neutral when I analyze my sources, and I don't doubt that once I start writing my paper, I'll be able to do that. However, as a reader, this simple description stuck with me, "not bikers and other "low lifes," but educated professionals..." Bikers and "other low lifes?" So, we're counting bikers as low lifes in this article, yes?

I'm not entirely naive, I know that bikers have just about as bad of a reputation as people with tattoos and the tow are often synonymous. What bothers me is this: I'm a biker. I have tattoos. I'm not a criminal or a "low life" and I'm certainly not uneducated. Despite the fact that one of my tattoos is easily visible, I'm a working professional too. So, what does that make me? If tattoos and bikers were synonymous with criminal, uneducated low life and the tattoo community is being rehabilitated by "fine art" tattoos, then what am I? What do we call a college educated, working professional who happens to have tattoos and ride a Harley? What do we call my sister who has a Master's in Business and runs a $50 million global corporation, but also rides a Harley and is inked? I think we're definitely the face of the new tattoo generation, the movement that seeks to rehabilitate the way people view tattooed people, but does that rehabilitation extend to the Harley rider's image as well. I know that is irrelevant for my paper, but as a person...I wonder.

Reading the words "tattoo" and "low life" in the same sentence reminded me of being a kid and seeing tattooed people. That was always the attitude in my childhood. If someone had tattoos, they must be a bad person. So, if you're asking me why any of this matters, and most people are asking me exactly that when I say "tattoos" as a research topic, I'd say this: It matters because we're teaching intolerance. It matters because one day our toddlers will  be 22  and writing a research paper and what view do we want them to have? Do we want them to be intolerant and judgmental or do we want to impart the best of ourselves? Because it's not just about ink or no ink. It's about looking at something, anything that is different about another person and ostracizing them for it. It was race and gender for our grandparents, maybe it's tattoos and homosexuality for us.

Week 8 -- All Things Tattoos

It's that time of year. Midterms have come and gone and we're in the home stretch toward finals. As anyone who has ever gone thorugh the college process will attest, that sounds much more relaxing than it actually is. This is the part where we rely heavily on our planners and hope that we haven't lost track of any final projects. But we usually do. This where extra caffeine and late night cram sessions come in, even if we know better.

This is where I find myself, completely absorbed in the writing process for my tattoo research project. I'm trying out the following as an intro/research questions section for my annotated bibliography:

It’s not uncommon to see someone with a tattoo anymore. In fact, it seems that more people are embracing tattoos as an art and a form of self-expression than ever before. This shift in the way Americans think about tattooing has been relatively recent, appearing within the last 3 decades. I’d like to examine the reasons for this shift and hopefully answer the following questions:

1.      In what ways does society define or label people with tattoos. How have these labels changed as tattoos have become mainstream.

2.      How has tattooing changed over the last 30 years and how have these changes impacted the way society views tattoos.

3.      Has the acceptance of tattoos influenced the way artists are being trained or did the changes in artistic techniques affect the shift in society’s desire to embrace the practice?

Blog #5/6 - Dig In

Every once in a while, there comes a moment where you know you've forgotten something, but you just can't figure out what. Lately, those "once in a while" moments have been more like daily occurrences for me. I have a serious time deficit and a surplus of people telling I've spread myself too thin. The reminder isn't helpful. I don't accept failure in myself. Yes, that adds an uncanny amount of pressure to my world, but it's how I'm wired. I've tried procrastinating. I've tried ignoring projects, skipping readings, skipping classes. Anything to force myself to relax my standards even just a little. None of it works. What does work for me is getting all of my projects out of the way as soon as I possibly can. Of course, these days ASAP is much more likely to be the very last second. Hence the stress.

It's times like these, when the going gets really tough, that most of the people I know advise me to do the "sensible" thing: let go of something. Drop a class, work fewer hours, stop striving for perfection on every project you face. They're not completely wrong. I've been around long enough to know that if I push hard enough, eventually, something will give. It always does. But not before I dig in. There comes a point when everyone and everything backs up on you and you're left with exactly two choices: fall apart, or dig in and push harder. I choose the latter.

Digging in has been a common theme in my world for the last week or so. Starting with "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" and moving on through Eminem, I just can't escape it. When there's something wrong, something you don't like, push back. Change it. It won't be easy, the price may not even be fair, but put your head down and do it anyway. This isn't a new concept to me. In fact, most of it feels instinctive, so it always surprises me when I have this conversation with someone who wouldn't chose to dig in. Someone who looks at me like I've lost it completely. I had that conversation this morning, and maybe this is wrong, but I couldn't help laughing on the inside. What else can I do? I'm the girl that's been listening to Eminem's "Won't Back Down" on a loop for the last 10 days. I don't know how to quit.