Put Bumper Stickers on That Bentley!
Kim K once commented, “Would you put bumper stickers on a Bentley?” Why, yes, Kim, thank you for asking! When I was a kid, I thought tattoos were a sign of poor taste, thanks to the overwhelming opinions of my family. While I do understand that a generational gap can hugely affect opinions, I still can’t understand how it came to be such a strong dislike. Around age 15, I started realizing I really liked the way it looked when I drew on my arms with a sharpie… and it became a somewhat embarrassing obsession. Every day, I would fill the empty space on my forearms with words and crappy drawings. It was then that I realized my love for body art. I am twenty now and have eight tattoos, with the intention of getting more. I have made friends and acquaintances because of my tattoos, and I have found that there is a great community of people who also share the interest. A passing, “I love that tattoo!” or a “Is that a strawberry?” has become a great conversation starter. Almost nothing catches my eye faster than an awesome sleeve of tattoos.
Separately from just the way that they look, tattoos can hold great meaning as well. My best friend got her first one over the summer, a stick and poke done by another friend. While I knew it was inspired by a song, I didn’t fully understand how deep the meaning of the tattoo was to her until I asked her about it for this blog. “This ghost tattoo was inspired by the song Halloween by Noah Kahan,” she told me. “It’s one of my favorite songs by him because I relate to it so much. To me, it’s representative of the person that I was, the person that I was with, and how much I’ve changed and grown. I’m still haunted by that person and who I was, so now it serves as a reminder of how much I’ve grown and changed into a person I love so much more. Despite all that, who I was still resides in me, and I will never be able to forget it.”
Just one small ink drawing can bring so much meaning and represent so much growth on your body. Maybe you have an insecurity or a vital piece of yourself that you want to embrace. I have always thought my arms are big, which is why I have focused all of my tattoos on them. An appreciation for art doesn’t have to end at the canvas or museum; it can be somewhere you look every day as a reminder of our humanity and ability to create beauty anywhere. We have one body, and maybe that is why it is sometimes scary to put ink on it, but I see it as an incredibly unique form of self-expression that can bring your physical appearance closer to the view of life and the significances in your head.
Strike Out,
Writer: Rebecca Morgan
Blog Editor: Sarah Singleton
