STJ, Ink-Week 11:I Am An Expert Procrastinator

         This week, I interviewed my good friend, Mike “Dogman” O’Keeffe, who is a 21 year-old Special Education major from Long Beach, New York.

         Mike’s tattoo is a script tattoo on his side that reads “Grace Under Pressure”.  

         Mike described the meaning behind the quote to me in detail during our interview, he said, “'Grace Under Pressure' was Hemingway's definition of courage. He first said it in a letter he was sending to F. Scot Fitzgerald and when he asked Hemingway what his definition of courage was he simply said 'courage is grace under pressure'. The phrase stuck with me after I had read the letters and I sort of got it as an homage to the pain I went through as a kid having open heart surgery and living with only 3 chambers in my heart.”

         Mike got his tattoo done at 808 Tattoo in Kaneohe, Hawaii while on a surf trip with some friends and he noted that the tattoo had a fun back-story, “Hemingway is my favorite author and I always wanted a tattoo inspired by him. I was in Hawaii on a surf trip visiting a buddy of mine and after we got out of the water he said "hey lets go get tattooed!" and at the time I was reading 'A Farewell to Arms' and I had just recently read the letters Hemingway and Fitzgerald had sent to each other and that phrase stuck with me and in the heat of the moment I decided that would be what I got tattooed. It's my latest tattoo too so that's why I'd say it's currently my favorite.”

         Mike said that he plans on getting more tattoos in the future and if money or his job were not an issue, that he would be covered in them right now.

         To close the interview, I asked Mike to give me his opinion on tattoos as a form of expression. I asked many others this question throughout the course of my blog, but I feel as though Mike hit the nail on the head with his answer, “I feel that tattoos are a great form of expression. Whether it's a memorial tattoo, personal, funny, or you just like the artwork. Tattoos are an incredible way to express your individuality.

I'd say do some research on the place you go for your first. I know one too many people who just walked into a shop and got whatever nonsense the guy showed ‘em just because they were young, dumb, and wanted a tattoo. It's your body so you should feel safe and secure and comfortable with what you're getting. Also don't go out drinking after you get tattooed i made that mistake once and it bled all night."

Seeing as though I am an expert procrastinator, here are a few of the projects for my Communications class that I just finished. Enjoy!

STJ, Ink-Week 10: Take Care

This week, I interviewed the General Manager of WSJU-Radio, Cristina Marcello, who is a 20-year-old Communications Major. 

Cristina’s tattoo is a small script (a tattoo with writing) piece on her wrist that reads “Take Care”. 

Cristina was candid in describing the origin of her first and only tattoo, “The initial reason behind getting it was to remember a difficult time in my life. During this time, Hip Hop and R&B artist Drake, released an album titled 'Take Care.' The album title itself symbolizes pride in one’s work. The saying 'take care' is often thrown around lightly in conversations and we forget its true meaning. Take Care. To me this simple saying is a reminder that no matter what I may be working on or doing in life I should always “take care” of the product rather than getting it done quickly with poor quality. If something requires my attention I should give it my all. This album also helped me find understanding in my pain and allowed me to grow through it. It is a constant reminder of a period in my life where I truly needed to take care of myself. I am the type of person who constantly helps and puts others before myself. From the time I was a young child even until now my mother has always told me I should begin to put myself first. My tattoo is a symbol of just that.” 

She got her tattoo done at the 1603 Tattoo Studio in Ybor, Florida and plans on getting one or two more personal tattoos. 

She summed up her personal feelings on tattoos at the end of our interview; “I believe tattoos are personal, may they be for expression, art, or simply even for fun. Something so permanent must contain meaning no matter what it may be.” Below, you can listen to my radio commercial that I prepared for my class. Enjoy!

STJ, Ink:Week 8-Tattoos for Charity

To be perfectly honest, I was going to spend this week’s edition of STJ, Ink discussing my latest interview, which I had with my friend Christina (which will be saved for the next edition of the blog).  The change of plans occurred when suddenly was convinced into getting a new tattoo a few days ago.

I know what you must be thinking. How could I get a tattoo on a whim after spending so much time in the last blog talking about the amount of thought that I usually put into my tattoo decisions?

The answer is simple: It was for charity.

The concept of discount tattoos for charity was a foreign concept to me at the time of my tattoo, so I wouldn’t expect you all to know what it is.

From what I now understand, tattoo shops will sometimes promote discounted tattoos for events such as the opening of a shop, a holiday, the hiring of a new apprentice, or in my case, a charity event.

The specific charity that this shop was promoting was an organization called Project Woodhaven, which at this time is working to assist in relief efforts in the wake of the destruction caused by Hurricane Sandy.

I first learned of this promotion while browsing through the Facebook page of the Beaver Tattoo Shop of Woodhaven, New York.  This all-female tattoo shop (how cool is that?) has been on my radar for a while now because of my constant search of local tattoo shops.

Anyways, the first thing that I saw on their page was a photo advertising a flash sheet for $30 tattoos in support of Project Woodhaven.

Now I know what you all are thinking of when I mention a $30 tattoo (and yes, it’s pretty scary), but after looking at the portfolios of the artists at the shop, I was sure that this was the right decision to make.

To be perfectly honest, I don’t regret it one bit! The tattoo itself looks fantastic and the shop was professional and clean (even by my standards). Plus, I feel very good about spending my tattoo money on a good cause and that feeling with stay with me as long as I have the tattoo.

In my final installment of Presidential Campaign news, you would have to be living under a rock to have missed what occurred last week. President Barack Obama was re-elected in a landslide victory over Governor Mitt Romney to become the President of the United States.  One interesting fact in my opinion was that all of the hype behind Mitt Romney’s debate performances turned out to be a non-factor in terms of voting.

Also, here are the edited and unedited versions of an audio interview I did earlier this year for class, enjoy!

STJ, Ink-Week 7:My Street Cred

Since starting this blog, I’ve been asked about my credibility on more than one occasion. I’ve been asked, ‘Why should we listen to you? What do you know about tattoos?’

These people are right! So I’ve decided to give a little background on my tattoo experiences in order to establish my credibility (and so people will stop asking my obnoxious questions).

From a very young age I always knew that I wanted to get a tattoo, even if I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted to get.   My parents weren’t exactly thrilled with this desire, but with my exposure to bikers, action movies, and heavy metal music increasing with my age, they soon came to accept it as inevitable.

About a month after my 18^th birthday was the time that walked into the Angry Banana Tattoo Shop to get my first piece of work.  At this point I was trying to get a piece that was both cool and wouldn’t be too risqué, so I chose to go with the wolf.

As you can see, the sizeable tattoo that now covers my right arm had a pretty humble beginning.

 I got the second part of the wolf done about six months later at the same shop and by the same artist. I’m actually scheduling to get the piece finished over the holiday break and I will definitely keep you all updated.

As I’ve done these interviews, I’ve noticed that my subjects have had varying levels of difficulty with dealing with the obvious connotations that come with having a tattoo. My advice to them is this: If you feel strongly enough about an image or piece of art to get it tattooed on your body, then you should have no trouble defending it.

Personally, I have NEVER had a single issue with defending my decision to get any of my tattoos and never will, even when I’ve covered in them.

To end this rather rant-filled blog, I’d like to say that I’m glad that I grew in a time where a guy like me could get a tattoo or five and would still be able to gain employment and lead a semi-normal life in this country, a statement that would have been hard to defend years ago.

By this point, you should be used to the fact that I have been concluding my blogs with my personal highlights of this week’s Presidential Campaign events. It should come as no surprise that my highlight for this week is the Presidential Debate at Hofstra between President Obama and Governor Romney. In my opinion, Obama came back very strongly at this week’s debate and did a fair job of recovering from his problems at the first debate.

STJ, Ink Week 6:A Sudden Change of Mind

When it comes to tattoos, not every creation is dreamt up by the artist and sometimes inspiration can change a customer’s mind on a dime. This statement would definitely describe the tattoo story of James, who I interviewed this week.

James, a senior here at St. John’s and a Management major, wanted to get a tattoo when he turned 18, just like many other kids that age. James did what a lot of those same kids would do and walked into a tattoo shop intent on getting a chest piece with his friend. 

After seeing his friend’s finished tattoo, James had a sudden change of heart, choosing to get a tattoo based on a drawing he did in high school.

The piece is basically the shape of the African continent with the dreadlocked Lion of Judah (a Rastafarian symbol) on the inside of it.  To James, the tattoo is representative of the impact that Rastafarianism has had on his life and serves as a constant reminder of his morals and values.

Unlike some of my past interviews, James’ parents have both been very supportive of his tattoo decisions.  James made a point to note that his family actual enjoys that fact that he got a tattoo instead of being indifferent like most.

One point that James made towards the end of the interview caught my interest, as it was something that I had heard before from my other interviews, always without prompting.  He said that he loves getting tattoos because they represent a specific time period in his life and that he is glad to look at his tattoos because they remind him of a specific point of time.

As I have been doing the last two weeks of the blog, I would like to take this space to recap on what I believe to be this week’s most significant event of the 2012 Presidential Campaign.  It should come as no surprise that my event of choice was this week’s Vice Presidential Debate between Joe Biden and Paul Ryan.

What made this debate significant was the fact that religion became a major topic of the debate. In my opinion, mostly Ryan perpetrated this, but I don’t feel that religion has a place in politics at all. I feel that this development will eventually be irrelevant due to my opinion that nobody really cares about Vice Presidents unless they do something drastically wrong.

STJ, Ink-Week 5: Bringing It All Together

Over the past few weeks I  have talked to many interesting people about their tattoos. Over this time, I have discussed a few specific subjects with each when it comes to tattoos. Subjects like a first tattoo experience, the stigma behind "tattoo people" and cover-up tattoos, to name a few. I feel as though this week's blog would be a good time to recap and discuss some of these topics that I've covered in a hope to better understand tattoo culture.

One topic that all of my interviewees agreed on was that of "tattoo people", which was covered in week two of STJ, Ink. The topic of tattoo people deals with the theory that we live in a day and age in which it is acceptable for any person to get a tattoo, whereas in the past it was usually reserved for outlaws and prisoners.  With the exception of the elderly, I can safely conclude that the time in which there were "tattoo people" is far behind us and that this development has been an important step for tattoo acceptance.

The other topic that I felt was one of the most interesting was when I asked my interviewees about their first tattoo experiences.  The answers on this differed a lot more than the answers to the "tattoo people" topic in terms of both expectations and actual results. For example, when I interviewed Nicole, she told me that she was quite nervous about the first experience whereas when I interviewed Cliff, he said that he was very confident about the situation and was not nervous at all. When it comes to first tattoos, I've found that there is about a 50/50 split with those who were very sure and confident about their tattoos and those who were nervous about the experience (many of these people also seemed to do less planning on the tattoo than the confident people).

Me during one of my first tattoo experiences

As I continue to talk to more people and I continue to progress with this blog, I hope to learn more about the cultures of tattoos. I will continue make updates such as this every month or so as I feel it is necessary as to the mission of this blog.

Once again, as required by the class, I will now take the time to update you on my weekly Presidential Campaign highlight. It should come as no surprise to you that my highlight for this week would have to be the Presidential Debate that took place on Wednesday between President Obama and Governor Romney. The obvious highlight of this debate was the strong showing of Governor Romney which lead to a huge explosion of media negativity towards the Obama Campaign as well as praise towards the challenger's campaign. In my opinion, I believe that the showing at the debate will probably become a non-issue as we inch closer to election day.

STJ, Ink-Week 4

Often, with tattoos, people made an initial decision that they eventually come to regret. What I tend to see more often, is that a tattoo is a diligently planned and well thought-out decision. When you are asked constantly about the motivation and meaning behind your ink, I find that it good to have a strong reason for getting it.

One example of a person who has a strong meaning behind their tattoo is my friend Cliff Sebastian, 23, who is a Communications major from Ledyard, Connecticut.

The entire tattoo is made up of two pieces that were done about a year apart at a tattoo shop in Queens (which is now shut down).

Cliff explained the meaning behind his tattoo to me in detail during out interview, “My tattoos have very specific meanings. The shoulder tattoo is a recreation of the signature of Robin Cassacinamon, the last Sachem (Chief) of the Mashantucket Pequots, my tribe. The armband tattoo on my bicep is a traditional men's tattoo. Historically, the men of my tribe would get this or a similar tattoo on the arm to signify their status.”

Due to the obvious connotations of his tattoos, the reactions of Cliff’s family were “basically a non-issue” unlike many of my previous subjects. Personally, it was refreshing of me to see a situation where the family members were not too concerned about their child getting a tattoo.

Like in the previous interviews, I asked Cliff how he felt about people, particularly strangers asking him about his ink. He said, “It doesn't bother me at all, I actually like having a chance to explain the meaning behind them since their backgrounds are a source of pride for me. I like people to know my tattoos weren't picked off of a wall. “

I’m taking this section of the blog to continue our Presidential Campaign assignment from last week. In my opinion, the most interesting part of this campaign in the past week has been the extensive niche campaigning by both parties. To be specific, the Obama Administration has been targeting the spread of Lyme disease and the Romney Campaign choosing to address the topic of Burmese Pythons in the Southeast. Will this strategy earn those precious voters that the parties are looking for, or will these ventures prove to be a waste of time? Only time will tell as November 7^th inches ever closer.