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i am: 40...a capricorn / moon in pisces / libra rising...an old soul with a young spirit...older than i look...contemplating my 3rd tattoo...NOT a web designer...a lesbian...working things out with the g.f....a native iowan...a graduate of cornell college and ohio state...a critical reader and thinker...really rather shy...agnostic...an ardent feminist...a bleeding-heart liberal...a pacifist...and so not your average white grrl...
e-mail me
feeling generous? *grin*
Who Links Here
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June 24, 2002
inked at lastit took me almost halfway through my 38th year of life to do it, but it's done...i'm tattooed. and while its healing process is a bit labor-intensive right now...and it won't look its best until after it's fully healed...i'm SO happy that i did it. i was delighted that it was a lot less painful than my overly-active imagination had built it up to be. in fact, i realized immediately afterward that what hurt the most (at least at that particular moment) was my ARM...from propping myself up on the table for an hour while gunnar worked his magic. *lol* anyway, i was thrilled by this prospect, as it only means that i can have more! i'm already contemplating the "what and where" of my next tattoo.
for those of you who may be curious (and i've been more than a little surprised that anyone really cared!), i decided on the stack of 3 adinkra symbols...on the inside of my left calf, beginning just above the ankle. i had prepared myself to do just one of them, but as it was so much less painful than i had imagined (i.e., no passing out, no puking, and no involuntary shaking of tattooed limb), i went with my original plan. and it's beautiful. (sorry, no digital camera...y'all will have to wait until i finish and develop the roll.)
it's caused me to really think about a lot of things...including my reasons for making the decision to get inked in the first place. completely aside from the coolness factor (i definitely think that there is one, despite the fact that tattoos have become much less taboo and more and more people are adorning their bodies in this way), i realized that it has the potential to play a role in changing the way i feel about my body (which, by the way, hasn't been consistently good since i was about 7 years old...tho that's a whole 'nother series of posts)...and that seems like a really good thing.
nevertheless, i still have not fully reconciled my concerns about "appropriating" symbols from a culture that, clearly, is not my own. when i told s about those concerns (pre-tattoo), she interrupted me before i could even finish my sentence, with "lisa, STOP. just STOP. don't make a bigger deal of this than it is." she got a tattoo on friday, too...her 4th, a version of the om, the symbol of striving for perfect peace...and she's not hindu, buddhist, or a practitioner of yoga. so are we both just wrong?
considering the fact that i've spent the greater part of my adulthood discovering/learning more about/appreciating/embracing bits of other cultures clearly not my own (as a glimpse at my reading and listening preferences would most certainly reveal), i suppose this is no huge leap. the more i think about it, is "appropriating" really what i'm doing? i mean...no, the ashanti people of west africa didn't grant me permission to have 3 of their symbols inked permanently on my (pink) skin. on the other hand, i'm not claiming to have created the symbols myself (nor would i ever); they get the credit for that. i'm not making money by using the symbols (as these people are doing with the om symbol). i've simply found 3 beautiful symbols—which aren't without meaning for my own life, regardless of what culture they originated in—and made them a part of me. what exactly is the difference (in this particular context) between "appropriating" and "embracing," anyway? and would i be so concerned if i were a black american, instead of a white one?
okay...let me quit. perhaps i am making a bigger deal of this than is necessary. or perhaps i really am just scrambling to justify a decision i've made. either way...even tho what's done is done, and the symbols are now a permanent part (barring any unforseen amputation) of my body...i'm not done with this issue yet.
11:59 AM
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