Teens can't fathom life after high school, yet somehow they think they have the ability to foresee that 30 years from now they'll still love that Chinese symbol on their shoulder that means "creativity." For many parents, tattooing ranks high among the most dreaded subjects - right up there with "I'm dropping out of school" or "I need breast implants."*
After reading this article on tattoos, geared toward teens as part of the paper's usual Saturday "family" related features, the subject was also raised in today's NYT. The first article had a quote from someone in the biz that can be called the "shirt" rule -- don't get a tattoo that cannot be covered by your shirt. If you do so, you might be sorry, especially when you try to get a job. Now, I myself think those tattoos on the lower back -- well, you know, on women -- are nice on the eyes. But, yeah, your usual white collar job probably frowns upon something like this, sexy or not:
There is also the usual tattoo in honor of a boy or girlfriend who is not shall we say totally permanent. Now, some people see it as just part of life's plan, so they might not mind having a permanent imprint reminder on their skin. Others, not so much, especially after those messy divorces. The NYT article suggests a solution -- a new sort of tattoo that is easier to remove. There are also temporary tattoos, some pretty high quality, including various sorts of ink jobs. And, some of them won't require you to not donate blood (generally speaking) for a year ... yes, they are particularly careful.
One of the article notes that about one out of four people these days get a tattoo. Sounds impressive -- not that I take such things totally seriously, since I think that modern day "necessity," the cell phone is something of a menace. Now, yes, I realize its uses, just like your average modern "necessity" (think online message board or blog) suddenly becomes a sin qua non though it was not used (and still is not in various primitive lands) five years ago. [Cf. Things we can do without but are stuck with ... such as reality programs.]
But, even without those annoying commercials (e.g., that silent slightly creepy guy), they are totally over used these days. Especially on public transportation. Anyway, the subject was tattoos. Of course, they have a long history, surely in some societies as body decoration with special cultural significance. This included some pretty elaborate and extensive works, which some still have today ... though use of one's back as if it was a 8x10 easel or something seems to be a bit excessive. Still, one the small scale, I'm a fan, and find the coverage in two local news sources a pretty good idea.
Body art is an important aspect of self-expression ... see here for a taste of what is at stake. Surely, we have regulations and limitations, just like hair can be regulated (but see dissent) for public employment. And, such self-expression is surely particularly important for teenagers. Taking this all in account, including doing so safely and intelligently, is ideal newspaper fare as well.
Oh, and there is a baseball player with so many tattoos that the league requires him to wear sleeves to avoid throwing off the batters ... at least in that fashion. Apparently, not only white collar jobs have their limits in that regard.
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* The author Linda Francis Lee suggests the "in" term is "BJs" (all your quality Texas girls don't do bjs ... too messy). She also suggests the right way to use "beaucoup":
To be completely honest, not every member is married, and certainly not every member of the JLWC is fabulously wealthy. Mind you, no one is headed for the poorhouse --- well, maybe a few are who invested badly, pretended they had more than they did, or got tangled up with nasty habits that cost beaucoup amounts of m-o-n-e-y to support. And really, who wants that sort of member anyway, so the sooner they get to the poorhouse and can’t pay their dues, the better. Why prolong their misery, I say.