Inside a quaint yellow house bordered by a small poppy garden, the steady buzz of tattoo needles !lls a sparsely fur-nished room. Brightly colored drawings of butter"ies and dragons, devils and angels, skulls and hearts, and demons and fairies cover every surface, from shiny wood "oors to crisp white walls and even the low ceiling.

LASA Sci-Tech and astronomy teacher Alison Earnhart, however, has no need for these drawings that clutter Mom’s Tattoo Parlor. A#er a year of careful contemplation, she knows exactly what she wants. And compared to the four years she spent thinking about her !rst tattoo, this could be considered a hasty decision.

“I’m not one of those types of people who stumbles into a tattoo parlor and goes, ‘Yeah, that design looks kind of cool. I want that permanently etched on my body for the rest of my life,’” Earnhart said. “I’m very cautious about it. You’re making a lifetime decision when you get a tattoo. It’s not something you can take lightly. If you’re going to get something on you that’s more permanent than marriage, I suggest you think about it a little bit.”

Although Earnhart spent years planning her tattoo, the decision process varies from one person to the next. Earn-hart said that by considering the tattoo for many years and designing it herself, she ensured that it would al-ways hold meaning to her.

“I chose placement and design very carefully,” Earnhart said. “You picture yourself that way and if you’re still cool with it two or three years down the road, then it might be something you’re will-ing to live with. I had [my !rst tattoo] drawn out when I was sophomore in college, and I didn’t get it done until three years later. It became some-thing that I would doodle. It became something that I would write about sometimes, and a#er a while, [I was] like, ‘Okay, I think I’m ready. I’m willing to commit to this.’”

LASA biology teacher Amanda Walker did not person-ally design her tattoo. But she did put plenty of thought into what she wanted. Eight years ago, Walker asked her art stu-dents to create sketches of potential tattoos for her.

“I’m not really all that creative, but I knew what I wanted [my tattoo] based on,” Walker said. “I wanted to look at a bunch of di$erent ways that creative people had interpreted that. So when I said I wanted it based on DNA, I got 50 de-signs that were all di$erent, and I liked a lot of them. I had had a design kind of in mind, and it turned out that I liked a lot of the ones the students made a lot better. It was kind of hard to pick from how many good ideas there were.”

Like Earnhart, Walker continues to !nd her tattoo—a swan’s head surrounded by a circular strand of DNA—meaningful. By contrast, LASA English teacher Brad Sharp said the decision to get a tattoo of a star on his wrist was more spontaneous.

“I was in Paris, and getting a tattoo sounded like a good idea,” Sharp said. “I don’t even think about [the tattoo] any-more. It’s just there.”

%is nonchalance re"ects a cultural trend—the preva-lence and widespread acceptance of tattoos. A recent Pew Research Center survey found that 36 percent of people

ages 18 to 25, and 40 percent of those ages 26 to 40, have at least one tattoo. While tattoos are becoming increas-ingly common, LASA Planet Earth teacher Claire Barrett said that when she decided to get her !rst tattoo at 18, the perceptions that came with her body art were not always positive.

“I’m really close to my mom, but she said, ‘Honey, you know I’ll always love you, but when I was your age, only whores got tattoos,’” Barrett said. “And I was like, ‘Um, okay. Well, Mom, I’m not a whore.’ And that was it.”

According to tattoo artist Craig Sheets, who works at Atomic Tattoo in Austin, reactions such as Barrett’s mother’s were common when he !rst began tattooing professionally as an 18-year-old. However, as the industry grows, Sheets’ clientele continues to change.

“When I !rst started, there were a lot of bikers in the in-dustry and things like that,” Sheets said. “I think it’s becom-ing more and more actual art students and professionals, and the art keeps getting better and the tattoos keep getting better, and more people are getting them. It’s become more wide and varied. It’s an evolving industry, and I love where it’s going.”

As tattoos become more popular, the demand for tattoo

artists, including LBJ senior Jamal Brooks, rises as well. Af-ter getting his !rst tattoo, a cursive lettering of his last name across his back, Brooks said he was inspired to become a tattoo artist.

As Brooks continues to gain more experience, he hopes to open his own shop in order to pursue tattooing profes-sionally. Although he has yet to receive his license, Brooks said he remains secure in his tattooing abilities.

“You’ve got to go into the tattoo con!dent,” Brooks said. “Like you’re going to go into a football game.”

Brooks learned to tattoo from his cousin and subse-quently set up a workspace in his room, where he has tat-tooed more than 100 people. Brooks said the more clients he tattoos, the more knowledge and experience he gains.

“Everybody has di$erent kinds of skin, so you have to see how the skin takes to the ink and kind of work around that,” Brooks said. “Some people have like alligator skin, re-ally rough, and some people have smooth skin that takes to the ink real good.”

In addition to di$erences in skin type, reactions to the tattooing process are also varied. While Brooks said the pain associated with a tattoo is similar to a bee sting, Barrett said her tattooing experience was even more painful.

As the artist began to ink the tattoo onto her skin, Bar-

rett recalled closing her eyes, uncertain of what to expect.“So the next thing I know, I’m running through a !eld,

like in the ‘Sound of Music’ or something,” Barrett said. “It’s like this green hill with all these "owers, and I’m running through this !eld and it’s all beautiful, people are singing and I hear someone say, ‘Claire, Claire, Claire.’ And I’m like, ‘Is it God?’ Well, I had passed out. I had totally passed out. So that person saying ‘Claire, Claire’ was not God. It was the tattoo artist, and he was trying to get me to come to.”

Barrett regained consciousness within a few minutes and the artist !nished her tattoo, a Welsh dragon. Although Earnhart remained conscious during her !rst tattoo, she said that, similar to Barrett, the experience was unforget-table.

“Having [the tattoo] done over my sternum, I could feel it in my !ngertips and my toes when it was happening,” Earnhart said. “It was 45 minutes of pure agony. I remem-ber getting up out of the chair a#erwards, and I was literally wet. It looked as if I had stood in the shower with my clothes on because I was sweating so intensely from the pain.”

Although there is potential for pain, LBJ senior Afrikaan Frye said he trusted Brooks rather than a professional tat-too artist when receiving his !rst tattoo.

“I’ve seen him draw before,” Frye said. “I trust-ed him.”

Sheets shares Frye’s attitude that tattoos pro-vide an artistic form of expression for both the artist and the client.

“People like adorning their bodies, just like people adorn their bodies in every other way, shape or form,” Sheets said. “%e feelings of want-ing to decorate oneself are allowed to roam free, so people get more and more [tattoos].”

Similar to the phenomenon that Sheets de-scribed, Earnhart began to picture herself with

more tattoos a#er her !rst. However, as Earnhart collected more and more tattoos, she realized she wanted a sense of balance on her body.

“Once you get one, then you start looking at the rest of your body going, ‘So, something would look good there, something would look good there,’” Earnhart said. “And for me, I’m actually obsessed with symmetry because I’m a scientist, so I’ve been walking around for a year with some-thing on my back, chest and arm, and nothing on my other arm, and it really freaks me out.”

Earnhart’s most recent tattoo, a music sta$ on her arm, ful!lled this need for symmetry. Like all of Earnhart’s tat-toos, the music holds a personal meaning, which she said is the most essential characteristic for her designs.

“To me, it’s a very spiritual thing,” Earnhart said. “Every-thing I have on my body is there for a reason, it has multiple meanings for me. It’s something I’m committed to having on my body for the rest of my life because I feel so strongly about it. Sometimes people ask me about [my tattoos], and I can talk about them. When I look in the mirror I see them, and it reminds me why I got them, reminds me about their own symbolism.”

story by Abigail Cain, Alana Hauser, Katie Pastor and Rebecca Pittel

life & feature12 the liberatormay 27, 2010 13the liberator

may 27, 2010P!rmanen" I#$

Choose the design.Tattoo parlors usually pro-vide pre-drawn designs that clients can choose from. “You can walk in and point out something and say, ‘I want that, and I want it here,’ or you can bring in an idea or some concepts, and then have the artist make something for you,” Earnhart said.

1From Sketch to RealityOn May 7, %e Liberator accompanied LASA science teacher Ali-son Earnhart as she went to get her fourth tattoo. A!er observing Earnhart and speaking with LBJ senior Jamal Brooks, amateur tat-too artist, %e Liberator gained insight into the tattooing process.

2Transfer the sketch.%e tattoo artist sketches the design on transfer pa-per. A#er cleaning and shaving the area to be tat-tooed, the skin is wetted and the sketch is placed onto the skin. %e artist then removes the paper, leaving an outlined design to guide the artist as he inks the tattoo.

3Ink the tattoo.A#er preparing the tat-tooing needle, the artist begins to ink the tattoo on the skin. “You get the tat-too gun ready and !ll the ink tube up,” Brooks said. “%en, when you start tat-tooing, you spread the per-son’s skin and make sure you draw straight lines and go slowly.”

4Clean and bandage area.Once !nished, the artist cleans o$ excess ink from the skin. Before wrap-ping the tattoo in protec-tive gauze, the client can view their new tattoo in the mirror. In some cases, the tattoo artist may ask to take a photo of the !nished product for their design portfolio.

5Keep skin sterile.%e client receives antibac-terial cream and cleaning supplies to prevent infec-tion. “You have to clean it properly, because you do have an open wound on your "esh,” Earnhart said. “%ey literally cut your skin. Now, for the next two weeks, I’m going to wash it religiously.”

My le# middle !nger is imprinted with four cursive letters that spell “fear”—my mother’s last name. Fi#een minutes and $10 bought me a physical representation of what is meaning-ful to me—an image of stability in a world where emotions send me spinning into not altogether graceful pirouettes. I see a mostly chaotic world where people use routines and habits to create reliability where there is none. However, one thing, my love for my mother, has been an undeniable constant throughout the 17 years of my life. My love for my mother is what saves me. It’s beautiful and perfect in a world where people disappoint and even "owers wilt.

We are two people separated by genes and experience and a divorce. But we are also two people connected by the titles “daughter” and “mother.” We have shared experiences, which are created because I feel her emotion and she feels mine. We are moved by each other’s emotions, each feeling a tug from the other because love cannot help but cause happiness and pain. And so, when my mother cries, I cry, and when she laughs, so do I.

My mother is a thoroughly independent and sassy woman with enough poise and graciousness to show up the British queen. People are constantly falling in love with her warm, enveloping personality and sophisticated fashion sense. Standing exactly !ve feet tall, she is the personi!cation of “fun size” and a little !recracker of energy who always keeps people on their toes. I am astonished and grateful that this powerful woman is my mom. I’ve been told that together we make quite a duo.

I don’t share her last name, but I have the honor to up-hold hers. My tattoo is a moral compass that points toward dignity, not for me, but for my mother. As an agnostic, the “fear” on my !nger is the closest thing I have to a religious text. It reminds me where I came from and what I should do. Already, there have been instances where I have been unsure of what direction to take and my tattoo, acting as a sort of Magic 8-Ball, administers advice. In times of doubt, I just ask WWMMD (What Would My Mom Do).

Deciding to have the tattoo done wasn’t a huge leap of faith. Despite the signi!cance behind my tattoo, actually making the choice was just as casual as evaluating whether to get Hot Cheetos or Hot Cheetos con Limon at 7-Eleven. Maybe those Nike commercials with the “Just do it” slogan sneakily pro-liferated in my subconscious, or maybe my still-developing teenage amygdala nudged me toward delinquency. Either way, I wasn’t concerned about my parents’ reactions. %e thing about teenage rebellion, unfortunately, is that it has no regard for consequences.

%e permanence that discourages some from getting a tat-too has never concerned me. My love for my mother makes a permanent mark on my life; my tattoo is an equivalent of that. Even if the importance of our relationship fades, the perma-nence will not. %e fact that it was once important to me car-ries enough weight to fend o$ any regret I might have in 30 years, though I can already say I will not feel regret for an in-stant. I’m not concerned with the fact that I might change my mind years from now. A thousand things might happen years from now. I have the experience of 17 years telling me that my love for my mother has been the one constant thus far.

Teen honors mom, acquires new tattooUnder their skin

First Tattoo at Age: 21Number of Tattoos: 4Tattoo Signi!cance: “%e comic book the tat-too is based on is Girl Genius. %e heroine of the story is one of those crazy mad scientists who builds all the stu$, and whenever she, or any of the other mad scientists in the comic, in-vent or create or get into a mad frenzy of doing their science, they sing this amazing mythical song which is what [the tattoo] is.”

Meaning re"ects individuality

E&'() W*'+,-Sta# Writer

Alison Earnhart

LASA Sci-Tech teacher

Jamal Brooks

LBJ seniorFirst Tattoo at Age: 18Number of Tattoos: 2Tattoo Signi!cance: “It’s a combination of the sun and a compass rose. %e quote is ‘Sight of the sun is life and life is love.’ I call it my ‘happy feel-good tattoo.’ I was a biologist studying life, and it was the thought that without the sun, nothing would exist. %e part about life being about love was because I feel like the whole point of being alive is to pursue something.”

ClaireBarrett

LASA Planet Earth teacher

Step-by-Step Tattoo Process

My mom said, ‘Honey, you know I’ll always love you, but when I was your age, only whores got tattoos.’

-LASA Planet Earth teacherClaire Barrett

As the tattooing industry continues to evolve, more and more people are getting tattoos. Below, teachers and students re"ect on the meaning be-hind the tattoos they have acquired over the years.

infographics compiled by Abigail Cain and Alana Hauser

First Tattoo at Age: 17Number of Tattoos: 7Tattoo Signi!cance: “I got [one tattoo] for my granny, because she passed away. I got my last name on my back, just because it was my !rst tattoo. And I got ‘Trust no man but God’ across my chest, because people were shady those days. My tattoos are on both arms, and I did one of them by myself. It’s about the place I’m from, the ATX.”

art by Isabel Legate