Tattoos

One thing that continually perplexes me about people you generally see more often here than anywhere else, is the face tattoo. I mean a permanent tattoo directly applied to the face. Which is not as common as the neck tattoo, which surprisingly you see quite often.

I have not had the opportunity, well that's a lie, really I should say I have not had the courage to interview someone with a face or neck tattoo about their decision. So I am going to have to make this a two parter. The truth of the matter is a person I consider a good friend now who I had the extreme pleasure of getting to know while at Musick is basically known by everyone at the facility because of his outrageously prominent facial tattoos. I just never really noticed them after awhile because of how great a person he turned out to be in spite of his initial scary appearance. But I have wondered, even long before I was taken into custody: what would prompt someone to put a permanent tattoo on their face or neck?

I have tattoos as a lot of you may know. But all of my tattoos are easily concealed by a long sleeve shirt, because none of them even go past my elbow. I did that because no matter how cool I think tattoos are, I don't know if somebody I am going to have to impress someday isn't such a fan. That's why it's heartbreaking me to see young people with tattoos on their neck and face. Because it speaks to me that they have given up on a part of themselves succeeding in anything they try their hand at. Not to say that you are worthless or robbed of ambition indefinitely if you are tattooed on your face and neck, but in some cases yes.

Let's face it, there are few mainstream, legitimate careers in which you can have tattoos on your face and still find great monetary success:

• rapper
  
• rock musician
• body guard
• bouncer
• tattoo artist, of course

But every other vocation that would allow someone with a fully tattooed face to participate is probably not one with a direct interface with people all day. Most face and neck tattoos (in jail that I have seen anyway) are used to display love for a child or girlfriend or to showcase devotion to a gang or neighborhood. They are not as often used for artistic expression.

I had a bunk mate who slept above me for a couple weeks during my first month in custody who had "Santa Ana" tattooed across his forehead with various other street names and initials and "in memory ofs" about his face and neck. This is what gives me the feeling that somewhere along the way, this person may have given up on himself in some way.

He may be a hero to his gang and in his neighborhood, but he can't really go anywhere else. Anywhere else he is just a freak gang member with tattoos all over his face. To police, he is just a suspect, not a person. To employers, he's a risk, not a worker.

This is a subject you will see me come back to from time to time, especially after I have formally conducted some interviews and stuff. For whatever reason I find it fascinating, how someone can get teardrops tattooed underneath their eyes going down their face, or a big gun on the side of their neck with a big red lipstick mark tattooed on the other side of their neck.

I don't know. Stay tuned.