Feature Story: Tattoos

Tattoos have been around for decades. In the past and today they are used to decorate the human body in colorful way. People get inked for all types of reasons.

Lexy Loberg got her tattoo because of her mother’s death and it symbolizes the beauty of her mother. “Tattoos are more than just ink on your body, they can have a lot of meaning and symbolizes something good if you choose the right ones.”

Loberg, a 20-year-old sophomore at Sonoma State University in California, says she got her first tattoo when she was 18 and because of her mother’s death that she had to get something in memory of her. She loves her tattoo and doesn’t regret it at all. She just got her second tattoo on this past Sunday of a lotus flower, to symbolize peace and beauty. The only thing Loberg doesn’t like about both of her tattoos is that they are both color and they will fade within a couple of years. This still doesn’t stop her from wanting her third tattoo, which she plans on getting in the next couple of months.

Tattoos are also very expensive and cost a lot more than people would think. Courtney Wilcox, a 21 year old senior at Roger Williams University, got her tattoo last year on her 20^th birthday. “I love my starfish, and means a lot to me because it reminds me of Cape Code. I have spent a lot of time on the Cape and my whole family is from there.” Her tattoo is about 1inch wide and 1inch long and this cost her about $90 plus tip. “I didn’t realize how expensive tattoos cost. Mine is very small and it was still a lot of money.”

Wilcox doesn’t plan on getting another one for quit some time because she feels that her small starfish is enough. Her starfish is hidden well on her body and it has a lot of sentimental value. Wilcox thinks maybe when she gets older and more things have a happened in her life that she might get another one. She loves the ocean and the beach and could see her self getting another one that symbolizes that just like her starfish. However, Wilcox thinks that tattoos are too expensive and should cost less.

“Tattoos shouldn’t cost as much as they do. People get stupid things on their bodies all the time and it shouldn’t be so expensive for something that is so pointless.” Wilcox feels that tattoos are a work of art and everyone should treat them as art. By getting something on your body that is pointless and has no meaning is not art, therefore it should not be on your body.

Whitney Dempsey a 20-year-old sophomore at San Francisco State University has two tattoos. One that is very meaningful to her and other one she got just because it looked cool. Her meaningful one is the name of her grandmother’s store, Forever, that she worked in and spent a lot of time at. Her grandmother died and her family had to sell her store. This had a huge impact on Dempsey and she wanted something to remember her grandmother by. She got inked up on her side and it goes from her shoulder down to her hipbone. It is the name of her grandmother’s store with birds and other special things that her remind her of her grandmother. This is her favorite tat so far. Dempsey loves getting tattoos and if she had more money then she would get them all over her body.

“Tattoos are beautiful and they are my favorite thing to get. I love them and this one of my grandmother is my biggest one and then best one. It cost my over $200 and it was worth every penny.”

Her second one is meaningless and has not sentimental value. She has two guns on her hipbones that point down. Dempsey is a very expressive person and thinks her guns are fun and humorous. She sometimes regrets getting them because she knows within a couple of years that she will have to get a real job and be professional; guns aren’t quit professional. Dempsey enjoys her guns for now and thinks there cool but she knows in a couple of year that she might have to get them removed, which cost a lot more than $200.

“I know this tattoos are fun and cool looking but sometimes I wish I didn’t get it. It’s a little too much and at some point in time I will have to grow up.” Dempsey plans on getting her third tat sometime this week. She wants to have a religious quote on her back but she doesn’t know which one she wants. She hopes that she won’t regret this one.

Leilani Farbar has four tattoos and she loves all of them. A freshman at Roger Williams University, she thinks tattoos are amazing and beautiful. Her first one is on her ankle and it is two little gold fish. They don’t have too much meaning because she was intoxicated when she got them. However she still loves them and doesn’t regret it all. “I love all my tattoos. They’re all different in their own ways and I plan on getting more.”

Her second tattoo is a work in progress. Farbar first started this progress last July. It is a very large tattoo and goes from the middle of her back and wraps around to her waste and then down to her hipbone. So far this has cost her about $800 and it is still not finished. She estimates the total of her tattoo when it is done at about $1,500. It is very detailed and had a lot of color as well as shading. She describes it as a “large mermaid with other sea creatures and swirls of color all over the mermaid.”

This tattoo has a lot of sentimental value for Farbar because she loves the ocean and all the sea animals. She also grew up by the ocean in Maine and hopes to live someday by the ocean again.

“The ocean is my life and my tattoo says it all.” Her third and four tats are a secret and she only tells and shows certain people them. She likes to keep these private because they are so special to her that she only wants certain people to see them. “I enjoy every tattoo on my body but these ones are just for me. I don’t like any one seeing them and they are very hidden.” Farbar’s mother on the other hand hates all of her tattoos and thinks is ridiculous that she has all of them.

Farbar’s mother, Sherry Farbar, is a stay at home mom and has three children. She thinks its crazy to get something so permitted on your body. She feels that in five years from now Leilani will regret them and they will be her body for the rest of her life. “Tattoos disgust me and I think that they are way to permit. I can’t believe how many my daughter has. If she gets another one I don’t know what I’ll do” Sherry has a tattoo of her own and she has regretted getting it ever since the day she got it. She was 18 years old got a flower on her lower arm. Every time she wears a t-shirt she is so embarrassed and hates that she has it. She doesn’t want her daughter to feel the same way in a couple of years.

“I hope she maid the right decision but I feel in a couple of years she willkill her self for getting all of those silly tattoos.”

Profile Interview

Starting in third grade, Alyson Millaras joined the wrestling team and was the only girl for many years who took part in the wrestling team. She had the support of both her parents and her two younger brothers, who both wrestled with her on the same team. “I was so happy to be apart of the team even though I was the only girl.”

Millaras and her bother John were both in the same bracket for wrestling. This meant that had to wrestling against each other many times and compete for the same goals. “Whenever my bother and I had to go against each other we would both cry our eyes out after, because we hated competing against each other.” This was one of the many challenges that Millaras had to face, but one of the biggest challenges was being the only female on the team. “It was hard to convince people that I was actually good at this sport and not just any girl.” Millaras worked hard to prove to people that she could be just as good as the boys or even better.

In fifth grade, Millaras joined one of the only female wrestling teams in Connecticut. She participated on the team until she was in eighth grade; traveling all over the New England area, but the girls were not tough enough for her. She liked being with the boys better because they gave her more of a challenge. She also liked the boys team better because they were family to her. She had grown up and wrestled with the same boys for years. “These boys are all my brothers” Millaras went on to win States and placed 12^th and 7^th in the New York States competition. That same year she won New England States and went onto nationals in Michigan, where she placed 6^th. After dominating the girls team as well as the boys team she went onto train for the 2012 Olympics.

Millaras dedicated so much time and energy into the sport that she loved that it got hard to have a normal teenage girl life. “My whole life was wrestling.” She had lost many of her girl friends and became “one of the boys.” She found wrestling harder and more time consuming especially when she started training for the Olympics. “I never had any time for my self.” Millaras spent time at school and time on the road going from on wrestling tournament to the next.

After six intense years of wrestling, Millaras decided to give it all up for a normal teenage life. She still participates with wrestling events and cheering on her brothers. She also is the manager of her high school team and helps her bothers out whenever they need advice on what wrestling move to make next. “I don’t regret anything that I did or the decision to stop wrestling. I would be in a totally different place in life if I continued wrestling. I’m so happy with my decision now and the life that I have chosen.”

In Class Interview

Katherine Blanchard, a young driven student who works hard and enjoys life. At first, Blanchard attended Bristol Community College for two years to save money, before entering Roger Williams University in the fall 2009. “Bristol Community College was the best decision I have ever made. Not only did I save money, but gained a great education.” This would be hard to compete with at Roger Williams University because she has to start over and adapt to her new surroundings.

Blanchard loves Roger Williams University, but is struggling to find her inner self. Blanchard is a 20-year-old junior and pursuing journalism as her major. She enjoys the courses at Roger Williams University, but adapting to a “new home” is quit hard sometimes. “It has been struggle coming in here as a junior and putting my self out there to fit in is hard.” Blanchard is focusing on being a successful journalist and hopes someday to have a career in a major city such as, New York or Washington. Blanchard in her spare time likes to play tennis and shop. These two things help her get her mind off struggling to fit in at Roger Williams University. Also, being able to take a quick trip home to Fairhaven, Massachusetts helps relieves stress by entering a familiar surrounding.

Blanchard comes from a great support system, which includes her father Ken and her mother Tracy. She also has an older brother named max that she is very close with, but he is in the Navy so it is hard to see him at times. “It is always great to go home to see my family, but my favorite part about home is my dog Zoe.” Blanchard’s family takes a trip every summer to Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts. This is where some of her favorite memories are and hopes to one day take her own family here.

She has big hopes and dreams, but one thing that she must do before it’s to late is create an organization that ill help benefit children with cancer. This is something that she is very passionate about and plans to work hard to succeed this goal. Blanchard is a very dedicated person and commits a lot of time toward her family and friends. “Without my family I would be nothing”. Even though she finds it hard to adapt to her new surroundings here at Roger Williams University, she knows that she has to continue to make her dreams come true.

After watching Presidents Obama’s speech I was surprised to hear how good it was. In our past presidents I feel that some of them have not been that good at public speaking. I found Obama’s speech interesting and somewhat entertaining. Also, in comparison to the other videos we watched in class, I thought every speaker was very well spoken and had a natural voice. Getting the virtual tour of the new Times Building was very impressive and fun to see. Seeing how an actual popular newspaper corporation works was interesting and gave me some insight. The new Times building is beautiful and some day I would really like to experience it in person.

Walking Life Clip

Walking Life Clip

Walking Life is a clip about the understanding of language and the concepts that follows it. Semiotics is the philosophical theory of signs and symbols that deal with the structure of language. In this clip the women compares and describes objects and their concepts. She makes a good point on how we perceive certain types of language in different ways. An example that she used is the word Love. Love is a very strong word that sometimes gets pushed around. People sometimes use and perceive Love as a sign of emotion or a sign of caring. In the end, what does Love actually mean and what is the concept of it? This is the purposed question of the overall clip and the understanding of concepts and language.