Getting ink in hidden places

Though a quick perusal of pop culture might lead you to believe otherwise, tattoos are clearly no longer the the latest craze — if tattooing were that hip, University students would be first in the chair.

The tattooed few here at the University, however, are not just casual tattoo fans. Joshua Perry '06 has squirmed through three tattoos — one of the Chinese symbols meaning "fear nothing," one which he said is personal to him and, yes, one of a Princeton tiger.

Though Perry evidently has no fear of needles, he is not currently planning on becoming a tattoo artist, because they are "truly artists," he said.

"It would be like someone making a drawing where the canvas was a tub of jello that moves whenever you touch it and where you have to wipe blood off every three or so seconds," he said.

Perry got his first tattoo at age 16 because, he said, he thought it would be cool.

Meredith Lambert '06, who is on the track team, is another one of the tattooed at the University. She has the Chinese symbol for "fast" on the small of her back. Her parents have not yet been told of her spur of the moment decision, which "makes for an interesting time trying to avoid [my parents] in the summer when I am wearing a bathing suit," she said.

She does not regret her decision, but said she did it because she was feeling rebellious.

"I think I did it partly to show how tough I could be," Lambert said.

But for some students like Arthur Burkle '07, tattooing simply isn't appealing. Since New Jersey is not Oklahoma — the only state which still bans tattooing —these students must turn to more philosophical reasons to explain their aversion. "Tattoos are a detour from thinking — a marriage to yourself, inspired by vanity and greed for a certain image," he said. "You don't have to think because you can easily look at it and remember the label or image that you think you are or would like to be, instead of figuring out who you really are." However, Hasina Outtz '04, who has a tattoo, disagreed with Burkle.

"I think [tattoos] can convey a lot of information about a person. I also like the idea of having control over my body enough to permanently alter it," she said.

Jessica George '07 apparently liked the idea of a tattoo more than its permanency when she applied hers — a fake one of a Dalmation on a grassy background.

"All I wanted to do is be cool and have one act of rebellion," she said. "But being a Princeton student, I could never achieve the level of coolness that a tattoo requires. So I had to satisfy myself with a fake tattoo out of a 50-cent machine at Walmart."

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George later showed the tattoo to her mother, who reacted more calmly than George had hoped.

"She said, 'Jess, you should be a little more careful eating, it looks like you spilled something on your arm,'" George said. "I hid my arm in my shame and skulked away, washing away forever my tattoo and my dreams of being cool."