Visible Ink Tattoos come out from under, and show up for work

Boston Globe ^ | | March 16, 2006 | By Christopher Muther, Globe Staff

[MRMEAN]

There was no hesitation when preschool teacher Alex Campbell began the process of filling her lower leg with a bright orange koi swimming in a blue pond of labyrinthine waves. The intricate tattoo is not hidden under schoolmarm tights or practical slacks; instead it has become part of the lesson plan in her class at Corner Co-op Nursery School in Brookline.

Campbell's students followed the process of their teacher getting a tattoo firsthand -- or as close as a 4-year-old can get to firsthand without stepping into a tattoo parlor. They talked about sketching, needles, and, most importantly, not touching Campbell's leg the day after she was tattooed.

Campbell, who seldom wore skirts before getting her calf tattooed, has switched over to a wardrobe that is far more skirt-friendly to display her pricey body art. Her next step is getting a full arm tattoo (those in the know refer to a full arm tattoo as a sleeve).

''I asked a few parents about how they'd feel about a teacher with tattoos on her arm, and they were fine with it," the 37-year-old Brookline resident says.

As tattooing reaches a mainstream crest thanks to shows such as ''Miami Ink," ''Inked," and even ''Meet the Barkers" and ''Prison Break," professionals such as Campbell are bringing more elaborate -- and more visible -- body art into the workplace. For Campbell, the tattoos were a non-issue at school, and even became a teaching tool that resonated with the tykes in her class. In the current tattoo-friendly climate, a number of white collar professionals are finding that body art is a helpful tool at the office -- a way to give a subtle nod and a wink to co-workers or clients that they run with a crowd that owns the new Arctic Monkeys CD ...

[radiohead]

These are beautiful. I love to look at good body art. Like you, however, I wonder what they will look like when these folks are 60 or 70. A full tattoo on the back is on thing, but I know or have seen people with them all over their arms, on their necks (ouch!) and these are regular folks in regular jobs. I still think your career advancement is going to be limited if you can't cover the tats.

Years ago, there was a pair of skinhead brothers in PA who killed their parents and younger brother. They had full, German black letter tattoos on their foreheads. I remember one had 'Berserker.' I often wondered how you go through life with a big tattoo on your forehead, even in jail people must give you a rough time.

[Question_Assumptions]

To me, a tattoo is like a piece of clothing or jewelry that you can never take off. I can't think of anything I'd want to wear, clothing, jewelry, or tattoo, forever.

[Old Professer]

"''I asked a few parents about how they'd feel about a teacher with tattoos on her arm, and they were fine with it," the 37-year-old Brookline resident says."

37 years old and she still behaves as though she belongs on the other side of her desk.

[Old Professer]

I was thinking of selling dinner plates in Africa.

[Question_Assumptions]

Not every kid who dresses and acts like a gangta is a drug dealer or criminal, but they look like one because lots of criminals and drug dealers also dress like that. Plenty of people who are not trash have tattoos, but they are sharing a fasion style that a lot of people who are trash are also into, and can thus look like something they aren't

[Question_Assumptions]

One of the more frightening things I saw at college was that it looked like some of the black frats would brand their members with something hot. Ugh.

[monkey]

For Campbell, the tattoos were a non-issue at school, and even became a teaching tool

Then they're not a non-issue, are they?

[Cvengr]

After half a lifetime of incredible fate, I was convinced I had an invisible ink tattoo on my forehead which read "F*** ME!", and another on the back of my neck that read, "Never Again".

[zeeba neighba]

it means they're Deltas

[Old Seadog]

[Tax Government]

I cannot tell you how many young ladies I see running around with 'tramp stamp' tatoos on their lower backs. You see them easily when they are wearing hip cut pants. I have a very good friend whose daughter got two tatoos, one over each dimple. I cannot bring myself to tell her what the term really means...

Thanks. What I'd like to know more clearly is what the tatoo shape is, and what the term 'tramp stamp' means. I can guess reasonably well, but hearing it would be useful.

[television is just wrong]

they think they are hot. I've heard young men talk about these 'tramp stamps' as bows eyes, joking like you need one?

[jordan8]

Just another example of the degradation of our society. What's next, bones through your nose? Plates in your lips? The driving force for men to get tattoos is because they think it makes them look tough. What a laugh. It betrays an insecurity over their masculinity, which is why most tatts are given to young men. It's telling that there has been a switch from the hearts and mother tattoos of the past to pseudo prison chains and barbed wire, snakes and skulls and what have you. Women get them because they see them as some sort of act of rebellion, the female version of looking tough. Oh yeah, you're a rebel, baby! A pathetic cry for an ego stroke.

[FreedomCalls]

"I still think your career advancement is going to be limited if you can't cover the tats. "

You can say that again.

[COEXERJ145]

Oy. I'm distressed at the number of chix these days with tattoos.

You're not the only one.

[nightdriver]

"Don't they know that tattooing the female body is like spraypainting on the Mona Lisa?"

Yeah and it can cause some real problems as well.

Pamela Anderson thought it would be cool to have some tatoos like her drug-infested husband, Tommy Lee.

It gave her an incurable case of hepatitus that she admits will kill her some day.

[Uncle Meat]

It gave her an incurable case of hepatitus that she admits will kill her some day.

I have several tattoos,the last ones were done in 1992.I had been seeing a doctor and the first thing that concerned hear was all the ink work.She had recommennded a hepetitus test done,even though the work done was clean.She said that didn't matter,that people were contractind it more because of the currentfad going on.Fortunately the test were negative,but she had me sweating for a couple of days.Speaking of the "current fad"I find it really annoying that everybody and their mother thinks they have them just cause eveyone else is doing it.Personally I think tattoos are ugly on women,and this teacher doesn't need to push hers off on a bunch of kids like some kind of trophy.

[null and void]

Don't they know that tattooing the female body is like spraypainting on the Mona Lisa?

I would have said like 'tagging' the Mona Lisa. Other than that I agree 100%

[Eagle Eye]

So you can come to my invisible ink tattoo removal clinic.

I will subject you to excruciating ordeals and charge you a ton of money to have your entire whole body tattoo removed.

And we'll both be happy!

Call my office for an appointment.

[null and void]

My kid just said "That's a new touch, the nose spike..."