there are other worlds
This is Ashley's tattoo.
I teach high school English and have been reading King since I was 12. His words and works have been a huge part of my literary life.
"Go then, there are other worlds than these."
- Stephen King, The Gunslinger (The Dark Tower, Book 1)
My witness is the empty sky
This is Crystal's tattoo.
It reminds me that I don't live for others! I dont need to believe their perceptions or assumptions, and whether or not they think who I am/what I do.. really matters.
"My witness is the empty sky."
- Jack Kerouac, Some of the Dharma
I am. I am. I am.
Three very distinct tattoos from Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar
This is Jude's tattoo.
It is an anatomically correct heart with the words "I am. I am. I am." pumping out. each "I am" is slightly bigger the the previous to symbolize the beating effect of the words at described in the book, The Bell Jar
The words " I am" can have any meaning, but the way I perceived such strong words were " I am Here. I am Alive. I am Okay."
This is Emma's tattoo.
For me the quote means a lot and speaks a great deal to a very difficult time I recently went through when I was required to really look closely at who I am and who I want to be. I love the definitive-ness of the idea. We are. Period. We exist and that means something. But the provisional nature of it is intriguing as well. Finish the phrase….I am….what? A mother? Flawed? Content with my life. You name it. There are lots of other elements to the piece that are all symbolic to me but not necessarily in a “literary” way.
The tattoo was done by the inimitable Alice Kendall at Infinity Tattoo in Portland, OR.
This one belongs to Maria Jose Montero.
For me it's like a mantra, so I don't forget that I am alive, I exist and I am me.
"I took a deep breath and listened to the old bray of my heart. I am. I am. I am."
- Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar
Peter Pan
This tattoo belongs to Morgaine Imbriani, and was done by Rudy Perez at Epic Tattoo in Fort Worth, TX.
“To die will be an awfully big adventure.”
- J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan
Golden Snitch
This is Michelle C's golden snitch tattoo.
These sisters got matching Harry Potter tattoos:
I got a flying key from the first Harry Potter book and my sister got the famous snitch from the books as well. We both love our tattoo and are very proud to be huge Harry Potter fans!
This is Hailey's tattoo.
This is my second tattoo, a Golden Snitch with the words "Mischief Managed" from JK Rowling's Harry Potter
book series. I got it in honor of my adorkable obsession with the Harry Potter books, and to celebrate the fact that Harry and I grew up together--when the books were released, I was 11 and so was Harry; in the second book, we were both 12, etc. This went on until about book five, until I was a year or two older than he was. :,( However, these books are such an untouchable classic series that I simply had to get a tattoo for them. I chose a Golden Snitch because that is such a unique icon that is in every book, not to mention the ever-important message that involves a Snitch in the final book. I also chose the words "Mischief Managed" (the closing words for the Marauder's Map) because I think they are so much fun, and such a good mantra for those people (like me) who enjoy causing a bit of trouble. Plus, they were fitting for the day I got this tattoo--I was "sick" from work that day. Ha ha.
I got this tattoo at ACME Tattoo in Kent, Washington. My artist was the incredibly wonderful Jason Jacobson.
Invisible Monsters
This tattoo belongs to Charles.
No matter how careful you are, there's going to be the sense you missed something, the collapsed feeling under your skin that you didn't experience it all. There's that fallen heart feeling that you rushed right through the moments where you should've been paying attention.
Well, get used to that feeling. That's how your whole life will feel some day.
This is all practice.
None of this matters.
- Chuck Palahniuk, Invisible Monsters
VFD Ankles
This is Ryan P. C. Trimble's tattoo.
I am, in fact, very proud of it: it's the VFD eye from Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events
. It's modified slightly from the one displayed in the books, because, in all honestly, the one in the book changes every single time it is drawn. So, using the descriptions from the book as my starting point, and then integrating the illustrations, I designed what eventually ended up on my ankle. I got this tattoo in the summer of 2010, after waffling back and forth for several years. I had wanted to get it pretty much since the end of the book series for several reasons: firstly, because the series is my favorite book series (tied with Harry Potter, but a lightning bolt scar was right out), and secondly, because the organization of VFD--that is, the original version, before the schism--stands for bringing nobility and structure to a world gone mad, something I respect very much and strive to do in my own life, in my own way.
This is Julia Johansen's tattoo.
V.F.D. members have been known to participate in various (and often unusual) academic pursuits, cryptography, disguise training, crime prevention, espionage, animal conditioning projects, and social activism. The organization's most known tenets include both extreme secrecy and dedication to the organization itself, with membership beginning from early childhood. Its motto is "The world is quiet here."
Since the schism, V.F.D. has realized that it is unwise to permanently mark oneself with a symbol when the meaning of the symbol may change at any moment, so people who now join V.F.D. do not receive a tattoo anymore.
I'd had the outline done for nearly a year, then when I went back to Ukraine I added the eyeball. It looks awesome, and much props to Artyom in Zhytomyr, Ukraine, for doing such a fabulous freehand job.
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