Story Pitch 1 Tattoo a Title In Progress

Hello Everyone,
 I have five tattoos, two on my wrists, one on my left shoulder, one on my left foot and one just above my right ankle. I have grown up around the subject of tattoos my entire life. My mom was always an avid anti tattoo spokesperson as her family from rural central of Montana had raised her. My dad on the other hand has tattoos all over his body including a half done vampire biker chick with full blown 80s hair on his chest. The battle of the tattoos was a never ending subject in my house, and it continued long after my parents divorce. According to my mom " You'll never get a job", and then that took a an interesting reality as I started my job at a movie theater where even the idea of a small nose ring caused a controversy that involved an employee uprising. Me being super close to my mom took her side. To my utter shock my mom was the reason I got my first tattoo. My mom, sister and I got one together, our names in an infinity symbol across our foot. She told me that the only reason she wanted us to have it is because we were something in her life that she would never regret. I have no idea what it was though that caused my mom to change her mind about tattoos, or mine for that matter. The foot tattoo became a door way, and the other four on my body closely followed. It is my idea for this radio essay to dig deeper into why people get tattoos, and what it means to them, and also to hear why people don't unlike 2007 with the nose ring incident it seems to me that more and more businesses are tattoo friendly so the whole " You'll never get a job" argument is questionable. I want to dig more into my family's experience when it comes to tattoos and what has changed and what has not.

Comments

  1. UnknownMarch 12, 2018 at 1:39 PM

    I love this idea. You have a clear vision and a story with action. Your characters grow and change and could easily be a shining point in this piece. I think it would be great to bring in some of your families voices if possible with direct quotes from them.

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  2. UnknownMarch 12, 2018 at 11:47 PM

    As someone who examined something similar in my narrative piece, I really like this idea. Tattoos are such an interesting topic, because they're considered taboo to some people, but to a lot of cultures and people, they're an important tradition. That could be an interesting thing to bring up, like briefly examining the history of tattoos, and where traditional views of them became the semi-modern "you'll never get a job" thing, which is now becoming a "no big deal" ideology.

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  3. UnknownMarch 13, 2018 at 8:08 AM

    I think it was a keen choice to move this story from the narrative assignment to the documentary project. I think being able to add your family's voices--and to answer that question, how much of your mom's early dismissal of tattoos had to do with your father having them--will really make the subject stand out more than if you just told it as a story.

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  4. UnknownMarch 13, 2018 at 2:31 PM

    I agree. This also has the leeway to delve into regrettable tattoos; what did people value when they got their tattoo that they don't know? (I, for one, am glad I never got that Hello Kitty leg piece I wanted when I was 18.) What are tattoos people are grateful they never got? I'd be curious to see what tattoo artists would tell you, too! What are their favorite stories of their personal tattoos? What stories/tattoos have they created on clients that stand out in their mind (for good or embarrassing reasons)? Because you're focusing on tattoos as expression, as something connected to emotion, I think this piece will grab attention.

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  5. BballengerMarch 14, 2018 at 10:31 AM

    I agree with everyone here--great story idea. Over the years, I've witness the blooming of tattoos on more and more of my students, and I've been fascinated by the motivation. My daughter, Julia, got one on her ankle ("Girl Pwr" or something), and she has to cover it with a bandaid when visiting her grandmother, who once told me that she'd disown any grandchild with a tattoo. "Pretty harsh, mom," I said. I suggest that you integrate some research in this. A few years ago, for one of my textbooks, I added some readings on why people get tattoos and discovered a whole bunch of research on the question. Check it out. This is a big subject, and I like your idea of focusing the story on whether getting a tattoo might be a deal-breaker in certain employment situations.

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    Replies
    1. UnknownMarch 14, 2018 at 11:28 AM

      I find the story about your daughter fascinating, because it shows the changing demographics of tattoo people Sydney and Dante both mention...tattoos are far less of a shocking item than any time in the past, but because of that they are being worn by people who DO care what others think of them.

      I can't imagine anyone with tattoos in the early 1900's worrying overmuch about grandma; I think that ship probably sailed when they decided to put ink to flesh.

      Delete
  6. UnknownMarch 14, 2018 at 1:31 PM

    awesome thank you guys for all of your feedback it definitely gives me something to think about as i continue on with me research for this piece

    ReplyDelete

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