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The following story was written by a student on the staff of The Jaguar Times as part of Hilliard Bradley High School’s Journalism Production course.
A high schooler’s dream is to finally turn eighteen and to blow out birthday candles on that special day. Being an adult with more freedom is exciting and has perks to it. Around the jaguar jungle, Bradley seniors have been caught in the interest of tattoos. Because of this recent interest, Pinterest boards always seem to become filled with tattoo ideas and inspiration pictures. Tattoos are a form of body modification by inserting tattoo ink to create any type of design on the skin. Through different people, tattoos are a big form of personal expression and being able to have the freedom to put anything on a person’s body.
Most people get tattoos that have a deeper meaning towards them. Kylee See (12) is not someone that believes in that idea. Days after her eighteenth birthday, she dove straight into the process of booking an appointment for a permanent piece of artwork. She got a full back tattoo just because she liked the image and thought it looked cool. Her parents weren’t super fond of the idea of a tattoo because of the size that she wanted it, even though her dad was someone that also had a tattoo. To make sure she really loved the design, her dad always said, “If you want something permanent on your body, for two years you have to put the image somewhere where you will see it every day.” That is exactly what she did.
The image she had in mind was a tree that related to her family and where she grew up. During the Covid-19 pandemic, she painted a huge tree on the wall of her bedroom, so she would see it every time she woke up. See knew she wanted a tattoo ever since she was fourteen years old, no matter how much pain came to get the final product she wanted. A lot of See’s friends also had started to get tattoos and throughout time, the idea of permanent ink became more normalized. See explains her thought on this trend, “The older generations believed them to be ‘unprofessional’ but this trend has died down in recent generations, which is why they’ve become more popular.” See thinks tattoos are a big creative outlet because of the difference in everyone’s style.
Emma Bradley (12) has a spider web tattoo to remind them of their childhood. They got that tattoo because they used to have a big fascination with spiders growing up. They knew everything about that one insect and even had a pet spider for a few years. Bradley is a creative person and appreciates spider webs because no web looks identical. Although Emma only has one tattoo, they emphasize that they “could talk about tattoos for days.” They wanted to remind themselves of the innocent child they were growing up everytime they looked down at their knee. Bradley’s tattoo session was only about thirty minutes long. Through the process, they called the whole tattoo experience “spiritual.” Bradley’s tattoo might look normal and simple to others, but they know the deeper meaning behind it and that is all that matters.
Tatum Severe’s (12) best friend passed away at a young age. She got a memorial tattoo piece done in her honor. She explains, “it was a tattoo we were supposed to get together, but I got it done for the both of us.” Severe is now able to look at her arm everyday and be reminded of her best friend. Severe was only thirteen when she got her tattoo and was shocked it didn't hurt that much.
Tatum Severe’s family members all have tattoos and she was blessed with having her family be extra supportive through this. She likes the idea that more people are getting tattoos and doing what they’ve always wanted to do. No one should be able to tell others what or what not to get as a tattoo.
Even though these seniors are relatively new adults, many of these eighteen year olds have known they wanted tattoos around the early and middle teenager years of their life. Tristan Inks (12) is a perfect example of someone who knew they wanted a tattoo before he was even allowed to get one. At only fifteen years old, he begged his parents about getting a specific tattoo. His mom was all up for the idea, while on the other hand his dad made him wait until his senior year of high school to get one.
Everyone in his family got their last name tattooed on them in different places. Inks was finally able to be a part of that special thing that his whole family had in common. In a large and bold font, his back reads, “INKS.” He is proud of the family he has and wants people to know that him and his family are the “Inks.” He expresses, “everyone should get at least one tattoo in their life, if they want it for meaningful reasons or just cool designs they like.” In the end, his dad loved the final product of the tattoo and he will always feel good when random people come up to him and compliment it.
As society starts to make tattoos more accepting in everyday life, a lot of Bradley teachers are known to have tattoos. Mr. Bidwell, an English teacher, has twelve tattoos all around. Many of them were done because he was interested in the design and thought it looked cool, while a few others had a deep meaning to them. His response towards new eighteen year olds getting tattoos, is all he wants is to make sure they are getting them done in a safe manner. His advice includes, “make sure you are going to a reputable shop/artist that has worked with your skin tone before.” He likes to share about his tattoos when his students point them out and thinks that getting tattoos can be a rewarding experience when done safely.
While all these views about tattoos are positive, another English teacher has a controversial opinion about getting tattoos at a young age. Miss Watts has two tattoos of her own and regrets both of them. She continues, “I am now a totally different person than I was at 18.” Overall she loves tattoos but wishes she didn’t get her tattoos out of impulse. In this generation, tattoos are becoming more normalized which is causing more people to find the love for tattoos.
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