The end of the spring semester in Maryland always calls for warmer weather, shorter clothing, and lots of skin showing. On Goucher’s campus, it’s not uncommon to see tattoos making their debut.
You may see Goucher students displaying their ink on Van Meter while they’re making their way to class, or on the Great Lawn while they’re throwing around a frisbee or tanning. Wherever you are on Goucher’s campus, you probably have someone near you who has a tattoo.
Anyone with ink knows the common questions; “Did it hurt?” “Is it real?” and “What does it mean?” Some students hold their ink very close to their hearts and keep it to themselves. Others may love sharing their tattoo stories with total strangers. A select group of students were open enough to share their tattoos and their stories with the Goucher community.
My best friend since 4th grade’s mother had brain cancer. Her mother was like a second mom to me. She passed away when we were juniors in high school. In her honor, my friend and I got matching tattoos to remember her. Mine is near my hip so she is always by my side.”
“There are a lot of stereotypes of middle eastern being violent. I got this because I’m Pakistani and it’s a Pakistani mandala that symbolizes peace.”
“This is a yin-yang of love, peace, unity, and respect. I’ve wanted this since I was fourteen or fifteen years old because I’ve been surrounded by violence my whole life. This is the motto I try to live by. My best friend said, “treat everyone with respect, even those you don’t like or those that don’t deserve it.”
“It’s of a necklace that my grandma gave me on my thirteenth birthday that she had worn her whole life. It’s a gold ‘M’ because we both have ‘M’ names. I don’t wear a lot of jewelry and I wanted to always have it on me because I love her so much.”
“When I was younger, and even now, my grandma called me ‘Madam Queen’ a lot, or like ‘Queen’. The top of the crown has my mother’s, grandmother’s, and my birthstones, so October, November and December.”
“I got it just because it’s cool. One of my friends drew a peace sign up once and I just thought it was really cool and I said, ‘I’m going to get that tattooed on me!’ and so I did. I made the nails really pointy and black just to be spooky because it’s me, because I can be spooky sometimes.”
“I draw hearts on myself all the time with pen so I just thought I’d make it permanent. My friend does really good stick-and-pokes so I said ‘why not’.”
“They’re characters I used to draw all the times. They show different emotions: despair, groovy, and elated.”
“The first time I went to New York I got this on impulse.”
“ My tattoos aren’t really impulse decisions. The circle one I knew I was going to get before I went abroad, so I got it when I was in Taiwan. My friend showed me a design and I really liked it so I decided to get it. I found the triangle on Pinterest. I don’t really know why I got it but it’s like the earth, and the circle one is the sun and moon, and another one I want to get will be water so it’ll be the elements all together. The arrows is actually a tattoo my friend group is all going to get.”
“Basically my mom would take us stargazing when we were little and she would point out Orion all the time. It’s a stick and poke and I just got it done the other day.”
“It was just an impulse decision.”
“It doesn’t really mean anything. I just thought it looked cool.”
“I just decided to get it.”
“A friend of mine did this. She drew it herself.”
“I had thought about this tattoo for awhile, and when my teammate suggested stick and pokes, I agreed before I got cold feet. I chose a Roman Numeral because I studied Latin in high school and was absolutely fascinated by the Romans. I’ve been number 4 for the past six years, and to me it represents inner ‘fourtitude’ (I know, I know). I love the three little lines.”
“My birds are sparrows because I felt when I left my grandpa to go to school he told me that I was going to spread my wings and fly or fall. When I came home after the first year he told me I flew.”
“In high school you go to school with the same people for 7 to 13 years. Everyone has a preconceived image of you and it’s hard to change that ever. When I started going up to Nawakwa I was able to be whoever I wanted to be because all of the people were different and they didn’t know who I was. I was able to be who I really am because no one thought I should be acting in a particular way. When I went to college I was able to be who I was all the time because it was new and I didn’t have any expectations to live up to. The trees represent the place, Nawakwa, and growing getting thicker skin, bark, and growing in any way I want, branches.”
“My shamrock is symbolic of my Irish heritage and how important it is to me.”
“This is for my dad. I got it when I was 18. He passed away when I was 10, and the bike is special to me because he passed away on a bike but he also met my mom riding a bike.”
“I got this for my 20th birthday to symbolize self love and how I don’t have to be perfect. The darkness in me is just as perfect if not more.”
“This just symbolized claiming my body and living into myself. At the end of the day I’m all I have.”
“I got it as kind of a marker of enduring mental health struggles. It’s a whole thing. The meaning I take behind it is at one point my life could have ended but it went on anyways.”
“I got this during my gap year. This is really cliche, but it’s about freeing myself and becoming who I am.”
“I really liked the artist that did this. My boyfriend at the time was getting tattooed by the same artist, so, they’re not matching, but it was like a thing. Also when I was little I went to this weird, hippy, alternative school. They got their money through a thrift store that they owned, and I would always save up money to buy cassette tapes.”
“That’s the Sandias Mountains in Albuquerque, New Mexico. That’s where I was born. That means ‘watermelon mountains’ in Spanish because the rocks are pink in the summer.”
“To me my tiger lily is a reminder of my mom and happier times. It’s my mom’s favorite flower and they would grow outside of my house by our creek. When I was younger I would always pick flowers for my mom. But when she left my dad, the tiger lilies stopped growing. They don’t grow by our creek anymore but now I’ll always have one on my hip.”
“This was really just an impulse tattoo. They’re forget-me-nots. I tell people that that’s what they’ll do, they’ll forget-me-not. Then I wink at them.”
