In class

My Grandma and my dad's step-sister are the drama queens of my family. My grandmother well in her 60's and my dad's stepsister, probably 30 or 40's both have facebooks. However, they do not use it for the social aspect of facebook they use it to spy mostly on my cousins and I. I said "fuck" one day on facebook and they called my parents. I am 18 leagally an adult, can vote, buy cigarettes, and I am in college I am pretty sure that I can say fuck without getting in-trouble. On holidays they will gossip to everyone about everything even if that person is still in the room.

tattooing glossary

sleeve- a tattoo (or multiple tattoos) that covers the entire arm
tramp stanmp- a tattoo on the lower middle back
ink- refers to a tattoo "I'm getting ink done."
prison tattoo- I tattoo done in prison using items such as a staple, soap, and newspaper ink.

here are some I found online

Tattoo Equipment
Gun - term for tattoo machine used primarly by scratchers and loathed by artists.
Irons - term of affection for tattoo machine used by artists.
Works - needles and tubes.
Tattooing Slang
Carving - as in carving out some PHAT lines.
Slinging Ink - hopefully not too much slinging!
Pounding Skin - another term makes it sound much worse than it is.
Grinding - grind out some tribal.
Kickin' it Into Third - picking up the speed on the fill cause they know you can handle it.
Know You're Getting a Tattoo - doing the underside of the arm!
Airbrushing - when the ink sprays all over your pants.
Tight - as in phat, tight tattoo work.
Tattoo Customers and Browsers
Wrastler - one who faints and comes up fighting.
B-Back - the customer who says, "I gotta run to the ATM, I'll be back" right at closing time and never returns.
Cadaver - customer who refuses to talk to the artist during the entire process.
Human Larva - small children running around the tattoo shop.
Showcase - the customer who wears extensive amounts of an artist's work.
Meat - Locals who frequent the tattoo shop and always have a fresh piece still healing
Geeking - Acting without thinking how stupid you will be.
Tenderfoot - self explanatory.
Michaelangelo - the customer who asks for "victory red", "infantry blue", or "purple passion" and tells the artist where and how to shade.
Yo-Man - Potential customer who walks in the studio saying, "Yo man, I got $20. What can I get?" or "Yo man, I NEED a tattoo. What should I get?"
Dealers - Potential clients who little to wheal and deal on the price of their tattoo, and try to bid the artist down like they're at an auction.
Closers - people that KNOW you close at 10 p.m. and take your last customer at 9, but walk in at 9:30 expecting you to stay to do a three hour piece.
Other Slang Expressions
Goo - as in "put this goo on a couple times a day...".
Pussyball - tennis ball given to the customer who won't stop whining.
Squicked - grossed out, disgusted as in being squicked about your new piercing because it looks like it hurt.
http://tattoo.about.com/cs/tatfaq/a/tat_slang.htm

blog post 10

Although I know we are still concentrating on the research proposal assignment, now might be a good time to begin thinking about the shape or structure of your mini-ethnography. So, what structure do you plan on using for your mini-ethnography? How do you plan to begin? Will you start by profiling a specific informant? Will you talk about your interest in the subculture or your place within it? How might you proceed through the paper? Will you take the reader chronologically through your research process? Will you create sections based on themes, focal points, observations, etc? How do you think you might conclude the piece? Finally, why do you think that the particular structure you've chosen (or might choose) will be the best for what you want to do?

For the beginning of my mini-ethnography I really feel I need to start with the history and the meaning behind tattoos. I think I will create themes such as history, stereotypes, today with tattoos, and getting a job with tattoos, however through out the whole thing I think profiling my informants to back up evidence i found and be able to use quotes from them. I feel like concluding the piece with what I feel about tattoos now and how this research has changed me. I think starting with the history is the best place to start esspecially with tattoos so the reader understands everything behind tattoos. Then, after the reader knows the history I will pick out the themes of each section (not sure what that is yet) but then I can talk about each subject in-depth a lot easier. Ending with how this has changed me can be the closing its the final chapter in this journey I have taken through learning more about this sub-culture. 

in class movie 2

1. I would have gone to other towns such as "bordertowns" near canada of mexico rather than focus on a couple rural towns. I also would have visited all coasts. I would have interviewed a more variety of people: women, different races, people from the city and rural areas. I liked the part in the documentary that would take a commonly used word in one part of the area and take it to another part and people would have no idea what it meant i.e. "gumband". I have never heard it called "gumband" before.

2. Groups that are under represented are women and people of other race categories than white. I felt like groups that were in more rural areas were over represented just because they most likely have a thicker accent as opposed to groups in big cities. To make the study more appealing I would have visited more places put music in and not only talked about their accents but lifestyle as well.

3. Language can be crucial. In my high school I perceived people with sort of a "red-neck" accent to be less intelligent. Language can reveal a lot about a person in terms of stereotypes such as if i heard a "southern accent" or what I will call an "Indiana southern accent" which would be called a "redneck" here I would see them as a republican, conservative, drives a truck, goes hunting, racist, listens to country music. However if I heard a real southern accent such a one from South Carolina I would perceive them as hospitable, polite, proper.

Blog post 9

This week I want you to take a step back from your research and do a reflection on the research process thus far. What has been the hardest thing? What has been the easiest? If you could start over again, what would you do differently? How has keeping a blog helped you track your research process? How do you think it will help you in preparing your mini-ethnography?

The hardest part of this process was finding information especially on-line. If I could do this again, I would have gotten my interviews earlier. Although I have been to tattoo parlors multiple time I have never really sat down and talked to an artist about what tattooing was about, about the stereotypes, getting a job with tattoos. I wish that when I have gone to get my tattoos I would have talked with them about that more.  Everyday I write differently so if I am in need of new wording in a paper I can look back to how i described something or the way I worded it I has helped me keep almost a personal journal of my "mini-ethnography journey". 

in class

1. In this scene my informant and I are in the study lounge. We are sitting on the couches both pulling all nighters our eyes are puffy showing lack of sleep. We go out to have a cigarette and then go back in the study lounge to conduct the interview. My informant is a peer, a friend, a smoker, and a fellow insider of this subculture.

2. Music is a heavy influence on my informant along with his family's lifestyle. Along with the family influencing him it is exactly what influenced me to get a tattoo. I felt the only reason I had the power relationship over him was because I was the interviewer.

3. He speaks well, he will joke around, he hardly pauses you know he. The tone when talking to him about the reason behind his tattoo, I know he was serious but he covered it up with a sarcastic overtone. The emphasis was on stereotyping in our interview.

in-class

why will reader care?

they will care because directly or indirectly they are involved with the subculture even knowing a person with tattoos could intrigue a reader.

what will my reader want/need to know about issue?

the stereotypes, the artistic side, the history everything

what do my readers already know about this issue?

unless they are part of the culture they probably don't have the personal experience  but watching shows like LA Ink where the costumers will tell their reasons behind their tattoos which i think helps the people of today that might be against it to understand why getting a tattoo can be so important to a person.

what do I want my readers to learn about my subculture?

how people can be treated awful just for displaying their artwork

if I am trying to persuade my readers of something how easily will they be persuaded?

I wont pursued a person to get a tattoo cause that is absurd but to understand why people get them and not to judge then unjustly just because they have tattoos

what will my readers use my writing for?

an insight through an insiders eyes.

Blog post 8

For this week I want you to answer the following questions: What is the main theme you see through your research? In talking with some members of your community, does that theme seem to run through the fieldsite as well? As of today, eight weeks into this project, what is your place in the subculture? Is it similar or different to where you were eight weeks ago? What changed?

I feel like the main theme in my research are the stereotypes that go along with tattoos and the way society looks at a person with then. Whether it is our parents, future employers, or just those that are just not a fan of the art people with tattoos are treated differently. However, my personal feeling is that tattoos have become such an accepted form of art in my generation that tattoos will not be looked down upon as much as they are in society right now. In talking with a friend who has a tattoo he said he doesn't feel stereotyped for having a tattoo mostly because it is hidden under his shirt however, he has his lip pierced and said he felt like people looked at him like a "degenerate" or "trouble in society". The stereotyping theme does not really come through at a tattoo parlor because normally people who are in there are getting tattoos and appreciate the art.

After 8 weeks of research it all got a little too much for me to handle and I had to return to the tattoo chair. I am still an insider in this subculture, the only thing that really changed are my aspirations. Since I am an art student, I am considering an apprenticeship with a local tattoo parlor. This subculture has fascinated me so much I feel like I want to, no, have to be around it everyday I want to help create this beautiful art form.