Kaja Vang shows her arm tattoo. The design incorporates symbols depicting her love for nature, including the wolf and the two roses that represent her mother and herself. (Carlee Hackl/TommieMedia)
Vang has a Hmong embroidery symbol on her other arm that represents “home” or “house.” She got the tattoo as a reminder to stay grounded and to always return home. (Carlee Hackl/TommieMedia)
Cyrus Dariush Elmtalab displays his arm tattoos. Elmtalab has seven tattoos and said they’re all Middle Eastern or Persian designs that represent his heritage and identity. (Carlee Hackl/TommieMedia)
Elmtalab is named after Cyrus the Great, a prominent historical figure of Persia, and has the symbol of honor tattooed on his right arm that Cyrus the Great wore in battle. Elmtalab also has a tattoo on his left arm that represents the lion, the sword and the sun from the old Iranian flag. (Carlee Hackl/TommieMedia)
Elmtalab’s shoulder tattoo bears the traditional insignia of the Kurdish army that his mother fought in as a child soldier. Elmtalab added more detail and shading to his shoulder tattoo on Wednesday, March 15. (Photo Credit: Cyrus Dariush Elmtalab)
Junior Gabrielle Ryan shows her shoulder tattoo that represents different parts of her identity. The design includes the date Ryan’s grandmother and mother adopted her from China, the date she came home to her father and grandfather, the name the Chinese orphanage gave her before she was adopted and her Chinese heritage through the elaborate drawing of a koi fish. (Carlee Hackl/TommieMedia)
Ryan’s wrist tattoo is written in her grandmother’s handwriting. Ryan said her grandmother battled breast cancer and always told her that if she believes hard enough, good things will happen. (Carlee Hackl/TommieMedia)
Sophomore Lucas Niemeyer rolls his sleeve up to show his cross tattoo. Niemeyer said the tattoo signifies the strong relationship he has with God. (Carlee Hackl/TommieMedia)
Junior Courtney Citrowske puts her arms out to reveal her owl tattoo. Citrowske was diagnosed with nocturnal focal epilepsy her freshman year of college and said her tattoo represents wisdom, intelligence and the change she dealt with after being diagnosed. (Carlee Hackl/TommieMedia)
Citowske’s tattoo wasn’t originally designed to include a heart, but the tattoo artist who designed it came up with the addition, and Citrowske said she felt it made the tattoo even more symbolic. “It definitely shows I wear my heart on my sleeve,” Citrowske said. (Carlee Hackl/TommieMedia)
Citrowske shows her side tattoo that is written in her grandmother’s handwriting. Citrowske said “all my love” was the last thing her grandmother wrote to her before she passed away, and that her grandmother is one of her greatest inspirations. (Carlee Hackl/TommieMedia)
Andrew Edward Pilimai Tulua displays his tribal tattoo, which is significant to his family culture and heritage in western Samoa. Tulua said the location of the tattoo on his arm indicates that he has future titles to obtain through his family and community. (Carlee Hackl/TommieMedia)
Junior Rachel Weiss displays her side tattoo of a cross. Weiss said she grew up going to a private, religious school where she was expected to attend church daily, but she realized public school was more her style. This ultimately taught her to value going to church because she wanted to. (Carlee Hackl/TommieMedia)
Senior Amanda Goddin rolls up her sleeves to show part of her arm tattoo. Goddin’s tattoo weaves together multiple images. (Carlee Hackl/TommieMedia)
The compass and globe designs on Goddin’s arm represent the importance of remembering where you’ve been, as well as the loss of her close friend to mental illness and suicide. The clock in the middle of Goddin’s tattoo symbolizes her value of awareness of understanding the concept of time. (Carlee Hackl/TommieMedia)
Junior Tristanna Diann Bickford points out her side tattoo that says “namaste.” Bickford said the tattoo reminds her to live life in the moment while remaining balanced and grounded. (Carlee Hackl/TommieMedia)
Junior Molly Street flips her wrists up to show her tattoos. Street got both of her wrist tattoos during her freshman year of college after a close friend passed away in a car accident; they represent the importance of reminding loved ones you care about them. (Photo Credit: Molly Street)
Street shows off her foot tattoo. She said the cross represents how she learned that “God only allows bad things to happen if something good comes out of it.” (Photo Credit: Molly Street)
Junior Claire Haskin giggles over her shoulder while explaining the significance of her tattoo. Haskin said the balloon signifies the concepts of “the sky’s the limit,” “rising above” and the value of being unique as “one hot air balloon isn’t anything like the rest.” (Carlee Hackl/TommieMedia)
Carlee Hackl can be reached at hack9822@stthomas.edu.
Has it ever occurred to anyone that God created us just the way He wanted us to be both body and soul, and changing that might be offensive to Him, perhaps sinful?
I wonder if God meant for us to get a haircut or clip our toenails. Certainly plastic surgery would be off-limits, even to fix something like a cleft palette. I’m no fan of piercings or tattoos, but I also don’t pretend to know what is in the heart and mind of God.