Living Memorials Tattoos

Everyday in Iraq a civilian dies. Someone who was someone's mom, dad, brother, sister, child-someone who was a teacher, a cab driver, a lawyer, a doctor, someone who had dreams, who fucked up sometimes, who hurt the people they loved, who was hurt by the people they loved, someone who loved music, or books, or movies, someone who wanted to be a better person than they were, someone who tried every day to be that better person, and someone who probably fell short of their own expectations, someone who had a best friend to whom they told everything, and someone who is now dead, and someone who's name I will never know, you will never know, we all will never know. Every day this happens in Iraq as a result of a war that was instigated by America, like it or not, and support it or no, we Americans are all (some directly, many of us) indirectly responsible for.

I have never had a tattoo. There were brief moments throughout my twenties when I thought I wanted to get one, but never followed through. One reason is that I want to make sure that whatever tattoo I get is one that I would want on me forever, one with the type of spiritual energy that I want to have with me at all times. I found one once




I could have that on my lower back. But I've never found an artist that I was all that impressed by, nor have I ever had the amount of money it would cost to have that, so I never did it. Other than Hermaphrodite sleeping, I can't imagine anything else I want to carry around with me at all times.

Until I found Hana Lafta Mohsen I will have her name tattooed on my ankle this Friday as part of the Living Memorials Tattoos. If you don't want to read that entire article I'll break it down for you here. The idea is that you go on Iraq Body Count dot org, and you find their list of civilians that have died in the Iraq war. You find a name that speaks to you. Whatever your reason. I chose Hana for many reasons. First of all, she has the same name as someone who is really important in my life. Second, she is near my age, so while we probably didn't grow up watching the same TV shows, we did grow up through the same world events. There was a moment back when she was 6 when perhaps she asked her dad, like I did, about the Palestinians who hijacked the plane. I chose her also because she was a teacher. And teachers are the people who will save us from ourselves and our ignorance. Teachers are sexy. And also someday I'll probably be one . And in all honesty I also chose her because her name had fewer letters than the other names I was contemplating (I imagine this is going to hurt since I am having her name tattooed on my ankle)!

If you are interested in this, you should look the artist up that is doing this project. Camille Krilanovich is awesome. I'm going to set up a blog for her, and when I do I'll make sure to post the link here.

Until then, I encourage you all to spread the word. Her site in progress is:

http://www.clktattoo.com/

If you are a tattoo artist and want to join her you should call her. I'm spreading the word, I hope you all do too.

PEACE.

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