Cedars, January 2018

All photos by Naomi Harward These stories have been edited for space. For the unabridged versions and more stories, visit Naomi Harward’s blog at https://naomiharward.wordpress.com/category/the-tattoo-project/ Naomi Harward is a senior journalism major and the former photography editor for Cedars. She is an avid photographer who loves writing, the outdoors and people-watching. ART & ENTERTAINMENT January 2018 18 James: “Geek”. “Nerd”. [Greek]. The first tattoo I got was the tetelestai one, with a semicolon. Me, Tasha, and some other friends were going to get our first tattoos. It was a week after I turned 18. [Tasha] was getting a semicolon. I wanted to get tetelestai (Greek for “it is finished”), and then I realized that the semicolon works here. Like, “It is finished” and because of that, we can continue on. The second one was the start of my favorite passage in the Bible, Philippians 1:21. “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” The stick-and-poke came from Tasha. I gave her the Deathly Hallows, and she gave me this. It’s the Invader Zim irken symbol. It was just a fun little thing. For Friday the 13th, [Tasha and I] decided to go to a shop that was having a deal on $31 tattoos. You threw a dart at a dart board. I was trying to get the Schrodinger box. And after, like, seven throws, I got it. I’ve been obsessed with physics for a long time, and Schrodinger’s cat is part of the whole physics thing. Why Greek? “Tetelestai” was what Jesus said on the cross, so it would make sense that it’s in Greek. And this is the direct Greek of the passage in Philippians as well. I didn’t want to get it in English, because I think you lose something when you get to English, anyway. It felt like it was more authentic to have the original. What’s your view on getting tattoos? I think that tattoos sort of tell a story of your life. My brother’s an atheist, and he asked me why I got them. “What if someday you reject Christianity?” First off, that’s not how that works. And second, even if that was a thing that could happen, then it’s still a story of a portion of my life that shaped me in some way, no matter what happens. So my view is, if it has some vague meaning to you, or if it’s not stupid and it’s something from a part of your life, it’s fine. Like, this [irken] was my favorite show growing up, and that’s not going to change. It may not be now, but it was back then. James Osborne is a junior computer science major at Cedarville University. Tasha: “Fairy tale” “She lives in a fairy tale somewhere too far for us to find.” That’s the opening lyrics to my favorite song: “Brick By Boring Brick” by Par- amore. Part of the lyrics to the song are “Go get your shovel and we’ll dig a deep hole to bury the castle,” kind of like putting away childish memories. You’re growing up now and you have to deal with life. But I still try to hold onto that imagination and happiness. When I was a kid, I drew castles a lot. And I always thought it was cool to get a castle tattoo. I have this fantasy land in my head, and castles are a big part. What’s your stance on tattoos? I have 12 tattoos total. Six professionally done and six stick-and-poke. Obviously I don’t have any problem with tattoos. Most of the ones I have now have some sort of meaning to them. But, like the little bees [on my leg]: I’m allergic to bees, so I thought it would be kind of funny to have bees on me all the time. (I named them Bob-Bee, and Beenson. They’re my new little buddies.) I can kind of contribute meaning, but mostly they’re just cute. When I was younger, I always thought that tattoos should have deep meaning. But as I’ve gotten older, it’s like, if you think some- thing’s pretty, and you think it’s pretty enough to put on your body for the rest of your life, then I think you should be able to do that. As long as they’re not offensive to other people. If it would be offensive on a T-shirt, don’t do it. Otherwise, artistic license. It’s fantastic. Do you think you’ll ever regret having so many tattoos? I really don’t think I’ll ever regret them, just because of how into them I am. Maybe there will be one, eventually, that I totally regret getting, but I think I’m a sane enough person to think about it enough beforehand to not regret it. Which I think is important. And if I do end up regretting them, then oh well. It was my bad, 20 years ago. Tasha Peterson is a junior visual communications design major at Cedarville University.