"Touch" Reading Responses

Response 1 - "Tattoos"

I am very interested in the section where Diane Ackerman shares her research and thoughts on what she regards as a “skin-deforming art”: tattoos. Tattoos were intriguing even in my early childhood, and I remember always being fascinated by the fact that we, as humans, are able to decorate our bodies in any way we like. However, it was not until many years had passed that I came to understand the gravity that tattoos truly hold. I realized that tattoos were more than just artwork, that they could embody very serious experiences and meanings, and once I decided to get my first tattoo, my understanding reached another level. This is why I feel strongly about her decision to present her study of tattoos in a way that makes it seem as though people get tattoos because it is a cultural phenomenon and they want to "seal themselves off from normal society". I believe that tattoos are a means of connecting with oneself more than anything else. At least that's the way it is for me. My wrist tattoo is written in my handwriting because I wanted my first tattoo to be as though I wrote it on my skin permanently. It reads "Saudade", which is a Portuguese word that translates more or less to strong feelings of nostalgia, longing, and even emotional pain due to times, people, or places that are now in the past. The peace sign reminds me to always find a balance and ground myself when I am feeling overwhelmed with emotion. The photograph was taken in my hometown at a place I always referred to as River Road. The street runs along the St. Johns River, and it is one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. I spent a lot of time there as I was growing up. This place used to help my best friend and I let go of our problems and remember to live in the moment. After losing that friend, River Road changed for me. It became painful to return to a place that used to bring me happiness. So, I took some time to grow and heal, and after getting my tattoo, I was able to drive down River Road again with a sense of peace I'd never felt before. This even draws back to her mention of photographer Sandi Fellman stating that tattoos represent a paradox of "beauty created through brutal means", but I would exchange the word "beauty" for "peace".

Response 2 - "Easing Pain"

She also caught my attention with the section in which she explicates the various ways in which people attempt to ease the pain they feel or release themselves from it entirely. This information hit very close to home for me because I have watched family members change before my eyes and buckle under the pressure of different pains they cannot bare. I believe it is extremely easy for people to become addicted to medications and pain relievers because they learn to associate their only sense of relief with whatever waits for them inside of these little bottles. I chose to have a strip of paper hugging the bottles to represent this false sense of comfort that pills give people. Not only do pills give people a sense of comfort, but they also implicitly tell the person reaching for them that there is no other way to free their minds from anguish, lessening their personal will to fight. The shading represents the darkness easing as the person gets closer to the bottles, and the hand is drawn on a flat surface while the bottles are three-dimensional to mimic the way that people can become so dependent upon medication that it's almost as if they set it upon a pedestal and regard it as their salvation.