Down the crowded hallways it is easy to spot a nose ring, a pierced eyebrow or lip and the occasional tattoo. While some parents and students might treat tattoos and piercings like a Death Eater’s dark mark, others embrace this unique way of being different, and some have other reasons to bare their ink and metal.

Name:
Amberly Catlett
Grade:
Senior
Tattoo(s):
Chinese symbols
Date Received:
the week of Dec. 19-25
Location:
her left rib cage
Meaning:
The characters mean “only the strong survive” which signifies how big a part her dad plays in her life.
Plans for the future:
the Grateful Dead bear, but she’s not positive where she wants it

Name:
Laura Rightmeier
Grade:
Math teacher
Tattoo(s):
Fibonacci numbers, wedding ring, pinball queen, famous ‘50s pin-up girl Bettie Page, and a tattoo of her husband and herself in her husband’s own design
Piercing(s):
belly button, gauged ears, lip ring
Date Received:
Piercings: Rightmeier got her first piercing at six years old, then got her belly button pierced when she was 18, and she started gauging her ears at 22.
Tattoos: Rightmeier got her first tattoo at 20 and is still adding today.
Tattoo Location:
back of her calf, her left ring finger, the two tattoos on her back and her chest.
Meaning:
Rightmeier is in love with the Fibonacci numbers, which she’s devoted an entire class lecture to. She got her wedding ring tattooed onto her ring finger. When she was in college she was a big pinball fan and even became known as the pinball queen. She really admires Bettie Page, whom she always thought was glamorous and beautiful, and her husband draws many different designs and the people tattooed onto her chest are of them.
Plans for the future:
Rightmeier says she’s done with piercings but she plans on getting more tattoos when she gets the money, since tattoos are pretty expensive.

Name:
Anita Carlson
Grade:
Spanish teacher
Piercing(s):
two cartilage piercings and two sets of piercings in her earlobe
Date Received:
first got her ears pierced when she was 12, got lobes pierced again when she was 19, got her cartilage pierced when she was 30
Reasoning:
She followed the trends of her town and really liked the look of the cartilage piercing
Plans for the future:
none. She is done with piercings.

Name:
Kelsey Cole
Grade:
Junior
Tattoo(s):
a treble and bass clef
Piercing(s):
gauged ears, nose
Date Received:
Piercings: ears pierced when she was a few months old, didn’t start gauging them until freshman year, nose pierced on her 16th birthday
Tattoos: both on her 17th birthday.
Location:
left wrist and right wrist
Meaning:
Both clefs symbolize her love of music but the bass clef represents how much she loves playing her bass.
Plans for the future:
plans on getting an owl head on the tops of her feet, increasing the gauge size, cartilage piercing on her left ear and possibly a lip piercing.

Odd Man Out:
Name:
Lexi Griffith
Grade:
Senior
Tattoo(s):
None
Piercing(s):
Not any more
Reasoning:
Allergic to the metal in the earrings used to pierce ears
Plans for the future:
So far she doesn’t plan on getting her ears pierced again and if she does she’ll have to get more earrings since she gave all of hers away.