Final Thoughts: A Semester of Growth

I have made many discoveries during the course of this project, both about myself, those around me, and about my topic.  It was my intent to approach my issue form a purely intellectual point-of-view.  However, being that the subject is also an emotional one that I am very close to, I found remaining solely academic impossible.  I had a great deal of fun with the flexibility this project offered.  It allowed me to explore and display my topic from many directions.  I was forced to reevaluate my views in some areas, and found research to support my current views in others.

This project gave me the tools, and focus I need to learn how to maintain a blog.  Using social networking sites I have built up a small readership, and have received valuable feedback about my ideas and writing.  It is my intent to maintain, and expand this blog after the completion of this course.  I feel the casual nature of the blogging format makes some “hot-button” issues easier for readers to process; it also gives the writer a great venue for sharing thoughts and opinions.

I am very excited to further research my topic and share even more information with the world.  This assignment has enriched my life, and greatly improved my ability to share my ideas with others.  Being an obsessive researcher, I feel I have been given a fantastic outlet for my addiction!

Works Cited

Image. (2011, July 17). Rex parker does the ny times crossword. Retrieved December 07, 2011, from BlogSpot.com: http://rexwordpuzzle.blogspot.com/2011/07/1994-denis-leary-kevin-spacey-flick-sun.html

Jailhouse Green: Prison Tattoos, Power, and Re-Integration

    

     What is of value in one community could have the opposite
effect elsewhere. Prison tattoos may be the most apt example of
this anthropological principle. Both while viewing photographs,
and seeing them in-person I have asked myself of prison
tattoos, “Why?” When viewed through our own cultural lens
such tattoos communicate hate, contempt, and defiance. Within
the prison and gang community however, they speak of power,
ownership, and solidarity. These tattoos identify a person as
a member of a specific group, tell tales of their feats, and warn
potential aggressors about the dangers of engaging the wearer.
    
     Tattooing in most communities is seen as a deviation from
the natural. It is one of humankind’s devices for demonstrating
power over nature, and transforming it into culture. With the
decrease in obligatory, forced tattooing of convicts during the 19th
century, there was a rise in voluntary tattooing among inmates.
Inmates use tattoos to assert agency and display group solidarity
and community. In an environment where personal possessions
are scarce, prisoners are able to claim ownership of their selves
and minds via their bodies, while simultaneously gaining respect
among their peers.

     In prison these tattoos empower the wearer, while in the
mainstream they can be very limiting to a person wishing to
change their lifestyle. People’s notions are difficult to change,
especially when deviancy is involved. Being the daughter of a
former alcoholic and current drug/alcohol counselor I have met
many shades of deviant in my life; addicts of all sorts, and quite a
few criminals. One thing I have learned about these people, as
I have been witness to the outpourings of their heart, is that they
are not always what their skin paints them to be.

     Some of them adapted to a situation to survive and now bear
the markings. Some of them are so far removed from society that
there is little hope of them ever returning. Permanent deviance
is the exception, and it by no means warrants persecuting those
who are striving for genuine change. Though they at one point
removed themselves from society at large, it is unfair to refuse
them the opportunity to return simply because we can see their
past written on their skin. What once served as their symbol of
power now weakens them, and it is our duty to offer a hand to the
weak.


     Works Cited
    
     McCarron, K. (2008). Skin and self-indictment: prison tattoos, race, and
heroin addiction. ESC, 85-102.Mesquita, A. (2010, December 28).
 
     American prison tattoos. Retrieved December 06, 2011, from ZERO6
arte/desordem: http://zero6artedesordem.blogspot.com/2010/12/
american-prison-tattoos.html.