Tyler Jenkins
Student Writer
Tattoos have a multitude of implications, and it’s important to remember that reasons for getting them differ from person to person. While a tattoo can be an incredibly elaborate and detailed plan for one person, it can be totally random and fun for another. This week, I sat down with senior peace and conflict studies major Madison Neimer to learn more about her tattoos and how they apply to her life.
TJ: How many tattoos do you have?
MN: I have two tattoos; one on my right thigh and one on my left ring finger.
TJ: What are the tattoos of? 
MN: The one on my ring finger is of the Alpha and Omega Greek letters, which are the beginning and the ends of the Greek alphabet, which is commonly used as a way to resemble God as someone or something that’s been there from the beginning to the very end. The other one on my thigh is a sun. That was a very spur of the moment, within 24 hours decision that someone else paid for. My sun tattoo is a lot of fun. When I’m working with kids in the summer time, especially with those who aren’t always verbal with how they’re emotionally feeling, it’s fun to give them a drawing space where they can draw the emotion they’re feeling for the day. That way they can identify their feeling, and have the opportunity to feel represented, and feel like they’re being understood.
TJ: Where did you get your tattoos done?
MN: I got both of them done at 717 Tattoo right on Trindle Road in Mechanicsburg.
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TJ: Which one of your tattoos hurt the most?
MN: The one on my thigh didn’t hurt, really. It just took a long time. But the one on my finger, since there’s no meat there and it’s right on the bone, hurt the most. But, it was done in ten minutes.
TJ: What are typical questions you get when people see your tattoos?
MN: Did it hurt? What does it mean? The one on my finger is a turquoise blue, and the one on my thigh is like an eggplant purple, so people are interested in how I got the color.
TJ: Do you plan on getting any more tattoos?
MN: Yeah, I definitely have a lot of ideas. I’d say once you get your first one, you can be kind of overzealous and want to get more right away. But, I want to be a lot more thoughtful of my process for next time, like location. Now that I’m entering the workforce, I don’t want something super visible because I don’t know what I’m doing yet.
TJ: What advice would you give to someone who is thinking about getting a tattoo?
MN: My big advice would be to just make sure you’re confident about where you’re getting it. Not so much what, because I’ve found that I don’t actually remember that I have tattoos all the time, or the meanings aren’t, like, super significant. But, if it was something that was super visible all the time you could easily regret it more than if you really cared about it, and put it somewhere else that isn’t super visible.