After half an hour of pain, freshman Alison Brock had been permanently etched with the words “I put it all on the line and pray that God gets me through it.”
The Machine Gun Kelly lyrics adorning her side spark skepticism from both friends and strangers. She is constantly bombarded with questions like, “Won’t you regret it?”
Her answer is no.
“You don’t regret good memories,” Brock said. “That’s just how other people feel. It doesn’t change how I feel about it.”
Brock said tattoos are often stigmatized. Her parents associated them with personnel in the Navy and people in prison.
The reaction to Brock’s tattoos is frequently surprise or shock. She has been told she doesn’t “seem like a tattoo person.”
Yet, tattoos are an art form. Cloak and Dagger Tattoo Studio artist Jeremy McGrady attended art school before securing a job at the Brown Street parlor.
He said the culture and music revolving around tattoos attracted him to this job.
McGrady works on University of Dayton students and Dayton residents alike. Brock received her second tattoo from Cloak and Dagger. Girls frequent the parlor more than guys, and the current popular trend for girls is quotes on the foot, McGrady said.
Every tattoo carries its own meaning. Shows like “L.A. Ink” share the stories behind customers’ tattoos.
Brock attributes the rising tattoo trend to more leniency and acceptance in the workplace. Freshman human rights and political science major Jonathon Puricelli believes the individual nature behind a tattoo causes its popularity among young adults.
His tattoo was a way to express a story and a piece of his past. “Bona Vita” emblemizes one of his closest friend’s struggle with drugs and his journey to recovery.
“When people decide that they can be who they want to be and that they can mold themselves into whatever they choose, the concept of a tattoo becomes a purely personal choice,” Puricelli said.
Each tattoo has a personal meaning behind it, and music was the factor that molded Brock’s tattoo.
“Music has always meant a lot to me,” she said. “Music kind of has gotten me out of… not a dark place… but put me in a better place. I thought it would be a great idea to commemorate it with body art.”
