Atom's Tattoo

In the essay by Leslie Jamison, “Mark My Words, Maybe” She communicates to her audience about getting this tattoo to represent a new era for her after an emotional breakup. The tattoo being “homo sum: humani nil a me alienum puto” or in English translation, “I am human: nothing human is alien to me.” Jamison talks about how she felt as deserving as any other for the pain that she has felt during the relationship. As the essay reads on, Jamison deals with the conflict of interest from others based on the meaning of her tattoo. She also goes about her thought process for finding the true meaning of her tattoo.

In his novel Tattoos on the Heart, author Father Gregory Boyle S.J. shares his experiences as a pastor in the gang capital of the United States, Los Angeles, in an attempt to persuade his readers to look at gang members with a more humane perspective. To help his readers relate to the gang members, Fr. Boyle recounts personal anecdotes about the many gang members he works with and their journeys towards changing their lives. Through his use of colloquial language and informal diction and his narration of personal stories, Fr. Boyle creates an intimate tone accomplishes his purpose of discrediting the stereotypes associated with gangs and depicting a human face worthy of respect and sympathy. Though Boyle published this novel in 2010, his insight and wisdom on the state of gang violence still hold true today, and he continues to inspire his readers to recognize the tragedies many gang members face in their everyday lives.

In Tattoos on the Heart, the reader accompanies Father Gregory Boyle throughout a series of heart-warming conversions he conducts through his interactions with numerous gang members in the Los Angeles projects. Likewise, J.D. Vance in Hillbilly Elegy constructs a memoir of his tumultuous upbringing in the Midwest as well as of his familial roots in Kentucky. A commonality throughout the novels is the poverty faced by members of these communities and how it contributes to the conflicts that drive the plot. The topic of poverty, its causes, and possible solutions has always interested me a lot due to a concept of the Lottery of Birth, which is a philosophical position that comes up frequently in my debate competitions. Basically, where we are born, in terms of one’s position and class in society, is arbitrary; I did not choose to be born in the socioeconomically comfortable neighborhood of Massapequa Park. This is a perpetual unfairness to which there is no solution, but there has to be some action that can alleviate the suffering of the over three billion people worldwide who live on less than three dollars a day (DoSomething.org).

Even though Ron Johnson highlights some good points about the benefits of tattoos in his article "Tattoos: The Ultimate in Expression", Leeanne Padowski provided stronger support with more evidence in her article "Think Before You Ink".Leeanne Padowski supports her article with facts from studies surveys.

Tattoos on the Heart encompasses many themes, but Fr. Boyle predominantly focuses on life and death. In one distinct instance, Fr. Boyle depicts the story of an unnamed sixteen-year-old homegirl who tells him, with such joy, that she is pregnant. Fr. Boyle is unable to hide his disappointment, which leads the homegirl to say “I just want to have a kid before I die.” (90) This narrative was unfamiliar to my own life experiences, which consequently made the story difficult to relate to. Growing up in a middle class neighborhood I was never fully exposed to death that occurs in young adults due to gang violence, as a result I never knew what it was like to genuinely fear for my life or believe that I was going to die before I turned eighteen.

In “Tattoos on the Heart,” by Gregory Boyle, Boyle experiences how to deal with gangs. The novel, a compelling story about gang violence and one man’s response towards giving those buried within it, tells a story of gang members working for a chance of redemption and solace. Can others be seen as fathers or even as a role models when gang life is such a large force in their lives? Through the story gangbangers that try to change themselves for the pursuit of a better future and a desire to succeed and escape gang life, Boyle tells an emotional, human story about life in the Los Angeles barrios. Boyle characteristics represent him as a father for three gang bangers: Joey Cesar, and Scrappy. While

My senior project was over the History of Tattooing, I chose this as my topic because Tattoos really interest me with all the different styles and meanings behind them. Some things I already knew about Tattooing is a lot of tribes used tattoos to symbolize things, but I didn’t know what.

In Tattoos on the Heart, by Gregory Boyle, he describes the insecurity of gangs, violence, father wound, and crisis that the prisoners went through when they got out of jail. Boyle runs Homeboy Industries that's located in the Boyle Heights neighborhood in Los Angeles, which was made to help gangs, and fresh out of prison parolees who want to improve their lives. They are not able to get jobs because their appearance gained financial and family insecurity. “Just assume the answer to every question is compassion” (Boyle 62). Having compassion was a way to have faith and not give up regardless of all the disgrace a person went through. Boyle addresses the problem of growing up around violence and not being able to attain

Apart from the obvious appeal of henna tattoos, I also strangely enjoy being stagnant for hours at a time now. Oddly, the activity that was previously my worst nightmare, also served as an opportunity for me to contemplate about my life. After the paste-covered point of the cone touches my skin, I lose myself. I allow myself to enter a different world for a couple of hours. The world I’ve fabricated is the most serene place on earth. In this realm, I am entirely content and free of stress or responsibility. I allow myself to enjoy the swift movements of the cone and disregard all of the elements that surround me.

uncertainty wherein the tattoo serves as both silent witness and lucky charm. Yet sailors and navel men have long applied symbols to their bodies, in an almost magical way, to guide their vessels and protect themselves, to

After an incident occurred at Lake Windsor Downs Middle School, Paul transferred to Tangerine Middle School. When Paul found out about the soccer team, he invited Joey to enroll in the school too. The text states that Joey’s dad “put a note in there saying I should have all the same classes as you.” This means that Joey persuaded his dad to have the same classes as Paul. Paul and Joey were in the same group for a science project and Joey hated being in the same group as Tino.

(he's drawn up the design himself and counted the feathers out carefully, a name and a song and a prayer for every loop of the pen, because he hates the scars but they mean something, so fixing it has to mean something too…)

I frequently listen “How to Save a Life”, no matter where I am or what emotions I’m feeling, and it motivates me continually to peruse my dreams. I’m not quite sure if I can envision where I would be today if I hadn’t experienced such a defying song. It’s given me something to achieve, to learn, and to love. Ever since I’ve heard it, all I want to do is help people there, who don’t know exactly what to do or think. Overall, the most important thing this song has given me is the tattoo that resides on my right arm. The quote “Save a Life” is written and it symbolizes some of the most defining attributes to myself. There to remind me to always be kind to others, as you never know what skeletons are hiding in their closet. There to symbolize my passion in life and to never lose myself “among the

After reading the first three chapters of Tattoos on the Heart, I was able to relate to Memo at the end of chapter three. Memo discovered the compassion that he has for others after simply hearing about people who live in places where they ought not to live. Though I live a much different life from Memo, I experienced this feeling when I went to Haiti for the first time. I went to Haiti with factual knowledge that Haiti was a country that lived in poverty, and that they could not seem to catch a break from traumatic events occurring in their country. However, I did not realize the extent of their living conditions until I was on the bus, riding to the compound that I would be staying in for the week.

Per the tutor's request, the mother and father ceased asking the son about his day as often. They became less protective and more carefree of their son's activities under the promise from his tutor that this was what he needed. " Mrs. Coble," the tutor said, ""I think this kid is hurting. You know? Here's a serious, sensitive kid, telling you he'd like to take on some grown-up challenges, and you're giving him the message that he can't be trusted.