Part of my new tattoo

It's been a while since I was inked and I was feeling particularly punching and needing to feel something different. Always a good idea to visit Green Man Tattoo in West Hartford, CT. Design and ink by Jay Yonush, from symbols/ideas I provided.

The skin is still peeling away, which to me, is one of the fascinating aspects of tattoos. Old skin dies off and reveals a new aspect. That sounds horribly pretentious and I apologize. The design combines some Anarchist symbols because I was feeling that punchy. I'm fed up with the hypocrisy of politicians and governments. I've actually kept myself from getting anything 'political' inked on me, but these just came together at the right time. There is a version of the standard 'Anarchy in Order' symbol centered in a version of the Black Cross.

The Anarchist Black Cross organization's primary goal is to eliminate all prisons. It originated in Tsarist Russia as a support organization for political prisoners. Their symbol is a black cross, with the upwards-facing line being replaced with a raised fist, a symbol also associated with anarchism, defiance of authority, and personal empowerment (black power, youth power, women's liberation, American Indian Movement, International Socialist Organization, 'power to the people', etc...). The fist also represents union, as "many weak fingers can come together to create a strong fist".

This is framed by the ama-gi, an ancient Sumerian cuneiform word meaning "freedom". It is believed to be the first instance of humans writing that concept down. (from Wikipedia) While I agree, pretentious, Jay Yonush did a great job of working it all together.