Journal # 5 Tattoos

Over the past few weeks we have learned a lot in this course. I believe the 3 most important causes of this course so far have been setting (time and place), audience, and purpose. These three things explain a lot when looking at pieces of everyday writing. Setting is very important as it can explain why something was written. The audience, since most things are written, intended to be looked at by a body of some sort. The audience also provides a reaction to the given text, which can explain a lot about the text and the intended meaning behind it. Which brings me to the third most important cause, purpose. I think Simone said it well, “The purpose of a text is essential to everyday writing because most everyday writing is written for a specific purpose”. With out someone having a desire to write something, it would not be there in the first place. I would argue that purpose is the most important of the three causes I mentioned, and it also happens to align with forms of everyday writing such as tattoos.

            People typically get tattoos for a reason. Whether it be a symbol that holds meaning to that person, or a quote, tattoos more likely than not, project a meaning that holds close to the person with the tattoo’s heart (as cliché as it sounds). I think Brouwer proposed an interesting point about tattoos and the meaning or purpose behind them and that is that, “Tattoos act to convey basic technical information”.  Brouwer also talked about “visibility politics” and how stigma relates to sociological categories, expressing upholding or criticizing community norms. I thought this was interesting, because I think this explains why people get tattoos.

            I think we can consider tattoos as a form of everyday writing. They are embedded onto someone’s body for a reason. I think tattoos are very similar to street art. They are not what we commonly think of when we talk about everyday writing, however, they are something we come across everyday.