Tattoo Me...

Greetings and talofa my fellow americans...waz up?...anyways, this post is gonna be overflowing with pictures...im kinda tired of writing...especially after that extremely extensive post i made the other day...so, i wanna put as little brain cells and time into this post...the pic above (i know, it looks like many of the others ive taken...theyre all startin to resemble eachother) is of the shore line by the tuna factories near pago pago harbor...the kids were playen football in the water...it looked like so much fun, and william and i wanted to join them but this beach is near the tuna factories (as i said) and the smell isnt all that pleasant...it actually wasnt THAT bad in this area, but we also had the tattoo festival to get to...so we had to keep movin...














so yeah, last weekend, william and i went to the samoan tattoo fest at tisa's barefoot bar...tisa's is a local bar/restaurant here on the island, and its way on the east end...so it took like 45 minutes for us to get there by bus...but the area was beautiful...and the bar was really lovely, too...it's right on the beach and it sort of resembles a tropical tree house...a swiss family robinson-like, copa cabana...its very touristy and it was like something youd see in cancun...it reminded me of an eatery at disney land...places like it arent very prevalent in american samoa...so it was nice...we started off the night with a 40 ounce bottle of vailima...the samoan beer...in other words, pure goodness :-)

the pic above is obviously of the stage they had set up to show the samoan tattoos...they had a competition to see who had the best tattoos and which artists gave the best tattoos...if i havent told you yet, samoa is REALLY into tattoos...its a cultural, tribal tradition, and its sort of their trademark here in the south pacific...the tattoos usually consist of a strong, thick band of tribal markings or family ancestoral art that surrounds their leg or thigh or maybe arm...and many times the men get big, elaborate ones that crawl up from their thigh to their back or chest...theyre pretty awesome, and very manly and fierce looking...but many of the women also have these tattoos...and many of my students even have them...yes, its completely okay and accepted for 16-year-olds to get tattoos...once again, its their culture...a samoan village body stamp, if you will...im not gonna tell you the whole history of the tattoo...ill leave a good website for you, though...
















here's a pic of someone getting one of these tattoos at the fest...youll notice its a palagi (white) man...many of the guys showing tattoos were palagi...which kinda upset me...i know its cool and nice to see the white man embracing the samoan culture (heck, im doin that myself!), but, at the same time, it was kinda annoying to not see actual samoans getting authentic tattoos for real, cultural, traditional reasons...it was almost all palagi men showing off their samoan tattoos...it was just a little too vanilla ice...mocking and faux-samoan...damn caucasions!...















http://www.samoa.co.uk/tattoos.html
















notice the tools being used to tattoo...not very modern...no machines, just sticks and blades and ink...im not exactly sure how it works, but i know that they were tapping a blade into his skin to inject the ink...it looked excruciatingly painful...and archaic and laborious...but this guy seemed to be handling it well...
















it actually made me crave getting one...i love getting tattoos...its such a thrill...and (it can be) a profound expression (and experience) of who you are...a manifestation of your mind and body...its a rush of those wonderful "look at me, my body is art" emotions...and the pain recieved from getting one in the traditional samoan way didnt scare me all that much...but im not getting one yet...i dont know exactly what i want and where i want it...im thinking of getting "teacher" in samoan or our tafuna high school emblem or something like that on my front thigh...but i dont want it very big...i already have a ginormous tree on my back...bark boy rocks!...















just a picture of the ocean outside of tisa's...yawn...
















first of all, ill just tell you that i despise this picture of me...i look like a mister rogers howdy doody geek...especially with that flaming red hair (i need a haircut severely)...so youre all very lucky that im posting it...i do think its a cute pic though...that night, william and i went back to his house with some friends we met at the bar...so we got pretty drunk and stupid...i dont even remember these girls' names...but they were a lot of fun...















here's another splendid picture of our drunken shenanigans...well, of the girls'...yes, the one in the jersey is a fafa...or transgendered...i think "fafa" actually means "faggot" in samoan...its totally tolerated to call gay people "faggots" here...in fact, the gay people and transgendered people call themselves "fafas" (for the most part)...i told my kids that in the states calling someone a "faggot" is like calling someone a "nigger"...i know that many gay men have began transforming the word "faggot" into a positive or censented term...any many people also use "faggy" as a description of something stupid...so, "faggot" is okay to some in the states...but i guarantee you that a teenage boy is still devestated and heartbroken when theyre called a "faggot" in the states...my students were amazed by this...gays ARE faggots here...and thats okay to them because faggots ARE gay...theres nothing bad (persay) about the word "faggots"...which, if you think about it, along with the marvel of the revolution of the word "nigger" (from a hateful term to a term of endearment by blacks), proves the power and wonder of language and words...although theres that famous saying "sticks and stone may break my bones, but names will never hurt me", words (especially names for things) are still a potently influential and complex thing...sure, they can inspire and inform and create...but they can also be mightily harmful...and faggy...















this picture of the stormy sea is very fuzzy...my camera is so small that its hard to hold it straight and still...so many of my pics turn out badly...but i think its a pretty picture...the sense of depth is cool in it...and the water looks so tumultuous...

k, before i leave i wanted to mention the new "coming out" story...i know youve all probably heard about this, but i just found out and i think its great...the guy who plays Geore O'Malley (T.R. Knight) on Greys Anatomy is gay!...yay!...we're like cockroaches, crawling outta the woodwork :-)

but he's so good at playing straight!?...i guess he's not the only one ;-)

http://popwatch.ew.com/popwatch/2006/10/whatever_the_re.html#comments
http://people.aol.com/people/article/0,26334,1548317,00.html

k, love ya and miss ya!
-JOE

"I'm shakin' the dust of this crummy little town off my feet and I'm gonna see the world."
-George Bailey from It's a Wonderful Life