The Last Book I Loved: Pen & Ink
Published at The Rumpus on December 26, 2014.
Now I often forget about the little dove when someone asks me how many tattoos I have. But that dove marks a moment in which I decided to become someone no one expected me to be. The act of getting tattooed was more radical than the design I picked. I endured the bewilderment and chagrin of my parents, friends, and academic colleagues. I didn’t look like the type who wanted tattoos, they noted gravely. My first tattoo was a claim I made about myself. I wanted to be a person who bucked expectations. I wanted to be a person with tattoos.