Lydia, oh Lydia, the tattooed lady

When I was a kid, the only people I knew who had tattoos were vets -mostly Marines and Navy. A couple of my uncles had them - anchors, aweigh!

In eighth grade, one of the boys in the class tried to tattoo his nickname "GUNGA" on his arm with Shaeffer's ink. (It was a large class. He was bored and sitting in the back row. Those of us sitting around him watched him carve.) I wonder if Gunga did it deeply enough to still show the scars.

When I was a freshman, the Notre Dame Academy Glee Club performed its Christmas Concert at the Worcester County Jail. One of the trusties who helped set up the risers for us had L-O-V-E and H-A-T-E crudely tattooed on his knuckles. (Gunga Nolan school of tattooing, I guess.) The concert was brought to a premature halt, by the way, when the prisoners started getting restless and catcalling. They were ushered out of the hall; we got back on our bus.

As I got older, and my world expanded, I had a few occasions at which I met Holocaust survivors, with the blurry blue numbers tattooed on their forearms. Chilling.

Somewhere along the line, everyday people in everyday circumstances- including women - started getting tatts, but mostly they were of the discreet star on the ankle or butterfly on the butt variety (at least for the women).

The idea never really appealed to me, and when I see people in their twenties whose arms are just covered with tattoos, I always think, 'you're going to regret that someday.' I also always ask myself, 'where in God's name can you find work - other than in a punk rock club - looking like that?'

I might be wrong on both counts.

I seldom read The Boston Herald, Boston's tabloid newspaper, but my-brother-the-union-guy had an op-ed piece in it the other day, so I picked up a copy. There, Darren Garnick's Working Stiff column devoted its day's ration of ink to the phenomenon of folks in white-collar corporate positions who are heavily tattooed.

Featured in Garnick's column is a new photography book, "INKED, Inc." by Dave Kimelberg, who works, in full corporate regalia - for a Boston-based VC. But when Kimelberg roles his sleeves up to get something done, well, it's all Japanese fish and dragons. So he doesn't do any sleeve-rolling up at work, other than metaphorical.

I haven't seen a copy, but the book sounds cool. It shows pictures of folks in their business drag, and on the opposite side, a shot of them with their tattoo colors flying. (Kimelberg also has a new web site "at the intersection of bodyart and professional culture",InkedInc.com)

Doctors. Lawyers. Venture Capitalists. According to a Pew Research Center Garnick sites, 1 out of 3 people between the ages 18 and 25 have at least one tatt. As Garnick points out, "logic dictates that some of those kiddies are filling white-collar jobs."

One of the folks in Kimelberg's book is Marisa DiMattia's. In her before shot, she looks like Marion, Madam Librarian. In her tatt shot, oh my, one rockin' girlfriend. DiMattia also is involved a web site, where you can see all sorts of tattoo art, find all sorts of tattoo links, etc.

I think that all of these professionals are well advised to keep their tattooed selves under wraps at work. One thing to be a professional entertainer, or athlete (I'm seeing quite a few tatts on jocks these days). It's another thing if you're, say, a marketing professional. I know I would have been weirded out if I'd had people working around me covered with tattoos. I will also confess that I probably would have been reluctant to hire someone who came in for an interview and I could see that they were heavily tattooed.

Yet, when I look online, the tattoos are oddly beautiful, not menacing at all. And they are very artistic - no hearts with mother in script, no Jesus with a teardrop, no prison White Power whatever.

Whatever the motivation - expression of rebellion, art statement - to each his or her own.

Still, I can't help but think that at least a few people are going to regret those tattoos someday - and not just those who tattooed the name of their eventually ex-boyfriend, ex-girlfriend, or ex-spouse on their biceps.

As for myself, other than a fleeting teensie-weensie little thought of a teensie-weensie little Celtic symbol on my ankle, I will likely remain tattoo-less.

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And as for Rich's op-ed piece, he's all behind our Governor's plan to have a few casinos in Massachusetts. Sure, the employment would be nice, but gambling? I'm not so certain it's a great idea, although I "get" that if we don't do it, the jobs and the tax revenue will just go to the states that have it. But doesn't the gambling-based economy eventually hit a point of diminishing returns? Just how many casinos-per-capita do we need?