For several years, I had an idea that was pretty crazy, but I promised myself I would do ... one of these days.
The idea was this: Spend a day inkspotting, but follow specific guidelines. Namely, get on the New York City subways, get to an "A" train, and find someone with a tattoo, and interview them. Once that task was accomplished, switch to a "B" train. Repeat and follow the same pattern, until I got through the alphabet. Go A through Z. Make a day of it!
Considering a "good" day of inkspotting is interviewing 2 or 3 people, and the most I have ever done was 13 at the Coney Island Mermaid Parade, this seemed like an impossible task. Not to mention, I have found subway riders tend to be a little more reluctant to talk to people about their tattoos than those above ground.
But before I dismissed the idea entirely, the reality was this: although there are twenty-six letters in the alphabet, on weekdays there are only sixteen lettered trains. Currently, there are no H, I, K, O, P, T, U, V, Y, or X trains. So, really, the target is 16, which, though daunting, is still more doable than 26.
This summer, the time seemed ripe. I had a lot of available time off from work. I decided I had to do this on a weekday because a) the trains are more crowded and thus there would be more potential interviewees; b) there are also more trains to accommodate the ridership and c) the B, M, and Z trains are weekday only, so doing this on the weekend would seem a bit of a cop-out. And yes, I realize, I am not even talking about the trains numbered 1 through 7, but I just wanted to see if I could do the alphabet first.
Timing is everything, as well, and I had to pick a day when the temperature was in the upper 80's or 90's. The warmer it gets, the more ink you see. That's just a general rule.
So, as part of our 10-year anniversary celebration, I tried it on a warm day in August.
Did I accomplish it? You'll have to read to the end of the post to know for sure.
I am posting this introduction, and I will follow it with individual posts until I am finished, but I will add the new post to this one each day. The end result will be this very long, complete (or incomplete post), followed by individual posts documenting the experiment.
Thank you for indulging me, dear readers! Enjoy the journey!
To be continued....
The idea was this: Spend a day inkspotting, but follow specific guidelines. Namely, get on the New York City subways, get to an "A" train, and find someone with a tattoo, and interview them. Once that task was accomplished, switch to a "B" train. Repeat and follow the same pattern, until I got through the alphabet. Go A through Z. Make a day of it!
Considering a "good" day of inkspotting is interviewing 2 or 3 people, and the most I have ever done was 13 at the Coney Island Mermaid Parade, this seemed like an impossible task. Not to mention, I have found subway riders tend to be a little more reluctant to talk to people about their tattoos than those above ground.
But before I dismissed the idea entirely, the reality was this: although there are twenty-six letters in the alphabet, on weekdays there are only sixteen lettered trains. Currently, there are no H, I, K, O, P, T, U, V, Y, or X trains. So, really, the target is 16, which, though daunting, is still more doable than 26.
This summer, the time seemed ripe. I had a lot of available time off from work. I decided I had to do this on a weekday because a) the trains are more crowded and thus there would be more potential interviewees; b) there are also more trains to accommodate the ridership and c) the B, M, and Z trains are weekday only, so doing this on the weekend would seem a bit of a cop-out. And yes, I realize, I am not even talking about the trains numbered 1 through 7, but I just wanted to see if I could do the alphabet first.
Timing is everything, as well, and I had to pick a day when the temperature was in the upper 80's or 90's. The warmer it gets, the more ink you see. That's just a general rule.
So, as part of our 10-year anniversary celebration, I tried it on a warm day in August.
Did I accomplish it? You'll have to read to the end of the post to know for sure.
I am posting this introduction, and I will follow it with individual posts until I am finished, but I will add the new post to this one each day. The end result will be this very long, complete (or incomplete post), followed by individual posts documenting the experiment.
Thank you for indulging me, dear readers! Enjoy the journey!
To be continued....
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